by A. J. Stern
“I also have a résumé and business cards,” I interrupted.
“You are one of a kind, Frannie. I liked the idea of putting such a serious, ambitious girl in a lighthearted dress. It’s an opposite, and I like opposites.”
“I like opposites, too!” I told her. Which is not an opinion. I do like opposites, even if I didn’t know about that fact until right then.
“I’m glad you understand,” she said.
“I do. I’m sorry if I ruined your life, Laura Munn,” I told her.
She laughed at that, but not in a bad way.
“You didn’t ruin my life, Frannie. But you did put me in a very bad position. You didn’t think about how your actions might affect other people, did you?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Well, I hope you learned an important lesson,” she said. “You’re not going to like everything in life, but you are going to have to learn how to accept things without cutting up dresses.”
“I know,” I told her.
“Good. I have a meeting, Frannie, so I have to run, but thanks for calling and asking about the dress.”
“You are very welcome,” I told her.
I felt a hundredy times better. It wasn’t a bad reason she gave me the dress, it was a good reason! I couldn’t even believe my worldwide ears. That’s when I got a very bad day feeling on my skin. I really did a bad thing by cutting up Nora Kelly’s dress. That is when my parents walked back into my room.
CHAPTER 11
“We have the perfect punishment for you,” my mom told me. I did not like how happy they seemed about having a punishment for me.
“You are going to spend a day with Nora Kelly doing one of her favorite activities.”
“Okay,” I said. That didn’t sound so bad. I loved favorite activities.
“Flower arranging,” my dad finished.
I stood up. “Flower arranging?!” I cried. “I am not interested in flowers or in flower arranging!” I said.
“We know. That’s exactly why you are going to join her. You need to learn how to appreciate things that are not your style.”
I harrumphed my face at this fact and at this punishment. Flower arranging was the most boringest thing in the world. I would rather go to jail than go to flower arranging.
“She’ll pick you up on Saturday morning, and you’ll spend the entire day with her. When we pick you up, we would like to hear three things about flower arranging that you genuinely liked. We would also like to hear three things you can appreciate about flower arranging, even if you didn’t like those specific things.”
I scrunched up my face at this. I did not like being given homework by my parents!
“Fine. I will do that, but I will not like it at all.”
“You don’t need to like it,” my dad said. “You just need to appreciate it.”
And so that is what I had to do. On Saturday morning, Nora Kelly drove to my house and picked me up for the most worst activity in the world. I did not know how in the whole wide world of America I was going to come up with three things I appreciated about flower arranging. But when Nora told me the class was at a flower shop, I thought that sounded a little bit exciting. I liked the idea of having a class in a real-life business place.
When we got there, there were a lot of adults, which made me feel like I was doing a grown-up thing. The teacher was named Todd. He was so excited about flowers that I couldn’t help but get a little excited, too. Would you even believe your ears if I told you that flower arranging was an art? That’s a scientific fact!
The flower store also had cactus plants, which is a for instance of something I didn’t know I loved.
We made big arrangements out of lots of flowers and small arrangements out of a few flowers.
When my parents got there, I thought they were extremely early, but they were actually on time. That is how fast the time went, actually. I showed them all around the store and explained about flower arranging.
“Seems like you had a good time,” my dad said, holding my hand.
“I really did,” I told him.
My parents looked at each other and smiled. Then they looked at me.
“Did you manage to find three things about flower arranging that you appreciated?” my dad asked me.
I nodded my head.
“I liked learning about all the flowers and the ways they grow. I liked being in a class with adults. I liked how many colors there were. I liked learning thirty-seventeen different names of flowers. I liked Todd, the teacher. I liked doing something with Nora. I liked being the boss of my own vase. I liked learning how to take care of something. Is that three?” I asked.
“I think that’s around eight, actually,” my dad said.
“We’re so glad you learned to like something you thought you wouldn’t like, Frannie.”
“Me too,” I said. “Sometimes you don’t know what you’ll like until you try it!” I told them.
“So true!” my dad said, taking my hand. Then I looked at them and said to my mom, “I was hoping we could go to that meeting with Anna Armstrong.”
“I don’t know, Frannie,” she said, hesitating.
“I want Nora to come with us. I couldn’t have ruined her dress if she hadn’t made it. So we’re a team, actually. I wouldn’t feel right going without her,” I said.
My mom took my hand and said, “Seems like you learned quite a lot today, Frannie. You’ve got yourself a deal.”
I told Nora the good news. She could hardly believe her ear sockets! I smiled the biggest smile ever knowing that I hadn’t only helped Nora, but also made her happy.
THE END.
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Frannie’s parents throw her a party and she finds her next new job: fortune-teller! Frannie begins making up the fortunes of her friends at school ... but what happens when they take things too seriously?
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