Cindy the Storyteller

Cindy was a good girl at heart, despite her often annoying behavior.  Deep down, she really loved people, and had a knack for making friends easily.  Even though she was only 12, she had already decided pretty much what life was supposed to be about.  Her idea of life was all about doing as little as possible, but at the same time, she also felt that there was nothing much that was off limits for her to do.  She thought that her beliefs were practically written in stone, and that she had all the answers to everything that could possibly be a question.  After all, she was practically a teenager and then pretty soon after that, she would be a full fledged adult.

She actually was a cute kid.  A little skinnier and taller than most girls her age, but there was no denying the fact that most likely she was going to morph into a beautiful young lady one day.  Her mother usually kept her thick black hair styled in braids which hung down below her shoulders. She knew she had pretty features but she did not dwell on her looks.  Just like most kids her age, she was busy exploring her world and finding out just who she was.     

Cindy was her class practical joker which led most people to think that she was all fun and games most of the time.  However she was a little too aggressive with her jokes sometimes.  There were times when this created a bit of a problem for her at school.  Her mother had to go to the school for a conference with her teacher before she could go back to school a couple of times.  Like the time she tied Billy Ryan’s shoe laces together which almost caused him to hurt himself when he tried to stand up.  She didn’t get very good grades in school, but she could have if she would have put her mind to it.  She felt that studying her school books and doing her homework was a daunting task that only the ’geeks’ would do.  Unfortunately, she didn’t put much focus on her school work at all.
 
Cindy was the youngest child from a family of four children, the older three children were all boys, and she learned early on that she had to practically fight every day in order to get just about anything she wanted around the house.  The things she fought about were trivial things but were important  to her, like taking control of the remote long enough to be able to watch her favorite T.V. show or to have uninterrupted play time to spend with her friends.  Since their apartment was so small, she usually set outside with her friends on the front stoop.  This was a good enough place to visit most times unless one of her brothers decided to heckle her, which she thought was done solely to make her life miserable.

All four children were living only with their mother for the last seven years since their parents were not together anymore.  Her father was in jail serving a 15 year sentence for armed robbery.  When that happened she was only five years old.  Her father’s absence did not affect her too much because he was never home very often before he got into trouble, and when he was home he did not spend any quality time with her or her brothers.  He gave them very little attention, probably because most of the time he was drunk.  In addition to being an alcoholic, he often had fights with her mother, especially when he had been drinking.  Cindy learned early to get out of the way when her parents began to fight.  When her father was drunk, he would not only mistreat her mother, but he would mistreat her and the boys as well.  It was custom for him to yell a lot and to use a lot of foul language.  Sometimes he would even hit the boys with his belt.  He never hit Cindy however, but she always expected to be beaten with his belt at any time.  She usually ran and hid in a closet when they were fighting until it was all over.  When she came out from her hiding place her father would either be gone away from the apartment again or, because of all the beer he drank he would be half asleep in front of the T.V. 

Before her father was arrested she didn’t even have a bedroom to sleep in.  Her three brothers shared a room and her parents had the other room.  Her parents never got up enough money to invest in a bigger place, nor did they work on jobs that brought in enough money to last very long.  Therefore they lived wherever they could with the money her parents were able to bring in. She sometimes wondered what would be different in her life if her father didn’t use up so much of his money on beer and whiskey

Cindy began sharing a bedroom with her mother when her father went to jail.  She thought herself lucky with this new living arrangement because she remembered when her father lived with them she had to sleep on the couch every night because the 3 boys slept in the other bedroom.  She was secretly glad that her father was not home with them anymore. She now shared the bedroom with her mother and did not have to witness her parents’ fights or to go hiding in fear anymore.  Most of the fighting was about money.  When they weren’t fighting about money they were fighting about his meals, or why wasn’t the laundry done, or why did their neighbor have to come to their apartment complaining about something one of the boys had done.  It seemed as if there was always a reason to fight about something.  This type of home environment did not permit Cindy’s life to be very pleasant as a young girl but she was able to adapt to it somehow.
 
