After Paige’s Basketball Game…

I stand on the couch, munching on a slice of broccoli pizza, while Mum vacuums the carpet. My eyes wander aimlessly around the living room. An object on the white entertainment center catches my eye. What in the world? I sigh as my ah-ha moment turns into flooding despair. My beautiful art! My Thanksgiving prayer! I spot small splotches of a dark color on the word-covered paper pasted onto the orange gourd. I stepped off of the couch, shoving the rest of the pizza in my mouth. Pushing the porcelain old Chinese man out of the way, I tried to pick it up but it was squishy with mold and stuck to the shelf. I whimper. My heart drops to my stomach. Mum joins me at the shelf. “Emmy, I think you solved the mystery!” she shouts with glee. “Do you think this is the cause of the moldy smell?” She picks it up with professional ease and gently places it in its smelly grave – the trash can. The old Chinese man still stood on the shelf, hunched over, staring at the mess as if scolding us, “What have you done?” I step onto the chair so I can see and assess the mess. It is a beautiful circle of deliciouse-looking rotten gourd. I can't take it anymore. I step off of the chair. “You know,” I say. “I thought I would feel happy after solving such a mysteriouse mystery. Instead I feel empty and cold.” We both laugh. “Okay, Charlie Brown.” Mum says. We ate a few biscotties and now I am sitting on the couch, the exact spot I was standing when the ordeal started. PG is playing AstroKid on her laptop, Mum and Dad are discussing the cruise we will be taking in February. In 10 years I will probably be reading this, the empty feeling gone, laughing at myself.