There are a lot of science-based ideas expressed in everyday speech. This activity challenges you to identify some of those expressions, think about what they mean, research them to find out the science behind them, and then write about some characters experiencing those phenomena or expressing the emotions they describe. You might literally put a character in a situation governed by a scientific effect, or you might use the science as a metaphor for the person’s behavior. We often speak of people “having chemistry.” When you get to the stage in life where you start falling in love you may tell your best friend about this new love in your life that “I felt this chemistry!” They mean, they felt a strong reaction to the person, like bubbling chemicals in a test tube. People say of some couples that they are “so different,” but “opposites attract.” This is a reference to magnets. The plus and minus sides of the magnet are tightly drawn together, whereas you cannot get either plus/plus or minus/minus combinations to attach however hard you try. They “repell” one another. People will say of someone who shows big emotions that they “erupted like a volcano.” When an audience is sitting waiting for a speaker who they really want to hear they might say, “there was electricity in the room,” or “the atmosphere was electric”. This is the idea that the room feels full of pent up electrical energy—like everyone’s hair is standing up on end, or the pressure is high, as if there is about to be an electrical storm with all the drama of thunder and lightning. I want you to think of other expressions, like, “they don’t mix, they are like oil and water” and then do some research into the science behind the expression. Why don’t oil and water mix? What is really happening in a volcano? How do storms work, and what stages do they go through? Choose your science-based expression, gain a clearer idea about what the science is through some research, and then use these details to inform how you set your scene and portray the motivations behind your characters’ actions. As an example, under a volcano (which might look like a big silent hunk of rock most of the time) there is a molten pool of magma. You might think of this as a pool of tumultuous emotions. You will learn that before an eruption there is usually an increase in earthquakes in the surrounding area as the ground starts to shift. We usually can’t feel these shifts, but they are important to the science of volcanos, and helpful to a writer using volcanic activity as a metaphor. What is the role of the these earthquakes, what do they mean, and how might you show characters or a situation that is about to erupt like a volcano experiencing or displaying these more or less silent signs? To see an example of writing informed by well-researched knowledge of woodland animals and weather, read “Autumn Thunder”; or another, “The Highest Football,” that uses the idea “opposites attract” as a springboard for the rest of the story.
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Writing Activity: working with dialogue
The most remarkable part of Lena’s story as a demonstration of the power of dialogue is the last quarter, where four characters respond to a traumatic event. This section, beginning with the “No!” spoken by the narrator and continuing to the end, depends heavily on dialogue. It could almost be a play. Notice that, although the lines spoken by Sandy, Carrie, Mom, the narrator, and Mrs. Hall are often very short, we get a clear sense of how each character differs from the others and how they relate to each other as family, friends, and neighbors. This is accomplished through the narrative that accompanies the dialogue.
