Snow Dogs

It was a snow filled day and school was closed. After the initial excitement wore off best friends, Tanith Vroman and Benita Kelly were bored. Neither of them could think of anything exciting to do so they just lay on Tanith's plush pink carpet starring up at the ceiling.

After one or the other had suggested a handful of possible things to do and each had soundly been rejected, Tanith suddenly bolted up to a sitting position. "I know!" she exclaimed excitedly as though she had discovered the secret to world peace. "Let's make snow dogs!"

"Snow dogs?" replied Benita as if it were the craziest thing she had ever heard. 'What in the world is a snow dog.' she wondered but out loud she just said "Huh?"

"You know, dogs made out of snow." replied Tanith as though it should have been obvious.

"Is that even possible?" asked Benita doubtfully.

Tanith shrugged. "We won't know until we try."

"Okay." agreed Benita. She still wasn't sure it was going to work, but it was better than doing nothing.

They bundled up in their heavy winters coats, boots, scarves and gloves and headed out Tanith's front door. They gathered up piles of snow and tried to mold it into the shape of a dog, but it just kept  falling apart.

"I don't think this is going to work." Benita announced finally. "Let's go inside." She tried to usher Tanith back into the house, but Tanith resisted.

"No. Let's just try a little bit more." begged Tanith. Benita agreed but not happily. She was getting really cold.

Finally, just before they were ready to give up Tanith managed to get two small piles of snow to stay together. "There!" she exclaimed excitedly showing them to Benita.

"Okay." said Benita, but she didn't share Tanith's enthusiasm. They didn't look like snow dogs to her. They just looks like lumps of snow. "Now, what are we going to do?"

"Let's take them in the house." said Tanith.

"In the house?" asked Benita, "but they'll melt." she reminded her friend.

"We are going to paint them, and then we'll put them in the freezer.

Paint them? This whole thing was just getting crazier and crazier to Benita, but still she went along with it. Tanith was always coming up with crazy ideas and very often they turned out to be a whole lot of fun. However, this whole snow dog think might have been the craziest idea Tanith ever had.

They took the snow dogs into the house and brought them into the playroom. Tanith searched around for some paint but all she could find was her brother's red and yellow fingerpaint. "This will have to do." she announced. Benita just shook her head.

They sat down at the table, and spent the next twenty minutes trying to get the finger paint to adhere to the snow, but it just wouldn't stick. It did, however get all over the table, the chairs and the two girls.

"Maybe, you should have asked your mother if we could make snow dogs before we started." Benita suggested looking around at the mess. She didn't want to get in trouble.

"Mom!" called Tanith. "Can we make snow dogs?"

"No!" her mother answered decisively.

"Too late." replied Tanith.

The Lost Valentine

Today's Story is by me and my daughter


Valentine's Day was a big deal in the Tisdale household.  There were three girls in the family. Marta was the oldest. Lena was in the middle. Kara was the youngest. Each year each child would get a card and a small gift. The gift might be chocolate or it might be a little toy or maybe even some flavored lip gloss or something.  They never knew what they were going to get, and they were always eager to find out.

The night before Valentine's Day, Lena could hardly sleep. She was so excited to wake up and get her Valentine's gift. She tried reading a little. She tried counting sheep. She even tried to lay really still and clear her mind, but nothing worked. After a long long while, she was finally able to drift off to sleep.

Lena awoke to the sound of screaming. It was her little sister, Kara. "Thank you, Mommy!" she shrieked excitedly. "I love my stuffed unicorn. I have always wanted one. I love the card too. I can't wait to use the stickers!"

Next Lena heard the voice of her older sister, Marta. "Thanks for the candy flavored lip gloss. I can't wait to try it!" she said happily.

Lena pratically jumped out of her bed. She was so excited to see what she got. She looked on her desk, but there was nothing there that hadn't been there they day before. She rushed out of her room and ran downstairs. She went in the kitchen. The table was all set for breakfast, but there was no card or present for her anywhere in sight.

Mommy was at the stove finishing making heart-shaped Valentine's day pancakes. "Happy Valentine's Day, sweetie." she greeted Lena cheerfully.

Lena waited for her Mom to tell her where her gift was, but Mom was too busy cooking. When she finished, she called up to Marta and Kara to come down so they could all eat breakfast, and they wouldn't be late for school.