In order for Cindy to make her life more pleasant, she began to make up stories about herself.  At first she pretended to be from another part of the world, and there was no one in her family but her mother and herself.  In her fantasy world, she and her mother lived in a big house and had servants for everything.  She and her mother would go to Disney World practically every day. They were the envy of the whole neighborhood.  Cindy’s fantasy world eventually changed from being about her mother and herself, into fictional characters.  She would watch a cartoon show, or some other T.V. show, and would then change the whole story around in her head until it was completely different, including the names of the characters.  It would become her fantasy, or personal story.  Most of her stories were wild and funny.  As time went on she began telling her stories to her friends who always got a laugh out of them.  They liked for Cindy to tell them her stories because she did it in an animated way which held their attention.  Her friends would listen to Cindy’s stories mostly when they were setting out on her front stoop.  This activity went on practically every day without any particular notice from anyone.

One of Cindy’s favorite stories was about the shoemaker.  When she told this story she always added or took away something from it each time and made it even more interesting.  On this particular day she began:  “Once there was this very old shoemaker who lived on the edge of a small village near the forest with his wife.  They never had any children of their own and thought that they grew too old to have any. However, they loved children and wanted to be parents to a little girl or boy.  The shoemaker was able to earn a little money making shoes, however, he and his wife were still considered to be very poor. There were days when they barely had enough food to eat.  Most of the people in the village where he lived were poor also, and many of them could not even afford to buy the shoes he made from his small shop in the back of his cottage.

“One day the shoemaker was busy in his shop making shoes when all of a sudden a strong wind blew open the door.”  (Cindy’s friends began to laugh nervously and moved closer to each other.)  Cindy smiled, but ignored her friends and continued on with her story. “As the shoemaker looked around to see what was happening, to his amazement there stood in the doorway a two feet tall leprechaun all dressed up in green.  The leprechaun approached the shoemaker and extended a rod towards him and said: ‘You have been chosen by the great gods of the forest to live a long life with plenty of riches and happiness.  The shoemaker looked at the leprechaun in astonishment and responded: ‘To what do I owe this goodwill?’  The leprechaun replied: ‘Every 100 years the gods of the forest choose someone who they think worthy and grant that person this blessing.  However, as a requirement to receive this gift you must first do something to show an act of kindness to others.’ 

“The shoemaker thought for a moment, then said: ‘There is very little I can do to help anyone. My wife and I are poor peasant people. We barely have enough money or food to eat’ But the leprechaun ignored the shoemaker’s comment and continued:  ‘you will make a pair of shoes for everyone in the village and deliver them all within one month.’  The shoemaker continued to explain: ‘I do not have enough materials to make so many shoes.  There must be five…no six hundred people living in the village.  Even if I had enough supplies I could never be able to make so many pairs of shoes within a month!’  The leprechaun seemed to be unsympathetic to the shoemaker’s dilemma, instead he turned to leave and shouted to the shoemaker as he was leaving: ‘You have one month! Get busy or your good fortune will go to someone else!  “All of a sudden the door to the shoemaker’s shop burst open again and the leprechaun was swept away in a wave of strong wind! (Cindy’s friends began hugging each other closely and laughed a little nervously again.)  “The leprechaun vanished with the wind, and was never to be seen or heard from again.

“The shoemaker appeared to be frightened.  He did not know what to make of his visit with the leprechaun.  He was scratching his head and wondering was it all just a dream.  The shoemaker looked around at the small amount of supplies he had for making shoes.  He shook his head and thought to himself that it all had to have been something he imagined.  It was impossible for him to make 600 pairs of shoes within a month with the meager supplies he had to work with.

“But for some reason the shoemaker got busy and began making shoes. He figured he had enough supplies to make about three pairs only. He worked on them for a couple of hours before he was finished.  He was about to leave to go into his cottage to have a bowl of porridge with his wife.  But as he was putting the shoes away, he looked around the room in disbelief as he saw all the supplies for making shoes appear from nowhere. There seemed to be an unlimited amount of materials in many different colors to make shoes with.  There was black leather, white, blue, green, orange, red, and many more colors.  The shoemaker could barely believe his good fortune.  He forgot about eating the bowl of porridge with his wife and instead began making shoes.  He worked for a long time and tried to complete as many pairs of shoes as he could before he closed the shop.”

