"I don't understand why we have to spend the whole day cutting out stupid chickens and coloring them. This is what the kindergartners do, believe me, I saw their chickens hanging up in the hallway," Lexi said.
"Turkeys, Lexandra. They are turkeys. That is why we are coloring them, so you can learn the difference between them," Ms. Lenny said, leaning over her shoulder.
"I'm surprised you know the difference, Ms. Lenny," Lexi said.
Ms. Lenny looked a little confused.
"Well I figure you scarf down the chicken or the turkey so fast that you don't even know what it is," Lexi explained.
Ms. Lenny was literally steaming, and Lexi smiled, satisfied. By now, Ms. Lenny figured out that bringing her to the principal's office didn't do anything, so she just stood there and yelled at her.
"Lexandra! I am tired of your disrespect, and I want you out of my classroom! We are going to have to relocate you to a new room and a new teacher!" she shouted.
Lexi's satisfied face melted into one of disbelief. "I didn't mean it Ms. Lenny, I am only joking. Sorry if you find my comments to be disrespectful," Lexi said in her sweetest voice.
Ms. Lenny gave her the "teacher look". "You have one more strike Lexandra. Next time you are even slightly disrespectful, you are out of here." She turned and waddled back to her desk, and sat in her enormous chair that looked as if it were on the verge of breaking.
"Whatever, the only reason I want to stay in this class is so I'm with Anne and Will and Luke," Lexi mumbled under her breath.
I rolled my eyes, and began to color in my turkey's feathers again.
-
"Anne! We need the cranberries washed ASAP!" Lexi screamed from the other side of the kitchen.
Our families were having Thanksgiving dinner together, and Lexi and I had begged to cook everything, except the turkey. Right now we were making cranberry sauce from scratch. Not something that fourth graders typically make by themselves.
"Coming!" I said, running over to her counter from the sink and dumping the wet cranberries into the mixer.
"Sugar!" I ran over to the sugar canister and measured the correct amount. Then I went over and poured it into the bowl with the cranberries.
"Mix 'em up!" I shouted, and Lexi started the mixer.
I wasn't even sure if we were doing this right.
"Looks a little dry, let's put in some water."
We were literally making this up as we went.
"Cool, and into the fridge it goes!" Lexi said, holding the bowl above her head.
"Now, onto the rolls."
After everything was finished, my dad came in and looked at the disaster that was our kitchen.
"Girls," he said, "were you planning on cleaning up?" he asked slowly.
I looked over to Lexi and she shook her head. "Nope," I said.
"See, that's the funny thing, when you cook, you also have to clean up."
"Girls! C'mon we are late for Mary Ellen's birthday party!" my mom shouted from the living room.
"Bye Dad!" I yelled quickly, and we raced out the door.
-
It was Thanksgiving Day, and it was time to take out our feast. From the fridge, we pulled our cranberry sauce. In the oven were our rolls, green beans, pies, and the turkey. On the stove was our stuffing and gravy. Overall, it looked like we had done a pretty good job.
When the dinner was all out on the table, everybody joined hands, and we all said something that we are thankful for.
"I am thankful that I got to spend a wonderful Thanksgiving with this wonderful family," Ms. Lotter said. You could tell she was sad that all she really had left was Lexi. Her entire family had disappeared before her eyes.
"I am grateful that we got to welcome a new member into out family," my mom said, regarding Alice.
"I am thankful that our family has settled in nicely over the past year and a half, and that Anne is happy here," my dad said. I gave him a small smile.
"I'm thankful that I found a wonderful best friend like Lexi," I whispered.
"I am grateful that Anne and I made this amazing dinner for all of us to share, because man, am I hungry!" Lexi said.
Everybody laughed and we all dug in to the food.
The dinner... it wasn't amazing. At all.
The rolls were burnt on the bottom. The cranberry sauce wasn't even close to what it should have turned out like. The sugar in the pies had accidentally been mistaken as salt, the green beans were soggy, and the stuffing was dry.
Atleast the turkey was okay.
YOU ARE READING
The Cherry Trees
Roman pour Adolescents"It was then that I heard it. The small, quiet, click. I couldn't turn my head fast enough. When I finally saw her, she had the gun to her head. "I'm sorry," she mouthed. And then the whole forest went silent when the sound of her life being taken e...
