O.K. so yesterday, Ms. Clay with her clipboard announced for us to take a turn on the scales. That sounded fun to me. I had never thought about how much I weighed and so I had a little smile on my face and a little happy in my head. We heard a giant gasp and a moan. I looked around. Cassandra was horrified and Margaret looked like she might pass out. “Do we have to?” Cassandra cried out concern. Ms. Clay looked over her glasses and said that the numbers would be a secret. I looked over at Cassandra. She is the cutest girl in our whole class, probably in the whole galaxy and beyond. Sometimes when you see how pretty she is, you just have to gulp or something. So I couldn’t figure her problem. And then it hit me! She is skinny and so maybe she wouldn’t weigh enough to get an A. She always gets A’s. Spelling, Science, Reading, Math, you can just name it…she is the best at it. Maybe she was sad that she wouldn’t win top honors here. I wasn’t sure exactly how she was feeling, but I was sure hoping that she would weigh enough. Ms. Clay rolled her eyes a bit at Cassandra and Margaret and then looked at the whole class, “If you want to take your shoes off, then you can.”No! Cassandra I yelled in my own mind, NO! Leave your shoes on or you won’t be the best in your weight! I tore off a piece of paper and was going to hurry and write her a note and explain all about that shoe trick but she had already taken hers off and was walking up to the front in her cute blue polka dotted socks with the bows on them. Wow, right then, looking at those socks…well, I lost track and was just hoping that my socks matched without holes. I leaned over and tied my laces really really tight. It was too late for Cassandra, but my shoes were staying on at all cost.
“Luci, keep your shoes on,” I whispered, (a bit too loud as it turned out), because Ms. Clay called on me next. I marched right to the front and stood up on those big weighy scales with a smile. “67 lbs” Ms. Clay whispered. “67 pounds!” I announced to the whole class. That sounded like a good weight to me. Cassandra made a little miffle laugh and on my way back to my desk, I heard her tell Margaret that she only weighed 59 lbs. Poor thing. Maybe I shouldn’t have bragged about my high score in front of everybody.
And that is exactly right, I shouldn’t have, because my life was about to be ruined. Luci told me at recess that people don’t want to weigh very much. “What? Are you sure they want low scores Luci?” “They do,” she pulled me closer. “That’s why Cassandra laughed at you when you said 67 whopping pounds. I am truly way way way sorry Hadley K that this happened to you.” “What happened to me? Nothing, Luci, that’s what. I didn’t laugh at anybody, so I didn’t have to worry. But I did. I did worry.
At recess, I looked at Cassandra when she wasn’t looking. She is really really pretty and she only weighs 59 lbs. For the first time in my whole years and days of life…I felt a kind of sad that I didn't know about. I weighed too much and everybody was probably laughing at me. Luci tried to help me at lunch time, “Maybe you shouldn’t eat your hot dog because it is crawling with calories ya know.” “Who are they? What is a Cal and who is a Ree?” I burst out as I took my fork and pushed the hot dog over looking for some awful yucky bugs or worms or something. “No Hadley K, they are super teensy, you can’t even see what the little germs look like, until they are all piled on people and then they look like fat.”
“Well, that does it for me. From now on, I will not eat hot dogs Luci. Thank you for telling me about those fat dogs!” and then I started to laugh and decided to eat my dessert instead. “Wait, Hadkey K, you can't eat your cake either.” “You have so got to be kidding Luci. What doesn’t have those critters in them?” I had never heard about calories and they were going to make life very awful and bad for me. “My aunt said that they’re in everything you eat…” Then Luci looked real close at my lunch tray and every single thing on it and then she must have remembered something her aunt told her because she added: “well maybe, yeah…I think you can have your water.” That moment made me think the world was not round anymore. “Water…are you only kidding me?” I snapped. (But she was only trying to help and so I said sorry.) I really wanted to weigh 59 lbs. and so water it was. Then Luci told me that she would eat my cake and my hot dog and all those icky sticky calories with them. You couldn’t ask for a truer friend.
