Highly Commended
Over 18s Category
By Stella Price
Molly loved to stare into the sky late at night and read under the porch light.
“Can you see the man in the moon?” asked her mother. Molly looked up. “There is no man in the moon.”
“Everyone in the whole world knows there’s a man in the moon,” said her brother. Molly shrugged her shoulders. She would not admit that she found it strange that everyone in the whole wide world saw him but she.
On Sunday at the beach, Molly lay on her red towel observing the sky. Of course, there is no moon during the day, but she saw a fluffy sheep, a large sail boat, and an old, old man lying on his back passing by. She listened to the swish of the sea in a shell. Everyone hears the swish of the sea in a sea shell.
Later, she slid down the rocks landing on the moon’s sandy surface. On Monday she played in the park. She laughed dizzily when she noticed an elf-like creature whizzing around her on the roundabout. On the swing, she flew so high that her neck hung back and she could see the claws of the trees gripping the line where the white and grey clouds met.
That evening when she sat reading her book, she saw the orange moon again. She saw no man in it. It would remain her secret. There was no man in the moon. It was a girl.