Sean's African Adventure

Sean’s African Adventure

         Sean was looking forward to leaving the next morning for his Safari adventure to Africa that his parents had started planning more than a year ago. He was especially excited because it had been more than two years since he last went anywhere. By a little after ten o’clock at night, Sean had finished packing and was ready for bed. But first, Sean wrote an important e-mail to the Secret Service about the details of his vacation, and all the people who would be meeting him and his parents in Africa. After he finished writing the e-mail, he looked it over and, satisfied, he clicked the send button, shut down his computer and crawled into bed. Sean, of course, didn’t go to sleep but just stared up at the ceiling and thought endlessly about what would happen on the safari and on the airplane ride. He didn’t want to get too over-excited in case the vacation turned out just to be plain boring. “Probably not much; just another regular “adventure” my parents planned; but at least I get to go somewhere,” he thought. At that exact moment, a bolt of lightning stuck less than a mile away and it started to rain. The sound of the rain helped Sean to finally fall sleep because he was so tired just thinking about the fun possibilities of his vacation.
         The next morning, at 11:45 AM, the plane took off out of LaGuardia Airport, and began its long journey across the Atlantic Ocean. At exactly 1:15 PM that day, while lunch was being served on the flight, the lights began to flicker violently and the plane also began to teeter back and forth like a wildly rocking seesaw. The pilot came on the intercom system to tell everyone to stay calm and also told the stewardesses to return the food carts back and to take their seats for safety reasons. It was calm for the next twenty minutes, but then the plane began to jerk rapidly back and forth and up and down like it was going through speed bumps. The pilot came on the intercom again but this time for a different reason. He told all of the passengers that the plane had somehow run low on fuel and that their position was somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. After the pilot had finished delivering the dreadful news, all of the passengers stopped talking and you could hear the stillness and tenseness in the air of the cabin. Sean was terrified that the plane would crash, and he and his parents would die in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and that he would never see his parents again.
         Two hours after the plane first left LaGuardia Airport, the pilot again came on the intercom and asked everyone to stay calm, but now he instructed the passengers to remove the life jackets from the bottom of their seat cushions and to put them on. Meanwhile, Sean looked at his the watch that his parents had just gotten him for his junior high school graduation. What Sean’s parents didn’t know however, was that the watch had been altered to do a number of special things. The watch was in fact, telling him and even the FBI that the plane’s altitude was 9,000 feet. He thought to himself, “I hope the refueling airplane comes soon. Our altitude is getting too low. If the plane doesn’t come, we’ll all definitely die.” As he looked around, he noticed that the other passengers around him were sweating like runners in a marathon. Even though he wasn’t nervous before, he began to get nervous like everyone else.
         At 2:00, his watch told him that the plane was now at an altitude of 5,000 feet when, as Sean looked out the window, he saw a large plane coming straight towards him. As the plane emerged through the thick clouds, he clearly saw that it was the plane that he had first noticed was just a moving speck in the clouds. Sean immediately jumped up and screamed, “YESSS! YESSS! A plane is coming to refuel us so we won’t have to crash in the Atlantic!” Although he thought that the plane’s problem was solved, he looked at his watch and saw that they were at an altitude of only 1,500 feet. The plane was dropping faster than he thought! “Hurry” Sean nervously thought to himself. Five minutes later, Sean finally heard the thud as the refueling plane from the US Air Force docked with the passenger plane to refuel it just in time. Sean’s watch now read 700 feet!! As soon as the plane had a full tank of fuel, the refueling plane released the passenger plane as the passenger plane quickly began its ascent up to its original altitude. As soon as the plane reached 15,000 feet, which took several minutes, the pilot happily announced that the plane was refueled and would make it to Africa. The tension immediately lifted from the cabin, and Sean noticed that it now had a very smelly and sweaty odor to it! Sean’s parents hugged Sean and didn’t let go until the plane landed. After many tears were shed, they finally let go of each other as the plane approached the gate.
         When they landed in Africa, a large sized Safari jeep was there waiting for them to get on since, after all, they were more than 30 minutes late for their safari ride. The driver and guide smiled welcomingly at Sean and his parents. Since the African sun was stronger than they expected, they put their large straw hats on and Sean also put on special contact lens in his eyes. The special contact lens fed his brain and the FBI secret information about things that his parents knew nothing about and only Sean and the FBI got access to.
The driver introduced himself as Simone whose hometown was Mexico. Sean was surprised that the driver was not from Africa! He had been looking forward to meeting the native people and talking to them about their lives that were so different than his in America. As they climbed in with Sean sitting in the front seat, Simone revved up the engine, and they began their safari adventure in the wild and sometimes unpredictable Kenyan outdoor wildlife.
         During their safari, they saw many interesting animals including lions, tigers, cheetahs and even alligators. Sean’s whole family was enjoying the safari very much; especially how close they got to the animals. In the afternoon, as they approached a herd of elephants drinking at a waterhole, Simone faced Sean and told him how elephants are tame most of the time and almost never attack anyone. Sean looked at Simone right in his eye for several seconds and looked away. After Simone had finished talking, and they were all looking at the elephant herd, a brain signal sent from his hi-tech contact lenses told him that this tour guide was a secret spy from Mexico and that the FBI was looking for him. Sean told himself, this can’t be true, or can it? As Sean was pondering over the idea that Simone could be a spy, an elephant unexpectedly began charging right towards him. It curled its trunk around Sean, picked him up, and began to run away with him! The others in the safari vehicle were so shocked and surprised, they didn’t move until the elephant was more than 30 feet away.
         When the safari guide finally woke up from his daze, he jumped out of the vehicle and grabbed the tranquilizer gun that was in the back of the jeep. He cocked the gun, aimed and fired many darts out at the elephant’s body and legs. After running five more feet, the elephant began to slow down and drop to the ground. As soon as it hit the ground, Sean was freed from the elephant’s grasp but, Sean was so stunned that, he didn’t move. At first, everyone thought that we was faking that he was dead but when he didn’t move for a while, they became worried. After a while though, Sean finally gathered himself up and began to run towards his parents. As soon as Sean reached them, his mom and dad hugged him hard and tight and told him that he was very brave and thanked the guide for saving Sean.
         Before long, it was time to leave their safari and head home. Sean’s family left for the airport and as they approached, they saw numerous police cars waiting at the entrance. As they came closer, the police told them to halt immediately and told Simone to get out of the car. Sean immediately thought, “After all he’s done to save me, he isn’t going to be arrested is he? Is he really a super spy?” Sean thought to tell the police that Simone can’t be a super spy, but he knew that the FBI was rarely wrong. Simone really was a spy. Simone cooperated with the police, so they said their goodbyes to him and thanked him again for all his help. They took off at 11:30 PM that night and as they were on the flight back home, every single person in Sean’s family had something very serious to think about: Simone and what a good person he was, even though the FBI said he was a super spy. Could the FBI be wrong this time, since, Simone had cooperated fully with the police and since he was very friendly and helpful? Sean’s family also got to think about what a grand, most eventful day probably not anyone in this world had ever had in their lifetime!
         After Sean came back, he met with the Secret Service and the FBI in a secret building near where Sean lived. They thanked him for sending the e-mail to tell them what time his family was leaving and where they were going so the FBI could help in an emergency. They also congratulated him on catching a super spy through his special contact lenses. Even though Simone saved his life, they assured him that he did the right thing since he saved the world from a bad criminal. They also thanked him for wearing the hi-tech watch that sent a message to the FBI that told them that the plane was having difficulties and was going to crash. Before Sean left to go back home, he got promoted to be an official FBI agent and also a secret spy.

The End!