The Story of Sammy

1

It was a day pretty much like any other day when you looked out the window but to Sammy it was a day like no other. Today was the day that his school was going to visit Old Sydney Cove, a recreation park of Sydney in the convict era. Sammy’s twin brother Luke bounced out of bed and ran across the room full of excitement and jumped up on Sammy’s bed to look out the window as well, looking forward to the day ahead.

Sammy could hear his mother in the kitchen getting ready for the day packing a cut lunch for all three of them; their mother had agreed to accompany the class on the outing to lend a hand to the teachers that would be supervising them.
“Come on boys” she called as she walked past the bedroom door.
“Get dressed and we will have time for breakfast before we need to go.”
Sammy and Luke quickly got dressed and ran out to the kitchen where their breakfast cereal was already on the table.
“We have fifteen minutes before we need to go” said Sammy’s mother as she packed the sandwiches into a plastic bag. “And don’t spill anything on your clothes please; we don’t have time for a change.” Telling “six” year old twin boys not to spill anything on their clothes was like telling a fish not to swim but the boys were especially careful not to spill a thing, apart from a few drops of milk that their mother did not see.

Sammy’s mother opened the front door and walked out to the car and loaded the few things they needed for the day into the car boot including rain coats just in case. The weather report was good but it had predicted severe thunder storms later in the day, nothing unusual for this time of year and even now, this early in the day, you could sense the humidity in the air that was often a prelude to a storm later in the day.

They needed to meet the bus at the school at nine am and Sammy’s mother had been quite conscious of the time needed to make it on time or they would miss the excursion. After loading the two excited boys into the car and locking the house they were soon on the way to meet the rest of the class at school and then onto the bus for the ride down to southwestern Sydney and the adventure that lay ahead. The whole class was there for the trip when they arrived, only Kathy not able to make it because her mother said she was too unwell to come. Everyone knew she would not be there today because her parents could not afford the price of the entry fee, she had to be the poorest girl in the class but Sammy and Kathy were good friends and in the same class together and did everything together and Sammy was just a little disappointed.
For the rest of the class it was all very exciting and no time was wasted in getting on the bus. The trip took about an hour and no one settled down during the trip with all the children “Quite over stimulated” according to Ms. Johnson who had lost her temper with a number of children by the time they reached their destination.


Old Sydney Cove was long past its use by date with things looking a bit tired and run down. Some argued that it added a sort of authenticity to the place because after all it was set back in Australia’s convict past when things where not so clean and pristine.
Adults could see the tatty and worn out fittings but it all seemed quite realistic and authentic enough to the children.

They all ran from the bus and were soon organized into four small “convict” groups and a teacher or a parent was set as an overseer” to look after each group for the day. Each group would then head off in different directions around the park to visit the various recreations all set out on a large rural property. The park even had a recreation of Port Jackson with a tall ship included, all be it a very rickety scaled down example of one floating on a large water filled dam that had been backed up from the small creek that ran through the property.

Sammy and Luke naturally were placed in the same group that their mother was looking after, much to Luke’s displeasure, but Sammy could not be happier as he was very proud of his mother and more than happy for everyone to know. Each of the little convict groups headed off in different directions but they were to all meet up for lunch at the great shearing shed for the live show and sheep shearing demonstration. First port of call was the convict barracks for Sammy’s group where they were shown the poor conditions that convicts had to live in. Sammy was appalled at what the convicts had to call home much less the way they were treated. After visiting several other displays including the Blacksmith’s shop and the Governor’s house, it was nearing lunchtime and all the groups headed for the great shearing shed for lunch. As the children swapped stories about the things they had seen as the groups met around a giant table for lunch Sammy’s mother looked up at the sky and wished that she had not left the boys raincoats in the bus. The distant sky looked quite menacing.
“The prediction of bad storms in the afternoon looks like it will come true” Sammy’s mother quipped to the man standing next to her who was also looking at the darkening sky as he finished a cigarette. “Looks like the weather bureau got one right for a change” he said as he stubbed out his cigarette on the wall next to him.

After lunch the plan was for each group to once again go their separate ways and to meet for the final show of the day aboard the tall ship. There would also be a mock flogging and the little convict groups would have a photo opportunity to remember the day aboard the rather sad looking vessel sitting in the dam.