When they sat down to eat, Lena looked at her plate sadly. Then, she got an idea and  excitedly lifted her plate into the air and looked under it. Her pancakes slid onto the table, and there was nothing under the plate.

"Lena!" exclaimed her mother in horror. "Put down your plate and eat your breakfast."

Lena sadly put her plate down, but she was too disappointed to eat. She just picked at her food. Soon, it was time to go to school. Lena sighed. So far, this was the worst Valentine's Day ever.

Later, when Lena got home from school, her mother greeted her at the door. "Hi sweetie." she said. "Did you have a nice day? Did you get lots of Valentine's?"

Lena looked at her mother as if she were going to cry. "I got Valentine's from the kids in my class." she said sadly.

Her mother was puzzled. "Isn't that a good thing?" she asked in confusion.

"It's not the same!" exclaimed Lena bursting into tears.

"The same as what?" Mommy inquired rushing to comfort Lena.

"The same as getting a special Valentine from you and Daddy."

Now, Mommy was really puzzled. "You didn't like the Valetine's card and gift we gave you this year?" she asked.

This time, it was Lena's turn to be puzzled. "What card?" she asked. "What gift? I didn't get anything."

"But I left it on your desk last night." insisted her mother. "Just like I did with your sisters'."

Lena hurried up to her room with her mother following closely behind. She looked all over her desk, but didn't see anything. "Look!" said Mommy she pointed to a colorful package sticking out from underneath the desk.

Lena got down on her hands and knees and quickly scooped it up and opened it. It was a sparkly charm bracelet with a heart charm. "Thank you, Mommy!" she exclaimed excitedly. Then, she opened the card and read it. It was the most beautiful card she had ever seen. "Thank you!" she said again. "This is the best Valentine' Day ever!" she exclaimed enthusiastically. "I'm glad you didn't forget me."

"Oh, honey." her mother assured her. "I would never forget you."

Quarters for Quinella

When Mommy wanted help with something, 4 year old Quinella Torres was the only one who volunteered. Her older brother, Marco and her older sister, Marisol would always claim they had homework or else they would make sure they were not around.

At the end of  a week of Quinella's help, Mommy told Quinella. "I'm proud of you. You've been a big help to me this week." She handed Quinella four shiny quarters. 

Quinella's eyes opened as wide as saucers. To her, that was a huge amount of money. "Thank you, Mommy!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Can I buy something with my money?" she asked.

"Tomorrow I will take you to the dollar store." Mommy promised. "For now, go and put the money in the change purse Grandma gave you so don't lose it." Quinella quickly scurried off upstairs clutching the money tightly in her palm..

When she got to the room, she shared with her sister, Marisol who was allegedly studying but was actually watching YouTube videos, Marisol quickly put her phone down and picked up her school book, but she didn't actually open it. "What are you doing?" she rudely asked Quinella as if Quinella didn't have a right to be there. She liked to act as if Quinella were an annoying guest, and the room was was only her own.

"I'm putting my money away." Quinella told her sister proudly. 

"You have money?" Marisol asked in surprise. "How much do you have Where did you get it?"

"I have four quarters. " Quinella told her opening her hand and showing her sister. "Mommy gave it to me for helping her."

Marisol laughed. "That's nothing." she said. "I have six dimes." 

"Six?" said Quinella a little bit jealously. She knew that 6 was more than 4. "You're lucky."

"Would you like to trade?" Marisol asked her little sister sweetly acting as if  she would be doing her sister a big favor.

"Okay!" Quinella happily responded. She gave Marisol her four quarters, Marisol gave her the six dimes.  Then, Quinella quickly found her little red flowered purse and slid the money in it, and then, she cheerfully ran off holding  it tightly and singing. to herself. "I'm rich! I'm rich! I'm rich!"

Marco poked his head out of his room. He hadn't been studying either. He'd been looking up sports scores. "Hey! What's going on?" he demanded to know.

"I have six whole dimes." Quinella excitedly told him. She proudly held up her little coin purse  and shook it around so he could hear the coins jingle. "I used to have four quarters, but Marisol and I traded and now I have six dimes." she whispered. She didn't want Marisol to overhear and take the dimes back because 6 was better than 4.

"Oh, yeah?" replied Marco thoughfully. "Well, I have 8 nickels."

"Oh." replied Quinella enviously.  8 was even better than 6.

"Do you want to trade?" asked Marco.

