The is the second of ‘Sjef’s Super Stories’, written aged 11 in my last year of primary school; 1992. Unfortunately I have no recollection of why Australia required the SEGA games, but I’m sure they were absolutely necessary at the time.

“Dad’s home!” Jack yelled, hearing the motorbike roaring up the drive. “Yay!” Denny and Ann yelled. “I wanna ride!” said Denny.
“O.K. but I get to do the scratchie,” Ann said.
When Dad finally came in and handed the scratchie to Ann everyone crowded around.
“What kind is it?” Asked Jack.
“ doomsday,” Ann replied.
“All right!” said Jack as he had already won the whole set of gross ghouls and a back-pack with these cards. As Ann scratched, everyone held their breath. Quietly Jack read, “win, win,” then “WIN!”
“WHAT DID WE GET?” Denny yelled. Quickly Ann scratched away the remaining box.
“A cruise smack-bang through the middle of the Bermuda triangle!” exclaimed Dad.
“AAAAAGH!!!!,” Denny yelled, “We’ll all fall into a big warp-zone and get zapped by monsters and eaten by triangles and, and, and, an….”
“Oh shut up,” said Jack (who thought there was a reasonable explanation for everything.) “Boats and planes go through there all the time nothings happened for fifteen years!”
“Then our boat will be overdue,” said Denny, who had all of a sudden become an expert on the Bermuda Triangle and was the ultimate pessimist.
“Well we’ll just have to take our chances with the holes and monsters won’t we?” said Mum who thought that a cruise would be just the thing for a good break.
“O.K,” said Dad, “we’ll go!”

***

“Hurry up you dope, our boat leaves in ten minutes!” yelled Jack at Ann, who was convinced they were going to be shipped away to Australia with a whole lot of SEGA games. “Look,” said dad. “Our boat is called the Bermuda Bounty and THAT’S it THERE!”
“ALRIGHT!” What are you waiting for then?”
Two days later and the cruise wasn’t much fun anymore. Denny was grounded to the cabin for the rest of the day for stealing Mum’s money to go to the spacies on Deck 4, while Ann had to stay inside because she had sunburn and dad was sick in the toilet, drunk as a skunk from the free beer at the bar below. Jack had won a jackpot on the fruit machine and he had spent all of it on the food dispenser and the spacies. Mum had been sea-sick all the way and the weather was about to pack-up.
“MuuuuuuuuuuuM, why can’t I be let off? The weather’s too bad for me to go outside anyway.”
“Oh all right. but if I ever catch you doing anything like that again, CHOP,” Mum said, drawing her finger across her throat. Then a voice came over the intercom.
“This is your captain speaking. It appears that we are experiencing some weather typical in this region of the triangle, but out helmsman has it all under control.”
When Jack heard this message he quickly killed off his game and went over to the custom designed “shipscreen” and punched in “bridge view.”
[Taping requires another $3.00]. Annoyed Jack stuffed in another 2 coins and intently watched the screen. What he saw, then absolutely horrified him. He saw three purplish- yellow blobs fall from the sky and disappear into the water. Then a whirl-pool formed in each spot where a blob had landed. The ship was about to enter one when the screen went dead and the message flashed up, [End of taping, for computer copy insert $2.00]. Jack annoyedly stuffed in the coin, grabbed the disk and ran off to show the others on his father’s laptop.
Ten minutes later everyone was lining up in the dining room where the captain told them their places in the lifeboats. Then, all of a sudden there was a spinning sensation which got faster and faster with every passing second. Suddenly there was a great CRASH which broke the bones of many people. Then about ten blue triangles burst through the wall carrying laser gatling guns and scanning equipment. They herded everyone into a corner before another black triangle came through the hole on the wall, stood up and said, “Greetings surfacelings! I am the great Bermuda! Long ago your people were friends with ours. We lived in peace and harmony until your kind grew greedy and chased us away. Now you put our world at risk, making nuclear weapons that could destroy the earth, so our people have planned a great invasion.”
“So what do you want us for!?” someone in the back yelled.
“It is not you we want, but your ship,” said the great Bermuda, “Now we have enough transport we will be able to start our offensive. But do not worry, there will be no unnecessary killing. We will simply take over. It is the better way.”
“So what will happen to us? someone yelled.
“You will be warped back through time and will not remember anything….anything….anyth…

“Dad’s home!” Jack yelled, hearing the motorbike roaring up the drive…

Sjef van Gaalen, 1992.