Kids & Parenting
"Anyone who knows anything knows two things: Helen Mennelli is my best friend, and she is the biggest crybaby on the face of the universe.
"I remember when she spent the night at my house this summer, she cried when her Mama left, and then she cried when her Mama came to pick her up. She cried when she spilled her juice, and she cried when my dog barked at her. She cried when it was time to go to sleep and the lights went out, but I just finally told her to quit it or I would sock her in the arm, and she did.
"In fact, I bet if a doctor were to take x-rays of her eyeballs, he would find that Helen Mennelli has more tears in her head than any other person on the face of the universe, so really, she can’t help crying so much. All them tears have to get out of her head, or they might drown her. I bet she could even get a doctor’s excuse.
"Two years ago, on the first day of Kindergarten, Helen Mennelli had her biggest crying day of all. I think she mighta’ broken a world record. She started crying before she left the house that morning, and didn’t stop crying until her Mama picked her up that afternoon. But you know something, Mister? Even though she cried like someone was cutting her arms off, Mrs. McConnell didn’t pinch her once. Nope, Mrs. McConnell just hugged her a lot and let Helen Mennelli cry all she needed to.
"Come to think of it, I think Helen Mennelli is allergic to first days of school, because she cried on the first day of First Grade, too, but not anywhere near as long as she cried in Kindergarten. I think last year she only cried until about lunchtime. I remember thinking it was weird that she didn’t cry all the way through lunch, ‘cause after I saw what they were serving, I wanted to cry too. Maybe one day we can talk about the cafeteria food.
"Anyway, I know that we’re big kids now that we’re in the Second Grade, and Helen ought not to cry when her Mama leaves her, but the way I see it, it’s a free country and everyone has a right to cry. I don’t think the President can tell you that it’s illegal to cry, even if he is the most important man on the face of the universe, because if tears want to come out, they’re just going to come and they don’t stop to worry about any laws or nothin’.
"And Mister, no matter how much she cried, stinky old Mrs. Bloom ought not have pinched Helen Mennelli. How is pinching someone going to make them stop crying? For goodness sakes, she’s two years smarter than Mrs. McConnell, and even Mrs. McConnell knows that sometimes a kid’s just got to cry all their tears out.
"Now I know I ought not have bitten stinky Old Mrs. Bloom, at least not so hard, but what was I supposed to do? What would you have done if your best friend was there justa’ squealing like a pig, and the stinky teacher was justa’ pinching away with her face all twisted up, like she was liking it? You would do the only thing a friend could do; you would bite the ever lovin’ dog snot out of the stinky old teacher.
"You’ve got lots of graduations on your wall, so you’ve got to be a pretty smart guy, and you must be able to see that once that teacher stopped pinching on Helen Mennelli, and me hanging onto her arm like a rabbit dog, it wouldn’t be long before she took up pinching on me. So that’s why I kicked her in the shin.
"Now just between you and me, Mister, I hear that Mrs. Snotty Bloom is the meanest old snake of a teacher in this whole school, and maybe even on the face of the entire universe, and that’s saying something because there are lots of scary old teachers out there. Maybe one day, I’ll make a list of all the scary teachers for you and we can talk about it. Maybe you could make them eat cafeteria lunches until they stopped being so mean or something.
"Anyway, there ain’t none of this Helen Mennelli’s fault. She’s just a big crybaby is all, and there’s no laws against being a crybaby, is there? Why just look at her out there in the waiting room . . . she’s crying already just thinking about having to come in here and talk to you. Have you ever seen anything so sad in all your life? Mister, if you ask me, Helen Mennelli has been punished enough for missing her Mama.
"Plus, I don’t think you ought to call my parents either, cause I really didn’t do anything but protect Helen Mennelli from Mrs. Bloom’s pinchy fingers, and that’s what the bible tells us to do: we’re supposed to look after the widows and orphans, right? Well, Helen Mennelli was technically an orphan when her Mama left her here, so I was just doing the right thing.
"And as far as kicking Mrs. Bloom goes, that was just good old-fashioned self-defense, and you can’t fault a kid for defending herself, can you? Nope, I think the best thing here would be to let bygones be bygones, as my Grandma says, and turn the other cheek.
"But we understand if you have to call our parents, ‘cause you’ve just got a job to do, and it’s probably the hardest job on the face of the whole universe. Of course that means that we’re going to have to explain the pinchy bruise to Helen Mennelli’s parents, and that sure is going to be a hard one. I never did understand why grown ups get so touchy about bruises on kids.
"Then again, since you’ll have them on the phone anyway, I’m sure you can explain it better than we can, and I’m even more sure that they’ll ask you to do just that.
"Well, I better get going now before Helen Mennelli floods the waiting room. Thanks for inviting me up here to your office to talk about this stuff. I really feel better now.
"You know, maybe it hasn’t been a very good first day of school so far, but I’m thinking the rest of the year should shape up pretty good. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the best Second Grade on the face of the entire universe."
copyright 2004 doriknight
PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
Reader Count & Comments
Date
The character you've created here is wonderful. Though we hear more about Helen Mennelli, we learn much about the little girl who is speaking without ever receiving a direct word about her. Excellent building of character through dialog.
The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com. This is especially true with articles that
deal with personal healthcare and prophecy. We encourage the reader to make their own decision in consultation with God, His Word, and others as needed.
This article has been read 1782 times < Previous | Next >
Read more articles by Dori Knight or search for other articles by topic below.
This article has been read 1782 times < Previous | Next >
Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)
Read more by clicking on a link:Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
NEW - Surprise Me With an Article - Click here for a random URL
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE
FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.