"Sure!" replied Quinella. She quickly emptied the contents of her purse into her brother's hand. He gave her 8 nickels and she put them in her little change purse.  Then, she went off to show her mother that she had put her money in her little change purse like Mommy had told her too. 

When she found her mother, she opened her little purse and  let Mommy look inside to show her that the money was there. Mommy looked confused.  She didn't see any quarters in the purse all she saw was nickels. She spilled the money out onto the table just to confirm that the quarters weren't there."Where did all these nickels come from?" she asked curiously. "What happened to the quarters I gave you?" 

"I traded!" Quinella exclaimed with pride grinning from ear to ear. "Marisol gave me 6 dimes for my quarters. Then, Marco gave me 8 nickels for the 6 dimes. They must not know how to count very well, right Mommy? Everyone knows that 6 comes after 4 and 8 comes after 6. " She laughed, but Mommy did not laugh with her. In fact, Mommy's face turned bright red, and she looked quite angry. "Are you mad at me mommy?" Quinella asked worriedly.

"Of course, I'm not at mad at you, sweetie. Don't worry." Mommy assured her gently touching Quinella's cheek. "It's your brother and sister who need to worry." She added sharply calling out for Marisol and Marco to come downstairs.  

Mommy had to call them both two more times before they finally came. When they finally arrived and  saw the pile of nickels on the table next to Quinella's open change purse, they exchanged worried looks. 

Mommy smiled mysteriously and Marisol and Marco didn't know what to think. Neither did Quinella. "So you all like to trade money, huh?"  Mommy said. "So we are going to trade. Quinella give me your nickels." Quinella quickly did as she was told. Mommy handed her a crisp dollar bill. Quinella didn't know that was the same amount of money she had to start with but she knew that dollar bills were better than change so she was content, and she smiled happily.

Next Mommy made Marisol give her the 4 quarters and she gave Marisol  6 copper pennies. "Because six is more than 4 isn't it Marisol?" Mommy said giving Marisol a huge fake smile.  Then she gave Marco 8 pennies for his 6 dimes.  Afterwards, she asked "Now who wants to go to the dollar store?" 

"Me! Me!" exclaimed Quinella exitedly. Marisol didn't say anything. Marco didn't say anything. 

"I guess it's just you and me." Mommy told Quinella and this time she smiled a genuinely happy smile.

Marietta the Marionette

Marietta Pinnock was a terrific little girl. She was happy.  She was sweet. She was kind. Her biggest fault was that she had a tendency to lie. "I can do 50  pushups." she bragged to the kids in her class when in fact, she could only do 5. "Why, yes I finished my homework." she assured her mother when she hadn't even started it.

Marietta's lying bothered her father. It bothered her mother. However, most of all it bothered her  sister, Joetta. Joetta was always falling for Marietta's lies and then being disappointed. "Mommy and Daddy have big surprise for you!" Marietta would joyfully tell her. Joetta would get so excited just to be disappointed when it turned out to be one of Marietta's lies.

Joetta tried not to get caught up in Marietta's lies, but she so wanted to believe them that time after time she just kept getting fooled. Finally, she had enough. After Marietta told her that they were going to see the movie she had been so looking forward to, and it turned out to be not true, that was the last straw. "I'm not listening to you anymore, and if you don't stop telling lies your nose is going to grow." shouted Joetta.

Marietta shook her head at Joetta. Then, she burst into hysterical laughter. "That only happens in fairytales." she assured her sister.

"Well, Daddy is going to turn you into a puppet then!" retorted Joetta. Their father was a talented puppet maker.

"He couldn't do that. He wouldn't do that." replied Marietta but her voice was little shaky. Their father could make a puppet out of anything. He couldn't make one out of child, could he? If he could he wouldn't make one out of his own daughter, would he?

Just to be sure that day, Marietta tried very carefully not to lie. When she accidentally caught herself in a lie at dinnertime, she quickly looked to see if her father had heard, but he hadn't seemed to notice. She breathed a sigh of relief.

At bedtime, Marietta was so tired from the effort of being good all day that she fell right to sleep. It was not an easy sleep, however. She kept tossing and turning all night.

When the alarm clock went off, Marietta was still tired and didn't want to get up. Joetta came in to get her. "Come on, lazy bones!" she said. "It's time to get up. You don't want to be late for school." She opened Marietta's shades.

