Bob and the Plastic Pirates

by Hector Godden

"Bob come on!" Mum shouted "Time for school!"

"Just a sec, I'm on the toilet!" Bob was in no hurry to get to school - it was 'Plastic Pollution Day' and he thought it would be terribly boring.

As Bob daydreamed on the toilet he suddenly started to whirl round, gradually and helplessly feeling, one by one, every part of his body getting sucked down...

Next moment, he flew out of the pipes as fast as a gannet shooting out of the water after catching a fish and saw endless water in every direction, he was in the ocean!

On the horizon he saw what looked like a pirate ship. "Ahoy me hearty" came a distant shout. It WAS a pirate ship and before he knew it he was being dragged on board.

"Welcome on board The Recycler, we are the Plastic Pirates" someone with a bushy moustache said. Bob let out a screamiggle (a scream of terror combined with a giggle of excitement).

"What the heck are Plastic Pirates?" Bob asked when he had recovered his senses.

"We save the ocean from the plastic sea monster" the plump captain replied.

"So you not going to make me walk the plank?" Bob nervously asked.

"No, we are kind to humans unless they feed the plastic monster" an ugly crew member explained.

SPLASH! a creature with fiery red eyes that reminded Bob of the lid of his favourite fizzy drink emerged from the sapphire blue sea. Bob was astounded to see that the body of the creature was entirely made of plastic - bottles, plastic bags and plastic cups. Tentatively Bob backed off wondering out loud "What on earth is that grotesque thing?"

"Matey, that is the Plastic Polluter - the sea monster we were talking about. It grows by people throwing their waste into our beautiful seas and kills marine animals with its plastic poison."

Bob suddenly had a feeling that he should be more interested in plastic pollution day at school.

"How can we stop it?" he questioned urgently.

"We can't kill it because selfish humans feed it so much" the ugly one said angrily. "We can capture it bit by bit though and turn it into new things here on board The Recycler."

Bob watched as the Plastic Pirates took out what looked like a huge hoover, climbed onto the monster's transparent bendy body and began to suck plastic off bottle by bottle and bag by bag until it was half the size it had been. The creature let out a yell of plasticky pain, so loud it knocked the crew into the water. Then he turned his red eyes on Bob, lifted him up to his moulded mouth and opened it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH" Bob screamed.

"Bob you are having a bad dream but you'd better get up now or you will be late for school" said Mum, shaking him gently.

"On the way can I recycle all our plastic?" Bob asked with a sleepy shudder.