Children's Stories by Dr. Terrell Neuage

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Leigh Neuage (July 6 1983 - August 16 2003

SQUIRMY WORMY AT THE SCHOOL CAMP By: Terrell Adsit-Neuage

Sacha had an adult size sleeping bag. It was green with a hood attached. The bag was warm with a thick wolly linning inside. He would climb in and crawl around the house. All that could be seen was a green lump moving across the floor. He said he was SQUIRMY WORMY.
Sacha's dog, 'Shaga', was usually unprepared for an attack from Squirmy Wormy. Sacha, deep inside the bag, would quietly crawl into a room where Shaga was fast asleep then roll quickly across the floor, crashing into the dog and any furniture silly enough to be in the way.

Sometimes it seemed as if Sacha lived in his bag. He would be inside of it for meals, or while he made set-ups with his lego or G.I. Joes. He would even hop outside and shoot baskets or throw a ball at his pitch-back, all while inside of his sleeping bag. Of course he slept inside of it too. He'd sleep in different places. Sometimes on the couch, sometimes on the floor in front of the television, and sometimes in the middle of the playroom.


One day Sacha's teacher at the Port Elliot Primary School announced that the class was going to go on a school camp. Sacha was the first to return the permission form and money to attend. It was to be a four-day camp by the sea in a holiday park.

The night before they left on the trip, Sacha's dad and brother helped him pack. They put his toothbrush, and toothpaste into its case, soap went in its box. Towels, washcloth, extra sneakers, clothes, torch, and of course - Sacha's sleeping bag. That night Sacha had to sleep in his own bed for the first time in a long time. The next morning, he said that he had had a terrible night's sleep and that he'd never sleep anywhere, ever again, unless he was inside of his sleeping bag.

The children arrived at the school early Friday morning. They were very excited, running around the school yard playing and chattering non-stop. Eventually with the help of the parents the bus was loaded.


It was late afternoon when they arrived at the campsite and unloaded the bus. They played games, went for a bush walk, walked along the seashore, had a barbecue returned to their tents for a good long sleep.


Sacha shared a small blue tent with his two best friends.  His friends had child-size sleeping bags with
pictures on them, one of spaceships the other of trains. Sacha didn't have pictures on his bag. Squirmy Wormy didn't need pictures to be excellent.


During the night Sacha needed to go to the toilet. He crawled out of the tent knocking over the poll that held the tent up. The tent caved in on his friends, but they continued to sleep and even snored louder.


Sacha stood up. It was moving slowly while inside of his bag. He could only hop and shuffle. And the dark and cloudy moonless night made it even more difficult to see and maneuver around the campsite.


First, he tripped over a rope that was holding up the girl's main tent. The tent fell with Sacha in the middle.

Eight, once sound asleep girls, turned into eight screaming girls. Sacha had such a bad case of the giggles that he could barely stand up. However, once he stood up again, he stepped on then fell over several other children. This made them scream even more and Sacha laugh harder. Finally, he was able to roll off the tent and stand upright and hop and shuffle toward the bathroom.


Near the toilets was the tent holding all the food for the four-day camp. Sacha wobbled into the side of it. There were tables inside with the food on top. He knocked them over and all the food became mixed into a big mucky pile. Pancake syrup, tomato sauce, mustard, cordial, sausages, cakes, breads and everything else were spilt onto the ground.
After the toilet, Sacha thought he was headed back to his tent, but he went the wrong direction. He wiggled right out of the park. He thought that he had gone too far but kept on going hoping he was just going around in a circle, and he'd soon find his tent.


Next to the school's camp was an army camp. At the entrance stood a gate. Sacha tried to remember if there was a gate going across the entrance to his camp. He had been reading comic books on the bus and had not paid much attention to where the bus was going.

There was a guard in a little building next to the gate, but he was asleep. Sacha looked at the guard gate and the army base sign. If only he had paid attention on the bus. His schoolmates must be on the other side of this army camp he thought.


Sacha was tired and had been going for a long time. This was all too ridiculous even for him. He tried to unzip the zipper so he could walk back to his tent.
There was a steep hill right after the army camp entrance. Sacha, struggling with his zipper went rolling
down the hill. He crashed into a building at the bottom. The building was the army camp's headquarters where an army general was staying. Sacha stood up and pushed against the door and went crashing to the floor, knocking over a table with sophisticated computer equipment.


The computers were connected to military bases and command centres around the world. They began to read out that there was a full scale attack on Australia.
Satellites were repositioned. The air force scrambled six F/A-18 Hornets. A submarine patrolling the Tasman Sea prepared its missiles. The whole world was put onto red
alert.

Sacha was trying to get out of his sleeping bag when the general came running out of his room in his pajamas. A unit of army soldiers charged through the front door of the camp's military    headquarters. They all surrounded the green sleeping bag. Sacha looked up at them and asked if someone could help him with the zipper of his sleeping bag.
The general managed to undo the zip. Sacha climbed out. Army soldiers quickly seized the empty sleeping bag checking to see if there were any bombs inside.


Sacha told the shocked military people he was on his way back to his tent from the toilet and had no idea how he had gotten to where he was now.
Sirens continued to sound. Helicopters landed. An aircraft carrier that had been in the general area raced toward the seashore. Army trucks with tanks began to arrive. The thing was, who and where was the enemy?


The phone at the camp's headquarters rang. The Prime Minister wanted to know what country was attacking them. Were there nuclear weapons involved? How strong was the attacking force?


A satellite that had been repositioned to fly over the camp showed no foreign military presence. There were no warships anywhere near the country. Radar showed no foreign aircraft. The Navy reported no submarines detected in the area.

The Prime Minister demanded to know who the country was at war with. The general answered, "there is a child here, Sir! who was stuck inside of his sleeping bag. It was a green sleeping bag with a hood on it we have liberated the child from his sleeping bag, Sir! There is no longer any crisis here."
"What?" screamed the Prime Minister.


"We have liberated the child from his sleeping bag Sir!" the general repeated.


It was hours before the mess was sorted out and the military was taken off of red-alert. There was an emergency meeting at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. How could a child stuck in his sleeping bag put the whole world on full military alert?


In the weeks that followed the non-invasion the military forces of the world gathered together and worked on ways to avoid possible war due to mistakes. Together the military helped the world enter a new phase of world peace.


Sacha became a hero. He was on the front cover of magazines and newspapers all over the world. The headlines were strange to say the least.

After the camp Sacha's dad sewed in another zipper and fixed the old one so that Sacha would have two zippers to undo if he wanted to get out of his sleeping bag.
"So that the child could be liberated," joked his dad.The Magic Mansion Maggie and Mabel's Magic Mansion will take them wherever they wish to go. Animated story

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