"Hey!" exclaimed Marietta shading her eyes from the sun. Then, she noticed the hand she had put in front of her face. It was entirely made of wood. She checked her other arm. That one was made of wood too. She checked one leg and then the other. They were both made of wood too. She glanced at the mirror in the corner of the room and she realized that she was entirely made of wood. Not only that, she had a painted on face and strings coming out of her head. "Oh no!" she screamed. Apparently, her father could turn people into puppets, and he would turn his own daughter into a puppet because she was now a puppet. She was no longer Marietta the girl. She was Marietta the Marionette. Marietta began to cry.

Joetta laughed evilly and glared at her sister. "This is what happens to bad little girls who lie!" she declared.

"I don't want to be a  puppet. I don't want to be puppet." Marietta cried and she just kept repeating it over and over again. Until finally, she felt someone taping her on the shoulder.

It was Joetta and she wasn't glaring anymore. In fact, her face held quite a worried expression. "Are you okay?" she asked her sister in a concerned voice.

"No, I'm not okay." shrieked Marietta. "I'm a puppet, but I thought you were happy about that."

"You're a what?" asked Joetta.

"I'm a puppet." Marietta reminded her. "You were the one who told me Daddy was going to turn me into a puppet if I didn't stop lying, and you were right."

"But I just said that because I was mad at you, and even Daddy can't turn a girl into a puppet. I mean seriously, Marietta. You ought to know better." Joetta just shook her head at her sister.

Marietta leapt to her feet to argue, but as she did so she noticed that her body parts felt normal again. She hurried over to the mirror and looked herself all over. There were no more wooden limbs, no more painted face, and no more strings attached to her head. It must have been dream. She sighed in relief.

However, her relief was short-lived. "Hey!" she said to Joetta. "You tried to get me to stop telling lies by telling a lie."

"I guess." replied Joetta. She had never thought about it that way before. "I'm sorry." she said sincerely. "I will stop lying to you on one condition."

"What condition?" asked Marietta warily.

"I will stop lying to you if you stop lying to me."

"It's a deal." declared Marietta enthusiastically and they shooked hands on it. From that day on, Marietta stopped telling lies - most of the time.

Xaria Doesn't Want to Sleep

It had been a long and busy day. The whole Oliver family was relaxing on the couch and watching TV: Mommy, Daddy, Xanthe and little Xaria. Xanthe was exhausted. She kept yawning, and she could barely keep her eyes open. "Sweetheart." suggested Mommy after she had yawned for about the hundredth time. "If you are so tired why don't you go up and go to bed?"

"Okay, Mommy." replied Xanthe. She really was tired, and she couldn't wait to lie down in her nice soft bed and go to sleep. Just thinking of it made her smile. "Goodnight, Daddy." she said kissing him on the check. "Goodnight, Mommy." she added kissing Mommy on the check too.

"Do you need one of us to tuck you in?" asked Mommy.

Xanthe shook her head and shuffled off to bed.

As soon as Xanthe had disappeared up the stairs, Xaria eagerly turned to her parents. "Well, what are were going to do now?" she asked excitedly as if Xanthe going to bed meant it was now party time.

Mommy and Daddy just shook their heads. They couldn't believe Xaria was not at all tired. Even they were exhausted and couldn't wait to go to bed after they finished a few last minute things. "Don't you want to go to bed too?" asked Daddy. "It's been a long day."

Xaria shook her head. "Nah, I'm good." she assured them. "What else do you want to do?"

"Let me put it another way." Daddy told her. "It's time for bed."

Xaria frowned. "But, I am not tired!" she insisted.

"It's bed time anyway." Mommy informed her. "Do you want one of us to tuck you in?"

"No!" exclaimed Xaria not because she was trying to act like her big sister as usual but because she was mad. She angrily stormed up the stairs. When she went in the room she shared with her sister, Xanthe was already in bed and fast sleep.

Xaria got in her own bed, but she did not go to sleep. First she played with the dolls and stuffed animals that she kept on her bed. Then, she made shadow puppets on the wall. Then, she hung upside down over the side of her bed and stared at the ceiling. After a while, she got bored.

For a little while, she didn't know what to do, but then she got an idea. "I know! I'll read." she decided. She looked through a bunch of the books on her shelves for a while, but then she got bored with that. "These are baby book!" she declared.