Writing Activity: personifying objects in poetry
This writing activity by Allison Finley is based on the poem “A Fraction of an Inch” by Abigail Rose Cargo, 13, published in Stone Soup, March/April 2017 Seeing Fractions of an Inch Everywhere After reading the first two couplets of Abigail Cargo’s poem, “Fraction of an Inch,” I was nostalgic for the many days I have spent fishing with my brothers and exploring the bays in Lake Tahoe over school breaks. Abigail’s poetic description of the connection the water and boat share reminds me specifically of how those trips almost always ended: when leaving a lake or ocean, it was always a fight to return the boat to land. Since my friends and family only went out boating once in a while, there was always a comical and stressful chaos in remembering how to get our boat back on its trailer. While the more experienced people on both sides of us would trailer their boats away quickly and effortlessly, my fellow shipmates and I would clumsily fight the water to claim back what was ours. Once the boat would finally start to get onto the trailer, we would slowly crank it further out of the water, a fraction of an inch at a time. At the beginning of the poem, Abigail does an amazing job depicting the back and forth that goes on between the truck and the water. The water’s “new prize”—the boat—must be skillfully put back onto the truck’s trailer. The water fights the truck back when “the waves bouncing off/ the boat’s hull” are a fraction of an inch from connecting with the rubber of the wheels. But this fraction of an inch is enough to cause the red truck’s wheels to spin ineffectively on the muddied concrete slab. Even though this poem is specifically from the point of view of the boat and the water, it reminds me of how this experience is always such a chaotic shift from a peaceful day we just had out on the water. Ultimately, I’m drawn to the way Abigail’s style emphasizes the fact that even the smallest measurement can add up, and that you’re always only a fraction of an inch away from something changing at anytime. Instead of focusing on all of the action happening around her, Abigail beautifully focuses on the little details of the scenes: the “Waves of green foam/ rolled over the railing/ in a calm firmness” and “the rippling water/ pool[ed] at the edge of/ a concrete slab.” It’s these little details in the first scene that bring her to talk about life and death. I love the way that breaking down the scene in front of her in this way makes her think of such complex changes in life. After considering “how closely/ life and death are related,” Abigail introduces a completely new scene: two birds circling each other above their prey. While this scene is much darker to reflect the tonal shift, the image presented is just as familiar an image to me as the first one, and it is as effective in depicting how all it takes is a fraction of an inch in one direction or another to change everything—especially “a fraction of an inch/ to the left,” for the chickens below. Abigail’s perspective throughout “A Fraction of an Inch” is mature. She personifies the water and the boat and then looks into the relationship between the two. To personify an object means to make something that is not a person like a person. In this poem, both the water and the boat “did not want” something. If you are inspired by the style of this piece, I encourage you to try personifying the objects around you to think about how they relate to their setting and to each other. What do they want or not want to happen? What do they see or experience? You might also try, like Abigail, to slow down a moment of chaos to focus on what each object is experiencing. Once you start slowing down, like Abigail, you’ll probably start seeing these fractions of an inch changes everywhere. Author Bio: Allison majored in Literature at UCSC. She first got involved in the literary journal world through Matchbox Magazine, which features and distributes poetry, prose, and art across the University of California system. Allison has been involved with Matchbox during her entire time in college and she has filled the position of editor in chief for the past year. She loves the entire, magical process of making a journal—which is what made her want to get involved with Stone Soup. This spring, Allison graduated from UC Santa Cruz. She plans to pack up her two rabbits and her ridiculous amount of used books and move to LA.
Writing Activity: Stories about trust, truth and lying
The Mother’s Day Gift by Mathew Thompson, age 11, Dallas, Oregon
The Clay Pot by Naomi Wendland, age 12, Lusaka, Zambia
These two stories deal with the same problem: the tempation to lie to hide a mistake. The temptation to lie to cover up a mistake is a common one, and most people, at some point in their lives, give in to the temptation to pretend they haven’t done something that, in fact, they have.
