The Floating Adventure's of Norbit

The sun had peaked the horizon and ricocheted off the blue waters of the ocean, beaming directly onto Norbit’s face, causing him to wake up. He could see his new home approaching over the front of the tiki boats that had been tied together. Norbit and his people had to flee their homeland of Jaarou. Pirates had invaded their island and taken over all their people had built during the past one hundred years. The small people of the island had no choice but to leave their land. Hoping to find new territory where they could rebuild their lives, they set sail.

The plan was for all the hobbits to stay together and rebuild again as one, but the ocean's current had other plans. The current had swept Norbit’s family far away from the other hobbits and sent their boat floating directly towards a large pirate ship. It was the same ship that had carried the many pirates that caused Norbit’s people to flee.

Norbit’s father, Arket, served as a brave warrior for the hobbits’ army. He wanted to sneak up on the big ship and search for any treasure. He thought anything they could recover would help them to rebuild what the pirates had stolen from them. Arket said, "Norbit, come aboard the ship with me while Mom stays behind on the boat and acts as a lookout."

Being very careful not to make any noise, they climbed aboard the ship. They weren’t sure if all the pirates had invaded their island or if some stayed behind to man the ship. Never having been on a ship of that size, they were unsure of where to look. Figuring the treasure would be below the deck, they looked for stairs leading them down. As they snuck around, they looked back at what was once their island, and could see the flames from the fires the pirates had set to their homes. That gave Arket the additional rage he needed to continue his hunt for the pirates' treasure.

They came upon a stairway with a large wooden door at the bottom of it. Arket and Norbit crept down the steps and to the door. Arket placed his ear against the door listening for any noise coming from the other side. He heard nothing, so he twisted the knob and entered the room. On the other side of the door was a large room full of what looked like potato sacks and another door across the room. Arket walked passed the bags toward the other door, but Norbit was a curious little fellow. He wanted to know what was in all those sacks. The bags were almost taller than Norbit. He had to tippy toe to see what was inside. He called out to his father, “Dad, come see. I found it.”

The sacks were too heavy for them to each carry one by themselves. They both grabbed the end of a bag and started dragging it up the stairway. When they reached the deck they could see that a boat had departed their island and was returning to the ship. This caused them to pick up their pace. They loaded the sack onto their boat and Arket said, “Let’s go back for one more.”, but Norbit and his mom were afraid. They knew the pirates were on their way back. Arket said he was going anyway and re-boarded the pirates' ship. After a few minutes and the pirates getting closer, Norbit jumped aboard the ship and went to help his father. When they got the bag to the top of the deck they could see that two of the pirates were on board already. They were unloading some of the items they had stolen from the hobbits’ island. Norbit and his father knew if they got caught they were sure to die. Luckily, Norbit’s boat was on the opposite side of the ship from where the pirates were.

They loaded the second sack of gold onto their boat and shoved themselves away from the ship. They were so excited because they knew they had gotten away with stealing from the pirates. It was dark now and the pirates would never see them. By morning they would have floated far enough away from them to not be seen. No hobbit in the whole history of Jaarou had ever risked boarding a pirates’ ship. Norbit knew he would definitely become a legend, if they ever found the other hobbits and told them the story.

Halfway into the night, they realized they had a problem. The gold was too heavy for their little boat and was causing it to sink. They had to get rid of the gold. What were they going to do with it? They couldn’t just dump it into the ocean. They had risked their lives for it. It was the only thing they had that made them feel better about what the pirates had done to them.

Just as fate would have it, at that very moment they floated upon a very tiny island. They decided to stay there until morning. Then they would find a place to bury the gold and set out to find the other hobbits.

The next morning, Norbit and his father set out to find the safest place on the island to bury the treasure. They had no tools, so they had to dig with branches they carved to resemble shovels. It took them half the day to dig the hole and bury the treasure. As they walked back to their camp, Norbit’s dad sketched out a map of where they buried the treasure so that when they came back to the island to retrieve it, they could find it with ease.