As the afternoon went on, the clouds began to gather strong and dark in the west as the storm approached. The teachers were only keen now to get the day over and make it back to the bus without getting caught in the storm. By the time Sammy’s group arrived at the Tall Ship all the other convict groups had arrived. Some of the kids were already on board having photos taken and Sammy was keen to get involved and have a photo taken on board the ship as well. Sammy ran ahead but Luke hesitated and did not want to take part in such a stupid childish game and, despite his mother’s encouragement, refused to board the ship. The ship rocked steadily as children ran from side to side out of control; again all a bit over stimulated for Ms. Johnson’s liking thought Sammy’s mother.

At one end of the ship a group of children were being shackled in pretend leg irons to have a photo taken and Sammy ran across not wanting to miss out. Sammy called for his mother to join in and he ran back and grabbed her by the hand and pulled her towards the action. Sammy’s mother noticed that the wind was picking up as the approaching storm gathered strength and a few large drops of rain began to splat down hard on the deck around them. The photographer, trying to finish before the rain hit, was busily locking the small phony leg irons around the ankles of the children as the wind gathered strength. Sammy and his mother were last to be locked in as the rain drops began to fall around them in ever increasing numbers. Jokingly Sammy’s mother laughed and commented to the photographer that she hoped that the ship did not sink as they would all be pulled into the lake and Sammy reached down and tugged at the light chain around his ankle and hoped she was joking.

With a burst of wind the storm broke and hit from the black ominous clouds as the heavens opened up with the full force of wind and rain. In an instant, children, parents and teachers were running everywhere to escape the storm and the little ship rocked violently as everyone ran to one side of the ship to get off. The ship lurched dangerously to one side and Sammy could feel the boat tilt under his feet as he saw the children in front of him lose their footing and fall over each other as they slid past him screaming, their chains falling off their legs as they went. Sammy looked around to see his mother knocked off her feet by one of the children as she called out his name and slide away from him as he tried to hang on to the railing next to her.
The ship did not seem to right itself as barrels and all kinds of bits and pieces flew past and smashed into the ships railings. Sammy could feel himself losing his grip on the ropes swinging from the rigging as the ship tilted even further.

2

The wind and rain outside Sammy’s window was blowing hard and he could hear his mother calling his name somewhere in the distance and it woke him from his frightening nightmare. He could hear the branches banging outside his window of his room and he sat up and reached over and pulled the blind to one side to look outside. The sun was not quite up but the sky was so dark and angry that it was hard to tell where the sun was as the rain and wind beat against the glass. Sammy was still shaking from his nightmare as he looked over to the other side of the room where he could make out the outline of his brother Luke in his bed. Sammy lay back down relieved that he was just having a bad dream. He listened to the wind outside for a few moments still a little unnerved by his nightmare.

Somehow he felt different, it was obviously cold outside with no leaves on the trees in the front yard of the house but he did not feel cold. He sat up in his bed and looked around the room but Sammy felt that there was something not quite right and he seemed unable to recognise the objects that should be familiar to him in the gloomy light. There was nothing in the room that was his and all of a sudden Sammy did feel cold and alone, somehow lost. As he climbed out of his bed he could see that Luke’s bed was different, the furniture in the room seemed different and he stood in the middle of the room turning slowly on the spot trying to recognise anything that was familiar to him. His toys were gone. Where were his things?
“What is wrong with me”, he thought to himself. “Why can’t I see anything that looks familiar?”
Slowly he walked over to Luke’s bed and reached out to wake him but hesitated as he realized that it was not Luke. He looked again at the form lying in the bed but the outline of the shape in the bed was too big; it was not the form of his six year old brother but the form of a much larger person. Sammy stepped back as his nightmare gradually flooded back into his mind. Sammy turned to jump back into his bed as the sense of terror and fear overtook his mind but as he turned he realized that there was no bed, there is only one bed in the room and it is not his.

The nightmare of the sinking ship flashed into his mind again as the sound of the wind and rain from outside seems to intensify. The ship, the rain and wind” he thought? Slowly but steadily a dark forbidding loneliness crept over his body as he tried to make sense of the things he saw around him, suddenly he felt very alone and lost, what had happened? How long have I been lost? The loneliness began to overwhelm him and he started to cry. “I am alone” he thought to himself?