Writing Activity: developing character and perspective with character sketches
This writing activity is built around 11-year-old Ella Staats’ story, “My Mother’s Little Girl'” published in Stone Soup in September/October 2012. Read the story and then work on your project, which is write a story with two lead characters. But before you write the story, write a full character development, at least two typed pages long, for each of the characters. The only place that the fictional world of your story really exists is in your head. The more you have imagined that world–what it looks like and what each of your characters is like–the more convincing your story will feel to your readers. In “My Mother’s Little Girl,” we are dropped into a family in which the daughter is what used to be called a tomboy. She likes her hair short, doesn’t wear dresses, and has no interest in playing with dolls. This puts her in conflict with her mother. So far, we can say, predictable and even boring. And then something happens. Towards the end of the story the daughter learns something about her mother’s childhood and why her mother acts towards her the way she does. You might say, towards the end of the story the daughter learns her own mother’s backstory. That is when something interesting happens. A light goes off in the daughter’s head, “Ah! So that is why my mother acts the way she does!” And I know, at that point, I found myself rethinking the story from the beginning. The whole story suddenly made sense. While neither character is likely to change, what I think the story is about is how understanding can replace misunderstanding when two characters, especially characters who love each other, can finally understand where they are coming from. I don’t know whether the author, Ella Staats, had worked out her two characters before she started the story, or if letting the daughter learn about her mother’s childhood was something Ella thought of as she was writing. Authors work in different ways. For this project, I want you to try working the more methodical way, which is to work out your main characters before you set them down in your fictional world. Project: First, read Ella’s story, to see a great example of the kind of writing you are trying to produce. Create a character sketch for two characters who are very different from each other. Think of the sketch as writing a short biography. Do your best to create characters that seem real enough to you that you can imagine several different stories in which they relate to each other. Write down what each character looks like, their family history, and their temperament. What do they each like to do? Let your imagination go. Then, when you have two people who feel real, put them together into a story. Let them interact with each other. You don’t need to share with your readers everything you know about the characters. But I think you will find that, with the main characters so worked out, you will be able to create a story that carries with it an unusual sense of reality.
Writing Activity: novels in the form of letters, inspired by Jane Austen’s childhood writing
Jane Austen (1775-1817) is one of the the greatest novelists to have written in English. Her novels are still widely read and have been adapted into movies and television series. Jane Austen began writing as a child, and now, finally, some of these childhood writings have been adapted into movies. Whit Stillman’s 2016 movie Love and Friendship borrows its title from the work of the same name, written when Jane Austen was fourteen, but is actually based on Lady Susan, a novel that Austen probably wrote when she was nineteen although it was not published until much later. Both works are “epistolary” novels–novels written in the form of an exchange of letters. This form was common in the eighteenth century as the novel developed into a popular form of writing, and even one of Austen’s more famous works, Sense and Sensibility, began its life as an epistolary novel. Another famous novel of the period, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782) by Pierre Laclos, is also written in the form of letters, and in the end it is the discovery of one of the secret sets of correspondence that creates the climax of the story. That story, too, has been adapted into many theatre and movie versions including a version where the action is transported to a group of teenagers in New York City (Cruel Intentions, 1999). Today, with the resurgence in correspondence through texting and email, the epistolary story is a format that once again makes sense for young writers. One of the things that is exciting about a novel written in the form of letters is the scope it gives for the writer to unwittingly reveal themselves through the style and content of the letters the author has them write. There is no all-knowing narrator in the middle of the action ready to intervene to tell the reader who the characters really are, what the other perspectives might be, or what to look for. The writers of the letters (the characters) have to tell us everything themselves, without seeming aware that they are doing so. The characters who have to tell us, by telling the people they write to, where they are, what has happened, and how they feel–all of which might be different depending on who they are writing to (imagine: even if you are not inventing things, you would probably write a different letter to your best friend about how things are going and what you have been doing at summer camp than you would to your teacher or your grandparents). The skill of the author is, partly, devoted to giving the writers of the letters their own authentic voices, while at the same time making sure they (accidentally) give themselves away in the little hints they drop or the ways they tell their version of a story. It’s a form that you can really have fun with. Writing activity: Create a scenario with at least two characters and a problem, and choose a contemporary form of letter writing as your style: it could be text messages, emails, postcards, greetings cards, notes on school worksheets, or a combination of these and any other forms you can think of. Write at least 5 letters or messages from each of the characters to the others. Each one should reveal something about the action–carry it forward in some way–and reveal more information to the reader about the character, personality, and role in the action of the writer of the ‘letter’. Why not consult our pages on Juvenilia for links to some of the great authors’ juvenilia, and watch some clips of the movies we have mentioned. You can also read some stories published in Stone Soup, such as “Kisses from Cécile” based on a real correspondence; a piece of historical fiction, “Julius’s Gift”, where letters are both part of the action and part of the narrative, and more recent ones like The Red and Blue Thread which incorporate text messaging great effect. The full movie can be rented from Amazon.com and from Curzon Cinemas.
