Why Me?

Why Me?

Written by: Margot Potter

!THIS STORY IS DEDICATED TO MY SISTER, **********, FOR!

!LETTING ME TELL YOU HOW IMPORTANT I BELIEVE SISTERS!

!ARE!

BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT

MAPLELEAF WRITING PROJECT

COPYRIGHT 2016

INTRODUCTION

I looked around the kitchen table, surrounded by my parents, my two younger and three older siblings. They all looked so happy, seeing the table piled high with luxurious foods like popovers, corn chowder and lamb stew. We started to eat and then, the scene blurred as I snapped back to reality, realizing that this happened months ago, before the Depression hit us. Now, our family looks at the kitchen table sorrowfully at the small amount of food there is.

We used to have so much...we spent lots of time together, had a great house and heaping amounts of food, but now we have nothing but whatever time is left to spend with one another, a small cottage and an empty icebox. It seems as if nothing is good anymore. Usually families become more prosperous as time goes on, but that’s not the case for us and many other families throughout the country. We have worked so hard but we still have practically nothing.

“Please don’t go away!” I sobbed to my older sister as she climbed into the horse carriage (driven by my father) which replaced the Ford we had before the Depression. Before “It”came, my family had money to spend as we wanted, but since the Depression, we actually had to sell our Ford. Once we did that, my grandpa had to give us his horse carriage which was a very hard time for all of us, knowing that we needed help.

“I’m sorry...but I have to.” Bonnie said, tearing up. I was about to argue but it was too late, she had already gotten in and was waving at me, smiling, with big gloppy tears leaving streaks across her gorgeous face. I gave up and ran into our house, kissing the baby in her crib as I entered the kids’ tiny room. There were six twin beds, with one perfectly made, which had belonged to my sister...but now it would be empty.

Even though I wanted to be by myself, my mom came up after me. “Darling, we are not trying to hurt you. We know you loved our old, big house, but we had to buy a smaller cottage to save money to feed all of us. Your sister wanted to help us by getting a job. We have been through so much, but we have to keep on making sacrifices. I mean, honey, luckily we didn’t lose our jobs and we are still together.” she concluded. I didn’t respond at all.

I thrust myself towards my bed and dug my face into the lovely quilt that Bonnie had given me, after years of sewing it.

The Depression had taken away Bonnie and I was praying that my beloved school wouldn’t leave me next. I ran downstairs and ate a bowl of leftover potatoes for my dinner, climbed into my warm bed and fell asleep. That night, I dreamt about my family together and we were especially happy.

Before I knew it, I had to go back to school. I love school but, when I was there last, my principal said our school would have to compete with fourteen other schools because the administration could only keep five schools in the area open. I was really hoping that our school would be one of the five so I didn’t have to be homeschooled.

In the competition, a chosen student would have to compete with students from other schools in an academic contest. The kids would have to go through many tests on each subject and each correct answer would be worth one point. At the end of the competition, the schools with the top five number of points would remain open, so it would be a very hard decision to choose the right student, having that much at stake.

Chapter One

The Next Day

I skipped the whole way to school with my sisters following close behind me, yelling for me to slow down. Once the building came into view, I knew that I had been missing school, and that as soon as I walked in, everything would be back to normal. I met up with my teacher, Ms.Windsor, and she told me that we were going into the auditorium to hear the big announcement.

I chose a seat in the back of the auditorium near my best friend, Helen Adams, so that I wouldn’t be very noticeable. I was extremely surprised that, amidst all the chattering kids, I could actually hear what Helen was saying. I waited, nervously, as our principal, Mr. Adams, walked up to the front and looked out, admiring all of us kids.We stared at as he looked around as if nothing was the matter, his eyes scanning the auditorium for his chosen student.

I was nervous, scared, confused and sad all at the same time. Mr. Adams would be telling us who would go to represent the school and I hoped it was someone very smart because our school needed the best chance to win. He would be picking a sixth grader but I knew that he wouldn’t pick me because, even though I was quite smart, I was terrible in any social situation.

