Nellie never had things go her way. This
was for eight years now.
She would want milk with her Cinnamon
Toast Crunch, but there was never any at home. Her evil brother Steve and
his equally evil men would come over and take the milk and everything else at
her house- leaving nothing for her. She wanted to watch Bananas in Pajamas
or Sailor Moon on her DVD player once, only to find out that they were
gone. Taken to a far away land somewhere where they were probably playing on
some other little girl’s DVD player. This made tears come to her eyes. Nothing
would ever go right for her.
At her school play she played
the Turnip – a very important part – and tripped on a cord when just about to
recite her part. When she fell she took along the Beets, and the Squash; along
with the Carrot, and the Peas.
“Nellie, you dope!” they
scolded. And Nellie ran away, the audience’s laughs trailing behind her.
She scored a goal at her
little league soccer game though. It was a tie game with only fifty seconds
left on the clock. George kicked the ball blindly and it bopped her on the
head.
“Ow,” she squeaked, as the
ball landed right in front of her.
What joy! No one had ever giving her the
ball before. She began to run and kick with all her little might. People in
the stand were shouting their cheers and jeers but she didn’t notice who was
doing what. She stopped at a goal, closed her eyes so tight that stars were
showing, and kicked. But the goalie was too slow for a kick like hers and he
missed.
“Yes!” she shouted while jumping high in
the air.
“Nellie,” she heard her teammates shout,
“that’s the wrong goalie!”
At least she got to shoot one though,
even if it cost her teammates the game.
Today, Nellie wasn’t feeling particularly
happy with herself and she wanted to watch a movie from her abundant supply of
DVDs. She decided on something that would cheer her up. This one was the next
in the line to her
Bananas in Pajamas and her Sailor Moon – It was Tommy Tricker
and the Amazing Stamp Collector. It would always put a smile on her face.
She looked between Shrek and
Tomb Raider for her movie – but it wasn’t there. She looked atop her big
screen T.V., between it, and under the table the big screen T.V. was placed on
– but it wasn’t there. She turned over the couch cushions, looked under stacks
of Vogue magazines – but it wasn’t there. Slowly a scowl made its way
onto her red face and her eyes grew narrow – she was furious.
So furious that she felt like shouting
and that’s what she did:
“YRAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!” she yelled
so loud that it
disturbed the birds perched on a tree.
“What’s wrong with you?” Steve asked,
while sucking on a Popsicle. HER cherry flavored Popsicle.
“That’s mines!” she shouted.
“Oh,” Steve said, feigning surprise, “you
mean this?”
“Yeah, that.”
“Here have it back then.”
He stuck the half eaten Popsicle to her
face and she screamed her protest. She flicked it out of his hand where it
landed next to the dog’s feeding dish. Mack the dog would get it later.
“Hey,” shouted Steve, “you didn’t need to
do that!”
He pushed Nellie on her bottom and walked
away. Tears sprang to her brown eyes and fell down her cheeks. Just then her
mother walked in.
“What’s wrong Nellie?” her mother asked.
“Some one took my Tommy Tricker
movie, Mom, and I bet you Steve did it,” Nellie said.
“Oh, honey, I’m sorry I gave that movie
away,” Mom said.
Nellie was outraged. Her own mother
bought her that movie and now this.
“But why, mommy?” she asked.
“Because you’re too old for movies like
that, sweetie. I thought it would be best to give it away,” Mother said.
She embraced Nellie and attempted to
soothe her. But Nellie didn’t need soothing. Her face went into another scowl
and her eyes narrowed.
This was the last straw.
“I’m sorry, sweetie. I’ll get you a new
one okay?” Nellie’s mother said.
She also said that about Bananas in
Pajamas and Sailor Moon – neither one was seen again. But, Nellie
nodded anyway. There was no use in arguing.
“There, now go out and play.” Her mother
released Nellie, got up, and left.
Instead of going outside to play, like
her mother instructed, she went upstairs. She passed the cat sleeping on a
step, passed her brother’s room that said ‘Keep Out’ to finally reach her
secret laboratory. It wasn’t exactly a laboratory but she liked to think it
was one. Ideas were cooked up here and she knew the exact ingredients for the
one she had now. She took out a strawberry scented marker and began to draw
plans on the wall.
First: she would need rope. Tons and tons
of rope that was strong enough for the job she had for tons and tons of rope.
Second: she would need food and drinks.
Where she was going there probably wouldn’t be any food.
Third: she would need things that flew.
Stuff like birds or balloons. She had balloons but no birds.
“Maybe I should stick to balloons,” she
decided finally.
In her closet were balloons of all
colors: Blue, Green, Pink, Grey, and Crimson Lake Red with Polka-Dots. She
took out a blue balloon and started to inflate it. Then took out a pink one
and began to inflate that as well; it wasn’t until she reached the green did
she run out of breath. It was just too much work.
“Maybe I should switch to birds,” she
decided finally.
Birds were perched on top of the high
palm trees across the street in the park. To catch them she would need nets –
which she didn’t have. Luckily, she had the perfect blanket in her closet that
made a wonderful substitute. She grabbed the blanket and went down stairs,
past the living room and to the front door.
“Where are you going?” her mother asked.
“I’m going to play outside like you said,
mother,” she said with a big smile on her face. Her mother returned the smile.
“That’s my girl,” she said and patted
her head.
Nellie held the smile while slipping past
her mother and out the front door where she walked across the street to the
park.
It was birds galore when she arrived.
There wasn’t just a one but one and a ton. To get them, she would have to
climb and as they attempted to fly away, and catch them in her blanket. And
that is what she did. She climbed up the palm tree, blanket ready in her
hands. Not once did the birds stir from their resting place. It was only when
Nellie reached the semi-top did they spread their wings and begin to flap.
“Gotcha,” Nellie said.
And she climbed back down to the ground
with her twenty birds in a bundle. She tied the blanket to make sure no birds
would escape. When none did, she went back home.
“What is that you have there, sweetie?”
her mother asked.
“Treasure,” Nellie said with a smile.
“Oh, ok. As long as the treasure doesn’t
get all over my Persian rug you can take it in the house,” Mother said.
“Ok,” Nellie agreed.
She took it upstairs, stopping by her
room to retrieve the tons of rope and her backpack full of food. She went into
her parents’ room and out onto the joint balcony that overlooked the backyard.
She threaded the rope until it was just a bunch of laid out strands then
carefully opened the bird bag. She tied to each bird’s leg two strands of rope
until all were tied. Then, she wrapped each strand around her waist until it
was tightly secured in place – she decided it was time. She took the blanket
off the birds and each one began to take flight. All that met her tiny feet
was the air that went through her toes and slowly but surely she began to
drift away from her house with only the food in her backpack and the birds
tied around her waist.
“Finally,” she said as she
waved goodbye, “something will go my way.”
And she was never seen again.