Writing Activity: write a recipe and send it to Stone Soup
Quail Kabob ingredients. The recipe is by a nine-year-old. Instructions for the Quail Kabob. We all eat, and many of us like to cook. If you are 13 or under and like to cook, we’d like you to submit recipes to Stone Soup. We will publish the best of them in Stone Soup Online and, over time, when we have a enough really really good ones, we will publish a cookbook. The manuscript for Quail Kebobs at the top of this page was written by my daughter when she was nine. Here is the format we would like your recipe submission to be in: Recipe title. The Headnote. Maximum 250 words. Many cookbooks use a recipe format that includes what they call a “headnote.” The headnote is a little story. You can think of it as a short story. What you say there is really up to you, the recipe author. You can talk about how the dish is your favorite. You can tell about the first time you tasted it. Or smelled it. Or made it. Or, you can give some advice about the recipe. For example, if there is a tricky part, you can talk about it here. Whatever you say, you should think of the headnote as a little jewel. The list of ingredients. This is where you say what goes into a recipe, and usually, how much of it that is needed. But, there is leeway here. For example, if you are writing a recipe for fried chicken, you can say, butter or oil for frying. If making crepes you could say, add milk to make a thin batter. On the other hand, you can also give exact measurements for everything. Instructions. The instructions are step-by-step procedures that need to be followed to make the recipe work. One way to think about it as you write them is to imagine that you are talking to a friend. You are standing next to a friend in a kitchen, explaining to the friend what to do. If, in the list of ingredients, your recipe called for two eggs, then in the instructions you might say, “Break two eggs into a bowl and mix.” Depending on what you are making, you might say, “Break two eggs into a bow and mix until light and fluffy.” In other words, tell people what they need to do. Flour and milk mixed together can be lumpy. If the batter needs to be smooth, say, “Mix until there are no more lumps.” Before writing your recipe, look in cookbooks at your home or at the library to get an idea of how cookbook authors do it. Of course, also, look online. Great recipes are a literary form all their own. Because you are writing about things that are hard to describe — for example, taste and smell — it can be a real challenge for you, the writer, to come up with original prose. “This waffle tastes wonderful!” “This steak tastes wonderful!” “This bean-and-cheese taco tastes wonderful!” OK. Wonderful! But, how does that bean-and-cheese taco taste? What makes it so wonderful that I should bother making your recipe? Why your waffle, and not someone else’s? We will test recipes. So, your recipe needs to work. We are looking for originality, evocative writing, and for instructions with absolute clarity. Happy cooking, and good luck!
Writing Activity: Bringing dreams to life with “Princess and the Island Stallion” by Christina Lynn Myers, 11
Introduction to this Stone Soup Writing and Art Activity An island of one’s own… fields and forests and streams… a well-stocked kitchen with stove and refrigerator… riding bareback on a stallion, powerful yet gentle leader of a band of horses… and best of all, three months alone during a beautiful summer to enjoy it all. For those who love horses, nature, and independence, Christy’s story describes the most wonderful of dreams. If you ask yourself, how original is this wonderful dream, I think you might say, not very. But originality of plot is only one feature that indicates whether a story reflects an author’s thoughts and experiences. Also important are the ways an author develops the plot—the accuracy and strength of the descriptions, the complexity of the characters, the truth with which characters are shown to act and to experience feelings. Judged by these standards, Christy did a terrific job, and through the care she took in writing this story, she succeeded in transforming a fantasy of a perfect summer into an original and interesting tale. Project: Making Your Dream Vacation Real Summer vacation is coming soon (or maybe just over). You may not be able to make your dream of the perfect vacation become a reality in real life, but, through the magic of words, you can create a story that will make it real. Christy does