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October’s Challenge
By Elena Hannigan
DEDICATED TO MASON, MY NEIGHBOR.
Many people call me a genius, but I don’t believe them. My name is Mason, and I am four years old.
“Hurry up, Mason, or you’ll be late for your first day of school!” my mom yelled up the stairs. “We can get you a rosemary bagel on the way, if you’d like!”
“I’m going to school, I’m going to school, I’m going to SCHOOL!” I had been waiting for this day since June, when I was told I had been enrolled in Glendale Elementary School in Arizona. I was a little young to be starting kindergarten already, but they told me that it was fine. Since my mother was going to homeschool me, she taught me a lot of things that I wouldn’t have known otherwise. Then she decided she wanted me to have a chance to meet some friends. They also told me that I was a “very bright little child.” I am so sick of people saying that; I still don’t believe them. And yes, they really did mean I was bright and little. I am very short for a four year old. But my mother tells me that it’s okay if I’m short because I am going to grow.
I just wish both my parents were taking me to school today, but I haven’t seen my dad since I was a baby and I can’t remember him at all.
“Um… Mason, could you come in here, just for one moment?” I heard my mother’s voice calling me nervously from the kitchen. I walked in slowly and cautiously. “There’s just one thing I didn’t tell you… You won’t be starting kindergarten today…” I gasped. “They said you’re too advanced for such a low grade, so you’ll be starting first grade instead.”
My eyes bulged and my mouth dropped open. I felt tears streaming down my face. The next thing I knew, I was running. I ran out of the kitchen and didn’t look back. I went outside and climbed up my favorite tree, the small cherry tree my mom had planted outside of our house a long time ago. The green, bushy leaves covered me completely from sight.
No graham crackers? I thought tearfully. No naps on the warm blue mats, no story-time? Not even any playground time? And I won’t have any friends around my age, they’ll all be two years older than me! My mom walked out the door. I could see she was crying, too, but just barely.
“Mason?” she said worriedly. “Mason, I know you’re in that tree of yours. You need to get down. Being sad is not an excuse for being completely rude. I swear, even though it isn’t kindergarten, you will still have a great time. There’ll be plenty of kids to play with, trust me.” I shimmied down and ran towards her.
I apologized and hugged her.
“Do you promise?” I asked, my face buried in her floral dress.
“ I promise.”
* * *
“Class, I’d like you to meet our new student, Mason! And remember, Mason is new to this school, so I expect you to be very kind to him, okay?” said the teacher, Ms. Tater. “Mason, why don’t you introduce yourself.”
“Hi, I’m Mason, I really wanted to go to kindergarten, but I am still very happy to be here!” I exclaimed. Then I heard the disapproving snickers. Tears came to my eyes. Then I remembered my mother's words: “I promise.”
“Mason, I guess the only empty seat is… next to Lavender! Lavender, would you stand up, please?”
A small, dark-skinned girl with thick, round glasses stood up and waved to me. She grinned, showing a gap where her two front teeth used to be. Her glasses were so big that they slid down her nose about an inch when she stood up. I walked over to the desk next to her and sat down.
“Nice to meet you! I’m Lavender!” Lavender offered her right hand to me. I shook it.
The first subject of the day was math. We got big books full of math equations and word problems. Lavender grinned again. She must love math as much as I do! I thought. Ms. Tater told us to go off in partners and work through pages 1-3. Lavender and I became partners. I watched as she struggled through the pages, helping her whenever I could. When we were finished, Lavender and I high-fived. From then on, I knew we were going to be friends.
“Wow!” I exclaimed. “We get playground time?” The playground was huge and full of children around my age running,
jumping, and doing everything I loved to do.
“C’mon!” I heard Lavender call as she beckoned me toward the jump ropes. I followed her happily and she taught me how to do some complicated jumping stuff. Suddenly I heard a sharp, drawling voice coming from behind me.
“Hey, Mason. What a weird name for a short little preschooler. I guess playing with the girls would suit you.” It looked like maybe a fifth grader? A tough one, too.
