Min’s Bad Day

One day in the Animal City in 2122 there lived an orange Lucozade called Orange Lucozade. There was a goldfish called Min who wore a tiny hat and he looked like a barnacle compared to sharks. They were walking to school together.

Min saw what he thought was his missing father.

“Orange Lucozade! I think that’s my father!” Min’s voice squeaked excitedly.

“Okay,” Orange Lucozade replied.

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It was at this moment that Min remembered that he forgot to pay his taxes. He hated taxes.

“OMG I forgot to pay my taxes!” he shouted out loud. Animal City was super busy around school time.

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A turtle wearing a metal bikini stopped when he heard Min shout. It took him a million years to turn his head in their direction and he looked at them strangely.

“Don’t ... worry ... buddy it ... happens ... to ... everybody,” the turtle said in slow motion “I ... went ... to ... jail ... for ... five ... million ... years ... when ... I ... forgot ... to ... pay ... mine.”

“I’m too beautiful to go to jail!” cried Min.

“Calm down, it’ll be okay,” said Orange Lucozade.

Min was so scared that he had to go home. His house was a floating old rotten banana.

When he got home, the tax collectors were at his door about to take his house away. The area was flooded with paparazzi.

Min broke down and cried himself to sleep while he slept on the streets that night ...

The 100 Years Project is part of the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 initiative of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport & Media in Ireland. Fighting Words & Fighting Words NI organise creative writing workshops and projects with school students at primary and post-primary levels, inviting them to cast their imaginations 100 years to both the past and future. Presented here is a small collection of stories from those workshops.