this with her story. In addition to accurate and moving descriptions of places and feelings and riding technique, she ties her fairy-tale island life to real things we don’t expect to read about in a pure fantasy. For instance, she discusses how much the island cost and where the money came from. Her parents, though not present in the dream vacation, stay in touch and do such useful things as provide electricity and food. Your dream vacation may be similar to Christy’s or very different. But whatever it is, unique or very common, do your best to include observations and feelings drawn from the world around you so that a stranger who reads your story will say, “Wow, what a lucky child that was to have such a wonderful summer.” Princess and the Island Stallion By Christina Lynn Myers, 11, Peoria, Arizona Illustrated by Heidi Hanson, 13, Florida, New York From the May/June 1986 issue of Stone Soup I could hear the hoofbeats of Princess as we galloped along. The cool air of the morning hit my face. The island made a perfect arena, yet the trees and bushes were the only spectators of a finely made running horse and its rider. I was very content to be with my horse. The island we were on was where I lived in the summer. It was fun to be here, and I looked forward to coming here every summer. Not many people knew about this island, and those who did never came. It was where Princess and a small band of beautiful horses lived. Since no one had ever wanted it, my parents had agreed to buy it for me, and I would slowly pay them back. They had bought it for only a small sum of money. The island was very beautiful, with green grass everywhere, trees, though not too many, and quite a few flowers. It also had streams, waterfalls, pools, and a very beautiful large pond. I sat back, and Princess obediently slowed down at my signal. We reached a stream I knew well, and Princess splashed through it with no hesitation. I rode bareback, with no bridle. I guided the powerful horse under me with legs, hands, and voice only. I pulled Princess to a walk as we neared the band of horses. The stallion gave a loud, shrill neigh at the approach of one of his mares. Princess snorted and sidestepped lightly. I put a hand on her neck and spoke softly. Then, I gently slid off. I laid my hand on her neck and then let her go. Quickly she ran back to her band, whinnying to me as she went. I watched Princess until she had settled down and begun to graze, and then, smiling, I turned toward my small cabin. I never felt crowded in it. It just seemed perfect. It had a small kitchen with a stove, oven, and a refrigerator. My parents had electricity brought to my cabin underground. It also had a table on which to eat. The table had a large window in front of it so that I could look out at the island, and often I would get a glimpse of grazing horses. The cabin’s other room held my bed, dresser, clothes, and a few other things. When I reached the cabin, I unpacked my clothes, for I had gotten to the island only that morning, and I had immediately gone out to see Princess. Later, I went out to watch the band of horses. I spotted different horses and found all the ones I knew, as well as several new foals. Then my gaze turned to the stallion. He was scarlet red, his coat a satiny sheen of elegance. He was extremely tall, although his long legs seemed almost delicate at times. His head was the head of a beautiful Arabian, small and finely shaped, also having the dished nose of an Arabian. But even with all those Arabian characteristics, he was too big to be pure Arabian. His whole body was the picture of complete grace, beauty, and power. I was now friends with the stallion; he knew me well. I had not ridden him, but I was someday going to try. Suddenly I thought, why someday? Why not today? What are you waiting for? You know he has complete confidence in you. So I decided to give it a try. That afternoon, I set out to find the band. It was not hard, for I knew their favorite pastures well. The stallion had learned to come at my call, so I whistled. An answering whistle came
Writing Activity: powerful expression through unique style, with “We Are Looking for Freedom” by Marigian Muhammed, 12
