Paige Absolutely Hates Peas

Paige Wheatley hated peas. She hated them with a passion. Whenever her mother served them, she would push them around on her plate and never eat them.

"No dessert, if you don't eat your peas." her mother told her.

Paige scooped up her peas on her spoon. She put the spoon to her mouth. But no! She couldn't do it. She quickly dropped the spoon back to the plate.

"Paige!" exclaimed her mother as some of the peas trickled on to the floor. She stooped down to pick them up and throw them in the garbage. She glared at Paige. Paige knew better than that.

Janie page's older sister snickered. "Peas are delicious." she declared as she shoveled a spoonful into her mouth.

"But they're green!" said Paige disgustedly.

"So is honeydew, and you like that." pointed out Janie.

Paige starred at the plate of peas for minute. They were green and looked bumpy and there were so many of them. They did not look sweet at all. She looked back at her sister and shook her head. Janie had to be lying. These things could not possibly be sweet.

"They're small." she said finally.

"So are you." pointed out  Janie.

Paige glared at her sister.

"Alright that's enough. " said Daddy. "Finish your dinner. Mom made a delicious chocolate cake for dessert."

 Chocolate cake! Paige's mouthwatered just thinking about it. Chocolate cake  was her absolute favorite. She stared back down at her peas. Those evil peas were all that was standing between  her and sweet delicious chocolate cake.

"Remember," said Mommy as if she were reading Paige's mind. "No cake if you don't eat your peas."

Paige glared at the peas. 'What evil, evil little vegetables!' she thought. She closed her eyes tightly hoping the peas would just go away. Unfortunately, when she opened them again, those peas were still there sitting on her plate as if they were staring at her. She sighed.

By now, Mommy and Daddy and Janie were finished eating;. They cleared the dishes and waited impatiently for Paige to finish too.

Paige looked up at Mommy and Daddy and especially Janie's unhappy face. Then, she looked down at the plate of peas again. She just couldn't do it. She just couldn't.

After a while, Janie asked "Are we going to sit here all night?"

"Paige?" asked Daddy. "Are you going to eat those peas?" Paige was silent. Daddy took her silence as a no. "Let's have dessert." Daddy said to Mom.

Paige smiled happily. She had won! She faced those evils peas and beat them.

Mommy got plates and forks. Daddy cut slices of cake. One. Two. Three. Three slices of cake. One for Mommy, one for Daddy and one for Janie. None for Paige. Paige groaned in disappointment.

"Delicious!" sighed Janie happily biting into a chocolately slice of cake. She smiled at Paige. Paige glared back.

"You have noone to blame but yourself for not having any cake." said Mommy as she and Daddy also bit into their slices of cake.

They finished and quickly. Janie cleared the dishes. Daddy rinsed them. Mommy put them in the dishwasher. The only thing left on the table was Paige's plate of peas.

"This is your last chance." said Mommy as Daddy and Janie exited the kitchen. "Are you going to eat your peas or not?"

Paige unhappily looked at her plate of peas. Then, she looked back up at her mother. "Can I still have cake?"

"Yes." replied her mother, "but this is your last chance. We can't sit in this kitchen all night. I have things to do and so do you."

Paige sighed. She slowly very slowly put some peas on her spoon. She slowly very slowly put the spoon in her mouth. She slowly very slowly took a teeny tiny bite of peas. It was so tiny that she barely tasted a thing. She took a slightly bigger bite. Wait! Could it be? She took an even bigger bite. Yes! It could. The peas were sweet. They were tasty. In fact, they were really good. Paige smiled happily and gobbled down the rest of the peas.

When she finished, Mommy cleared her plate and sliced her a piece of cake. "Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" said Mommy.

Paige shook her head no.

"Peas are not so bad after all, are they?" said Mommy.

Paige shook her head no again. "Can we have them again tomorrow?!" she asked eagerly.

Liora the Liar

Liora Sanders was lonely. She had just moved to a new town, and she didn't have any friends yet. She watched all the other kids having a good time and playing together on the playground, and she was filled with jealousy. She wanted to make some new friends and make them quickly.

