A Pleasant Surprise

Recently Emilie returned home with "The Cauldron", her middle school's literary magazine, in hand. Had I bought one at back to school night? I didn't think so. A few weeks earlier her teacher had submitted Emilie's in-class creative writing piece to the magazine, unbeknownst to her. The magazine was presented to her as a keepsake. Here is what we found inside:

James Sorenson

"James, time for dinner!" Mrs. Sorenson stood at the foot of the stairs listening to her three year old son. James had suddenly taken to playing in his giant toy airplane. She sighed and trudged outside to get her twin daughters, Sophia and Jessica. Her day had been spent picking up toys and tossing laundry into the wash. She felt as if she had just cleaned a zoo.

Upstairs, James became the first three year old pilot ever. He rubbed the smooth wooden pretend key in his hand. His light blue eyes took in his bedroom. The familiar white puffy clouds were carefully painted on his sky blue walls and his colorful Lego's were scattered across the thick, creamy colored carpet. James' mother always said his eyes were a clear blue summer sky, cloudless and without worry. James finally decided it was time to go down for dinner when he smelled the warm vegetable soup and his mom had called him a couple of times. He leaped down from his large light blue airplane that he got for his third birthday. He remembered wanting it for months and then the excitement when he saw it on the morning of his birthday.

Just as dinner was being put on the table, Mr. Sorenson walked joyfully through the door as if he had just made the best deal of his life. The cool crisp autumn wind blew through the door. James' mom looked up. "Good day?" Mr. Sorenson grinned. "Yup," he replied. As his father reached down and hugged him, James felt the cool leather jacket graze his rosy cheek. Mrs. Sorenson finished ladling some vegetable soup into Jessica's bowl while they chatted with their dad about the day. James tasted the crisp crust of the Italian bread. He scooped some potatoes onto his spoon, soggy with broth. Jessica and Sophia were in ninth grade and loved sharing news about their day.

After everyone had finished eating and the chatter had died away, especially Jessica's whose was the loudest, James ran up the stairs. He scooped his brightly colored Lego's into the box and then leaped into his airplane. A white propeller hung stationary on the tip of the plane. After about ten minutes he switched bis brown, white and blue sweater to truck patterned pajamas. He lept into his twin bed, a rabbit burrowing into its hole, and called for Mrs. Sorenson to come into his room like she always did. His mom switched off his light after saying goodnight. Now his room was darker, much darker. James snuggled closer into his dark blue sheets and stared at the walls. He then settled into a deep, peaceful sleep. --Emilie Ebert