“Attention...attention,” he blurted out as he cleared his throat. “ I would like to tell you who will be going to represent our school. Ladies and Gentlemen, please give a round of applause for...Ruth Robinson, as she will be going to lead us to victory.” The crowd rose up and gave me, Ruth Robinson, a standing ovation. My best friends were all staring at me, laughing with joy, as I was on the verge of crying, thinking about how bad I was in situations where I had to talk to anyone.

Why me? I mean I knew I was good at most everything (not to sound too full of myself). I was nice once I knew someone, but meeting somebody for the first time is something that I am not good at at all. I can see why they would want me to be in their competition because I was pretty smart, but I didn’t think I would be able to pull it off. But, I guess if they picked me, I would have to do it. I didn’t want to but, I would have to.

Chapter Two

The Nerves

“Thump...thump,” went the carriage as it skidded along the dirt road which led to the competition grounds. The world around me was beautiful; the lime green grass and the huge mansions with twisting fields surrounding their long porches wrapping around them. But most of all, the smiling sky, looking down upon me; wishing me good luck. I let out a sigh, remembering the times when our town looked almost as good as this.

Even though it was so beautiful and serene, my nerves weren’t.My heart was pounding and my stomach was knotted up. I had thoughts spiraling around in my head. Would I be able to win? Would I even be able to make it into the building without crying? I didn’t know the answers to any of these questions, which is what bothered me the most. I liked knowing what was going to happen. I liked being ahead of the game.

Then, I saw what I had been dreading; The competition building. It was the biggest building of all. I took a breath and let out a little, tiny sob so my father wouldn’t hear. Then I could see it clearly. I could see the black shutters and even see people through the windows. It was becoming too real to even comprehend. It was truly happening.

We pulled up to the mansion and my father and I got out. Before he could even open the door, a tall, skinny woman with big, porcupine-like hair pulled the handle and nodded at us. She said nothing, but motioned for us to go up the stairs. We followed, questioningly. Before we got half way up, she stopped, mumbled and walked back down, went behind a small desk and disappeared behind black curtains.

At the top of the stairs, there was a long hallway with many shut doors keeping in voices of confusion and upsetness. We walked down the hallway until we saw a door that had a sign on it that was labeled, “Robinson.” We opened the door and found a very nice bedroom with all sorts of schooling supplies in it. The room fit perfectly with the rest of the village; it was gorgeous. I opened my mouth but no words came out, only sobs, I was crying. Everything was so overwhelming.

“Oh dear, what’s wrong…what’s wrong honey?” said my father, alarmed at how I was crying at such a wonderful place. I couldn’t respond, all that came out were more sobs. We plunked ourselves down on the bed while my father tried to talk to me gently. I didn’t speak. I got under the covers, and my father, sitting on the bed smiled softly to not hurt my feelings. I didn’t respond at all. I fell asleep and the last sound I heard was a voice speaking harshly into the room and a door closing.

The next morning I was lying in bed awake, but then I realized that something was missing...my father! I sprinted out of the room and ran all throughout the building, standing outside every door trying to find him. I asked the lady at the front desk and she said, “ Oh, sorry honey, he left last night to go back home and he wanted me to tell you that he had to make it to work and that he wishes you good luck.” I was steaming mad. Why didn’t my father wake me up?

I couldn’t believe it. How would I be able to accomplish something like this without my father or my mother or at least any family member? The answer is that I wouldn’t be able to and that I would lose and...wait....I can’t be thinking about things like losing because then I really won’t be able to win and I won’t be able to keep my school open. So, from now on, I will be thinking about winning no matter how nervous I was...I was ready to win!

Chapter Three

The Competition

After endless days of studying the competition was here. I was thrilled to be doing it and it was looking just a little bit more fun than it did before. I was petrified and excited. My parents would be coming and I hadn’t seen them for fifteen days and that was very hard for me because my parents are the most important thing to me. They had been working even harder and working more time than they had before because they wanted to take a week off to come see me.

I had stayed up studying so late the night before, I actually fell asleep in my clothes. But, I wanted to look nice for the competition so I changed into my best dress. I straightened up my outfit and left my bedroom and walked to the competition room. While I was walking through the halls, I saw my parents wandering around the the flood of children, trying to find me! I couldn’t spend all day with them so we quickly rejoiced, then I sent them to my bedroom and I headed to the competition room.