During Math, I started to get sleepy and the walk home from school felt like walking in stucky mud. When I got home, I could smell dozens of thousands of calories in the kitchen and so I hugged my mother quick and went upstairs and sat on my bed. But soon my head felt heavy and it came down to my right shoulder and then my waist tilted and I must have fallen asleep just sitting there because when I tipped over on my bed I woke up with a start. My stomach was a growling lion and the whole house smelled like delicious calories coming up the stairs to get me. I put my blanket over my nose and mouth so the calories would not sneak in. Then my mother called me for dinner and that means NOW!
During the blessing, I wished my brother would say: “and please bless this food to nourish and strengthen our bodies and please take all of the calories out so we will not turn into elephants.” But he said, “and please bless this food to nourish and strengthen our bodies and give us the energy we need to do what is right.” When he said the Amen part then I asked him to please pass the water. My whole family looked at me and then at the broccoli and then at the water and then at me again, because I love broccoli! Love, love, love, eating those tiny itty bitty trees, but I poured a glass of water and drank it really slow while my brother put a whole truck load of broccoli on his plate. “Honey, please pass the broccoli.” My mother said. Our mom calls us all honey and so we have to sort out which honey she is talking to or about. “I don’t want any,” I sorta whispered. “I just want water this time. I am really really really thirsty today.” My family ate quietly and worried about me. That’s what eating and being quiet means at our house. Otherwise, we would be talking about how many times I jumped the rope at recess, what my grandma said when she called, how my brother did on his test, and junk like that so we all know about each other and stuff. So I should have known that my mom or my dad would come find out about the water thing later on. It was too quiet for anything else.
“But mom,” I said. “You don’t know what it is like to be the only whale in the whole school!” and I started to cry. “I need to go on a diet so I can weigh 59 lbs. I hate calories…why did they have to be invented and why can't we even see the ugly little things anyway!” And I cried louder. My mother about fell off my bed laughing. And then I started to laugh and cry too at what I had said, and then she put her arms around me. “Hadley K, maybe you need to know what a calorie is honey. It is the little blessing in food that gives you energy so that you can swing and slide and jump the rope and think and run and smile. Calories are invisible friends.” Now I was confused about stuff because My mother always tells the truth, and I mean ALWAYS, but Luci’s aunt doesn’t lie. “Honey, the healthy foods that we eat have good calories and the junk food that we eat has empty calories…and those must be the ones that you are talking about! If we don’t have enough good calories, then we will die.” I looked up. “I get it! That’s why they call it a DIE-It, right? I asked. She smiled again and then we had a talk about diets and donuts and broccoli and wheat bread and stuff and I understood every word. Cookies and cake and stuff were for special times like Birthdays and Family Home Evening Treats, and chocolate milk Tuesdays, but good food is for every single 3 times a day. “Come on, honey”, she started out of my room. “I saved you some itty bitty trees.” My Mom is something I tell ya.
Okay, so here’s the deal. I started to notice that when I eat good, then I feel good and after dinner, I wasn’t so tired. Knowing that is way plenty for this girlfriend.
I sorta figured that my dad would talk to me too. And he did. And it really doesn’t even matter a hoot how much we weigh in at or how much somebody else weighs in at. What matters is that I didn’t laugh at anybody or make them feel bad. I got thinking about how Cassandra had laughed at me. That’s a sad thing for her, because her unkindness is in her book now. (But, maybe she will repent and then the angels will tear that page right out!)
Ok, so forget only just plain water and nothing else to eat. Phewwwww! Diets are silly if they are just water. I really really need to tell Luci that we need to forget about calories cause some of them are very A-ok good ones, and that we have to be wise at our age and and think about caterpillars and butterflies and my ant farm and jumping rope and things that are really more important than weighing 59 lbs.
I just knew my dad would help me. And he did. He gave me a poem and said that if I would memorize it all the way to the end…that he would give me a whole dollar! OH MY, WOULD I! So, every night after brushing my teeth and putting on my ‘jamas, right before prayers, I would memorize a couple of lines at a time and add them to the others that I already had stored up there in my brain.
My Mother says she doesn’t care,
About the color of my hair,
Or if my eyes are blue or brown
Or if my nose turns up or down
It really doesn’t matter.
My Mother says she doesn’t care,
If I’m dark or if I’m fair,
If I’m thin or a tiny bit fat,
She doesn’t fret over things like that,
It really doesn’t matter.