Introduction to This Stone Soup Writing Activity “We Are Looking for Freedom” was written by Marigian one-and-a half-years after she arrived in the United States. It is a true story about the recent history of her family. At the time Marigian wrote this story she was still learning English. We have printed it just as she wrote it, so you will find the English is not perfect. But after you read “We Are looking for Freedom,” I think you will agree with me that the style of writing is itself part of the story of Marigian’s life and the terrible problems war caused her family. Marigian’s story is an example of a work written in a style that tells us something about the main character, and which increases the power of the story. This technique of writing stories in an unusual or imperfect English in order to show the special way the main character sees and thinks about the world is one used by many of the most famous writers. Project: Adopting a Style Create a narrator (the person who tells the story) who thinks in and speaks in an unusual English. Think of a character—a child, a recent immigrant to the United States, a person who is sick in bed with a high fever and a bit woozy, or even someone who is a little crazy and talks funny. The fun of this project, and the challenge, is to adopt the language of your character, or to express your own language in a way that will convey meaning to your readers. Imagine you aren’t you, that you think and speak an English different from your own; or that you are trying to write from the perspective of a different you hidden inside your imagination. Who and what do you see? How do you describe it? And what is the story you have to tell? We Are Looking for Freedom By Marigian Muhammed, 12, Fort Collins, Colorado From the March/April 1986 issue of Stone Soup I live in Vietnam. I went to school in Saigon. I has one cat. I has four brother, no sister. My mother selling in her own store. My father was working for C.I.A. before 1975. After 1975 my father stop working for C.I.A. One night at eight o’clock in August 30, 1978, the Viet Cong come and caught my father to put in the jail. Because my father work for C.I.A. At 1979 my dad is dead. One night my mother put the clothes in the bag. I was ask my mother where are we go? My mom said, “I take your brother to visit your grandma.” I so small didn’t know my brother and my mom escape. I saw her sitting on the table with my aunt, and my mom was crying. I came next to her and she said, “You have to live with your aunt.” I don’t know why. My mom gone about a month and my aunt tell me, “Your mother escape.” At one time my cousin, my aunt, and me try to escape, but we can’t because they caught two of my cousin. And they let them out. One day after school, I went to my house. The Viet Cong came and tell me that they have to take my house, tell me to go live at my aunt house. I ask them why I have to live in my aunt house, they tell me that I under eighteen years old, that right now I have to live with my aunt. At April 7, 1982 I escape with my aunt and her daughter. When we went to Cambodia, we there for week. The half way to the camp my aunt and her daughter go another way, and I go another. We don’t see each other for week. I went to the camp name Nong Samet. I live there for three day and my aunt try got in there. We don’t see each other for ten day. I live with woman. She so nice to me. When I and aunt together in Nong Samet for one week we went to the camp name N.W. 82, which is half in Cambodia and half in Thailand. When we live there they don’t has anything much food. Every day they cook rice for us lunch and dinner. We has to cook our own food to eat with rice. Every day we only has eight liter of the water, every day in the hospital has people sick and almost dead. In our tent it so big we live with two hundred people in there. If the tent dirty the Thailand man call the tent people. They came out, stand there, another Thailand man get a stick to hit the Vietnamese, they don’t care about old people or young people. We live there for a year and we went to Pamatnikhom. Our family live there a week and we went to Philippines, we live in Philippines near the mountain. Every day I went to school there. We live there, we got a lot of water, every day they gave the food to us to cook and eat. We very happy. But I miss my grandparents and aunt. One day in Bataan, Philippines, has hurricane, some of the big tree was fall down, some of the ceiling was flying, we so scary, just for few minutes, then hurricane was gone. One day, our name was call to travel to America. On September 29, 1983 in the morning we drive the bus to Manila. We went to the airplane, we fly all the way to Los Angeles. We stay there for five hours and we fly all the way to Denver. And I see my mother and my brothers. Now we together.
