I wake up, I walk out the door. The dew smells like flowers. As I walk, I feel the morning mist brush against my tired face. I see the daisies so bright and blue. As I touch them the dew falls off and onto my foot, chilling me to the bone. As I walk through the forest the dew falls off the trees and keeps me cold. As I walk home the trees shake in the breeze, all the dew falls onto my face. Now I am as cold as winter, as cold as a polar bear. Esther Hay, 8Ancaster, Canada
December 2020
My Earliest Memory
My earliest memory Is seeing my mom for the first time. She held me lovingly. It was warm and snug. She tucked me in her lap, Even when I cried. I was very happy. It was the happiest moment Of my entire life. Audra Sanford, 8Davenport, FL
Cinka Times Two
Cinka’s birthday wish is granted—in a very peculiar way “Happy birthday, Cinka!” said Cinka’s teacher, Mrs. Reynolds. “I know it was your birthday yesterday, but it was Saturday, so the class will celebrate today. You’re early as usual, so while I prepare, you can have some free time.” “Thanks!” replied Cinka. She didn’t feel like reading, so she got out a piece of paper and some colored pencils. The only thing she wanted as a birthday present was a dog, preferably a puppy, but her parents only said, “Maybe one day,” or, “We’ll think about it,” whenever she asked. The best she could do was make pictures of her dream puppy and look at them a lot. She chose her favorite color of brown and started with a cute puppy face. She kept drawing and even drew a background with a dog bed and food and water bowls. Shadows make things look realistic, but when Cinka tried to draw them when she was younger, they just looked like blobs. Because of that, she left the shadows out. Cinka took a step back from the table and looked at her picture. The tail of the puppy gave a little wag, but that must have been her seeing things. She rubbed her eyes and the shadows seemed to deepen. Wait. Shadows? Cinka hadn’t even drawn shadows! She closed her eyes and counted to ten. That was better. Everything was back to normal. She started drawing an oak tree with spreading branches, and this time there were no weird shadows. The picture felt incomplete, so Cinka quickly made a line of ants before she went to the bathroom. When she got back, class had started. “Put your drawings in your folder and get a dry-erase board before you join us,” said Mrs. Reynolds. As Cinka sat at her desk, she felt something wet near her ankle. When she looked down, her dream puppy was pawing at her leg. The puppy gave a little yip and tried to jump into her lap. “Todd, stop making animal noises right now or I am going to have to send you to the principal’s office,” said Mrs. Reynolds. “It wasn’t me, honestly! I know I did it yesterday but—” protested Todd. “GRRAF RAF RAF RA—” Cinka covered the puppy’s mouth and raised her hand. “Can I go to the bathroom?” she squeaked and ran out of the classroom with the puppy tucked in her arms before the teacher gave her permission. It was as if the animals in her picture had walked right out of the picture and into the classroom. After she locked herself in a stall, she sat the puppy on the floor and stared at it. On the one hand, she was elated that she finally had a pet, but on the other hand, she was worried: Where had the puppy come from? And what was she going to do with it? She couldn’t bear to just leave it in the bathroom, but what would her teacher say? What would her parents say? Cinka checked her watch. It would seem suspicious if she hid any longer. She headed back to the classroom with the puppy and stuffed him in her jacket, which had been tied around her waist. When she got back to the classroom, she pretended she needed something in her backpack but instead zipped the puppy inside the bag with a gap for breathing. When she turned towards the board, she saw a little line of ants crawling up her teacher’s leg. “Uh, Mrs. Reynolds, there are some, uh—” “EEK! ANTS!” shrieked Mrs. Reynolds. She started jumping up and down like there were ants in her pants—probably because there were. While Mrs. Reynolds was freaking out about the ants, Cinka took out her art folder. She had a sneaking suspicion that the puppy and the ants in real life might have something to do with the animals in her picture. Sure enough, when she opened her folder, the backgrounds were the same, but the animals were gone. It was as if the animals in her picture had walked right out of the picture and into the classroom. After Mrs. Reynolds had finally gotten rid of the ants, it was already time for art. Cinka thought to herself that if she had to draw anything, she would leave out the animals just in case. When she arrived at the art room, the art teacher announced that today they were doing self-portraits. Cinka sat at her favorite seat and listened to the teacher talk about how to draw noses. They each had a mini mirror so they could look at themselves, but Cinka couldn’t draw while looking at it. When she was done with the portrait, it was almost the end of class, so she quickly put it in the hand-in box without looking at it. After she cleaned up her supplies and was about to leave class, the teacher pulled her aside. “Cinka, you’ve never done anything like this before, so I’m not angry at you. But why did you hand in a blank piece of paper?” Cinka glanced around and saw herself walking out the door. She barely had time to process what she saw, and the teacher was waiting for her answer. Panicking, she came up with an excuse. “Oh, that must have been Todd playing a prank!” she replied. “I saw him take a piece of paper out of the hand-in box and put a blank sheet in!” The art teacher looked relieved. “Okay. I’ll have a talk with Todd about that. Thanks for telling the truth,” she said. Cinka felt guilty because she was lying about Todd, but she couldn’t think about that right now. She had no idea what she had seen, and the only explanation was that some other girl who looked kind of like her had walked out the door and Cinka had been so flustered that she thought it was herself. But as she