A Scare

-
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=15TRp2m-A3PUA2tIUydh5dT5xH_xesrI1
By Angie Bromeland

I never had the ability to sneak up on people. I’ve crept up behind my sister. I’ve leaped out from behind a door at my mom. I’ve peeped through the keyhole to my brother’s room until he was about to fall asleep and swept in to surprise him. But they were never scared.
One time, my sister said, “Zayne, just give up. Maybe you’ll really scare one of us someday. And then you’ll feel bad.”
And she was right.
One cold day in January, when I knew my mom would be returning from town, I waited in the garage. There was a shaded corner full of Dad’s rakes and other tools. I stood there and made myself as flat as I could. When Mom drove in, she didn’t see me. When she opened the trunk and filled her arms with grocery bags, she didn’t see me. When she hummed a song and started walking toward the door to the house, she didn’t see me.
That was my moment. I jumped out at her with my arms up and yelled “BOO!”
Mom freaked out. The grocery bags went flying. She screamed, and then—to my surprise—she actually wept. I didn’t know whether to feel awful, or proud. The garage floor was peppered with food from the bags, and my mom stood there with her face in her hands. Tears seeped through her fingers.
Okay, now I felt awful.
“Aw, mom,” I said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you that badly.” I gave her a little hug and started putting the groceries back in the bags.
Mom just looked at me. “Yes, you did,” she said. Then she got a crazy little smile. “Don’t worry, Zayne. One day, I’ll get you back.”
And she did. But that’s another story.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fawn's Snack in the Neighborhood

-
By Angie Bromeland The pair of fawns walk awkwardly down the sidewalks in town. All along the street, people’s faces are pressed against windows to see the darling deer. Old Mr. Mitchem is eating an apple on his front porch hidden in the shadow of the awning. He hasn’t yet noticed the fawns, and the fawns are too confused by the hard cement beneath their hooves to pay him any notice. Mr. Mitchem yawns and takes a bite out of his apple. That’s when he notices the two deer. He squints to be sure he isn’t imagining the sight, and he laughs. The darker of the two fawns hears him, and gawks in his direction. Mr. Mitchem freezes in place, not wanting to startle the baby deer. Then, to his surprise, the fawn takes a step in his direction. And then another. It isn’t long before the fawn walks right to Mr. Mitchem’s porch railing. Across the street, Mr. Mitchem’s neighbor, Mrs. Gruber, is wide eyed as she watches in surprise. The fawn stretches her neck over the railing, and snatches the ...
Read more

Project Time

-
By Angie Bromeland The spool of red thread dropped to the floor and rolled beneath the desk. “Blast!” Meredith muttered. “Where did that fool thing go?” She crouched on the floor, peering under the desk. “Got you!” she said as she grabbed the spool. Meredith threaded her sewing machine. “Why did I have to blab about having a sewing machine? Why did I say I could sew all these costumes? Now I’ll have to suffer through all this work. Serves me right.” Meredith wasn’t really a crab. She was just worried about all the work ahead of her. That’s when Meredith’s friend, Liam, knocked on her door. “Can I come in?” he called. “It’s cold out here.” Meredith wasn’t expecting anyone, but she hurried to open the door. “How did you get here?” she asked. Liam lived three and a half miles away. “I took a cab,” he said with a smile. Meredith was still confused. “Did we have plans?” she asked. “Nah,” said Liam. “I was just bored and thought you could use a hand on all those costumes....
Read more

The Mystery in the Pines

-
Image
By Angie Bromeland Deep in the confines of the tallest pines in the mountain, a light shined divinely. Only the mountain goats and black bears visited here. That is, until one day a lumberjack named Jerry was tramping through the mountain forest and got beaned by a pinecone. The truth is, he probably wouldn’t have looked up if not for the pinecone. Jerry rubbed his head—the pinecone had fallen from such a distance on the tall pine that it really did hurt a bit—and looked up. He saw the light shining down. “Well, what on earth…” he said quietly to no one at all. Jerry couldn’t tell what the light was coming from. But it definitely wasn’t the sun. Jerry used his keen eyes to see if he could find an electric cord twining up a tree, but of course there was no electricity here in the remote wilderness, so it couldn’t be a light bulb. Jerry wondered if some sort of creature was responsible for the light. He decided to set up camp so he could see for himself in the light of the follo...
Read more