“The shoemaker’s wife became worried when she did not see him come into the house for his porridge.  She decided to go to his shop to see what was keeping him so long.  When she entered the room she was shocked to see all the supplies for the shoes he was making.  She asked: ‘Where did you get so much material from Horace?  You have no money and besides you didn’t leave to go anywhere today.’  The shoemaker then told his wife of the visit from the leprechaun and what he wanted him to do.  In return he said we will live a long life with riches and happiness.  The shoemaker’s wife thought it over for a moment then said: ‘This must be a trick of some sort Horace, you must not believe him!’    But the shoemaker replied:  ‘It is true! It is true!  And I need you to help me so I can deliver them on time.’  The shoemaker’s wife decided not to argue with him, instead she decided to help out by doing whatever he asked her to do in order to make the shoes.

“They worked late into the night before they became too tired and sleepy, before they finally went into their small cottage and went to sleep.  Early the next morning right after breakfast, the shoemaker and his wife went into the tiny shop and began making shoes again.  They did this day after day until all the shoes were finally made.  They made 600 pairs of shoes in all styles, sizes and colors. The job was finished and they had one day left before the month was ended. They packed up all the shoes neatly, then set out to deliver them to the poor village people.

“When word got out around the village that the shoemaker and his wife were giving out shoes, people came from every house to see the shoemaker.  The shoemaker promptly gave each one a pair of shoes of their own liking and fit. It didn’t take long before the shoemaker and his wife had finished with the delivery. They immediately left the villagers and went back to their own cottage on the edge of the village near the forest.  They were hungry and tired.”

“When they opened the door of their cottage, they were both astonished to see two huge treasure chest setting in the middle of the floor.  When they opened the first treasure chest they couldn’t believe their eyes.  It was filled to the top with gold.  It had to have been worth more than a million dollars!  They excitedly opened the second treasure chest and was just as shocked to discover it to be filled with diamonds, rubies, pearls, and all sorts of beautiful treasures.  They began to dance around the room and hugged each other with glee when all of a sudden they heard a small cry coming from outside of their back door.  They rushed to the door to see what the noise was and was just as shocked to see a little baby girl wrapped in a pink blanket and was laying in a large basket.  The shoemaker’s wife removed a note that was attached to the baby’s blanket.  It read:  ‘I have no home and my parents are both dead.  Please take me and raise me as your own child.’

“The shoemaker and his wife took in the child and raised her as their own.  They had so much money they were able to move into another house that was as big as a mansion.  They lived for many years wealthy and happy.  When their baby girl grew up to be a young lady, she inherited all of her parent’s riches and became married to a prince. They all lived happily ever after.  And that is the end.” 

Yeaaaah!! Shouted Cindy’s friends with joy.  They gave each other a high five as a sign of  agreement that they enjoyed the story.  Cindy laughed along with her friends and wondered why they never got tired of hearing the story about the shoemaker.  It seemed to be their favorite one.  One of Cindy’s friends said:  “This time the shoemaker and his wife found a baby girl.  The last time they found a little three year old boy.”  “Yeah,” piped in another one of the girls; “He grew up to be tall and handsome and became the ruler of the land.”  Cindy smiled and nodded in agreement.  “Would you tell us another story Cindy?”  One of the girls asked excitedly. Cindy didn’t hesitate.  “Okay”, she said. “This is the story about the ugly old rose bush that was really a beautiful princess who had gone un-noticed for many, many years.”
“Wow!” Shouted one of the girls as they all moved in closer to hear the rest of the story.   

Perhaps the reason Cindy became somewhat of a trouble maker was because she was seeking attention for herself that her mother couldn‘t give her.  Her mother was busy working two jobs to support the family and didn’t have very much time to spend with her.  Even before her father went to jail she didn’t get much attention from her mother; mostly because of all the fights.  Occasionally her mother had to go to her school and meet with her teacher before she was allowed to go back to school again.  This created even more trouble for Cindy at home because her mother would be furious with her for causing her to have to take time off from work. She would have done something weird at school like playing a practical joke on somebody which turned out to be not so funny after all.  She had become  known as the school’s annoying practical joker. 

