Ellie and Her Disastrous Baby Sister
Category A: Highly Commended (2024) Monash Short Story Writing Competition
Author: Goshen Wu
Sunday
OMG!!!! My mum’s back from hospital. My new sister’s name is Celeste. Celeste has cute blue-grey eyes. I got to hold her and she was looking up at me SOOO adorably. Then she burped in my face. Ewww times a hundred!!
I quickly handed her back to Mum after that.
Tomorrow’s the first day of term two. I’m in Year Five. I can’t wait to tell my best friend, Ivy, that I have a baby sister. I don’t have a phone yet, because Mum and Dad say I’m not ‘responsible’ enough. Geez!! I’m eleven!! (And it’s more like Mum says something and Dad just goes along with it.)
Oh, have to go. My parents need to go to the shops to get more nappies!!
Monday
School was THE BEST. You know why? Ivy gave me a present for Celeste! Apparently my mum told her mum so basically Ivy knows already. But… that doesn’t matter. The present turned out to be a stuffed bunny, with a huge fluffy tail I’m afraid Celeste’s going to pull off. Then Ivy came over to my house after school. Dad bought a cheesecake yesterday to celebrate Celeste’s birth, so me and Ivy scoffed two slices each.
“Celeste is SOOO charming!” Ivy cooed as she tickled Celeste’s feet.
“Erm, don’t be so sure about that,” I said. “Yesterday she burped in my face.”
After Ivy cuddled Celeste and admired her cot, she left and took three slices of cake home.
Ugh, we have to go to the shops AGAIN to get baby food!
Tuesday
Second day of school– HORRIBLE. I woke up at precisely two past one to a sound that closely resembled a cat in pain. Went over to my parent’s bedroom and apparently CELESTE was crying SUPER loudly!!!
“Mum, I’ve got school tomorrow!” I said.
“Sorry, darl. Celeste might be like this for a month or so,” was Mum’s answer. OMG– A MONTH?!?! Maybe I should consider taking a long-extended holiday to Fiji for the next month!
At school I fell asleep in Math. My VERY RUDE teacher woke me up by yelling in my ear, “WHAT'S THE ANSWER TO SIXTY-SEVEN TIMES ELEVEN, ELLIE?”
What should I say? “Thanks for that, Celeste!” I replied.
Then I got detention for ‘not listening’.
Sigh.
Wednesday
Just got back from a VERY TEDIOUS day of school. Yep, you guessed it. Celeste decided that three-thirty am was the start of the day and didn’t stop screaming until seven.
Result- she got a sore throat. Hope she decides not to cry for hours on end tonight!!
Saturday
Farewell, dear diary. Celeste decided to rip a hundred pages out of my diary. Am fuming right now.
Went to tell Dad about Celeste and her little ball-hands of power. He said, “We don’t have the time to get another diary, Ellie.”
Like I said, farewell. At least I got to tell you a bit of my life with LIFE-RUINING CELESTE.