Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists

Introduction to this Stone Soup Writing Activity Here you find Part One of Clea’s story. In a separate activity, we’ll offer the second part. The main story, or plot, is about a teachers called Mrs. Davids, though there is a second story, something we call a subplot, about a little girl, Flora Pinecrust. Mrs. Davids has a problem, and the main subject of “As Long as We’re Happy” is how she deals with this problem. In Part One of the story Mrs. Davids isn’t very happy at all. She seems to have no friends, and her husband has left her, apparently with little or no warning. While Mrs. Davids tries to cope with her problems, she has nobody to talk to, and it turns out that she can’t help herself very well. We see her become a moody, mean person, lacking self-control and unable to deal politely with her students. A problem or crisis is a common beginning point for storytellers and novelists. I think that is because it is through showing how a character deals with a problem that storytellers and novelists can most easily reveal the complete personality of their character. In “As Long as We’re Happy” the main difficulty Mrs. Davids has to struggle with is really herself, her loneliness, her own inability to keep control of her emotions. This is not an “action” or “adventure” story where the problem to be overcome is something in the outside world, like a mountain to be climbed, or a horse to be broken in. It is more of a quiet “psychological” story where the struggle takes place in a person’s heart and soul. Project: A Character With a Problem I want you to write a story in which you reveal the personality of your character by showing how that character responds to a personal crisis or problem. The important word here is “showing.” Clea reveals the personalities of her characters by showing us what they do or say in little scenes. Each of the scenes is like a little play. You might, in fact, try performing selected parts of it, like Clea does in the scene where Mrs. Davids first meets Flora, or a classroom scene, or the meeting between Mrs. Davids and the principal. I’d like to see you write your story so that with only a little extra work a group of people could enact the story. If you have a video camera you could also make all or part of your story into a movie. As Long As We’re Happy By Clea Rivera, 14, Hightstown, New Jersey Illustrated by the author From the September/October 1986 Issue of Stone Soup I was a proud woman on my first day teaching at the elementary school. I was trying to be the typical teacher. I brought a shiny red apple and placed it on my desk. I wore a stiff black skirt and high-collared white blouse and did a fine job of commanding my third grade class to work. I held the white, dusty chalk firmly and wrote neatly on the blackboard in ridiculously large letters. I was also very happy, for I was engaged to a handsome doctor about ten years older than me. Every afternoon he’d spin me off in his little racy car or he’d sometimes take me out to dinner. “Boys and girls, who can tell me what five times five is?” I asked that first day. Several rowdy boys and a few girls began shouting answers. However, one girl raised her hand. “Twenty-five,” she answered. “Very good. What is your name?” “Grace Matthews.” “Everyone, did you see how polite Grace was?” The room was quiet. “Have I gone deaf?” I asked. Finally, the children assented that Grace had been polite and they promised to be that way, too, in the future. *          *          * Three years later I was promoted to teach the sixth grade, therefore switching from the elementary to the junior high school. I was married now and I had the same batch of children that I had in third grade. I sometimes found it a little hard to hold a job now. I made all the meals and did all the cleaning at home. My husband, the doctor, didn’t help much. But I was more experienced and didn’t put on such airs as I did when I first became a teacher. The next summer my husband deserted me. He took our car with him. I was left with very little money and I felt miserable. Walking along on the first day of school I saw a thin, scraggly child blocking the sidewalk. I tried to pass her, but suddenly she fell into stride a few paces in front of me. Before I knew it she turned around abruptly and bumped into me. “Make up your mind,” I told her, “which way you want to go!” I meant it as a joke, but it came out in an annoyed, high-pitched voice which wasn’t mine. The girl evidently decided to go in the opposite direction and I felt guilty for having spoken harshly to her. I decided to be very kind to my class if I was capable of it. I had been promoted to the seventh grade still with the same bunch of pupils. They were my favorites. Grace Matthews could write like a poet, and Peter Tyner was excellent in math. I had nicknamed him Calculator. Anyway, I walked into the room and their radiant faces made me feel so much better. “Hi, Mrs. Davids!” cried Peter. “How is the old Calculator?” I asked, grinning. Grace came up to my desk very discreetly as if she had a secret. “Mrs. Davids, would you like to read my novel?” she asked softly. “Your novel?!” I cried. “Over the summer I wrote a novel and I’d like you to criticize it,” she said. “I’d be glad to.” She giggled happily and went to talk with her friends. After some time I was