My friend Rachel and I slowly walked home after school Friday as I explained the project I was given in English class.
   “She said the poem could be about anything we want,” I told her. English was my favorite class, and I was especially excited about this assignment. Ever since I was young I had dreamed of being a famous author.
   We reached Rachel’s driveway and said our goodbyes.
   “See you later this weekend?” she asked.
   “Sure. Text me if you get a chance,” I replied. I continued walking down the sidewalk and finally turned onto my street a couple of blocks past Rachel’s. I dug the key out from my bag as I neared my house. I glanced over at the neighbors’ houses, all but one looking pristine and well kept in the beautiful spring weather. All of them but my next door neighbor’s, Ms. Tyle. Ms. Tyle had always lived there and I was pretty sure she was alive during the Middle Ages. I only knew a few things about her, one of them being that at 7:15 each morning she would wait on her front porch to wish everyone she saw a good day. Usually she did this with a couple of cats. A couple of her millions of cats, I should say (or so it seemed).
   Speaking of the cats, one trotted over to me as I opened the door to my house, which I surprisingly found unlocked. Mom must be home already, I thought.  I nudged the cat away, and it hissed at me in reply, but thankfully left after that. I dropped my bag at the front door and called for Mom. I could hear her on the phone in her room and decided to leave her alone.
   I grabbed a chocolate chip cookie from one of the plates on the kitchen counter and pulled out my phone. The cookie was chewy and moist, and to give her some credit, was from Ms. Tyle. She was pretty crazy, but could make some wicked good chocolate chip cookies. Also, may I add, she did this for every holiday. They were mostly national ones, but every once in a while it came with a ‘Happy Crossword Puzzle Day’ note (and yes, I looked it up).
   I was texting Rachel when my mom came in, her eyes were puffy and red. I was flustered at first, realizing that this was one of the rare instances when she cried. Panic filled my chest as fast as the speed of sound.
   “Ms. Tyle,” Mom sobbed. The fear left me as fast as it had come.  “I came… to check on her after work… and she sat in her recliner, but wasn’t breathing.” It was about time, I thought. Mom pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and sat down. I knew this was horrific for Mom. Ms. Tyle had been like a mom to her. But to me she really was just an old lady with too many annoying cats.
   While Mom cried into her hands, I sat staring at my phone, swiping the screen left and right. Finally Mom told me that she had made some calls and learned that Ms. Tyle’s younger sister was her only relative left-- and she lived in Texas. Ms. Tyle’s sister said she would help organize a small funeral and would be there for that, but wasn’t interested in any of her stuff (aka trash, which I added in).
   “So I offered to look through it all,” Mom said. I rolled my eyes and sighed. Of course she did. “And I would like for you to join me.”

   I had had no choice in the matter, whatsoever. Saturday morning I texted Rachel and said that my mom had other plans for me this weekend and maybe we could get together sometime next week. After that I dragged myself over to Ms. Tyle’s, where Mom had been since 6:30 that morning. I stepped into the house and the overpowering smell of cats and chocolate caused me to pause for a moment before calling for Mom. This caused a rustling movement of cats, all surprised by my sudden outburst. I thought I heard Mom from the attic, so I found the stairs and went up.
   The attic was filled from top to bottom in brown boxes, most of them labeled with a year. I saw the top of Mom’s head, bobbing up and down as she grabbed a couple of boxes.
   “Where would you like me to start?” I said, trying to hide some of the sarcasm.
   “Wherever you would like. I would like to have most of it done by tomorrow though, so please at least act like you are helping me,” Mom replied as she dusted off the top of yet another brown box. “I’m sorting everything into these boxes. Just put everything where you think it belongs.”
   I noticed exactly how big the attic was as I weaved my way to the back. At this rate, I thought, we might be here for another few years. I decided to start sorting the box that said 1967. This woman kept everything, I thought as I scanned around the room at the towers of boxes. I carefully tore off the tape and inside found clothes stuffed to the top. I immediately thought, I would go crazy if I ever had to wear this to school. Or anywhere, really, I added.
   I semi-carefully folded a few that I thought we might be able to sell (note that I said a few) and tossed the rest in the garbage pile. I moved over to another box, this one looking even more ancient than the last. I checked to see if there was a date on it, but instead was shocked at what I saw. Pretty freaked out, too. I must have gasped or something because Mom looked up and asked me if I was doing okay.
   “I’m good, Mom,” I replied. “Just starting on another box.” Mom went back to her sorting and I looked down to see if the note was still there. Sure enough it was, still titled at the top, ‘Hayley Douglas’. I was pretty sure I was the only Hayley Douglas that she had known, but you never know. Maybe it wasn’t for me. But it was, I realized, as curiosity took the best of me and I read the note:

Hayley Douglas-- I have always had faith in you. Don’t ever give up.
    Ms. Tyle

   This note kind of confused me, but I had to know what she meant by ‘I have always had faith in you’. Maybe whatever was in the box was the answer, I had thought. I noticed that this box had a couple of layers of tape which worried me, but for some reason, excitement filled my chest as I peeled off the tape.
   It finally came time to open the box and my stomach felt like it was filled with butterflies. I couldn’t imagine what it could be, but whatever it was I wanted to know, and I wanted to know right then and there. I pulled over the flaps of the box. My heart sank. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting but I did know that books were not anywhere on the list. I pulled them out one at a time and set them in the trash pile. A couple of minutes later I had cleared out almost all of the books. I went to pick up the last five, but instead they slid across each other and landed in a heap in front of me. I sighed and bent down to pick them up, and something caught my eye. A sketch of an outfit popped out. It’s a journal, I thought. I picked them all up and scanned through them. Page after page of sketches, recipes, and short pieces of writing, every notebook filled with them. This new gift excited me and I immediately wanted to take in every detail of each of them. I mentally apologized to Mom in advance, knowing now that I probably wouldn’t get too much done.

   I couldn’t believe it. Ms. Tyle-- an artist, author, and chef? With so many ideas, too. I stretched my legs out and leaned against the pile of clothes. I turned yet another page and I saw a dazzling drawing of an elegant, pink dress. I might actually wear that, I thought to myself. I flipped toward the back of the book. Here was one of her less frequent notes. This one said ‘Be like the butterfly’.

   I sat at the kitchen table Sunday night. I had spent the whole weekend looking through the journals (I even made some of the simpler recipes) but had continually gone back to the short butterfly statement, trying to figure out what she had meant by that. Now it was Sunday night after dinner-- this was also known as homework time. I pulled out the sheet for the English assignment. All it said was: ‘Write a creative poem of any kind using correct organization and mechanics. This assignment will be graded solely on effort.’ After reading that I knew exactly what I would do.

Be like the butterfly
And change how you think
You don’t need a pupa
But instead as you blink
Choose not to label
Or judge at first look
Just give all you see
a chance in the book

Be like the butterfly
And things will enhance
All for giving
Everyone a chance