Mum hung out washing and my heart stopped. She was sparkling.
“Mum! You’re EMO!” I cried.
She said, “Nonsense. Look again.”
She was fine.
*
“Pi, I swear she was sparkling one moment and not sparkling the next.”
“Impossible,” he said.
I said, “You’re right. It must be the stress.”
————————————————–
This week’s guest author is Charles P. Cozic, who is found online at www.ccozic.wordpress.com
“ARKY’S VERY LUCKY DAY”
Walking home from school one day, twelve-year-old Arky Fencher noticed something under a bush.
It looked like a dollar bill. He bent down and picked it up.
It was a FIVE dollar bill.
“Wow!” exclaimed Arky.
He looked up the block, and then down the block. There was no one.
He looked up over his head. A couple of windows above, a lady stared straight down at him.
“Um, did you happen to drop something?” asked Arky.
“Like what?!” snapped the lady.
Arky then realized it was that lady, the one who yelled at kids for no good reason. He thought for a second.
“This dollar bill,” he said.
“Why, yes,” said the lady. “I did drop that — by accident– just now.”
“Oh?” replied Arky.
“I can prove it,” said the lady.
“How?” asked Arky.
“Different presidents are on different bills,” she said. “George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, umm, Andrew Jackson. Washington is on mine.”
“Ha, it’s Lincoln!” laughed Arky, holding the bill up high.
“Now you bring that money up to my door–it’s number 3B–right now, young man!” demanded the lady.
She vanished inside. Arky now grew worried. She might come down and chase after him, or even yell for the police, he thought.
He raced down the block, turned past the corner grocery store, and — BOOM — ran into a big problem. It was Burt Lott, the toughest bully in the neighborhood. Kids called him Burps Lots, but not to his face, of course.
“Whoaa!!” cried Burt. “Dummy, watch where you’re goin’, ARCHIBALD!”
“Oh wow, I’m really s-sorry,” sputtered Arky from the ground.
“You should be! I oughtta twist your….what’s that in your hand?”
Arky opened his clenched fist.
“Five dollars?!” shouted Burt. “Where did you get….never mind, are you okay?” he asked, helping Arky to his feet.
“Yeah, I guess so,” said Arky, checking his arms and legs.
“Good, good,” said Burt. “Guess I can’t blame you, since you couldn’t see me. Hey, since we’re right here, why don’t we buy ourselves a couple of ice-cold Big Mouth Colas, huh?”
“I can’t,” said Arky. “I gotta get home now or else I’m….”
“Sure, sure,” said Burt. “Hey, don’t lose that fiver. We can talk about it at school tomorrow, okay?”
Arky sped the half block to his house, and then sat down to consider what had happened to him.
a) He found FIVE dollars!
b) After months of being picked on, he was actually friends with Burt Lott.
c) Could the day get any better?
Arky smiled and took out his notebook and a pen, and began to write:
Dear Lady in #3B,
About your five dollars. The bad news is that I spent it (sorry).
The good news is that I can pay you back after school tomorrow.
Just come over to 412 Overlook St.
Sincerely,
Burt Lott
Maybe Burt wouldn’t get that visit, Arky thought. But then things were definitely going his way.
One thought on “Daylight Day 45: Guest Author”