ONCE there was a boy called Scott. He loved rocks, especially smooth rocks. Once his dad went on a trip to a rainforest. Scott didn't want him to go. When he was gone, Scott didn't speak until his dad came back. When his dad came back Scott was really happy. His dad had so many presents. Scott got a big stone, it was sort of aqua and smooth and he called it a rain stone.

The next day the leaves were falling off the trees. Scott thought it was winter, but it was January. He went inside to get the rock. It was very hot so he brought it outside to see if it would cool down. The next day he completely forgot about the rain stone. That night he went outside to get the rain stone but it wasn't there. He looked around. Then he saw the most gigantic rock he had ever seen in his life. When he touched it, his hand nearly froze. He couldn't even fit the rain stone through the door, so he had to go to bed without it. That night the rain stone got bigger and bigger, then crack, the rain stone began to open. Tons of water gushed out. All the broken bits formed into three small rocks. They were exactly like the first rain stone. Then Scott woke up to get the rain stone. He went downstairs, but there were three rain stones. Then he ran upstairs as fast as he could. He yelled, "Daddy, Mummy, wake up. My rain stone turned into three pieces!"

"Wow!" said Scott's dad. Then Scott and his parents went downstairs to have a look at it, but only Scott saw something crawling on it. It looked like an ant, but it was twice the size. Then on the other rock t here was another shadow which was even bigger than the first one.

Scott asked his mum and dad if they could see it. They both said no. Scott wondered why they could not see it. While he was trying to work out what was making the shadow, the rock broke open. A strange-looking animal came out and quickly ran across the garden. Then the other came out that looked like a spider. It jumped up onto the roof and the rain started pouring out of it. The rain washed away the green goo and left behind a beautiful opal that had lights in it that looked like the fire of sunset. Scott picked up the opal and took it inside to put in his special treasure box. He checked every morning and every night to make sure it was still there.

But the good thing was that Scott's dad was going on a desert trip. This time he got a sun rock. That as the most powerful one. It could make things grow and shrink. It could also make itself so hot that if anything touched it, it would burn.

Thomas studies at the International School Manila.