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Cindy was the youngest of ten
children in her family. She had six older brothers and two older sisters.
Some days Cindy didn't like being the youngest. Her big brothers and
sisters picked on her and she always had to wear their hand me down
clothes and shoes.
One morning Cindy went into the
kitchen to eat breakfast. The whole family was there, already eating.
Cindy had slept in. There were no more pancakes left, no more eggs and no
more cereal in the box. To make matters worse, there was no milk and no
orange juice. Cindy was furious. "I don't want to be in this family any
more. You never leave anything for me to eat. I wish I was an only child."
Something mysterious happened. Cindy
closed her eyes and felt dizzy. When she opened them, the room was empty,
except for her mom and dad. "Mom, where did everyone go?"
"What do you mean? Who is everyone?"
Her mom had a confused look on her face.
"Where is the family? Where are my
brothers and sisters? Did they leave already?" Cindy looked at the table.
There was one bowl and one spoon.
"Cindy, are you feverish. You don't
have any brothers and sisters. You're an only child."
"I am?" Cindy smiled. "That's cool.
Can I have as many pancakes as I want?"
"Of course. I made some eggs too.
There's a glass of milk and some orange juice." Her mom put the pancakes
on a plate and put it on the table.
"This is cool. I can eat whatever I
want, whenever I want and nobody is there to take it from me." She
gobbled down her pancakes.
After she'd eaten, Cindy went to her
room to dress for school. All the clothes in her closet were new. Her
shoes were new, her hair ribbons were new and she had tons of stuffed
animals and toys that were all hers. "This is great!"
All day long she giggled, happy that
she didn't have any brothers and sisters. When she got home from school
she ran into the house to tell her family she got an A on her report card.
Nobody was home. Her mom was at work and so was her dad. She had to stay
home alone all afternoon. Everytime there was a creak or a groan in the
house, she w terrified. She went and got her toys and sat to play with
them, but she wasn't having any fun. "This is boring. I wish Callie was
here to play games with me. I wish Mark was here to play basketball. I
wish Jim was here to ride bikes with me. I don't like being an only child.
I want my family back." She lay on her bed and cried. It didn't take long
for her to fall asleep. When she woke up she yawned and went to see if her
mom was home from work. All of her brothers and sisters were in the
kitchen, sitting around the table. Mom was there and so was dad. Cindy
smiled. "I'm so glad you're my brothers and sisters and we're a family."
She never complained again. Anything was better than being alone.
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