A Poor Girl's Treat

I wrote this story in the eighth grade just for fun. It is up to you, the reader, to interpret the back story of the town this girl lives in. 

I woke up one morning in late April. I had no idea what day it was, but something felt special… I couldn't for the life of me remember though. I was tired, grungy; I couldn't do anything about it except travel a mile into the woods and dip into the lake.

I thought it through, but I would inevitably end up sweaty and dirty all over again. I thought about sneaking into town and risk using someone's water hose, but if I got caught, I would be taken away and never see my loving sister, Tammy, again. Imagine, my older sister waking up to find that I was gone, that she would never see her younger sister ever again, that I had simply been taken away and to never return home.

I slid off of the mangy strip of stained, cream carpet that supposedly was my "bed."

 "Tammy," I called, "are we going to eat today?" I received no answer.

"Tammy, are we going to eat?" I tugged on the thin, soiled sheet that was an attempt to keep us warm at night.

  "Tammy! Are we going to ea-" I pulled off the sheet covering a human-shaped lump only to be greeted by a rolled-up towel in place of my sister. Then, I realized, today was my birthday! How could I have forgotten my own birthday?! Ugh, I feel like a fool!

 "Aly, keep your voice down, and come to the kitchen!" A familiar tone murmured.

 As I made my way, I stepped cautiously to avoid the splintered wood and old, rusty nails sticking-up from the aged, wooden floorboards. A sharp pain in my left toe alerted me that I had missed one. I looked down, and

 luckily there was no blood. I ducked under the fallen, wooden beam that made the entrance to the kitchen my sister was standing; grinning.

   As soon as my nose caught a whiff of sugar, my eyes saw a single slice of soft-pink frosted cake atop our old, folding table where one leg had been substituted by a stack of bricks.

   "Happy birthday little one!!" she proclaimed, still in a bit of a whisper.

 "Tammy," I stuttered, "how did you do this?! We haven’t the money! Where did you get this? Did someone see you?"

  "Don't ask, just enjoy it!" she grinned.

 I inched towards the cake. The sweet, sugary smell filled my lungs as I brought a small bite to my lips. The sweet, savory taste overwhelmed my senses. Light, fluffy cream-cake and sweet, sugary icing melted on mytongue as my brain struggled to evaluate the marvelous creation that it had never before experienced in its life.