When they arrived back at camp, Norbit’s mom had caught some fish and had it cooking over the fire. Norbit was grateful because all that digging had made him hungry. His dad said they would stay on the island until sunset, and then set sail again trying to find the other hobbits. He thought leaving at night would be better because it wouldn’t be as hot.

Arket began another map trying to show the location of the island they were on, but because they had landed on this island at night, he wasn’t sure where they were. He decided to climb to higher land and see if he could locate any surrounding islands. When he reached the highest point on the island he was overcome with sadness. He looked in every direction for as far as his eyes could see.He saw nothing but the blue-green waters of the ocean. He knew their attempt to find the other hobbits would be next to impossible.

When Arket went back down to their camp Nora, his wife, asked him what he had seen. He took her and walked away from Norbit. He didn’t want to scare him. Arket told her that there was nothing for as far as he could see. He had begun wondering if going out in search of the other hobbits was a good idea. Arket and Nora continued to discuss what they should do when Norbit walked up to them. He could sense the concern between them. He looked at his dad and asked him what was going on. Arket told him that they were not going to leave that night. They would wait until the next day and decide what they were going to do.

That night, Arket just laid there and stared at the stars. He wondered if he should risk his family's life searching for the other hobbits. He looked at Nora as she lay there sleeping. He brushed his tiny hand over her beautiful, long, brown hair and looked over at Norbit who was snoring loud enough to wake everything on the island. He knew this island was lush enough to produce the foods they needed to survive. He remembered seeing a stream that would provide them with fresh water to drink, and with no surrounding islands, the chances of them being found by pirates was slim. He knew what he had to do. This would be their new home.

The next morning, he gathered Nora and Norbit and told them what he had decided. Norbit was very upset. He didn’t like the thought of never seeing his friends again and not being able to tell the story of how they stole the pirates’ treasure, but he knew that his father was right. They could live on the island or risk dying while trying to find the other hobbits.

Over the next couple of months, the three of them spent all their waking hours working to make the island productive. They had built their home high in the trees, that way they could see the waters and watch for approaching ships. They planted the seeds they brought with them when they fled their island. Their garden was abundant with all the fruits and vegetables they could ever need. Norbit had even found a stream that turned into a little waterfall where he played a lot. He even began keeping a journal explaining all the events that occurred and caused them to be on this island alone. He thought that one day he would cast his story out to sea. That way, maybe someone would find it and he could still become a legend.

Several years passed when Norbit’s dream came true. He had climbed high into a tree to pick a coconut for his mom when something caught his eye. He spotted a large object far out in the ocean. He jumped out of the tree and rushed to tell his dad. He was afraid it might be pirates. They had a plan for if this ever happened. Arket would go to the lookout point and stay there until he could determine what was approaching their island. Norbit and his mom were to stay at the camp, gather all their items, and carry them up to their home in the tree. They were to stay in the tree until Arket came back to tell them what he saw.

They sat in their house wondering and worrying about what Norbit had seen. Several hours had passed and their fear had risen to unimaginable limits. Then all of a sudden, they could hear Arket yelling from the base of the tree. He was talking so quickly they couldn’t understand a word he was saying. He ran over and lit the fire signal they had built for a time like this. Nora and Norbit climbed down from the tree and ran over to him. Nora said, "Arket, slow down and tell us what you saw."

Arket told them it was the other hobbits. They had tied all their boats together and were floating straight for their island. They had come to rescue them. Nora asked him if he was sure of what he saw. He told her that they had a large sail connected to the boats with something painted on it. At first he couldn’t tell what it said, but as they got closer he could make it out. It spelled the word “Jaarou”. Nora’s face lit up as bright as the sun over the ocean, and Norbit began running up and down the beach screaming, “I’m going to be a legend.”

Far far away on a distant island, a beautiful young lady was searching the beach for seashells when something in the water flickered and caught her eye. She walked into the water and retrieved a beautiful antique bottle. She could see that inside the bottle was paper. She opened the bottle, began reading, and so his legend begun.


(Word Count 1955)