A Million Little Girls

(Kiddie Lit)

(This is a story I wrote for my niece Cassidy a few years ago after hearing what her mom said to her every night before she went to bed.)

Cassidy was having a bad day. Not just kind of a bad day. A really BAAAD day. Possibly her worst day EVER in her whole life. Maybe not THE worst day ever in all of time, but still, the worst day ever for this nine-year-old girl.

For Cassidy, she started the whole day on the wrong foot. Literally! Cassidy’s alarm went off at 7 a.m., _ BEEP, BEEP, BEEP _ which, of course, she ignored. It went off again at 7:15 a.m. _ BEEP, BEEP, BEEP _ and Cassidy rolled over to slap her alarm and shut it off.

But she rolled the wrong way and ended up tangled in her blankets and squished into the itty-bitty space between her bed and the wall. All the while her alarm was screaming BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!

Cassidy tried to yell "Mom!" but her cries were muffled by the blankets wrapped around her face and the fact her nose was getting crushed into the wall. So instead her cry came out sounding like “Mummmf!”

“Cassidy, are you out of bed yet?” her Mom hollered as she stormed into Cassidy’s room. But no sooner than she got through the door, Cassidy’s Mom stopped and started giggling at the bundle of blankets squirming at the wrong side of the bed.
“Mommm, I’m stuck!” Cassidy yelled.

Laughing, her Mom grabbed the end of the blanket and hauled Cassidy out by one of her feet. Her Mom unwrapped Cassidy from all the blankets, kissed her on the forehead and said “Cassidy, you’re so silly. But you know what I say, no matter what, if I had a million girls, you’d still be my favourite.”

Her Mom always told Cassidy this whenever anything bad or weird happened and also every night when she tucked her in and kissed her goodnight.

Cassidy, still bundled up in her blankets giggled and smiled, “Thanks, Mom. I love you.”

“But I’m going to be late for school now!”


So Cassidy raced around trying to do six things at once, which of course she couldn’t do, so she wouldn’t be too late for the school bus.

Cassidy was so rushed that she put on socks that didn’t match _ one was purple and one was pink _ and put her purple T-shirt on inside out.

Cassidy barely had enough time to grab her knapsack and lunch box, and a granola bar to eat on the bus for breakfast, and dash out the door so she didn’t miss the bus.

So far, this was the start of a kind of bad day. But it just couldn’t get worse, Cassidy thought.

For one thing, the sun was shining, and days were always better with the warm sunshine, she thought.

Cassidy rushed out of the house with her schoolbag trailing behind her, and jumped onto the bus as it almost drove off without her. As she ran up the bus steps she banged her lunchbox against the metal railing.

The latch broke in two and out popped her favourite juice thermos, the one with the running horses on it. Her sandwich, apple and cookies made a “splat,” “thud” and “crunch” sound as they hit the dirty, black rubber floor of the bus.

The fall squished her sandwich, crushed her cookies into a billion little pieces and dented her shiny red apple. Cassidy quickly scooped them up but her thermos hit the floor with a loud “smack” and cracked all down one side, spurting a bluey-purply stream of juice onto Cassidy’s favourite skirt which was white with purple flowers on it.

Cassidy was mortified as all the kids on the school bus began to laugh and howl as her lunch spilled all over the floor.

Then, to make matters worse, Cassidy’s favourite thermos proceeded to roll and bounce all the way down the aisle of the bus, leaving a thick, gooey juice trail behind it. Then it slammed against the back door, splitting open like an egg and spilling out the rest of the grape juice into a puddle on the floor. Every kid on the bus laughed at Cassidy and pointed at the gooey mess left by the broken thermos.

“Look! Cassidy’s thermos is bleeding,” the brown-haired boy from down the street yelled.

Cassidy turned bright red and silently wished she could turn invisible at that moment. Trying to forget about her now-broken favourite juice thermos, and that she’d be thirsty at lunchtime, Cassidy took the first seat she could find on the bus and scowled the rest of the way to school as the nasty Grade Four boys sitting behind her chanted “Cassidy’s a klutz, Cassidy’s a klutz, Cassidy’s a klutz.”

Finally at school and sitting at her desk, Cassidy thought that the day got off to a rotten start but it had to get better, it just had to. It just couldn’t get worse, Cassidy thought.

Wishful thinking.

“OK class,” her teacher Mrs. Treadle said after the bell rang. “Let’s take out the math homework I assigned yesterday to see how all of you did.”