Right as I walked in, I saw a big blackboard and the teacher had written ‘MATH’ in huge letters. I love math! The teacher in the room caught my eye and pointed to a desk in the back row. I walked right up to it and smiled at the boy sitting next to me...he just grunted and whispered to a boy next to him. Hmmm, people are not very nice here. I looked down at a paper on my desk and it looked just like a math test we used to have at home. I knew I could conquer this.

“Alright class, as some of you may have figured out, you are here this morning to do a math test.” the teacher remarked. “ When we go to tally up your points tomorrow, this test will be worth twenty five percent of your grade. Take it seriously. This test will be showing us what you know and if you are really ready to do this. You will have to hand in your papers in half an hour, completed or not. You may begin this first test,” she concluded.

I froze up, I couldn’t remember anything. This was simple. All we had to do was multiply three digit numbers by three digit numbers. But I couldn’t remember anything. Other people were already scribbling away at their tests but I hadn’t even written my name. And then, it slowly started coming back to me. I joined everyone else in writing on the papers, I was gaining confidence. The teacher finally told us we had to be done. I wasn’t, I had only finished two out of the three! I was so scared!

The rest of the day was filled up with more tests. I knew that we only had to do one day of tests and that day was today, but I was still nervous. I lost and gained confidence all throughout the day. I did written tests and speaking tests but it felt like it was flying by. Throughout the whole day one thing was on my mind: my oldest sister. I wanted to win for her. I wanted to show her that she could do anything she wanted. But, I couldn’t forget that my school would close if I didn’t win.

I walked out of the contest room and walked back to my bedroom. I couldn’t wait to tell my parents that I was done taking tests and that tomorrow we would find out who the top five winners were. It seemed like a lot of studying just for one day of test taking but to me, that one day was enough. I opened the door and saw Bonnie standing in front of the door, smiling. My parents were sitting on the bed looking at me with faces full of joy.

“You're here, you came, you’re back!” I said through tears of happiness. I dropped to the floor and Bonnie did the same and then we cuddled. We smiled our special smile and then I remembered that my poor family was still at home.

They were counting on me to keep their school open and I knew that I probably wouldn't win. Then, partly from stress and partly from happiness at seeing my sister, my world went black and my head slammed to the floor and I heard scared voices close in around me.

¨Hey, honey wake up,¨ said my sister in a gentle voice. ¨Ruth, you fainted, come on itś supper time.¨ I sat up to see my sister crouched next to me, my mom pouring a glass of water from an old seltzer bottle and my dad, sitting on an old chair biting his nails nervously. I got up and sat on the bed, still groggy from fainting. My mom walked over and brought me the glass of water. Even though it was only water, the cold, sweet drink tasted so good because I had worked so hard.

We walked down to the dinner buffet they were holding for all of the students and their families. Just looking at the table full with food made me realize that things back in our town were really bad. I didn't care though, because no matter how bad things would get, my parents would find a way to make things right for us. After eating a delicious meal, we went back to my bedroom, curled up in the bed together and fell asleep for the night.

The next morning, we were walking down the hall praying that I would be one of the top five contestants. We were running late and I was hoping that they hadn't already started without me. We took our seats just as it was starting. I was shaking so much because I was so nervous. I was wearing my new dress that my mom had made for me and I wanted to win! I took a deep breath and listened as they told us who won.

¨So, we are going to cut right to the chase. We know you are all very excited but please keep your excitement until the end. In first place we have…Anthony Selman! In second place there is…Martha Jones!” He paused in between to let the winners come up to the stage.¨Third place is...Peter Brown. And in fourth place...¨ I crossed my fingers ¨Rita Mason and in the last place we have Teddy Smith. There will be a buffet for all participants in the next room over¨ the professor finished.

My heart sank. I could feel a little tear rolling down my cheek. I was upset and slightly surprised. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes and then, I could feel myself at our farm, the warm sun shining down and then, suddenly, I could see our farm, all of the animals. I realized that my family would still be proud of me and some people have it much worse than me. The truth is, whenever I have family around, it feels like I am at home with all of the people I love and that is a true win for me.