"The Runaway Manatee"
By Amanda P.

One day a family of manatees were looking for some lettuce. Food was very scarce and sometimes they had no dinner. It was a family of five, a papa, a mama, and three children. The two oldest manatees were named Timothy and Tracker. They were awful and they always teased Little Anne. Anne was six years old and very strong, but her brother did not think so. Her brothers teased her, and Anne was so full of rage and felt awful that she ran away. When the family realized that Anne ran away they became worried and began to search for her. Anne was so happy that she got away from her brothers that she thought she should go get some rest. That is usually what manatees do eat and sleep, but Anne wanted to do more. After her nap she set off. When she was swimming along, wondering what to do, she swam through a bunch of ropes. She realized that she was stuck in a net. "HELP!" she cried. "Oh yeah!" Anne said to herself. "I forgot about my nails that help me walk on the waters floor. I can use them to break through this net!" As she was ripping through the net, a fisherman was coming. Little Anne thought the fisherman would help her because manatees have no natural enemies. As soon as Little Anne saw that the fisherman was coming at her with a spear, she knew that she was in trouble. The fisherman picked her up, but she was very quick and strong, and she plunged down back into the water. "Thank goodness! Now I have to find my family. Oh why did I run away," Little Anne said with disbelief.

Later, while she was looking for her family, she heard a loud rumbling noise from above, off in the distance. The noise grew nearer. A shadow cast above Little Anne. All of a sudden something sharp hit her, and she felt a piercing pain. Immediately, Anne swam away, but had a hard time finding her way because of all of the blood. She found a rock near the surface of the water, and decided to sleep there.

When she woke up, she thought that she was still dreaming because her cut was numb, and she couldn’t feel it. She heard her father calling, " Anne! Anne! Where are you Little Anne?" She realized that she wasn’t dreaming. "Daddy! Daddy! I’m over here!" Little Anne cried. Her father swam up behind her, and gave her a big hug. They swam home, and when they got there Little Anne told them everything that had happened. Tracker and Timothy apologized, and they all lived happily ever after.

"I never knew what that loud rumbling noise was, or what gave me that horrid cut. All I know is never to wander off too far without an adult knowing where you're going."