Xaria wanted to read big girl books so she decided to read some of her sisters books instead. Xanthe was already reading short chapter books. Xanthe's book shelves were on the wall next to her bed. Xaria couldn't reach them so she got up on her sister's bed and stood on her tiptoes. "Not this one!" she  said grabbing a book off the shelve and gently tossing it on the bed. "Not this one either." she declared grabbing and discarding another. Finally, she found a book she liked. She sat down on the bed and flipped through the book but quickly got bored because it didn't have enough pictures. She discarded the book on Xanthe's bed and chose another. She quickly got bored of that one too so she chose yet another. She kept doing that until the entire book shelf was empty except for one book. She reached for it and grabbed it but it slid out of her fingers and went crashing to the floor with a loud thud.

Xaria looked at Xanthe but luckily she was a very deep sleeper and didn't even stir. Xaria was relieved, but her relief didn't last long as she heard Mommy and Daddy hurrying up the stairs. They must have heard the noise and were coming to see what it was. Xaria didn't want to get in trouble for being out of bed when she was supposed to be sleeping so she quickly dove into her bed and under the covers just as they reached the door.

Mommy and Daddy peaked in the room, but it was really dark so they didn't see anything. They couldn't imagine what had made the noise if both their girls were sleeping so peacefully. They tiptoed in the room just to check. As soon as they stepped into the room, they saw Xanthe peacefully sleeping covered and surrounded by a pile of books. They gave each other knowing looks and both said at the same time. "Xaria!"

Magdalena's Lamb

"Oh where, oh where can she be?" sighed Magdalena Boppre melodramatically.

"Oh where, oh where can who be?" asked  her younger sister, Jordan giving her a strange look.

"My little lamb, Lamkins." explained Magdalena. "She's lost. I can't find her anywhere."

"You have a lamb?" replied Jordan in surprise.

"Why, of course, I do." declared Magdalena as though it should have been obvious.

Jordan thought about it for a moment. She knew Magadelna was fond of animals and was always begging for various pets, but she didn't remember Mom and Dad ever saying yes to getting a lamb. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Well, of course, I am!" replied Magadalena indignantly.

Jordan shrugged and was about to go off to her own room when Magadalena stopped her. "Can you please help me find, my poor little lost lamb?" begged Magadalena fluttering her big sad eyes at her sister.

"I have homework to do." replied Jordan.

"Please Jordy." begged Magadelena using her special name for her sister and making a puppy dog pouty face. Jordan could never resist that.

"Okay." agreed Jordan with a sigh. "But if we don't find her in a few minutes, I have to do my homework."

The two girls looked all over the downstairs. They look all over the upstairs. They looked all over the basement. They looked all over the backyard which was the most logical place for a lamb to be. However, there was no sign of Lamkins in any of those places.

"I'll never find her! Never!" exclaimed Magadalena dramatically flinging herself down to ground and putting her head in her hands.

Jordan sighed. She was torn between feeling sorry for her sister and wondering how in the world her parents had let Magadalena get a lamb without her knowing about it, and why she wasn't allowed to get one too. It was so unfair! Did they like Magdalena better than her? She decided to try to be sympathetic. She knelt down on the grass beside her sister and patted her on the back.

"Oh, where, oh where, can my Lamkins be?" Magadalena said sorrowfully.

"Maybe, she ran away." suggested Jordan. "After all, we don't have a fence." she reminded her sister indicating there ungated yard.

Magdalena looked up for just a brief moment and looked at Jordan as if that was the worst idea she had ever heard.

"It was just a suggestion." replied Jordan defensively taking a step back. For a few minutes, she was afraid to say anything, but finally, she asked "Where was the last place you saw her Why don't you retrace your steps?"

That was a great idea! Magdalena thought about it for a second and then, she instantly brightened up. "I had her in the car when I went with Dad to the gas station. Maybe, she's still there." She started racing for the car.

Jordan raced after her. "You left her in the car!" she screamed in horror. "Did you at least leave the windows open?"

However, Magdalena was too excited with the prospect of being reunited with her Lamkins that she did not hear or respond to her sister's cries. She hurried to the front yard, flung open the car door as Jordan closed her eyes afraid of what she would see.

"Lamkins!" exclaimed Magdalena truimphantly.

Jordan slowly opened one eye and then the other, but she didn't see a lamb. All she saw was her sister holding something in the air. It looked a little small to be a lamb living or dead. "What is that?" she asked getting ready to hide her eyes again just in case,

"It's Lamkins, of course," declared Magadalena bringing it over and showing Jordan so that she could clearly see that it was a fluffy white toy lamb."