Cassidy dug into her knapsack and shuffled through all the papers in search of the homework she knew she had finished last night at home with her Mom. But it was nowhere to be found. Cassidy found the note she forgot to give to her best friend, found last week’s history assignment but not yesterday’s math homework.

“Please let it be here, please let it be here,” she muttered to herself as she threw paper after paper out of her knapsack onto the floor. But it just wasn’t there.

Mrs. Treadle saw the mess Cassidy was creating as she upturned her knapsack, noisily spilling its contents all over the classroom floor.

“Cassidy, is there a problem?” Mrs. Treadle asked in that voice that said trouble was coming. Mrs. Treadle was standing at the front of the classroom, with her hands on her hips, glaring impatiently at Cassidy, annoyed with the noise she was making and the mess she was creating.

“I can’t find my homework,” said Cassidy, with her head still stuffed in her knapsack.

“What was that Cassidy? I couldn’t hear you,” Mrs. Treadle said loudly.

Cassidy pulled her head out of her bag and looked around. Every pair of eyes in the classroom were staring at her like a bored, expectant audience. Repeating in a quiet voice Cassidy said: “I can’t find my homework Mrs. Treadle.”

“But I did it though,” Cassidy added quickly in a loud defensive voice. “I did it at the kitchen table last night but I guess I forgot to put it in my bag when I ran for the bus this morning.”

Mrs. Treadle’s cross look _ with her eyes dark and narrow, and her brow furrowed _ let Cassidy know that her teacher didn't believe her excuse. Her forehead was all scrunched up, and her mouth had turned into a thin straight line _ so thin that it looked like her lips had disappeared into her mouth.

“Uh, oh, “ Cassidy thought. Cassidy often forgot her homework at home and made Mrs. Treadle very mad.

“Well, you’ll have to do extra homework because of that,” Mrs. Treadle said sharply. “This is the third time this week that you’ve forgotten your homework, Cassidy. Maybe some extra work will convince you to be better organized by putting your homework in your bag once it’s done rather than forgetting it on the kitchen table again and again,” Mrs. Treadle said angrily, turning on her heel and back to the chalkboard.

Cassidy felt her face get flushed and hot as all her classmates continued to stare at her. The boy next to her, Simon, snickered at her. “You have to do more homework, you have to do more homework,” he sneared.

Cassidy was sick of this day already. Why wasn’t it over already?

Her head snapped towards Simon and she glared at him with her most vicious look, her teeth clenched. It must have been a pretty good look, because Simon suddenly shut up, the smile disappeared from his face and he turned back to his work on his desk.

After such a horribly bad morning, Cassidy was just hoping that at lunch, maybe the day would start to get better, even just a little bit. So far, this was a bad day. But it just couldn’t get worse, Cassidy thought.

“You won’t believe how bad of a day I’m having. This is not a good day, in fact so far this is the worst day EVER,” Cassidy told her best friend Heather at lunch as they shared Heather’s drink box and Cassidy told her about all the things that had gone wrong that morning. Heather nodded in sympathy as she slurped up the rest of her apple juice.

Cassidy felt a bit better then, with Heather beside her and some lunch in her tummy. A squished sandwich and crumbled cookies didn’t look very good but they still tasted OK, but Cassidy missed her grape juice.

So Cassidy and Heather went outside at recess to go play skipping with some of their friends.

“Cassidy and Heather jumping on the spot, how many friends have you got,” the girls chanted as they skipped. “One, two, three, four . . .”

Cassidy was laughing with a big smile on her face as she and Heather jumped up and down together.

“This day is getting better,” Cassidy thought as she hopped up and down, her long brown hair floating around her face.

At 10 skips Heather and Cassidy jumped out of the ropes. But as Cassidy ran out she tripped and fell, skidding on the pavement, scraping up her hands and knees, and tearing the pocket of her favourite skirt.

“Ouch!!” Cassidy hollered and big, wet tears came to her eyes as she hit the rough pavement hard and her scrapes started to bleed.

Heather’s eyes were wide as she yelled and ran over to the teacher on yard duty. “Mrs. Jones! Mrs. Jones, Cassidy’s been hurt!”

Mrs. Jones, came over as droplets of blood trickled over Cassidy’s hands and knees.
“Are you OK?” asked Mrs. Jones, her eyes worried and her forehead creased. Cassidy was still sitting on the pavement, watching through her tears as the bright red blood oozed from her fresh cuts.

“I guess so,” Cassidy mumbled as she sniffed and wiped her arm across her eyes and nose.