As Sammy tried to suppress the feeling of dread that now rushed over him along with the strong desire to run, he suddenly remembered he was not alone, his mother was with him on the boat. But why can’t he remember? There are so many questions in his mind. Where has he been?
How did he get into his bed?
Why has he woken from such a nightmare now?
Was his mother looking for him? Hadn’t he heard her call him?
Surely if I have been woken from the nightmare in my room his mother must be here somewhere maybe in her room he thought, “Maybe she doesn’t know I’m here”, he was sure it was her voice that had woken him from his dream. The small boy ran to the bedroom door and out into the hallway calling to his mother; “I’m here mum you found me, you found me, today is the day you found me.”

Sammy reached the door to his mother’s room and ran through the doorway to see his father cradling a weeping woman in his arms who, as she sobbed quietly, repeated in a soft but sad voice,
“He is calling me. He keeps calling that he was lost but I have found him.”
His father whispers into her ear, “It’s ok sweetheart, it’s just the wind outside. It will be all right, it is just another bad dream and it will pass.”
Sammy stood at the doorway to the bedroom and then slowly walked to the side of the bed where his mother was now sitting up trying to wake from the nightmare. As Sammy walked closer to her, he can see his mother’s face in the soft light of the small lamp that sat on the bedside table. Sammy calls to his mother and she began to cry.
“He is calling me”, she says softly.
“Where are you Sammy?” she says between each deep sob.

Sammy’s father reached over and stroked her face and whispered tenderly to her to comfort her. “There is no one there my love. There is no one calling, it is just the wind.” As Sammy reached the side of the bed and moved closer to his mother he could see his mother’s worn face and the dark lines under her eyes, her hair slightly graying. She looked so much older, so upset, and so sad her once youthful happy smile was gone. She looked up and almost seemed to look into Sammy’s eyes and Sammy knew straight away that she could not see him and tears began to well in his little eyes as he whispers softly to her as he begins to understand, you did not find me. Sammy falls onto his mother with his arms around her and he begins to cry but it is as if he is not there.
“You did not save me, you did not bring me home” he sobs. For an instant his mother can almost see her young Sammy and begins to cry again.
“I tried.” she says. “I did my best, we all did but we could not find you in the muddy storm water. We looked for days but you were gone and we could not find you please forgive me.”

With a sudden flash of light the bedroom light came on and Luke is standing at the bedroom door.
“What’s wrong dad? Is mom ok?” he asks still rubbing his face as he tries to wake up? Sammy looked up at Luke and he saw not his brother but a young man of sixteen or seventeen. Sammy stepped back from his mother as the realisation starts to bite. He has been lost for more than 10 years.
“Its ok Luke” his father says. “Go back to bed. Your mother is having another bad dream, she will be ok.” Sammy’s mind raced out of control. He was alone and he was lost but who woke him from his dream?

The moment is broken as the phone rang and the people around him begin to take on a distant hazy appearance.  Sammy’s father walked from the room to answer the phone.
“Sit with your mother Luke”, he asks as he leaves the room.
Luke sits by his mother’s side to comfort her.
“It will be ok mom,” he said putting his arms around her waist and laying his head on her breast.
His mother looked at him.
“I am so sorry” she said. “We all tried to find Sammy, we did our best.”
Luke held his mother tight.
“It was not your fault mum. You did everything you could and Sammy knows that. He knows you tried to save him mum.”
Sammy stood in front of his mother, his little mind trying to put everything in its place and he whispers to his mom.
“It’s ok mum, please don’t cry. I’m ok”
A sudden feeling of relief rushed over the small boy and for the first time since waking that day he no longer felt lost. For a split second his mother seems to hear something and turned to look at him.
“Sammy?” she says tenderly.

Sammy’s father walked back to the bedroom door and stood silently and motionless at the door with a strange look of shock and relief all at the same time on his face as a small teardrop ran down his cheek. Luke looked up at him from his mother’s side
“What is it dad? What’s wrong?” he asks. “They have found him.”
Sammy’s mother looked at her husband.
“What?” she says. He repeats it again in a slow, deliberate, almost disbelieving tone.
“They have found our Sammy. There is an excavation for a new housing development on the site of the old theme park and an excavator has found the bones of a small boy. They have found Sammy.”

Sammy’s mum looked back to where she though for a second she saw something in the soft light but it was gone, but just for a second she thought she saw something, someone.

Phil Wilkinson. 2011