Tears welled up in my eyes. “I’m not… I’m… It’s just…” I won’t let myself cry! I thought. “Lavender’s my friend.” I said shakily. He rolled his eyes and walked away. Lavender came up to me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing… Nothing.”
* * *
When I got home from school I told my mother about everything that had happened that day, about Lavender, the mean fifth grader, Mrs Tater. She said she’d be “speaking to the teacher about all this nonsense.”
That night, I awoke to a loud gasp of surprise. I walked into the room next door, the living room. My mom was staring at the TV. I saw a single tear on her right cheek. I looked at the TV and saw a man with some stubble who was on the news.
“What’s the matter Mama?” I asked her. She jumped, she hadn’t noticed my presence. At just that slight astonishment, more tears slid down her face. I could tell she was trying not to cry for my sake.
“Nothing, Mason. Go back to bed now, honey,” she hiccuped. I did, but not before taking one last look at the man with the stubble, and noticing that he had the same brilliant twinkle in his eye as I did.
The next morning when I woke up, my mother's eyes were swollen and puffy, she probably didn’t get enough sleep. I hope she wasn’t up crying all night. I wonder why she was so sad about the man on the TV. So I asked her.
“Honey… You’re gonna be late for school. I’ll tell you when you get back.”
But when I did get back from a day filled with fun and the mean fifth grader who I learned was named Derek, Mama refused to tell me until dinner, which was when she said: “Mason, the man on TV was your father.”
I honestly can’t remember my father. He left our family when I was one. Mama says he never looked back to us, not for one second. That made me think he didn’t love us. But the way Mama talked about him now makes me think that maybe he did.
“Your dad lived with us for one year after you were born, and then he left one night because he was offered a job in New Mexico. Later that night, he called me and told me he wasn’t coming back. But now, he has become a news anchor for Arizona’s channel 7 news....”
My insides were screaming with excitement. Maybe I’ll get to see my dad! If he comes here… maybe we could finally do all the things dads are supposed to do. That night I fell asleep while hearing my mom cry quietly. I was happy, though, and filled to bursting with the thought of my dad and what a nice guy he seemed to be from what I had seen of him on the news.
* * *
On the next day at school I was walking in with Lavender and we saw a yellow flyer tacked on a bulletin board right inside the school. I peeked at it around Lavender’s shoulder and she stopped too. We stared.
“Wow,” said Lavender, after she had read it. She was amazed. “Mason, you should sign up!” But all I did was stare, for this is what I saw:
SIGN UP HERE!!!
FOR THE ANNUAL MATH CONTEST,
HELD AT GLENDALE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
AND SPONSORED BY: ARIZONA’S CHANNEL 7 NEWS
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13!
FOR AGES 5-12 YEARS OLD.
THERE WILL BE SEPARATE CONTESTS FOR AGES 5-7, 8-10, AND 11-12.
BUY TICKETS, OR SIGN UP NOW!!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I can’t sign up, Lavender, I’m only four.” I said sadly, walking to class.
“Well, when’s your birthday?” asked Lavender, skipping through the hallway to catch up with me.
“It’s not until October fourth… oh wait! The competition is after that! Lavender, you’re a genius! You should sign up!”
“No no. No way!”
“Come on, don’t be so shy!” Plus, maybe I’ll see my dad if I win the prize!
* * *
“Of course I’ll sign your permission slip! I think you’ll do great at this competition! And it sounds fun!”
“Yay!” I said to my mom with a smile on my face. I had waited for this since I saw the poster with Lavender, and it was all I had thought about since. Except for my dad. I hadn’t done as well in school, but I didn’t mind. I was sure to win this math contest!
OCTOBER FOURTH
“Happy birthday, dear Mason, happy birthday to you!” chorused my mom, Lavender, two boys from my class named Fabian and Jeremy who were twins, Grandma Lindsey, Grandpa Floyd, our neighbors John and Mary, and their kid Amos.
I was really excited for the competition now, because it was only in nine days!
“Blow out your candles Mason!” My mom reminded me, since I had been staring off into space thinking about my contest.
So I blew. “I wish that I will win the math contest and get to see my dad!” I thought happily. Maybe wishes really do come true. I hope so.
