Due to overwhelming public demand by all three of you, I have decided to post, in it's full unabridged form, the (very) short story wot I did way back in 1977.
First, some background.
I grew up in an area of Falkirk known as Langlees. It was/is universally accepted to be the scummiest area of town and really just sprang up as a sort of dormitory area for the workers at the BA (British Aluminium) factory that at the time was one of the area's biggest employers.
Like so many British firms from the sixties and seventies, it's now nothing more than a memory, but both my father and mother worked there, their eyes meeting across a crowded blast furnace.
In 1977 the factory asked the pupils of my school to "do something" for some sort of celebration they were having, the reason for which now escapes me. Some kids painted pictures, some kids made sculptures from aluminium cans, and I decided to write a story, 'Boxarum'. One of my friends, Steven Cowan, was a dab hand at graphic design, even as a 7 year old, and he kindly supplied the cover art.
I grew up in an area of Falkirk known as Langlees. It was/is universally accepted to be the scummiest area of town and really just sprang up as a sort of dormitory area for the workers at the BA (British Aluminium) factory that at the time was one of the area's biggest employers.
Like so many British firms from the sixties and seventies, it's now nothing more than a memory, but both my father and mother worked there, their eyes meeting across a crowded blast furnace.
In 1977 the factory asked the pupils of my school to "do something" for some sort of celebration they were having, the reason for which now escapes me. Some kids painted pictures, some kids made sculptures from aluminium cans, and I decided to write a story, 'Boxarum'. One of my friends, Steven Cowan, was a dab hand at graphic design, even as a 7 year old, and he kindly supplied the cover art.
Boxarum
By Gordon Inch (Age 7)
The starcruiser with its load of bauxite came to its destination, Boxarum, which was really a space station with the power to produce enough aluminium for the whole universe. Looming ever nearer Boxarum, the starcruiser's captain saw the planet's sun, which was at the port side of the ship. This sun produced all the power the planet needed to operate, it worked on solar energy.
Boxarum was owned by the Galactic Aluminium company, G.A., which many hundreds of years before was called the B.A., British Aluminium. As the starcruiser landed and its retro rockets died down, a group of workers came forward to unload the ship. They came from many planets, fromYanis, Meltoroid, Malgo, Zacar and Accor. They all looked different. The men from Yanis looked like huge moles with smooth black fur and tiny blind eyes. They had feelers which were better than eyes. Melteroid men looked like big gorillas, Malgo men looked like long pipes, Zacar men were like abominable snowmen and Accor men were green and scaled like like snakes. Among these were men from the planet Earth who had two arms, two legs, smooth skin, two eyes, a nose and a mouth.
The planet was one huge foundry with furnaces and huge rollers to press the metal.
There were great fires which made the planet glow like one of the brightest stars.
Fin.
Ok, there's not much in the way of plot development, but at seven years of age a plot was something you grew potatoes in!
Boxarum was owned by the Galactic Aluminium company, G.A., which many hundreds of years before was called the B.A., British Aluminium. As the starcruiser landed and its retro rockets died down, a group of workers came forward to unload the ship. They came from many planets, fromYanis, Meltoroid, Malgo, Zacar and Accor. They all looked different. The men from Yanis looked like huge moles with smooth black fur and tiny blind eyes. They had feelers which were better than eyes. Melteroid men looked like big gorillas, Malgo men looked like long pipes, Zacar men were like abominable snowmen and Accor men were green and scaled like like snakes. Among these were men from the planet Earth who had two arms, two legs, smooth skin, two eyes, a nose and a mouth.
The planet was one huge foundry with furnaces and huge rollers to press the metal.
There were great fires which made the planet glow like one of the brightest stars.
Fin.
Ok, there's not much in the way of plot development, but at seven years of age a plot was something you grew potatoes in!