Liora approached two girls in her class, Patsy Nicoletti and Grace Mero. They were sitting on a bench and chattering and giggling and just generally having a good time."Hi."she said cheerfully. "I am Liora Sanders." The two girls just kept on chattering and giggling to themselves and didn't even seem to notice Liora. "I just moved here." said Liora. Patsy and Grace still ignored her. "I have 17 pets" said Liora.

Patsy and Grace immediately stopped talking. "What? they said unsure whether to believe Liora or not.

"I have 2 dogs, 3 cats, 4 hamsters, 5 fish, a guinea pig, a bird, and a goat named Billa. My Dad got Billa when made his last movie. We just got so attached to her that they let us keep her."

Patsy and Grace's eyes practically bulged out of their heads. "You have a goat?" asked Patsy.

"Your Dad's a movie star?" asked Grace.

Liora nodded her head. "Yes, " she said to Patsy. "That's why we moved here because you can't really keep a goat in a penthouse apartment. Our new house is so big we have plenty of room for all our animals." To Grace she said. "My Dad's been in over 20 movies. My Mom used to be an actress too, but she stopped when she had me because she didn't want me to be raised by nannies and housekeepers."

"Has your Dad been in anything I would have seen?" asked Grace.

Liora shook her head. "I doubt  it, " she said "unless you go to a lot of R rated movies. He is going to be making his first PG rated movie soon though and Zac Efron and Miranda Cosgrove are playing his kids."

The two girls eyes practically bulged out of their heads again. "Zach Efron?" said Patsy. She closed her eyes dreamily and sighed.

"Miranda Cosgrove?" added Grace jealoulsy. "I just loved her in i-Carly.

Liora quickly put her hand to her mouth.  "Oh." she said worriedly through her fingers. "I wasn't supposed to say anything. My father doesn't want people hanging around the house and asking him to get Zac and Miranda's autograph's and stuff."

Grace and Patsy frowned. They had been planning to do just that. "Your probably lying anyway." said Grace.

"Yeah." agreed Patsy."Why should we believe you?"

The next day Liora brought in a picture of herself. In the picture she was standing next to a brown and white goat. "This is Billa." she said.

Grace and Patsy's eyes opened as wide as two saucers and their jaws dropped. They didn't know what to say. "Do you want to be our friend?" Grace asked finally as Patsy nodded in agreement.

Liora smiled eagerly. "I would love that. I would really love that." she replied truthfully.

After that the three girls were inseparable. They played together every day at recess. Grace and Patsy kept asking Liora when they could come to her house and see all her animals, but Liora kept putting them off. "We are still getting the house organized from moving and my mother doesn't want company." she explained one day. "My Dad was filming late last night, and he is going to be sleeping all day." she said another.

One day in school, they were having a party for the 100th day. Liora was surprised and horrified to find out that one of the parents that would be helping out that day was her mother. "Are you surprised to see me?" asked her mother cheerfully. Liora was surprised but not happy. She frowned deeply. Her mother didn't seem to notice. "You always wanted me to volunteer at your school, but I couldn't so I took a vacation day today so I could come in." explained her mother. Liora shook her head sadly. That had been in her old school when she was with her old friends.

Before she could stop them, Patsy and Grace excitedly came over to Liora and her mother. "Hi!" they greeted Liora's mother warmly. "I'm Patsy." said Patsy.

"I'm Grace." added Grace.

"It's so nice to meet you." replied Liora's mother. "I have heard so much about you."

"We are glad to meet you too."they said. They immediately started peppering her with questions.

"What's it like living with a goat?" asked Patsy.

"Do you miss making movies?" asked Grace.

"What!?" asked Liora's mother. She looked at Liora. Liora said nothing. She just looked away.

"Don't you have a pet goat?" asked Patsy.

"Didn't you used to be a movie star?" asked Grace.

Liora's mother smiled. "Very funny." she said. "Is this some kind of joke?" she asked Liora, but Liora didn't answer. She didn't even look at her mother. 

Patsy and Grace did not look amused. In fact, they looked downright angry. They looked at Liora. Then, they looked back at her mother.  "Liora told us you have 17 pets including a goat." said Patsy angrily as she realized Liora had been lying to them all along."

"Yeah, and she said her Dad was a movie star, and you used to be one too." added Grace equally as angrily.

The two girls glared at Liora. Her mother looked at her too but with confusion "Liora?" asked her mother. She still didn't quite know what was going on.

