Annabelle, 8, Tallahassee, FL
Prologue
One lovely morning a little girl named Alice woke up to see morning sunlight streaming through her window. Alice looked at the clock. It was extremely early, so she quickly walked to the window, pulled down the white trimmed curtains, and got back into bed. Two hours later she woke up again feeling unusually happy. She got out of her bed and softly tiptoed downstairs to breakfast.
For breakfast there was mint tea, some corn muffins leftover from last night, and some hard-boiled eggs. Alice bolted into the kitchen and grabbed the last corn muffin with her bare hands. She quickly grabbed a hard-boiled egg and a cup of mint tea and sat down. Ten seconds later her brothers Sam, Joe, and Andy bolted downstairs pushing each other around wildly. She smiled at them mischievously. When they saw her smile they immediately skidded to a stop.
“I got the last corn muffin!” she teased.
The boys scowled at her and sat down.
“How did you sleep?” their mom asked them.
“I had a wonderful sleep, Mommy,” Alice said.
“Good,” said their mom.
“How about you boys?”
“MOM!!!” They yelled. “You don’t have to ask us that same stupid question EVERY SINGLE MORNING!”
“But I want to be warned if you're going to be a cranky little monster today or a sweet little angel who got enough sleep!”
Just then we heard a big CRASH!! From downstairs. They ran downstairs, to see what all the commotion was about, and it was a sight to see!! Their dad was sitting in one corner rubbing his head, while in another corner, the whole wall was torn down AND paint was spilled ALLLLLLLLLL over the floor.
“What happened!?” their mom asked him.
“Well …” said Dad. “I was trying to surprise you by painting that wall…” he said, pointing to the mess. “But I sort of dropped the paint can on the floor. And then I sort of lost my balance, and, and,” he mumbled.
“It’s OK,” their my mom said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “We forgive you.”
“Yeah,” Alice said. “We forgive you.”
“Thank you,” he mumbled.
“Now,” their mom said. “Who’s going to call the guys?”
“Not me!” they all shouted at the same time.
“Hmmmm,” my mom said. “I choose……. YOU!” she said suddenly, pointing at their dad.
“Oh, man,” he said.
“Go get a move on!” their mom said. “And quickly, too.”
“OK.”
He gave in, walking toward the door. The kids waited in silence for a second.
“Well,” said their mom finally, breaking the silence. “I’m going to go upstairs and read, so if you need anything just come and ask me.”
“OK, Mommy!!” they said, as she walked out the door. “We will!”
“Good,” said a voice from down the hall.
“I think I am going to do my homework now,” said Andy quickly. “Does anybody want to come with me?”
“No thanks,” the others said. He left.
“I am going to work on my story upstairs,” Alice said.
And before anyone could have any objections she ran out of the room, up the stairs, and into Sam’s room. She grabbed the computer and ran into her room. Alice’s room had a small bed, a cute little desk with a pile of books on it, a small chest, and a small lamp in one small corner. She walked over to the bed, sat down, opened up the computer, signed in, and continued her story. When she had written about three and a half sentences, she heard a loud “kaboom” coming from downstairs again.
Ohh no!! She thought. What has Daddy gotten into THIS time!?
Alice closed the computer and quickly walked downstairs. When she got downstairs, she found Andy sitting on the couch with a cup of mint tea in one hand and a piece of paper in the other. Sam was in the kitchen making a smoothie and Joe was sitting in a chair reading his book.
“Did you hear that??” she asked them.
“Hear what?” said Andy.
“The kaboom sound. You really didn’t hear that?” she asked.
“No,” he said.
Alice listened. There it was again!! “Did you hear it THAT time??”
“Yeah!” he said, jumping to his feet.
“What is it??” she asked him.
“I don’t know, but I am going to find out,” he said.
They all followed him outside.
To be continued…
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