A Smile for Your Day

At least, this put a smile on my face! :) This story was written back in 2010, basically 3 years ago (has it really been that long?!) in May, for school. I love looking back to what I wrote then—and I still remember the excitement at realizing that I had written my first story! Enjoy, and chuckle at my ignorance back then of how a school works. :)

(Note: this is completely unedited—although I’ve corrected a few spelling mistakes.) :)

Anita and the Terrible School Day

Anita walked into her room and threw herself on the bed, sobbing. If she had only been faster getting up this morning, and had eaten breakfast faster, she would not have missed the school bus. Why did it have to be today, of all days, when her class was going on a field trip to the nature museum?

She suddenly sat up, and grabbed her back-pack. Running outside and down the street, she saw school bus #8 (the kindergarten bus) stop at the McKenzie house, 2 blocks away. Running as fast as she could, she flagged down the sympathetic driver and got to school ½ hour late. (“not too bad,” she thought, “we usually don't start for ½ hour or so after we get here, anyways”)

After putting her coat in the locker, she raced down the hall as fast as she could without making too much noise. Bursting into her science class, she realized that they had started a ½ hour earlier than usual, due to the planned field-trip over lunch time.

LUNCH! It suddenly hit Anita that she had forgotten her lunch! She leaned over and whispered to her good friend, Susanna, when the teacher wasn't looking,“I forgot my lunch! Don't tell teacher that, though, I'll pretend I'm going out in the hall for something, and run home quickly and get it!”

She raised her hand. “Yes”? Teacher Ruth said, raising her eyebrows.

“Miss Ruth, may I go and get a drink?, I'm thirsty.” Anita said, eyeing the clock. She would have exactly 30 minutes to get home and back before they started to the nature museum.

“Yes, you may. Anita, why were you so late this morning?” Teacher Ruth added, noticing her look at the clock.

“Well, I suppose it was because I got up so late this morning.” Anita admitted, shame turning her face a crimson red.

“Hopefully you will be on time next time,” Teacher Ruth encouraged, giving her a smile.

Once in the hall, she almost ran to the door, and down onto the street. Running down the street, she wondered why in the world she had forgotten her food. As she neared home, she saw that her mother's car was gone from it's usual place on the street.

“Wonder where mom went?” She thought to herself, “If she goes anywhere, she goes shopping, and I didn't see her as I came, so she must have gone to visit a friend.”

Upon arriving home, she looked on the counter, where she was certain that her mom had put her food. It was not there.

“Oh, no!” Anita thought, “I promised Emily's mom that we would supply food for her lunch today!” Remembering that she had told mom, she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Now, where did mom put the food? I know she packed it, I saw her put it here!” Glancing at her watch, she was horrified to see that she had only 15 minutes to get back to school. Rushing to the refrigerator; she found some sandwich meat and mayonnaise. In another cupboard, she found a loaf of bread, and made two sandwiches. 10 minutes left! Stuffing the sandwiches in a plastic bag, she ran out the door and down the street.

As she neared school, she saw a school bus pull out, and disappear around the bend. “Oh, no!” She thought, “I won't get to go after all!” She slowly walked up the walk, and was just about to enter, when she, hearing a crunch of gravel behind her, turned around, just in time to see her mother drive into the car park and stop.

She ran over to her mother, and her mom rolled down her window, saying, “Just thought you might want this” And handed over the lunch box.

***********************************

“Thanks, Mom, too bad you were not here before!” Anita finished, after relating the recent events of what had just happened.

Running inside, she ran into Miss Ruth, and the entire class headed for the door. Stepping back, surprised, she said, “I thought that you had just gone!”

The whole class burst out laughing. “No, we didn't! That was the high school class going to the history park! We had to wait for them to go before we could! We couldn't leave you, anyway, Emily’s hungry!”

 

So—do you think it’s a keeper? :) I had almost totally forgotten about the story, but when I found it in my writings I knew I should share it. That last sentence is so funny! :) Wonder where I got the inspiration…?