Once she even managed to hide one of her teacher’s car keys and planned to blame it on Joey, the poor kid who set next to her in class. She saw the keys on the teacher’s desk and couldn’t resist taking them when the teacher wasn’t watching and hid them in Joey’s book bag which he always kept on the floor next to his desk  Stealing the keys and hiding them in Joey’s book bag caused a lot of trouble for the whole class.  Luckily Mrs. Braxton discovered the keys were missing before the bell rang; Cindy and her classmates were still in the room.  Therefore there was definitely  no confusion as to which class was responsible for taking Mrs. Braxton’s keys.  Mrs. Braxton  suspected Cindy almost right away because she figured this was something that Cindy would do.  Mrs. Braxton was accustomed to Cindy getting in trouble because of doing goofy things. 

To get to the bottom of who stole the keys, Mrs. Braxton decided to question the only three students present in the class who she thought may have had the nerves to take them. Of course Cindy was the number one suspect along with two others. Mrs. Braxton decided to question each child individually.  When the first two children denied involvement or of knowing who took the keys, Mrs. Braxton was satisfied that it wasn’t any of them.  Both children were reduced to tears after only a few minutes of interrogation.  Even smart mouthed Rudy Seymour began to tremble and cry as he was being questioned and volunteered to swear on his grandmother’s grave that he didn’t know anything about the keys.  The other student, Alex Foster, was a bit of a bully and was also in trouble a lot.  He surprised Mrs. Braxton with his flippant  statement in declaring his innocence.  He confessed, “If I would have done it, I wouldn’t have taken the keys, instead I would have made a mole of the key in some clay, just how I saw it done on T.V.,  then I would go and make a copy of it.”  Mrs. Braxton was amazed at his detailed explanation of why it wasn’t him, and considered it for a moment.  Then she pressed on; “Are you sure you didn’t have anything to do with my missing keys or maybe know who took them?”  All of a sudden to Mrs. Braxton’s surprise, Alex began to cry.  He sobbed to Mrs. Braxton, “I really didn’t do it!  I swear! I am already in trouble with my dad and he promised to whip me good if I get into anymore trouble soon!  I didn’t do it, honest!  I don’t know anything about it!”  Mrs. Braxton believed Alex sobbing was not phony and was satisfied that he did not take her keys.  Nor did Rudy.  That left only Cindy  All of her suspicions were now focused on Cindy.

As she questioned Cindy she watched as Cindy looked down at the floor, or at the wall and anywhere else except at her.  She began by asking Cindy did she know anything about her missing keys from her desk.  Since Cindy has always been in some sort of trouble and her attitude was a little defiant at first.  Cindy stated, “I don’t know anything about the keys or know who took them.  I didn’t take them, and besides, I can’t even drive a car.”  Mrs. Braxton ignored Cindy’s defiant attitude and continued on, “When your group was taking their turn at the front of the class to present your project, I was interrupted for a moment by Mrs. Sutton who needed to know the schedule for the upcoming field trip.  You were standing closest to my desk at the time and you probably saw the keys, and took them.”  Cindy would still not look at Mrs. Braxton.  She still preferred to look at the floor or anything else in the room in order not to look at Mrs. Braxton.  Although she was known to be a bit of a practical joker, she had never done anything as bad as this before, and was wishing that the floor would open up and swallow her. 

While Cindy was rethinking her decision to steal the keys, she was also feeling very remorseful for what she had done.  Of all the trouble she had ever gotten into, none of it had anything to do with stealing.  She really wasn’t a bad kid, she was only curious and had a lot of energy.  The fact is, she wanted attention from her mother but that was not always possible because her mother wasn’t home very much.  Since her mother had to work the two jobs, it gave her little time to spend with Cindy.  Instead, Cindy was always doing something crazy to upset her brothers and became known as “the litter terrorist” at home. 

