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Kaia Gleason
Period 3
Memoir
October 8th, 2014
The Tipi
It was a sunny day, not a single cloud in sight, but the wind was blowing harder than I
had hoped. I knew the ocean would be rough. I had always hated the feeling of going up and
down the waves of the ocean, as if I were on a rollercoaster that would never end. But it was too
late to turn back now I realized, as I grabbed some camping supplies and headed down the
ramp to the harbor. I couldnt wait to make it to Biorka Island, one of my favorite places in the
world, even if it meant facing an hour long trip at sea.
Once we had packed all of our stuff down to my dads boat, Seldomseen, we slowly
drove out of the harbor, until we were far enough from the other boats to speed up. Two
massive sea lions swam gracefully through the black waves. Several small islands surrounded
us, some with little houses built on them.
Tyla and Che` sat across from me, playing on their electronic devices. My dad sat at the
wheel, playing his rock music so loud it made my head pound, like always. I tried to listen to my
own music using my new earbuds, but even on full volume, all of my songs were drowned out
by the loud guitar solo playing on the stereo. So I turned off my phone and just looked out the
window, not paying attention to anything or anyone else.
Sooner than I had expected, the boat began to slow down, telling me that we had
arrived.
Tyla shrieked, Were here!
Biorkas dock stood in front of us, and Che` and Tyla were tying up. I took off my
lifejacket and helped carry our gear up the ramp into the little six-wheeler.
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Tyla, of course, demanded she take the wheel to the quarters, where all the FAA
workers stayed. Please! Im the best driver ever! Im better than Kaia!
I rolled my eyes. Well, maybe, if you didnt always drive and let me try sometime, I
would get better. That shut Tyla up. Dad eventually just drove us all to the quarters where we
put our clothes in our rooms and food in the kitchen.
Biorka Island is a government island. It has cabins for the Raven Way kids and quarters
for the FAA workers, which is where we stay when we go to Biorka. We used to live here
permanently, in a small gray house, before Tyla was born. Che` had spent his first seven years
running around wild on the island. I was only a baby. I dont know why we moved, but
sometimes I wish we hadnt.
What should we do? I asked Tyla. Che` was going out on a long hike, and prefered to
be alone. Dad went to go work, so I was left with Tyla.
Che` piped in. Hey, last time I was here, I built a little hut on the back beach. Go see if
its still there.
Tyla and I were gone in seconds, excited to see if the shelter was still standing.
We scanned up and down the beach. We then saw a little tipi made of driftwood nearby.
Tyla made it to the tipi before me, since I had tripped in the sand on the way.
Tyla gasped in awe. Kaia! Come look at this!
I jogged over, and peeked inside. It was a perfect circle, with a log in the middle holding
everything together. Light leaked through the small gaps in between each piece of wood. It was
cool inside, and gave us shade from the sun and wind. Tyla and I fit in there perfectly.
Tyla, this is perfect! I exclaimed excitedly.
Lets live in here! She proposed. Tyla and I always loved playing games like Lost or
survival whenever we went camping. The tipi would make our traditional game much more real.
We assigned each other jobs. Tyla had to fix up the tipi so that it was as sturdy and as
snug as possible, and I was in charge of getting food and firewood. I made my way to the
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tidepools closer to the shore, and after around 10 minutes, I had a handful of beach crabs
ranging in all sizes and a pile of small sticks that would burn nicely.
Tyla was almost done when I returned to our new home.
So, where are we going to make a fire? I asked, putting the sticks down. I got some
food, I showed her the crabs.
Good. Hey, go get a torch from the garage and a pot to put the crabs in. Oh, and I was
thinking of just putting the fire in the tipi.
The idea of a fire in a wooden tipi made me nervous, but I just shrugged. So I ran back
to the house, got a torch and a small pot. Before long, we had boiled our crabs, and the tipi was
nice and warm because of our fire.
This is awesome, Tyla said, laying down. I looked around the tipi, and noticed one of
the logs had turned black.
Tyla!I shouted.
What? she sat up, surprised.
Look, I pointed to the burnt log.
It was the fire, Tyla stated. The small fire sitting in the middle of the tipi looked small
and innocent, but it couldve easily have burned down our tipi.
Should we put it out? I asked. Tyla shook her head. We would just have to watch it
closely from now on.
Kaia! Tyla! My dad called.
Its dinner time, Tyla mumbled.
Wait! What about the fire? I asked Tyla.
Oh, just leave it.
What? No! Dont be stupid!
Why not?
Do you want to burn down the tipi?
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Tyla looked down at her feet, Oh. I guess not.
So Tyla and I went and got a bucket from my dad, filled it with salt water and put out the
fire. By then, we were both starving, so we went to the quarters to eat dinner.
Hey, Dad, can we go back? Tyla asked, face covered in steak juice. The TV was
playing some sci-fi movie that I had no interest in.
Where? To Che`s fort?
Yeah, I piped in.
No, girls. Its dark out, and I dont think its safe to sleep in, Dad shook his head.
I understood. Tyla and I probably wouldnt have made it all night anyways. It was getting
colder and colder as the night grew darker. We would have been freezing. So we went to bed,
unaware of what the next day would bring.
I woke up to the sound of waves crashing on the shore. I looked around my bedroom,
and Tyla was gone. She always wakes up earlier than me, so I was not alarmed. The aroma of
bacon and eggs filled my nose, and I slowly got out of bed to see if any food was left in the
kitchen.
I heard the four-wheeler outside, so I ran outside into the large grass field in front of the
house to see if I could find Tyla before she drove up the hill.
Before long, Tyla raced past me and I waved, so she would come and pick me up. I
hopped behind her and held on to her shoulders.
Whats happening? I asked, loud enough so she could hear.
Lets go check on the tipi and see if its still ok, Tyla proposed, turning the fourwheeler
around and driving down the beach.
But before we could make it, my Dad stood in front of the vehicle so we wouldnt go any
farther.
Im done with all my work stuff. Were leaving soon. Go get packed, he informed us. I
was startled, because I thought we were going to stay on the island for another day.
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What about our tipi? Tyla asked. I doubted that it would still be there by the time we
returned to Biorka. My heart sank, for the tipi had brought so many memories and I was going to
miss it, even if we nearly destroyed it.
Weeks later, I returned to Biorka. The tipi was gone, with no sign of it ever being there in
the first place. All that was left was our memories.