Five Little Duckworths

Mrs. Duckworth had five year children. Della was the oldest, followed by Dewey, Drina, Donny and baby, Dottie. The Duckworth children loved to play outside. Their favorite thing to do was go to the park. It was not their mother's favorite thing to do, however. While she loved for her children to get outside and get exercise, it was hard to keep track of five very active children in a such a wide open space.

Still,  the children loved go to the park so they begged her and begged her. "Please can we go to the park?" begged Dewey.

"We'll be good." promised Della.

"Please, please." added little Dottie tugging on her mother's skirt.

Drina and Donny just nodded in agreement.

Finally, Mrs. Duckworth relented. "Okay." she told them. "We can go to the park but just for an hour or two and you have to stay close. No wandering off,  and stay away from the big hill!" she warned.

"We  will. We promise." they assured her solemnly.

As soon as they got to the park, the children squealed with delight and ran off in five different directions. Mrs. Duckworth sighed. For her, it was going to be a long and exhausting afternoon trying to keep an eye on five children at once.

The children played happily for an hour or two. Then, Mrs. Duckworth called "Della! Dewey! Drina! Donny! Dottie!" Reluctantly, the children trudged over to their mother. Their mother's head bobbed silently up and down acknowledging each child  as they reached her side. Della. Dewey. Drina. Donny. Little Dottie was nowhere to be found. "Where's Dottie?" she asked worriedly.

They other children shrugged.

"Didn't you watch your little sister?" asked Mrs. Duckworth.

"You didn't tell us that we had to." pointed out Della.

Mrs. Duckworth just shook her head in disappointment. "I shouldn't have to tell you she's your little sister."

Della and Dewey shrugged.

Mrs. Duckworth sat the four children down on a bench and went looking for Dottie. She came back after a while without Dottie. She counted the children on the bench. There were only 3. Della. Dewey. Drina. Donny was nowhere to be found.  "Where's Donny?" she asked. All three of the children were busy playing on their phones, and not one of them looked up. Mrs. Duckworth grabbed all of the phones out of her startled children's grasps and she repeated, "Where is Donny?"

"We don't know." replied Dewey.

"Now can we have our phones back?" asked Drina.

Mrs. Duckworth glared angrily at them. "No, you may not have your phones back." she fumed as she slid their phones in to her big black pocketbook. She decided she better keep the children with her so she made them line up and follow as they set off  looking for their brother and sister.

They had only wandered around the park looking for a little while when Dewey asked. "Can we get a drink of water? I'm really thirsty."

"Me too." added Della.

Mrs. Duckworth turned around to scold them about how they could be thirsty at a time like this when their siblings were missing and  ask why couldn't they be good and quiet like their sister, Drina. However, when she turned around,ex she noticed that the reason Drina was so quiet is that Drina wasn't there. "Where is Drina?" exclaimed Mrs. Duckworth in exasperation.

"How should we know? She was behind us." Dewey reminded his mother.

"Yeah." added Della.

Mrs. Duckworth just shook her head sadly, grabbed each of the two children's hands, and continued walking around the park looking for the others.

"I'm getting tired." complained Della after a few minutes of frantic searching.

Mrs. Duckworth let go of Dewey's hand for a minute and turned to Della. "Your little brother and sisters are missing!" she reminded Della angrily pointing her finger and putting her other hand on her hip.

Della didn't apologize but she did look a little bit sorry. She stared down at her feet.

Mrs. Duckworth felt a little bad for yelling. She was still really worried about the other children, but Della was only a child too. "I"m sorry." she said. "Let's just keep looking, and when we find them we can go home." she promised. She turned around to grab Dewey's hand again, but he was nowhere in sight.

"Della," she said turning back the other way again. "Where is Dewey?" However, now Della was no longer there either. By this time, Mrs. Duckworth was completely panic-stricken. "Della! Dewey! Drina! Donny! Dottie!" she screamed frantically at the top of her lungs. All of the other parents and children in the park stopped and stared and wondered what was going on. Mrs. Duckworth didn't even care. She opened her mouth to scream again, but then suddenly Della, Dewey, Drina, Donny and little Dottie all came running down the hill, the hill that they were not supposed to have climbed at all.

Mrs. Duckworth let out a huge sigh of relief. "Oh my darlings. I love you." she exclaimed happily hugging and kissing Della, Dewey, Drina, Donny and little Dottie in turn. "But, boy are you going to be in trouble when we get home!" she declared.