Let’s pull all these fragments back together and see what we have. Here’s the original snippet.
Wherever Storm Boy went, Mr Percival followed. If he collected shells along the beach, Mr Percival went with him, either waddling importantly along at his heels or flying slowly above him in wide circles. If Storm Boy went swimming, or sliding down the sandhills, or playing on the sand, Mr Percival found a good spot nearby and perched there heavily to watch and wait until it was over. If Storm Boy went fishing or rowing on the Coorong, Mr Percival cruised joyously round him with his neck bent back and his chest thrust forward like a dragon ship sailing calmly in a sea of air. Whenever he saw Storm Boy anchor the boat he came gliding in with a long, skimming splash, shook his wings into place, and bobbed serenely on the ripples a few yards away.
Here are the examples we've been building:
While Amelia explored the rubbish tip, the black cat kept its distance. As she went through the recycle bins, the black cat looked the opposite way, pretending to ignore her but shooting glances in her direction. As Amelia looked through the clothing boxes, picked through the magazines, and found old toys, the black cat would take a step or two closer. But any sudden sound would make it leap and scramble back to a dark corner, eventually peeking out and shooting death stares. When Amelia began to climb the huge pile of general rubbish to look for hidden treasure, the cat lost all pretense of cool and followed with its head craning to keep track with feet nimbly leaping from junk to junk like a goat traversing a well worn mountain path. Whenever it saw Amelia stop to explore it slowed right down, stopping a little closer each time, becoming bolder and bolder until, finally, it was practically beside her.
No matter how much Xavier tried to keep it out, the crow always found a way into the house. He could close all the doors and windows, and the crow would find a way, either dropping down through the old brick chimney, or popping up through the hole in the floor of the laundry. If Xavier was eating, whether standing at the counter with a bowl of cereal or lying on the couch with a packet of corn chips, the crow would appear out of nowhere, studying the food with beady blue eyes, pecking at anything Xavier happened to drop. Xavier could be taking a shower before school, and suddenly the crow would land on the shower head, its claws tapping along the metal, flapping its wings into the spray like someone unfurling a paper fan in the rain. And sometimes at night, while Xavier was lying in his bed looking at the moonlight on his bedroom wall, he would notice the crow on the shelf above his desk, watching him in the darkness, silent and motionless, inexplicably perched next to his old Auskick footy.
And below is your version, joined together. You'll need to delete the line breaks to create a continuous paragraph.
Is there anything you want to edit? This is your last chance to make improvements before we conclude the lesson!