Mrs. Braxton continued to question Cindy.  “Whoever took my keys has prevented me from being able to get into my car, or even open the door to my house.  How am I suppose to get home tonight?”  As Cindy continued to think remorsefully about taking the keys, her eyes welled up with tears which began to roll down her checks.  Since Cindy was feeling remorseful and also had a feeling of compassion for Mrs. Braxton being locked out of her car and her house, she decided to confess to her crime.  She knew she would be in hot water for this but under the circumstances there was little else she could do. In Cindy’s mind Mrs. Braxton was really a good teacher, one of the few who she really liked and she didn’t want anything bad to happen to her.  As she tearfully confessed, she explained,  “I only did it as a joke to play on Joey.  I put them in his book bag when no one was paying any attention.” 

Mrs. Braxton Considered Cindy’s confession for a moment.  As she looked at Cindy’s tearful face, she sensed that Cindy didn’t mean to cause such a big problem for everybody when she took the keys.  She knew that Cindy often got into trouble for one thing or the other, but she thought it was Cindy’s way of getting attention and she didn‘t think that Cindy would do anything  maliciously.  She knew that Cindy’s grades were not that great either but suspected that Cindy could do a lot better if she would only use her energy differently.

Mrs. Braxton thought for a moment, then she called Joey to her desk and asked him to bring his book bag with him.  When Joey came with his book bag, he was expecting to be sent home for some reason.  He was surprised when Mrs. Braxton asked him to look inside to see if he saw a set of keys.  Joey was confused because he knew he had no keys, and certainly her keys would not be in his book bag.  To Joey’s wide eyed surprise, he retrieved the keys from his book bag and presented them to Mrs. Braxton, almost shaking as he handed them to her.  Mrs. Braxton told Joey, “Cindy placed these keys  in your bag as a practical joke.  Thank you Joey, you can go back to your desk now.”  Joey looked at Cindy who refused to look back at him and mumbled something under his breath which was barely audible. He still looked a little confused but he took his book bag and went back to his seat.

Mrs. Braxton then turned to Cindy and said, “Cindy you must know by now that actions have consequences.  There is a consequence for every action you take.  You can expect bad consequences when you do bad things, and good consequences when you do good things.  I am going to have to report this to the principal  and also to your mother.  Mrs. Braxton then wrote something on a note pad, tore the page from the pad and handed it to Cindy.  “Here”, she said.  “Take this note to the principal’s office.  The Principal will decide your punishment and will notify your mother.”  Cindy didn’t say anything else, she reluctantly took the note from Mrs. Braxton, then gathered up her belongings and proceeded to the principal’s office.

Mrs. Bentley, the school’s principle decided to assign Cindy to help out with the younger children in the after school program for two weeks as a form of punishment.  She explained to Cindy’s mother that if Cindy got into anymore trouble she would be placed on a 10 day suspension from school.  Stealing and hiding the keys was a serious offense, but she was giving Cindy what she considered to be “a light punishment”  because she figured this would help the after school care program that was always having trouble keeping enough help.  Cindy’s mother was relieved that she was able to stay in school instead of being punished with suspension.  If she was suspended, her mother would have to worry about what to do with her when she went off to work everyday.  Besides, Cindy needed to be in school especially because her grades were not very good.

Cindy didn’t think that she was getting an easy punishment however.  She hated to report to the after school program and be around “the little brats”, as she called them.  She complained that they were too noisy and too hyperactive.  It was easy for her to complain about the smaller children’s behavior without taking into consideration her own behavior.  At first Cindy just showed up as she was instructed to do, but was reluctant to participate in helping out with the children.  However, the children wouldn’t leave her alone to herself.  They were pesky and inquisitive.  They asked Cindy a ton of questions about herself and about anything else they can think of.  At first this was all very irritating to Cindy but she decided that she would keep them quiet by telling them some of the stories she made up.

She decided to tell them the story about the little boy and the bee.  “Once upon a time”, she began, “there was this little boy named Tommy.  Tommy was six years old.  Tommy’s twin brother Johnny, unfortunately died after being stung by a bee.  Tommy’s mother was very upset with him when ever he played outside in the garden because she feared he may be stung by a bee just as his brother had been.

However, Tommy liked to play outside.  He enjoyed the feel of the warm sunshine and the smell of his mother’s beautiful flowers in the garden.  His mother also had a hard time trying to get Tommy to pick up behind himself.  Tommy would use his crayons for coloring, and then would play with his toys from the toy box, and would leave everything scattered all over the floor. The many attempts his mother made to get him to clean up behind himself were useless. His room was always a horrible mess. 