Liora bit her lip to keep from crying. "I just wanted you to like me." she said to Grace and Patsy. "I just wanted to have friends."

"But you lied to us."  said Patsy as Grace nodded vigorously. "Do you really have any pets at all?

"We do have two dogs." said Liora's mother.

"I like dogs." said Grace.

"My husband is a pilot, and I work in an art gallery." added Liora's mother.

"Wow," replied Patsy. "I have never even been on an airplane."

"Liora's been on planes since she was a baby." said her mother. Liora nodded but didn't say anything.

Patsy looked at Liora. "Your're life is still pretty cool even if you don't have 15 pets and movie stars for parents." she said.

"Yeah." added Grace. "Why did you have to lie about it?"

"I really wanted you to like me."

"We would have liked you better if you didn't lie to us."

"I'm sorry." Liora said sincerely. "Can I have another chance?" she added quietly.

"Well you were pretty fun to hang around with." admitted Grace, "And I would like to meet your dogs."

"And I'd love to hear about all your airplane trips." added Patsy.

"But you can't ever lie to us again." insisted Grace as Patsy nodded.

"I won't I promise." agreed Liora.

"Wait a minute!" exclaimed Patsy.

"What?" asked Liora worriedly.

"What about that picture of you and the goat?" asked Patsy.

"Oh yeah." said Grace eagerly waiting for Liora's explanation.

"Oh that." replied Liora. "That was taken when my family went on a trip to farm." she explained.

"That's right." said Liora's mother knowing just what picture they were talking about. "Right after that picture was taken the goat tried to eat Liora's hair."

The mental picture of Liora with a goat eating her hair made Patsy and Grace burst out laughing. They smiled at Liora. Liora smiled back and laughed right along with them.

Sunny and the Slippers

Savannah Gilroy awoke to the sound of her mother calling her to breakfast. Her new puppy Sunny lay curled up by her side. Savannah smiled and stretched and got out of bed. She put on her favorite yellow robe and looked around for her matching yellow fluffy slippers. She finally found them next to her closet door all chewed up. "Sunny!" she said but she said it with a smile.

Savannah  went downstairs in her bare feet.  Sunny padded after her. "Mommy!"said Savannah. "Sunny chewed up my slippers." Savannah wasn't angry though. She kind of thought it was cute and adorable.

Mommy wasn't really angry either. "We'll get you a new pair." she said matter-of-factly.

The next day, Mommy and Savannah went shopping. They got Savannah a new pair of slippers. They were yellow too with a big purple flower on them. Savannah put them under her bed.

The next morning when Savannah awoke and got ready to go downstairs, her slippers weren't under her bed anymore. They were in the middle of the room. They were all chewed up and the flowers were ripped right off. This time, she did not think it was so cute. "Sunny!" she said disappointedly. Sunny licked her hand. Savannah frowned.

Mommy did not think it was so cute this time either. "We'll get you another pair of slippers." she promised Savannah, but she frowned at Sunny. Sunny licked Mommy's hand. Mommy frowned even more.

Savannah got a new pair of slippers. These were pink with little pink bows across the front. She put them in her closet, but when she woke up in the morning, somehow they were chewed up too. This was getting to be too much. "Sunny!" she said angrily. Sunny got frightened and hid under the bed. Savannah felt guilty and took her out from under the bed, but Savannah was still mad. "You're a bad dog." she told Sunny, but she did not say it loudly.

Mommy was mad too. She looked sternly at Sunny and shook her finger. "Bad dog, Sunny, bad dog." she said. "We'll get you another pair of slippers." she said to Savannah.

Savannah got a pair of rainbow stripped slippers. Then, a pair with little flowers all over them. That was followed by a fuffy purple pair and then a pair that was shaped like big white  bunnies. Sunny chewed through each and every one.

Savannah didn't know what to do anymore. Neither did Mommy. She was tired of buying Savannah slippers, but she kept doing it anyway.

Mommy and Savannah went shopping once again for slippers. This time Savannah had trouble finding a pair she liked. They went to just about every store in the mall. "How about these?" suggested Mommy  finally to a plain gray pair in Sears.

Savannah wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Those are ugly!"" she said. "They are so plain."