Writing Activity: writing a morality tale, with “Little Lies” by Meredith Proost, 12
Introduction to this Stone Soup Writing Activity This excellent story gets to the heart of why lying is wrong. Lying destroys trust between people. And when people don’t trust each other, they can never be really close—not even if they are family members. When we read (or hear) a little lecture on the evils of lying (or the evils of almost anything), we have a tendency to “tune out” the information. That is why, since the first stories were told, storytellers have been inventing characters and plots and scenery and dialogues to help those of us who are perhaps not as imaginative as other people to understand the many ways that breaking a moral code can cause harm. Unfortunately, many moral tales are boring. And this is all the more reason to recognize how very successful Meredith’s story is. She doesn’t preach and lecture. Instead, she tells us a story—a believable story with believable characters who talk and act realistically. No part of her story seems forced or fake. And that is how she makes us understand how even a relatively small lie is a big thing, and a bad thing. Project: Writing a Good Moral Tale Discuss with your teacher or parents or friends various moral rules—like it is wrong to lie, steal, cheat, or to maliciously tease someone. Now, using your imagination, invent a character or characters with unique personalities. Use these characters to create a story, like Meredith did, that will make people understand what wrong was done, why it was wrong, what impact the wrong thing had. Try to think of as many angles to the problem you choose to write about as possible. For instance, we say it is bad to maliciously tease someone. You will find it fairly easy to create a story that shows how teasing can hurt the person who is teased. You can also use your story to tackle more difficult problems—like creating a story that also shows how teasing hurts the person who does the teasing. Think of as many ways as you can to show us the effects of your chosen problem. Little Lies By Meredith Proost, 12, Aloha, Oregon Illustrated by Lucy Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, Portland, Oregon Reprinted with permission from Treasures, © 1985 From the September/October 1985 issue of Stone Soup It all began one Tuesday when Melinda and I lost all track of time and found we couldn’t possibly finish our practicing before our mom came home from grocery shopping. Before she left, we had agreed to do all our chores and practice piano. “Yes,” we said together when Mom asked if we had finished our practicing. But when she walked into the living room, there was the piano music, stacked just as she had stacked it that morning. And the lesson book was on the table where we had left it after our piano lesson the day before. Mom knew we were lying. She had a sad look on her face. Before Melinda or I could make up an excuse, Mom told us that she was going to tell us a lie some time during the next few days. We wouldn’t know when she was lying, and the lie would be something very important to both of us. That night Mom told us that the next morning when we woke up, breakfast would be waiting: hot cereal with lots of cream and even more brown sugar, just the way we like it. Melinda and I looked at each other knowingly. That must be the lie. But the next morning when we woke up, in the kitchen we found our bowls of hot cereal with lots of cream and even more brown sugar, just the way we like it. On Wednesday, Mom told us that she would pick us up right after school so that we could go shopping for spring clothes. Melinda and I looked at each other knowingly and said to ourselves that had to be the lie. We decided we would be going home on the bus as usual. But after school, there sat Mom in the parking lot ready to take us shopping. The following day our dad was on a business trip. Mom told us to pick a restaurant, Italian or Chinese, and the three of us would go out for dinner that night. Melinda and I looked at each other knowingly. That must be the lie. If we said Chinese, Mom would take us out for pizza. If we said Italian, we knew we’d be having chow mein for dinner. We said, “Chinese,” and that night we had won ton soup, chow mein, fortune cookies and tea. When we arrived home from school Friday, Mom greeted us with, “Guess what! I just reserved two airplane tickets. You two get to fly—all by yourselves—to visit your grandma over spring vacation.” Now that is something we had always wanted to do. We had dreamed about traveling alone and talked about it for years. Ordinarily we would have run to our rooms to start packing, even though spring vacation was three weeks away. But we looked at each other knowingly. That had to be the lie. Mom may have been surprised at our lack of excitement, but she didn’t say a word. She waited until the following day to ask us if we had discovered her lie. Melinda said, “Yes, we know. We won’t be flying to Grandma’s for spring vacation. Everything else you have said has been true, so the airplane trip must be the lie.” “I’m glad it’s finally over,” I said. Melinda said, “Yes. It has been awful for days thinking we couldn’t trust you. I guess we deserved that little lie about flying to Grandma’s.” Mom smiled. “The lie was that I would tell you a lie,” she said softly. “I haven’t told you any lies. The tickets to Grandma’s are under your pillow. Sweet dreams.” Happy ending.