“One day Tommy was outside in the garden pretending to be an airplane.  He was running with his arms stretched out to each side pretending that they were the wings of the airplane.”  Cindy held her arms outstretched from each side as she demonstrated the airplane wings.  The children giggled and held their arms outstretched as well.

Cindy continued with her story.  “One  day when Tommy was outside, a bee landed on his arm.  When Tommy saw the bee on his arm he pleaded,

‘Don’t sting me bee, I’ll be good
I’ll do everything that a little boy should.’

“The bee began to flap it’s wings and said:”

‘What good would you do if I don’t sting you?
You’ve been rude and disobedient,
Isn’t this all true?’

‘Give me another chance the little boy said;
because if you sting me, for sure I will drop down dead.’

“The bee considered Tommy’s request as he was still flapping it’s wings, then said:”
‘I’ll grant you another chance, and let you go this time you see;
but if you continue to be disobedient you will get a sting from me.’

“Then the bee flew away.  Tommy ran into the house and began cleaning up his room.  He put his toys back into his toy box so his room would be nice and clean. But the next day Tommy left his toys all over the floor again then went outside to play.  As he was running and pretending to be an airplane, the bee came flapping it’s wings and landed on Tommy’s outstretched arm.
Tommy was startled when he saw the bee and said:

‘Don’t sting me bee, I’ll be good,
I’ll do everything that a little boy should.’

“The bee began to flap it’s wings and said:”

‘What good would you do if I don’t sting you?
You’ve been rude and disobedient.
Isn’t this all true?’

‘Give me another chance’ the little boy said;
‘because if you sting me, for sure I will drop down dead.’

“The bee considered Tommy’s request as he was still flapping it’s wings, then said:”
‘I’ll grant you another chance and let you go this time you see;
but if you continue to be disobedient you will get a sting from me.’

“Then the bee flew away.  Tommy ran into the house and began cleaning up
his room again.  He put his toys back into his toy box so his room would be nice and clean. But the next day Tommy left his toys all over the floor again then went outside to play.  As he was running and pretending to be an airplane, the bee came flapping it’s wings and landed on Tommy’s outstretched arm.

“Tommy was startled when he saw the bee and said:”

‘Don’t sting me bee, I’ll be good,
I’ll do everything that a little boy should.’

“The bee began to flap it’s wings and said:”

‘What good would you do if I don’t sting you?
You’ve been rude and disobedient.
Isn’t this all true?’

‘Give me another chance’ the little boy said;
‘because if you sting me, for sure I will down drop dead.’

“The bee considered Tommy’s request as he was still flapping it’s wings, then said:” 
‘In the game of baseball, three strikes and you are out. 
Consider this your third strike, and you have lost your final bout !’

“ To Tommy’s horrified surprise, the bee stuck it’s stinger into Tommy’s arm. Then momentarily the disobedient Tommy dropped down dead!  The end.”

Cindy’s story telling worked.  The children were all wide eyed and became quiet when Cindy told them the different stories she made up.  They paid close attention and seemed to enjoy listening to them.  After a few days the children began to run to greet Cindy when she came.  The supervisor over the program decided to give Cindy a small group of children at a time to tell stories to for a while, then the group would be rotated to do something else while another bunch of kids took their turn.  This kept Cindy busy, and to her surprise, she enjoyed making up stories to tell to the little children. They called her “the story lady.”  The adults in the program were amazed at the talent Cindy had for story telling.  The stories were funny and amusing enough to keep the children‘s attention.

When Mrs. Bentley came in to visit, Cindy was always in the middle of telling one of her funny stories.  Mrs. Bentley was amazed at the way Cindy captured the children’s attention as she told the stories.  She quickly realized that Cindy had a talent for story telling.  One day before Cindy left to go to the after school program, Mrs. Bentley called her into the office.  At first Cindy was afraid that she had done something wrong, but Mrs. Bentley smiled at her and invited her to take a seat.