Mommy sighed. She was tired of shopping for slippers. She was tired of shopping for them that day and tired of shopping for them in general. "Savannah." she said sternly."Let's just get these slippers and go home please. Enough already."

Now, it was Savannah's turn to sigh. She knew just by the tone of her mother's voice that she was getting the slippers, and there was no use arguing. It probably didn't matter anyway. She wouldn't have them that long. Sunny was only going to chew them up.

However, the next morning, when Savannah woke up, the ugly slippers were fine. They were right where she left them and hadn't even been chewed up a bit. She figured maybe Sunny hadn't been feeling well or she was tired or had an off night. The next night Sunny didn't chew up the slippers. She didn't the night after that or the night after that either.

"You see that Mommy." said Savannah. "I told you those slippers are ugly. Even the dog thinks those slippers are ugly. Can I get rid of them, please?"

Mommy shook her head. "Of course, not." replied Mommy. "We spent money on those. Besides, we finally found a pair of slippers that we can keep away from that dog."

Savannah sighed disappointedly. "Why did I have to get a dog that has good taste in clothes!" she groaned.

Bethany and the Big Girl Bed

Bethany Price was 3 years old, and she was getting too big for her crib. Mommy and Daddy surprised her with a big bed. "Bethany," they said to her cheerfully. "This is your new bed."

Bethany looked at the new bed. It had flowered sheets and a big purple blanket. Bethany loved flowers and she loved purple, but she didn't love the big girl bed. She stared at it angrily for a few minutes wondering what had happened to her old bed. Then, she looked back at her Mommy and Daddy and shook her head. "No." she said "NOT MY BED!" She looked all over for her crib but Daddy had  already taken it down. She pointed to the space where the crib belonged and started to cry.

"Don't you like your new bed?" asked Mommy.

Bethany didn't answer. She pointed to the big bed and said "Not my bed!" and continued to cry.

"You are big girl now, Bethany, and you are so lucky." said Daddy.

"Yes." agreed Mommy. "You are lucky to have such a nice new big girl bed to sleep in".

Bethany shook her head no and pointed to the new bed. "NOT MY BED!" she repeated.She began crying again. She cried and carried on so much that finally Daddy had to put the crib back together.

Bethany instantly relaxed once the crib was assembled again in her room. "My bed." she said happily pointing to it.  She even went over and hugged it.

For  a week, Mommy and Daddy tried to transition her to the new bed. The put her to bed at night in the big girl bed. After Mommy and Daddy left, Bethany would get the step stool from the bathroom, Every morning, when Mommy and Daddy woke up, she would be back in the crib.

Finally,  Daddy brought Bethany home a new Dora doll. Dora was Bethany's favorite show.

"Dora!" exclaimed Bethany excitedly grabbing for the doll.

"Dora wants to sleep with you." said Daddy.

"Would you like to sleep with Dora?" asked Mommy.

Bethany's head bobbed up and down happily. "I sleep with Dora." she said.

"Dora is a big girl. " explained Daddy.

"So if you want to sleep with Dora you have to sleep in a big girl bed." added Mommy.

Bethany nodded. She hugged the Dora doll to her. That night for the first time, she went right to bed in her new bed without a fuss.

The next morning, when Mommy and Daddy woke up, Bethany was still in the bed, but Dora was in the crib. Mommy and Daddy were surprised. "Why is Dora in the crib?" they asked.

"Dora's a baby. Bethany's a big girl." replied Bethany proudly.

Curious Calla

Calla Worthington was a very curious girl. She wanted to know everything about everything. Sometimes she asked questions. However, when she felt she needed to she took matters into her own hands. That was what got her into trouble.

Mommy woke up one morning bright and early or so she thought  it was bright and early. She walked into Calla's room to wake her up. Calla, however, had already been up for hours. She sat on her bed on top of her flowered  comforter completely surrounded by the white fluffy stuffing from her formerly stuffed and now stuff less animals. "Calla!" exclaimed Mommy surveying the mess.

"Hi, Mommy." said Calla bright and cheerfully. "I wanted to see what was inside my animals and if it was all the same."

Mommy just shook her head. She and Calla set about cleaning up the mess and  then went down for breakfast. "Calla, " said Mommy. "You go in the other room and watch TV while I make breakfast." Calla nodded and trotted into the den to watch TV. "And don't take the insides out of anything!" her mother called after her.