But if I’m rude or impolite
And do not try to do what’s right,
If I cheat or tell a lie
Or do mean things to make folks cry
Then that really does matter.
It’s not looks that makes one great,
It’s character that seals your fate.
It’s what’s in your heart you see
That makes or mars your destiny
And that really does matter!
In two or five more days, I will say the whole entire poem clear through to the end for my dad! Then he will hand me a whole crisp dollar bill, then I will give him a big hug; then he will tell me that he is proud of me and that he loves me; then I will tell him that I love him too.
And then he will listen to my prayers and tuck me into bed. Then he’ll tell me that he married my mom because she thinks about others, not just about herself, and that is one of the reasons that she is so beautiful. And then he will bend down and kiss my forehead and whisper “Good-night sweetheart, I hope your dreams are in color”. And The reason I know all of that will happen is because: I know all of that will happen.
P.S. And it did!!!
*************************************
At recess, I looked at Cassandra when she wasn’t looking. She is really really pretty and she only weighs 59 lbs. For the first time in my whole years and days of life…I felt a kind of sad that I didn't know about. I weighed too much and everybody was probably laughing at me. Luci tried to help me at lunch time, “Maybe you shouldn’t eat your hot dog because it is crawling with calories ya know.” “Who are they? What is a Cal and who is a Ree?” I burst out as I took my fork and pushed the hot dog over looking for some awful yucky bugs or worms or something. “No Hadley K, they are super teensy, you can’t even see what the little germs look like, until they are all piled on people and then they look like fat.”
“Well, that does it for me. From now on, I will not eat hot dogs Luci. Thank you for telling me about those fat dogs!” and then I started to laugh and decided to eat my dessert instead. “Wait, Hadkey K, you can't eat your cake either.” “You have so got to be kidding Luci. What doesn’t have those critters in them?” I had never heard about calories and they were going to make life very awful and bad for me. “My aunt said that they’re in everything you eat…” Then Luci looked real close at my lunch tray and every single thing on it and then she must have remembered something her aunt told her because she added: “well maybe, yeah…I think you can have your water.” That moment made me think the world was not round anymore. “Water…are you only kidding me?” I snapped. (But she was only trying to help and so I said sorry.) I really wanted to weigh 59 lbs. and so water it was. Then Luci told me that she would eat my cake and my hot dog and all those icky sticky calories with them. You couldn’t ask for a truer friend.
During Math, I started to get sleepy and the walk home from school felt like walking in stucky mud. When I got home, I could smell dozens of thousands of calories in the kitchen and so I hugged my mother quick and went upstairs and sat on my bed. But soon my head felt heavy and it came down to my right shoulder and then my waist tilted and I must have fallen asleep just sitting there because when I tipped over on my bed I woke up with a start. My stomach was a growling lion and the whole house smelled like delicious calories coming up the stairs to get me. I put my blanket over my nose and mouth so the calories would not sneak in. Then my mother called me for dinner and that means NOW!
During the blessing, I wished my brother would say: “and please bless this food to nourish and strengthen our bodies and please take all of the calories out so we will not turn into elephants.” But he said, “and please bless this food to nourish and strengthen our bodies and give us the energy we need to do what is right.” When he said the Amen part then I asked him to please pass the water. My whole family looked at me and then at the broccoli and then at the water and then at me again, because I love broccoli! Love, love, love, eating those tiny itty bitty trees, but I poured a glass of water and drank it really slow while my brother put a whole truck load of broccoli on his plate. “Honey, please pass the broccoli.” My mother said. Our mom calls us all honey and so we have to sort out which honey she is talking to or about. “I don’t want any,” I sorta whispered. “I just want water this time. I am really really really thirsty today.” My family ate quietly and worried about me. That’s what eating and being quiet means at our house. Otherwise, we would be talking about how many times I jumped the rope at recess, what my grandma said when she called, how my brother did on his test, and junk like that so we all know about each other and stuff. So I should have known that my mom or my dad would come find out about the water thing later on. It was too quiet for anything else.
