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grippy@juno.com
copyright 2000
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The Lying Dayby Lois WickstromToday is a school holiday. A whole day for playing. Except you never can tell with my mother. Usually she asks me what I want to do, and we do it. But sometimes, she decides to do chores, which I hate."Chester," my mother calls. "Have you cleaned your room?""Yes," I say. But, I'm lying. I really pushed everything under the bed. I don't want today to be a chores day."Knock. Knock." My mother knocks at the door. "May I come in?""Yes," I say. I just know she'll say something nice about my neat-looking room.She opens the door. "How neat your room looks!" she says. I smile, but I don't feel proud.Then she walks over to my bed, lifts up the bedspread, and looks underneath.I get a tight feeling in my stomach. I just know she's going to yell at me. And I hate it when she does that.But she doesn't yell. She puts the cover down again, looks at me, and says calmly, "Your room isn't neat at all. Your toys are all under your bed. How did that happen?""Aliens put them there," I say. I know this is another lie, but I hope she'll believe it and feel sorry for me. If she's feeling sorry for me, I never have a chores day.My mother's expression doesn't change. She doesn't look sorry for me. But she doesn't look angry, either, like she does when I've been bad."Oh," she says, still calmly. "The aliens put them there.""Yes," I say, hoping that repeating my lie will convince her it's true."In that case," says my mother, "I think I'll take you to Cinderella this afternoon, instead of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."But I want to see Indiana Jones!" I yell."You couldn't possibly want to see Indiana Jones," says my mother. "You tell lies."For the rest of this story, go to Fictionwise.com http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook8503.htm # |