“Nobody told me there’d be days like these…” John Lennon…1984

I’m working on getting my life back on track, writing wise specifically. That is to say back to writing EVERY SINGLE day! Actually, it’s as hard as it sounds because, well, I don’t live in a bubble. Oh well, that’s my goal, albeit a tad lofty given my life’s current circumstances, but not out of reach once I make it my priority. If I were to chart my creative life metrically, I think I would measure progress in terms of, good days, not so good days, and ho-hum days. Why these three? I dunno, they just seem like the right adjectives to encompass a day in a life (forgive the shameful plagiarizing of a John Lennon tune). Like as not, I’d choose three different terms tomorrow. So, short answer to an unasked question, why not! How am I doing so far? Well, let’s give it a month or so. Good days would be 4 hours, not so good days would be 2 hours, and ho-hum days would be, hmmm, you guessed it, what hours? Stay tuned for a future post with a tale of the tape performance chart.

Nobody wants to win all the battles and lose the war! So keep in mind that when one starts a project the primary measure of success is FINISHING IT!

Okay, here’s chapter three of:

“KK Undercover…The Cookie Caper…”

Deer Canyon Elementary: Lunchtime!

BEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

Finally, the lame lunch bell! Not that Mrs. Ryan’s lesson was boring or anything, even if the new kid and Ali had started snoring halfway through it. Oh, by the way, the Incas were from Peru, the Mayans were from Honduras/Guatemala, and the Aztecs were from Mexico. Ya gotta love the Internet!

“Okay class, that’s thirty minutes for lunch. Try not to trample each other on the way out,” Mrs. Ryan barked as she pulled a brown bag from her top left desk drawer. There was a telltale stain darkening the bottom of the paper sack. That would mean she had packed either a tuna-fish or a sardine sandwich for lunch…gross!

“Mom, I am not breaking the rules! The bell already rang and Mrs. Ryan told us all to scoot,” Winnie whined into her cell phone.

She passed me in a mini-huff and headed out the door to our usual lunch table. Claire winked at me as she followed directly behind her, cinching up the combo book-bag/lunchbox which set squarely on her back. I waited a few seconds as the class emptied and then casually strolled out, smiling at Mrs. Ryan as I passed her desk. She gave a “what you up to” stare as she went about unwrapping whatever was in the brown paper bag. My guess was a sardine and limburger cheese sandwich by the tears in my eyes. Adults are just plain weird, there’s no getting around that! I hope they find a cure for that before I get old!

“So where are we eating,” the new kid asked, startling me in the process.

“Don’t do that,” I hollered, socking him in the arm as I jetted ahead him quickly. I stopped after a few feet and looked back. I must’ve hurt the poor kid’s feelings because he was still standing where I socked him, staring down at his shoes. I shook my head and walked back to get him.

“Come on new kid, we haven’t got all day, I’ve got a plan to hatch,” I said, taking his arm, pulling him along after me. The kid didn’t even try to hide his smile as I dragged him along to our special table. Note to self; I hope he isn’t gonna be a problem, there’s nothing worse than puppy crushes!

“It’s about time! What took you so long,” Winifred asked frowning?

I pushed the new kid toward the table as I grabbed a seat on the bench. “I had a little trouble getting out the door,” I replied, pointing at the new kid who still had that silly grin on his face.

“SNAP OUT OF IT,” I hollered, tossing Claire’s Twinkie at him.

“Hey, I’ve been waiting all morning for that treat,” Claire whined.

The new kid handed back her sponge cake and pulled his own lunch from his back pack. It looked like PB&J on whole wheat, some celery, and a bag of veggie chips. His mom must be a health freak like mine. I turned back to Winifred and gave her the ‘so tell me all about it look.’
“Oh, yeah, well I called my Mom and we got problems,” Winnie started.

“What kind of problems, how hard can it be to bake a batch of cookies,” I asked?

“The problem is my Mom has to work tonight and you know my Dad’s all thumbs in the kitchen,” Winnie replied.

“Oh yeah, you’re right, I remember the BBQ last summer when he set your back yard on fire. It was pretty cool!”

“You squished my Twinkie KK,” Claire suddenly complained.

“HELLO, we’re working out some details here snack-a-saurus,” I replied, giving her the look. Claire stuck her tongue out at me and went back to eating her lunch.

“So what are we gonna do now,” Winnie asked.

We sat there staring at each other for a minute or two when the new kid broke the silence by uttering the first words any of us remember him speaking.

“My thisister can cook,” he said through a mouthful of PB&J.

“Excuse me? Can you repeat that, I mean right after you swallow that glob of Skippy in your mouth you Philistine,” I said, scolding him for his totally “boy like” manners.

The new kid squeezed his eyes shut as he dry swallowed a huge mouthful of peanut butter and jam. Claire must have felt sorry for him cause she offered him her water bottle.

“Who is this guy anyways,” she asked, sitting back down next to me.

“He’s new, I think his name is Danny or Daniel, or something like that, I dunno, he’s one of Ali’s friends,” Winnie replied.

“But why is he sitting with us,” Claire asked as she watched the poor kid gulp down the water. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket and then used the same sleeve to wipe the water bottle clean.

“Well, he looked kinda lost at recess and since we’ve been looking for someone to do the dirty work for the team he just sorta seemed like a possibility,” I answered timidly.

“Thanks,” he said, smiling sheepishly as he handed the water bottle back to Claire.

“Uh, that’s okay, you keep it, I’ll share with KK,” Claire said, wrinkling her nose and making the eeww face.

“Alright, Danny is it? What about your sister,” I asked?

“Um it’s Daniel, and I thaid my thister can cook,” he replied with a smile.

“Wait, is that a lisp,” Claire gasped?

“Oh, no, I still had some peanut butter on the roof of my mouf,” answered Daniel. He stuck his finger in his mouth and scraped the rest of the goo from his mouth and swallowed it.

“There that’s better,” he said smiling large, showing all his teeth, top and bottom.

“Ah, you still have a little jam on your mouth kid,” Winnie said looking down at her lunch as she pointed.

“Oh yeah, thanks,” Danny replied, licking the jam from the corner of his mouth.

“So, you’re saying your sister would bake some cookies for us after school,” I asked?

“No, I said she CAN cook. I dunno if she will or not, we’ll have to ask her.”

“Well, can you call her? Where does she go to school? How old is she,” we all asked at once?

“Wait, um, I don’t have a phone, she goes to Westview High, and she’s 17, so I guess that makes her seven years older than me,” Danny replied.

“Oh man, a high school kid isn’t gonna to help out a bunch kids like us,” Claire whined.

“”No, she might, she has to cook dinner for us during the week cause my mom works, so, maybe she’ll bake some cookies too,” Daniel explained.

“Well, you can use my phone,” Winnie offered.

“Thanks, but Sissy doesn’t have a phone either. My Dad says cell phones are the beginning of the end,” said Daniel. Claire, Winifred, and I looked at one another and silently mouthed "Sissy," not even trying to hide the giggles.

“Her name is Beth, but I call her Sissy because, well, because she's my sister. Anyway, she picks me up after school every day, so we can ask her then,” explained Daniel.

“Any better ideas,” I asked looking at my team one at a time. Not a sound came from them, you would’ve head crickets speak if it were nighttime.

“Okay, I guess we continue with operation “Lunchito Bandito” after school,” I said.

“Let’s do it,” Claire added. We reached across the table and hooked our pinkie fingers together to seal the deal.


Next post: chapter four “KK Undercover…The Cookie Caper”