Jordan's eyes blazed angrily. "A stuffed animal?" she fumed. "A stuffed animal? You mean all the time we were looking for a stuffed animal?"

Magdalena looked at her little sister as if she were crazy. "Yeah, what did you think? Did you think Mommy and Daddy would let me get a real lamb?"

Jordan just sighed and shook her head.

The Matchy Match Girl

Odette Zaccaro considered herself a very fashionable girl. She was very particular about her clothes and the way she dressed. Everything she wore had to match. If she wore a red shirt then she needed to have red pants and red socks and a pair of red shoes as well.

When she was little, no one paid much attention to the way Odette dressed, but now she was older, and she would be starting a new school. She was very excited about it, and she couldn't wait to pick out an outfit for her first day. After carefully consideration, she decided to wear pink. She picked out a pink dress and pink tights and a pink pair of shoes.

 Her mother worried that if Odette always wore only one color, the other kids would tease her. "Why don't you wear this blue belt?" she helpfully suggested as Odette was getting ready for her first day of school. "It would give such a nice pop of color with all that pink.

Odette just looked at her as if she had suggested Odette go to school naked. " Pink is a color too. " she reminded her mother, "and today is not a blue day. It's a pink day." she added firmly as if her mother should have know that.

However, Odette's mother was right to be worried. At school the kids did tease her. They called her Peppa the Pink Pig. Odette wasn't crazy about it, but she thought maybe they just didn't like pink and tomorrow would be a better.

The next day, Odette was even more careful picking out an outfit. She decided it would be a blue day. She picked out a pretty blue shirt, blue jeans, blue socks and blue sneakers. Then, she admired herself in the mirror. She thought she looked just perfect and other kids would think so too.

Her mother, however, was not so sure. "Why don't you wear your red sneakers instead of your blue ones?" she suggested. "They go so well with all that blue." She quickly went to the close and took out Odette's red sneakers, and helpfully handed them to Odette.

Odette frowned and shook her head. She took the red shoes and put them back in her closet. "Red goes with red and blue goes with blue." she informed her mother. Didn't her mother know anything
about matching colors? Odette had learned that in preschool and had stuck to it ever since.

In school, things didn't go any better. This time, the kids called Odette, Baby Bluebird. She tried to act like it still didn't bother her but it did.

On the third day of school, Odette wore head to toe yellow and they called her the Big Banana. On the fourth day, she wore green, and they called her The Jolly Green Girl. By the fifth day, she had had enough of their teasing and she didn't want to go back school. As soon as she came home, she ran out into the backyard and hid behind a tree and vowed to stay there forever.

"Please come in the house." begged her mother. "You'll freeze out here." They were having an usually intense cold spell for the Fall, and the weather was quite chilly. Odette shook her head. "Well, at least put on a sweater." urged her mother trying to hand her one. She had even brought Odette a green sweater that matched her outfit of the day.

Odette  shook her head and pushed the jacket away. "I don't care if I freeze." she said stoically and turned away from her mother.

Later that day, Grandma arrived. She came home out to the backyard to see Odette. "Are you going to tell me to go inside too or to wear a sweater?" Odette asked wearily.

Grandma shook her head. "No." she replied. "I am going to tell you how am proud I am of you."

"You are?" asked Odette in surprise.

"Yes." Grandma assured her. "I'm proud you are your own person with your own sense of fashion. You are not a sheep that always has to dress like everyone else like the other kids in school."

Odette nodded. That was true. She was definitely not a sheep. "But maybe, it's easier to be a sheep just like all the other kids." Odette declared defeatedly.

"Just because you don't want to be a sheep doesn't mean you have to be a wolf.  You can be a lamb." suggested Grandma.

"What?" exclaimed Odette all these animal metaphors were confusing her.

"What I mean to say is that you can be different without being so different." explained Grandma. "You want to stand out subtly and not in an over the top way. Do you know what I mean?" she asked.

Odette smiled. "I think I do." she said. "Thanks, Grandma." she added giving her Grandmother a huge grateful kiss.

From then on, Odette started dressing differently although she still didn't quite dress like the other kids. She wasn't so matchy matchy any more. She still wore mostly the same color like before, but she always added a pop of a different color. If she was wearing all blue she might wear a red belt or if she was wear all purple she might wear gold shoes. She still stood out but in a good way.  The other girls began admiring her style. Instead of making fun of her, pretty soon, they were dressing like her.