Lessons for Sale
Experience is a hard teacher because it gives the test first and the lesson afterward.
“I’m sooooo bored today!” my sister, Linda, whispered tome during morning recess. “Let’s pretend we’re sick,” she plotted. “Then we can go home and play until Mom and Cheryl get there.” Cheryl was our little sister whose kindergarten class was near our mother’s office.
“Great!” I squealed, without thinking it through. I adored my big sister and would do anything to be with her.
“Shhhh!” Linda hissed, and then grabbed her belly. “Oooooh, my stomach hurts!”
“Mine, too,” I moaned, winking.
Shortly after returning to class, I asked to use the restroom. When I came back, I whimpered with my best tummy-ache look, “I’m feeling sick. I’d better go see the nurse.”
“I’m so sorry, honey,” Mrs. Brown, my teacher, said.
“Thanks,” I whispered, ignoring the voice inside my head that was saying, Don’t do this.
The nurse asked some questions, had me lie down and gently stroked my head. When she returned thirty minutes later, I told some more lies—BIG ones. I said that I felt worse and that I had just phoned my mother. She was leaving work right away to meet me at home. The nurse checked my file and found a permission slip for me to walk home. Suddenly, the nurse dialed my mother’s work number! I gasped and held my breath. After a gazillion rings, she hung up. “No answer. I guess your mom’s already heading home. You go straight there, okay?”
“Promise,” I replied, flashing a sickly smile, super-relieved that my mother had been away from her desk.
Linda wasn’t home when I arrived, but I expected her soon. I couldn’t wait to hang out with my big sister! Bored, I opened my lunch sack and ate my bologna sandwich. I imagined my friends in the cafeteria, eating and laughing together. I kept peeking out the window and thinking about what my classmates would be doing later. A film about Mexico, a spelling be
e and a math test were planned. Oh, rats! We were also going to hear the last chapter of that neat mystery book!
for the sale
Still no Linda, and nothing to do. I wandered into my mother’s bedroom and started going through her stuff. I put on some lipstick, earrings and a long yellow necklace. I took off my school uniform and slipped into one of my mother’s bras, her sparkly black dress and some shiny high heels. That got boring fast. I wobbled into the living room and flopped down on the couch in disgust.
Several minutes later, I finally heard a key in the door. Before I could yell at Linda for taking so long, my mouth fell open in shock. Instead of my sister walking into the room, it was my mother! I was speechless and unable to move. Mom strolled over to where I was lying down. “I came home from work to let the plumber in. May I ask what YOU’RE doing here, young lady?”
Swallowing hard, I managed to squeak, “I’m . . . ah . . . sick?”
“Well, you seem well enough to play dress-up,” my mother replied calmly.
“I had a tummy-ache, but I’m better now,” I answered.
“That’s good,” my mother responded. “Then you can go back to class, can’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I sputtered, rising and heading for my room.
“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Mom.
“To put my uniform back on.”
“No, I think you’ve missed enough school for one day,” she said. “Go get in the car.”
Horrified, I squawked, “I CAN’T wear THIS!”
“NOW!!” was the firm reply.
I couldn’t believe it. I felt like a zombie and looked like a clown. That silent two-block drive back to school seemed to last forever. When we parked, Mom got out with me, held my hand like a little kid and marched me into my classroom. My friends burst out laughing, and
my mother made me share what I had done. Mrs. Brown looked sad as she asked me to take my seat. I stared at my desk while tears dripped onto my notebook. Now I honestly felt sick, but a different kind of sick.
I heard giggles all afternoon. Even worse, I had to walk home in that outfit, and practically everyone in the whole school saw me. Someone yelled, “Hey, stupid! Halloween is in October!” At the house, I quickly changed clothes and washed off the makeup. When Cheryl and Mom got home, my little sister threw her arms around me happily. All of a sudden I realized that Cheryl probably felt about me the same way that I felt about Linda. I hugged Cheryl tighter than I ever had before.
Linda told me that once she got back into class, she realized what a dumb plan we had made and changed her mind, assuming that I wouldn’t go through with it either. She did the right thing, so I couldn’t stay mad at her.
At bedtime, Mom kissed us three girls goodnight, leaving our room without saying another word about what happened. When the door closed, I started crying quietly. Sure, I’d be reall
y embarrassed to face my friends tomorrow, but I mostly felt rotten for doing something so stupid—for lying to my sweet teacher and that nice school nurse, for disappointing my mom and making her life harder. When I stopped crying, I could hear both my sisters breathing deeply, already fast asleep . . . and I smiled. I had learned more than one important lesson that day.

版权声明：本站内容均来自互联网，仅供演示用，请勿用于商业和其他非法用途。如果侵犯了您的权益请与我们联系QQ:729038198，我们将在24小时内删除。