The next day, I had felt a surge of power during math. I had felt as though my brain was gaining strength with every problem I solved.
And that night, I studied any math questions I could think of. Addition, subtraction, even some multiplication here and there. I practiced my shapes, my counting, my skip counting, everything I knew how to do in math. And I felt prepared. But was I?
OCTOBER THIRTEENTH
I woke up with a smile on my face. I had dreamt about winning the shiny gold medal at the competition. Hooray! This was the day I had been waiting for! And I was going to win first place!
At school, I worked on my math as hard as I could, I finished first, and I had fun doing it. And that is what is important, right? And at recess, Derek was mean to me again, but I didn’t care as much. I was stuck in my own little world, thinking about the contest. But Lavender didn’t seem to mind, she was very supportive and wanted me to win that contest just as much as I did. And with that thought, I knew I was prepared.
I was at the competition. There were three other five year olds, two six year olds, Fabian and Jeremy, and two seven year old girls biting their fingernails nervously. A man came up to me holding a clipboard. He looked flustered.
“So… you must be… Mason? Mason Brown?” said the man in a squeaky, annoying voice.
“Yes.”
“So, there has been a slight change of plans. We are now going to be on live television instead of having our pictures in the paper, something about nobody reads the paper anymore…” mumbled the man. “So, do you have a parent or guardian around, Mason?”
“Uh-huh, my mom is right over there!” I said pointing to her.
My mom and the squeaky voice guy started talking about how it was going to work, and I went to play with Fabian and Jeremy. They told me that the math challenge was going to happen, then the top three winners will get their pictures taken, then everyone would be on live television. I said it sounds great! Live TV is even better than a picture in the paper!
“Will all contestants go into their age groups, the contest is about to begin!” yelled the man. I realized it was one of the fifth grade teachers. I couldn’t remember his name. Everyone grouped together around tables, and a teacher came to each age group’s table. Ours was Ms. Tater! Yay!
She handed out clipboards with sheets of lined paper and a special type of shielding thingie around it so nobody could cheat. She asked us questions and asked us to solve them. There were 20 questions in all. Five addition problems (easy), five subtraction problems (kind of easy), five skip counting problems (easy) and five multiplication problems (hard). I didn’t know about my score… I think maybe I got some right?
Soon after everyone had finished:
“And now, the winners of the ages 11-12 competition is… Derek Pickers!” announced the teacher hosting the contest. Derek walked up and collected his medal. He also smirked to the distance for some reason… Oh! He was on live television! Wow!
“And the winner of the ages 8-10 contest is… Padma Bellows!” A girl with two long dark braids and glasses took her medal quickly, didn’t smile, and left quickly. She must be very shy.
“The winner of the ages 5-7 competition is…” This was my moment. “Mason Brown!”
I felt like I was on fire. I stood there, unmoving, until I felt a hand nudge me forward. I ran, grabbed my medal, grinning, threw it around my neck, and turned to the camera. I heard applause. I saw my mom, and I waved at her. Then I heard a familiar voice…
“Now wasn’t that an interesting competition! Congratulations to Derek, Padma, and Mason! Haha! Now we’re going to send you over to Jack, with the local weather!”
* * *
“I’m so happy you won Mason!” squealed Lavender. Then I heard a sound from behind me. I turned around. It was Derek. Come to be mean to me again I bet.
“Mason… I just wanted to tell you… I’m really sorry, for all the things I said.” I smiled.
* * *
“Yay, Mason is the best!” yelled my mom excitedly. We had been dancing around together, me wearing my medal, for a while now. We heard a knock on the door. We opened it. Our smiles turned to looks of surprise. It was my father, Kevin Brown, the news reporter.
He smiled nervously. My mom gasped. She didn’t say anything though. She seemed too scared to speak. I couldn’t bring myself to speak either. My dad was really here! He was going to live with us and we were going to be one happy family! But then my mom did something that surprised me. She slapped him.
“Ok I guess I deserved that.” But then she hugged him and I hugged them. And I was the winner of a math contest. And my dad was home. Life is going to get a whole lot better!
THE END!
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