It was quiet for a few minutes except for the sounds of the morning cartoons coming from the TV. Mommy sighed in relief and started to make breakfast. Suddenly, a loud crash came from the direction of the den. Mommy quickly moved the eggs to an unlit burner on the stove so they wouldn't get overdone and hurried to see what happened. "Calla, are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

Calla sat in the middle of the room surrounded by books. "I'm fine, Mommy." she replied. "I just wanted to see how many books it would take to reach the ceiling."

Mommy frowned. "I'm glad your okay, but please put the books away now and come have breakfast."

By the time, Calla finished it was time to eat so for the moment she couldn't get into any more trouble.

After breakfast, Mommy thought it would be best if Calla went outside for a while. "Why don't you go play in the backyard?" she suggested.

"Okay." agreed Calla. She stepped out the backdoor into the fenced in yard.

"And don't take the insides ouf anything or stack anything up!" Mommy called after her.

It was peaceful for a while. Mommy decided to start a stew for dinner. She looked everywhere for her favorite big pot, but she couldn't find it. Finally, she opened the backdoor and called out to Calla. "Have you seen my big pot?" she asked.

Calla said nothing but stared at the ground. Mommy came outside and went over to Calla. She looked down and saw her big pot entirely filled with dirt. "Calla!" she angrily.

"I'm sorry Mommy, but I wanted to see how much dirt would fill it."

Mommy shook her head in disappointment in Calla. "I know you are curious about things, but you musn't touch things that don't belong to you."

"Okay, Mommy." said Calla genuinely sorry. She didn't mean to cause so much trouble but she just needed to know things.

Mommy brought Calla into the house and cleaned her up. By then, it was lunch time. She brought Calla into the den and sat her on the couch and gave her some picture books. "Sit here for while and look at these while I make lunch. Don't take the insides out of anything. Don't stack anything. Don't fill anything. In fact, don't get off the couch."

"Okay, Mommy." agreed Calla.

Mommy went in the other room and started to make lunch when she heard Calla frantically calling her.

"Mommy, mommy!" called Calla sounding as if she were going to burst into tears at any minute.

Mommy ran into the other room as quickly as she could. "What is it baby?" she asked worriedly.

"Mommy!" cried Calla. "There is a button up my nose."

Mommy was afraid to ask but she did anyway. "Calla, how did a button get up your nose?"

"I took it off my shirt, and I put it there because I wanted to see what would happen, but now I can't get it out." admitted Calla in a panic.

This time, Mommy was too worried to think about being angry. "Don't worry , baby." she said. "We'll take care of that." She hurried Calla into the car and took her to the emergency room where they carefully removed the button.  As they were leaving, the nurse tried to hand the button back to Mommy, but Mommy shook her head no. She never wanted to see that button again.

In the car on the way home, Calla asked, "Do you hate me, mommy?"

"Good heavens! No! Of course, I don't hate you. What would make your think that?" asked Mommy.

"I'm a  lot of trouble." replied Calla.

"Well, yes." admitted Mommy. "Sometimes, you are but that doesn't mean I don't love you. I know you are curious about things, but you have to learn to ask before you do things."

"Okay, Mommy." Calla agreed happily in relief that after all the trouble she caused her Mommy still loved her. And after that sometimes, she did ask before she did things, but not always.

Maisy and Daddy and the Big Mess

It was  a rainy day and Maisy Delano was bored. She was tired of playing alone. She went looking for something to do and found Daddy sitting on the big brown couch watching car shows. "Daddy, play with me." she begged.

"Not now, sweetie." said Daddy never taking his eyes off of the TV.

"Daddy, play with me!" said Maisy a little bit louder this time.

However, this time Daddy was so busy watching TV that he didn't even say anything.

Clearly being bossy wasn't going to work. She was going to have to try something different. She climbed up on his lap, tilted her head on his shoulder, looked up at him with her big brown eyes and said sweetly. "Please daddy."

Daddy melted. "Okay." he said. "Maybe for a little while just until Mommy gets back from the store."

He followed Maisy up to her room. Maisy took out her Candyland game. "Let's play Daddy." she said. They played 2 games of Candy Land in a row. Maisy won both.