“But mom,” I said. “You don’t know what it is like to be the only whale in the whole school!” and I started to cry. “I need to go on a diet so I can weigh 59 lbs. I hate calories…why did they have to be invented and why can't we even see the ugly little things anyway!” And I cried louder. My mother about fell off my bed laughing. And then I started to laugh and cry too at what I had said, and then she put her arms around me. “Hadley K, maybe you need to know what a calorie is honey. It is the little blessing in food that gives you energy so that you can swing and slide and jump the rope and think and run and smile. Calories are invisible friends.” Now I was confused about stuff because My mother always tells the truth, and I mean ALWAYS, but Luci’s aunt doesn’t lie. “Honey, the healthy foods that we eat have good calories and the junk food that we eat has empty calories…and those must be the ones that you are talking about! If we don’t have enough good calories, then we will die.” I looked up. “I get it! That’s why they call it a DIE-It, right? I asked. She smiled again and then we had a talk about diets and donuts and broccoli and wheat bread and stuff and I understood every word. Cookies and cake and stuff were for special times like Birthdays and Family Home Evening Treats, and chocolate milk Tuesdays, but good food is for every single 3 times a day. “Come on, honey”, she started out of my room. “I saved you some itty bitty trees.” My Mom is something I tell ya.
Okay, so here’s the deal. I started to notice that when I eat good, then I feel good and after dinner, I wasn’t so tired. Knowing that is way plenty for this girlfriend.
I sorta figured that my dad would talk to me too. And he did. And it really doesn’t even matter a hoot how much we weigh in at or how much somebody else weighs in at. What matters is that I didn’t laugh at anybody or make them feel bad. I got thinking about how Cassandra had laughed at me. That’s a sad thing for her, because her unkindness is in her book now. (But, maybe she will repent and then the angels will tear that page right out!)
Ok, so forget only just plain water and nothing else to eat. Phewwwww! Diets are silly if they are just water. I really really need to tell Luci that we need to forget about calories cause some of them are very A-ok good ones, and that we have to be wise at our age and and think about caterpillars and butterflies and my ant farm and jumping rope and things that are really more important than weighing 59 lbs.
I just knew my dad would help me. And he did. He gave me a poem and said that if I would memorize it all the way to the end…that he would give me a whole dollar! OH MY, WOULD I! So, every night after brushing my teeth and putting on my ‘jamas, right before prayers, I would memorize a couple of lines at a time and add them to the others that I already had stored up there in my brain.
My Mother says she doesn’t care,
About the color of my hair,
Or if my eyes are blue or brown
Or if my nose turns up or down
It really doesn’t matter.
My Mother says she doesn’t care,
If I’m dark or if I’m fair,
If I’m thin or a tiny bit fat,
She doesn’t fret over things like that,
It really doesn’t matter.
But if I’m rude or impolite
And do not try to do what’s right,
If I cheat or tell a lie
Or do mean things to make folks cry
Then that really does matter.
It’s not looks that makes one great,
It’s character that seals your fate.
It’s what’s in your heart you see
That makes or mars your destiny
And that really does matter!
In two or five more days, I will say the whole entire poem clear through to the end for my dad! Then he will hand me a whole crisp dollar bill, then I will give him a big hug; then he will tell me that he is proud of me and that he loves me; then I will tell him that I love him too.
And then he will listen to my prayers and tuck me into bed. Then he’ll tell me that he married my mom because she thinks about others, not just about herself, and that is one of the reasons that she is so beautiful. And then he will bend down and kiss my forehead and whisper “Good-night sweetheart, I hope your dreams are in color”. And The reason I know all of that will happen is because: I know all of that will happen.
P.S. And it did!!!
*************************************
I like this one. I can relate. I love the imagery you bring to everyday things kids go through! :) Thank you for writing these for us! :)
ReplyDeleteBrenda, I wanted you to know that I have read all three stories and they are so good! You have such a talent at remembering they way children feel and you express yourself so well, along with giving your beautiful solutions to life's problems. They are so cute and funny, too. I love, love, love them. You really should have them published. Your grandchildren and children are so lucky to have such a wonderful source for answers and truth. You are an inspiration to me. Love Evelyne
ReplyDeleteFabulous...keep going!!!
ReplyDelete