My big adventure

71 My big adventure

1 Before you read What might an adventure story be about? Collect ideas.

pirates? a dangerous storm? a trip to the moon? … ?

Every year there is a competition for schools in Commonwealth countries. This year the competition is: Write an adventure about yourself and the characters of a favourite book. This is what Jade wrote: I felt so excited when we started to move! This was my big adventure. Three thousand, seven hundred and eighty-six miles, all the way from San Francisco to New York. The railway had been completed in 1869, and I had always wanted to make the journey. Now, three years later, I was a stewardess on the train! We left the station at six o’clock in the evening. There were all kinds of passengers in the carriage I was looking after. One group of three looked especially interesting. While I was turning the seats into beds for the night, I talked to the younger of the two men in the group. He told me that his name was Passepartout and that he was French. He was the servant of the other man, Phileas Fogg, a rich Londoner. The beautiful young woman with them was Aouda, a princess whose life they had saved in India. India! Maybe my big adventure wasn’t as big as I had thought … The next morning we were in Nevada, and for a long time the railway track followed a river. Then the landscape changed, and we travelled over great prairies. Far away a long line of high mountains came into view. Suddenly the train slowed down and stopped. There was a strong smell. Then a loud bellow. I almost jumped out of my skin! What was it? Aouda stood up and looked out of the window. “Buffalo!” she cried. “Ten thousand of them! They’re crossing the track.” “Oh no! We don’t want any delays. Drive the train through those cows!” shouted Passepartout. Then he explained to me, “Mr Fogg has made a bet that he can travel around the world in eighty days. We mustn’t arrive late in New York because the ship to England leaves on the same day. If we aren’t back in London on the twenty-first of December, he’ll lose twenty thousand pounds!” The train tried to push the buffalo out of the way, but there were too many of them. We had to wait until they had all gone, and it was dark before we were able to continue. After Nevada came Utah, and then on the third day Wyoming, with the tall Rocky Mountains in front of us. Slowly we started to climb. Passepartout was worried we might lose more time, but the train carried us over the mountains without any more delays. “Now you can relax,” I told him. I had spoken too soon.

The train stopped again, although it was still a mile to the next station at Medicine Bow. A man had come on foot from there. He wanted to warn us not to cross the bridge over the river. “It was not safe for a heavy train”, he said. Passepartout gasped. But it was not only Mr Fogg who had a problem. All the passengers wanted to go to New York. But how could they get there if the train couldn’t cross the bridge? The train driver was not ready to give up easily. “I think that if we go fast enough, we’ll be OK,” he said. The man from Medicine Bow thought this was crazy. Did we all want to risk our lives? Of course not. But most of the passengers wanted to take the chance. We went back to our seats. A minute later there was a loud whistle. We began to move. Fast, then faster. Everything began to shake. I was shaking, too. It felt like the train was going to leave the track! Eighty miles an hour. Ninety. A hundred. Would we make it? I didn’t see the bridge. We flew over it. Then – crash! The bridge fell into the river. But we were already on the other side. After the drama at the bridge I thought that we would be able to complete our journey to New York without any more trouble. I was wrong! Suddenly we heard loud bangs and screams from other parts of the train. A second later there were more bangs, and a window near me broke. Now people in our carriage started to scream, too. Hundreds of Sioux were attacking us! They were riding their horses next to the train. I could see their frightening faces. Mr Fogg quickly took three guns out of his bag, one for himself and the other two for Passepartout and Aouda. The Sioux were shooting into the carriage, and we all had to fight for our lives. I ran and got a gun, too. We fought hard. The smell of the guns burned my nose, and I could taste smoke in my mouth. Some of the Sioux were hit and fell from their horses. One or two passengers were also hit. The train was going as fast as it could, but that was no problem for the Sioux. One of them made a giant leap from his horse onto the train. He threw open the door of the carriage and ran in with a knife in his hand. The passenger nearest the door was Mr Fogg. But he was still shooting out of one of the windows, so he didn’t see the danger. Bang! I shot and the Sioux fell. I had saved Mr Fogg’s life. But the Sioux wasn’t dead. He threw the knife and it hit me. I felt the shock and sank to my knees. For a moment I saw stars in front of my eyes. Then everything was dark. No more pain. Nothing.

My story has to end here. I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you any more. Did the other people on the train survive? Did Mr Fogg get to London on time and win his bet? If you want to know the answers, you’ll have to find out what famous book I got my ideas from …

2 Talk about the end of the story a) What happens at the end of the story?

Do you think this is a good way to end or not? Say why. b) Can you answer Jade’s questions at the end of the story? 3 Compare then with now a) What problems are there on the journey in the story? Could these problems happen on the same train journey today? b) What different problems might there be now? What nice things might be missing?

4 Write and act out a dialogue Read the part on page 159 from “It was not safe for a heavy bridge…”. Write a dialogue. Man on foot: I’ve come from … You can’t … Passepartout: Oh no! This is … Passenger: … • What does the man on foot say? • What does Passepartout think? • What do you think the other passengers say? • What does the train driver think? • What do they all decide to do in the end?

5 Writing texts: Make a story more interesting a) It can make a story more interesting if you describe what people can see, hear, smell, feel or taste. Look for phrases like this in Jade’s story. Examples: a long line of high mountains – a loud bellow b) There are lots of different ways to make a story more exciting. Match the ideas in the box with the examples on the right. Maybe you can find more examples in the story. • Try to make the reader interested. Show that something else is going to happen. • Show that the characters are nervous. • Give the reader a shock. Go suddenly to a dangerous situation. • Describe the action in short sentences. • Use words that describe sounds. We began to move. Fast, then faster. I had spoken too soon. But the Sioux wasn’t dead. Crash! I almost jumped out of my skin!

c) Write your own adventure. Imagine yourself in a scene from a book or film you know. Look again at the ideas in a) and b), and try to use interesting and exciting words. Collect new words you find interesting for your ‘personal vocabulary’ and put them in your folder.

6 A song: Hit me with your rhythm stick

In the deserts of Sudan And the gardens of Japan, From Milan to Yucatan Every woman, every man. Hit me with your rhythm stick, Hit me, hit me, Je t’adore, ich liebe dich, Hit me, hit me, hit me. In the wilds of Borneo And the vineyards of Bordeaux, Eskimo, Arapaho Move their body to and fro.

©Text:Ian Dury/Charles Jeremy Jankel