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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Summer (the season) (07/09/09)
She heard them. Three rowdy boys on their way home from school. “School’s out! Summer’s
here!” she heard them shouting. One by one they came in the back door, dropped their backpacks
in the corner and hustled to the table for their usual milk and cookies. “Mom, isn’t it great” stated
Bobby. School’s out and we can start our summer vacation.”

Aaron piped up, “Yeah! Next week we get to go to Yellowstone. How fun will that be?”

Mrs. Martin sat down at the table with the boys. She had news to share with them; news she
was dreading. Their summer was about to be changed – drastically. She watched as they
enjoyed their snack; smiling to herself at their happy chatter. How would they take the news she was
about to give them? Should she wait until her husband got home?

No, they needed to know now.

“Boys,” Mrs. Martin began. “I have something to tell you. You know that Grandma has
not been feeling well, right?”

Three heads bobbed in agreement.

“Grandma is going to need a lot of extra care right now. She isn’t able to live alone.
She has asked if she could come here to live for awhile. Isn’t that great?”

“When is she coming?” asked Bobby.

“Well, that’s the problem,” Mom said. “She is coming this weekend, which means we won’t be
able to take our vacation next week.”

“No way,” bemoaned Bobby.

“Can’t she come with us?” asked Aaron.

“Yeah,” chimed in Jimmy.

Mom went on to explain that Grandma needed lots of rest and she could not travel that far right
now. They would have to change their plans and vacation another time.

Bobby stood up, walked away; but not before shouting, “I hate it that Grandma is coming.
She is spoiling everything.”

Saturday afternoon Mrs. Martin pulled into their drive, a happy Grandma in the passenger
seat. “I am very thankful your family is willing to let me stay here,” stated Grandma. “I
hope I will be no trouble for you.”

“Not at all mom,” Mrs. Martin said with a smile.

The boys were tossing a baseball in their back yard. As Grandma neared the fence, she
shouted a “hello boys” in greeting. Two boys waved back. One little boy scowled. “My goodness,”
thought grandma. “Bobby doesn’t seem very happy.”

A week later Bobby was still grumpy . They were missing their Yellowstone vacation. A fine
summer this was going to be. Grandma found him sitting on the front porch swing, ball and glove in
his hand. “Mind if I sit here too?” asked grandma.

No response.

“I see you like baseball,” commented grandma. “Do you have a favorite team?”

“Yea, but you probably don’t know them,” stated Bobby matter-of-factly. “I like the
Chicago Cubs. They play at Wrigley Field, in case you want to know.”

“No kidding!” exclaimed grandma. “They’re my all-time-favorite team as well. Did I ever tell
you about the time I met Ron Santo?”

“You met Ron Santo? When?”

“I was at his debut game in 1960. I was sitting right behind the home team dug-out. Santo was
at bat. Before I realized what had happened, he swung at a ball, which went foul, and the ball hit me
on my arm. It hurt like crazy. After the game Mr. Santo came over to me and asked how I was doing.
He then signed a baseball, which he gave to me, and shook my hand. I still have that baseball, you
know.”

“I didn’t know you liked baseball, grandma?” This news surprised Bobby.

“I have something I want to show you Bobby.” With that, grandma went to her room, then
returned with a scrapbook. Together they looked through many years of baseball memorabilia. Bobby
was fascinated.

“You know Bobby, I still enjoy baseball. What would you say if you and I make a date to go
see a Cubs game whenever they are in town.”

“Really,” an excited Bobby exclaimed. “We could really go to a game?”

“You bet. I hear they are in town this coming weekend. You wanna’ go?”

“Oh man. I can’t believe this. I get to go see the Cubs, how exciting is that?” Suddenly, Bobby
no longer felt grumpy. He was elated.

“You know what grandma? This is gonna’ be the best summer ever. I’m glad you came to stay
with us. You’re a really fun grandma, you know that, right?”

Bobby received a hug, and a signed baseball, from his favorite grandma.
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This article has been read 695 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Laura Manley
07/18/09
I like your story a lot. It was very refreshing. I liked the gap between grandma and grandson being mended with a common interest. Thank you for sharing. Laura
diana kay
07/19/09
What a good story. So true to real life and the reactions of youngsters to changes to their plans and thier initial dislike of the older generation for spoiling things. I had no idea HOW you were going to turn it round and liked the way you did it.
One suggestion would be to be more consisted with the way you place the speech. Some times you have put it on individual lines and sometimes within the paragraph. There is alot of speech in this but it is good. I suggest use seperate lines throughout but maybe doublespacing not needed.
Seema Bagai 
07/20/09
A good story. Watch the dialogue tags. You don't need to use tons of variety like exclaimed or commented unless it adds to the way the words are being said. Overall, this is a creative piece.