In the middle of the third game. Masy got tired of the game. She left the board and all the pieces on her floor and went to her closet "Let's color," she said starting to take out her coloring books and crayons.

"Shouldn't we put away the Candy Land game away first?" suggested Daddy.

Maisy shook her head. "Color." she said handing Daddy a green crayon and pointing to a page in her coloring book. Daddy colored. Maisy colored too.

After about ten minutes, Maisy was bored again. "What should we do now?" she asked.

"Why don't we clean up the crayons and coloring books and the Candyland game." suggested Daddy.

"No that's boring." said Maisy. "Let's play Teddy Bear tea party." She got about ten stuffed animals out of  her closet and gave half to Daddy. They set all the animals up at her little table and set out toy dishes to serve them on.

By the time they finished setting up, Maisy was bored of that too.  "Let's read books." she decided. She started to pull a stack of books off  of her red wooden book shelves.

"Here is something to do." suggested Daddy. "Let's clean up the Teddy bears, and the dishes, and the coloring book, and the crayons and the game. That will be really fun."

Maisy looked at him as if he had suddenly grown two heads. "Daddy, " she said finally, "that wouldn't be fun at all.  She proceeded to take books off her bookshelf . After she had pulled about ten books off of the shelf. She sat down on Daddy's lap and put the pile on the floor next to them. "Read!" she commanded.

After Daddy had read about half the books, they heard the noise of Mommy's car pulling up in the driveway. The front door opened. Then, they heard Mommy's footsteps on the stairs. Mommy popped her head in Maisy's room looking for them. "Oh my!" she exclaimed when she saw the toys and the books and coloring books and crayons and the game scattered all around Maisy's room.

Maisy frowned and pointed her finger accusingly at Daddy. "Daddy made a  mess in my room!" she said.

Zani Wants to Go to the Zoo

Zani Walters loved animals. She loved animals of every kind. More than anything she wanted to go to the zoo. She begged and begged but somehow Mommy and Daddy never found time to take her to the zoo.

One morning, Zani sat at the breakfast table. One minute, she was sitting there quietly eating her pancakes. The next minute, she started roaring like a lion.

"Zani!" exclaimed her mother. "Why on earth are you making that racket? What's gotten into you?"

"I'm a lion." explained Zani. "If I can't see a lion, I have to be a lion."

"Well, please don't be one at the kitchen table." replied Mommy.

After breakfast, Zani went into the living room. Instead of turning on the TV or playing with one of her toys, she started jumping around the room and making monkey noises.

"Zani!" said Mommy poking her head into the room.

"I'm a monkey, mommy." Zani told her as she continued jumping around.

"Why are you a a monkey?"

"Because if I can't see a monkey. I have to be a monkey."

"Well, please don't be a monkey in the living room." said Mommy.

Zani gave her a mother an unhappy look and went up to her room. For about a 1/2 hour it was quiet and then, there was a loud crash. Mommy rushed  up the stairs and hurried into Zani's room. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly. Zani nodded. She was sitting on her bed, and she did look perfectly fine.

Just then, Mommy saw the big blue ceramic pieces of  broken lamp on the floor. She frowned at Zani. "How did that happen?" she asked.

"I broke it with my elephant trunk."

"So now you're an elephant?"

Zani nodded. "If I can't see an elephant I have to be an elephant."

"Well, please try to be more careful with your trunk." said Mommy.

At lunch, Zani repeated everything Mommy said.

"What can of sandwich would you like?" asked Mommy.

"What kind of sandwich would you like?" repeated Zani.

"Zani!"" said Mommy.

"Zani!" repeated Zani.

"Stop it now, Zani." said Mommy in her angry voice.

Zani knew better than to keep repeating things. "But mommy."  she replied. "I'm a parrot. If ..."

"Yes, I know." cut in Mommy before Zani could finish."If you can't see a parrot you have to be a parrot."

Zani nodded.

At dinner time, before Zani could become another animal, Mommy had surprise for her. "Tomorrow, Daddy and I are going to take you to the zoo." she promised. 

"Oh Mommy!" cried Zani excitedly. "How did you ever know that is where I most wanted to go?".

"A little bird told me" replied Mommy "and an elephant and a monkey and a lion."