“Cindy,”  Mrs. Bentley began, “I had the pleasure of listening to you tell stories to the little children.  I was so happy and surprised to hear you.  I noticed that the children really seem to enjoy themselves.”  Cindy gave a sigh of relief.  She was glad that she wasn’t in any trouble.  Mrs. Bentley continued on, “Where do you get your stories from Cindy?”  Cindy was both surprised that Mrs. Bentley liked her stories, and glad that for once in her life she was in the principal’s office without being in trouble.  “They are in my head,” she said,  “I just make them up as I go.”  “That is amazing”,  Mrs. Bentley stated.  “How would you like to write your stories down on paper and make a collection of them?  You can probably get them all published one day.”  Cindy looked at Mrs. Bentley wide eyed and said, “Gee,  I don’t know if I can do that Mrs. Bentley, I don’t believe I can write it down the same way I can say it out loud.”  Mrs. Bentley smiled and said, “Of course you can, it’s a piece of cake.  All you have to do is to organize your thoughts on paper the same way you organize them in your mind.  Is this something you would be interested in doing Cindy?”  Cindy thought for a moment and seemed to enjoy the idea of writing her stories on paper.  But this was all happening so fast.  She never even realized before that she could tell stories that someone like Mrs. Bentley would be impressed with enough to ask her to write them in a book!

Mrs. Bentley interrupted her thoughts as she continued speaking.  “Cindy, I know you don’t particularly like studying, but I believe that if you write your stories on paper, it will help to improve your writing skills, as well as your spelling, vocabulary, and grammar with very little effort on your part”  Mrs. Bentley went on to say excitedly, “Who knows what could happen next?  Only good things for you right? Why don’t you try it for a while just to see if you would like it?”  As Mrs. Bentley was talking, Cindy was thinking, “this might be something I could do.  Gee, I could make up a hundred… no, I mean I could make up a thousand stories!  This might be a lot of fun!  I think I will like doing this… no I think I will love doing this.  I can’t wait to tell Mom!”

“Cindy?  What about it Cindy?  Why don’t you try it for a while just to see if you would like it?”  Cindy’s thoughts focused back on Mrs. Bentley.  She gave her a half smile and said, “Yes Mam, I think I would like to try it.”  “Great!” Mrs. Bentley exclaimed.  I will give you some writing pads and pins tomorrow so you can get started.”  Mrs. Bentley seemed to realize that Cindy’s mother may not have enough money to buy her the writing pads and pins right away.  It would be so much easier if Cindy had a computer but the paper and pen would work just as well for now.  She will encourage Cindy to use the computer in the public library and teach her how to save her work on a disk, but for now, paper and pen it will be.

The next day just as Mrs. Bentley had promised, she went to the after school program and gave Cindy a small book bag with the note pads and pens in it.  She also gave her a dictionary for when she needed to know the correct spelling or meaning of a word and a thesauruses in case she wanted to use another word with a similar meaning.  Cindy was overjoyed to get the gifts Mrs. Bentley had given, and told her so.  She could hardly wait to go home and start putting her stories on pen and paper.  This was the beginning of Cindy’s passion for writing and telling short stories.  When she had completed her punishment at the after school program for the ten days (which ended up to be a gift for Cindy) She was asked to come back and tell the children stories whenever she wanted to.

Over the next few months, just as Mrs. Bentley had predicted, Cindy’s grades improved dramatically.  She went from having c’s and d’s to having a’s in her English class. The stories she wrote helped to improve her grammar, spelling, and vocabulary.  In fact, she got better grades in all of her other classes as well.  Cindy still liked to play around some because she enjoyed having fun just like the other children but not to the extent of being the practical joker that she had been.  When school was out for the day Cindy was as eager as can be to get her note pad out of her “special book bag” and began her writing all over again.  To her surprise, she grew to have a strong passion for writing.  Cindy’s mother still worked the two jobs but Cindy didn’t mind her mother’s absence as much.  She will always require her mother’s mentoring and direction in her life, but Cindy was able to better adjust to her mother’s working schedule since she now focused on something positive in her young life for which she had a passion for.  She used her energy to produce the hundreds of characters she had locked away in her mind and put them to pin and paper.  She went back to visit the after school program with the little children and delighted them with her story telling several times a week.  After all, there was always a good story to tell.

The End
Written and copy writes by Carolyn Sands