Everyone in the entire school yard had stopped skipping, running and playing ball to watch the commotion in the middle of the yard. When Cassidy looked up dozens of pairs of eyes stared right at back Cassidy for the third time that day.

Being the centre of attention for things you did wrong wasn’t Cassidy’s idea of fun.

“Here, let me help you up,” said Mrs. Jones softly, gently holding Cassidy’s elbows to help her stand up. “Let’s go to the nurse’s room to clean up those cuts and get some bandages on them.”

Just then the bell rang for everyone to go back into class.

With bandages on her hands and knees, Mrs. Jones led Cassidy back to her class about 15 minutes later.

“Cassidy had a bit of an accident in the playground,” Mrs. Jones told Mrs. Treadle and the entire classroom as Cassidy shuffled to her desk, her head down, trying not to notice that every single one of her classmates was watching her _ again _ as she trudged across the floor.

“This is too much,” Cassidy thought as she sat down and rested her head on her crossed arms on her desk.

“What else bad can happen to me today?” she wondered, dreading the possibilities. “I just wish the day was over so I could go home,” she thought, with a big frown on her face as she stared at the bandages on her hands.

So far, this was a REALLY bad day. So far this was the WORST DAY EVER, Cassidy thought. But it just couldn’t get worse, Cassidy thought, no, it just couldn’t.

The rest of the afternoon wasn’t so bad, although her hands and her knees smarted, they didn’t hurt too badly and at last recess Cassidy stayed against the wall talking to Heather. There was no way she was going near a skipping rope! She’d had enough of them for one day, that’s for sure.

“This has been such a bad day,” Cassidy told Heather. “I think I should just go home and crawl into bed _ that way I can’t do anything else stupid!”

“It’s just bad luck,” Heather said, putting a hand on Cassidy’s arm. “The day can’t get any worse, can it?”

Cassidy hoped Heather was right and impatiently waited for the school day to be over.

Cassidy felt relieved once school was over for the day and after the bell rang she stayed with Heather for a bit talking and laughing until Heather caught her bus. Heather’s bus always left before Cassidy’s bus.

“Bye, Heather,” Cassidy yelled as Heather walked onto her bus. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” Cassidy said, waving to Heather as the big black and orange school bus pulled away.

With a big smile on her face and humming away, Cassidy turned around and skipped around the corner of the school to get onto her bus, happy the school day was finally over.

After she turned the corner Cassidy stopped suddenly in her tracks. There was no orange school bus there. The yard was empty and no other kids were waiting for a bus. In fact, the entire school yard was deserted.

Cassidy stood stock still, her eyes wide, her jaw open.

“This can’t be happening,” Cassidy wined. “My bus always leaves after Heather’s bus! How could I have missed my bus?”

“Now I’m going to have to walk home! Ugh!”

“I thought this day just couldn’t get worse, it just couldn’t!” Cassidy sighed. She wanted to sit down and cry.

Just then, it began to rain. Cassidy looked in her knapsack. Of course, she had left her umbrella at home.

Cassidy began the 20-minute walk home as she got pelted with raindrops.

“This is the worst day EVER. This is the worst day EVER,” Cassidy chanted to herself as she began to walk home.

There was no spring in Cassidy’s step and her shoes scraped along the sidewalk as she trudged home. Her head hung down, her shoulders sagged and her arms hung limp at her sides, dragging her pink school bag behind her. She didn’t care.

“What a day,” Cassidy said to herself as she walked. “This day just keeps getting worse and worse. I think I just want this day to be over. I can’t believe I missed my bus, scraped my hands and knees, forgot my homework, and dropped my lunch all in one day.”

“This is the worst day EVER.”

Finally, Cassidy tromped up her front porch, tired, thirsty and drenched. Of course, now the rain stopped. Cassidy tried to open the door but it was locked. She rang the doorbell but no one came to open it. Her Mom must be out, Cassidy thought. Cassidy reached her bandaged hand into her soaking wet knapsack but as much as she searched, she couldn’t find her housekey which was attached to a big purple star her aunt had given her for Christmas.

“This just couldn’t be happening,” Cassidy thought. “My key has to be in here somewhere. This day just can’t get worse, it just can’t.”

Cassidy was mad, tired, wet, upset and frustrated now.

“This is too much for one day in a kid’s life,” she muttered angrily as she turned her knapsack upside down and shook it so all its contents crashed down onto the porch. But no luck. Her key just wasn’t there.

Cassidy threw her knapsack down on the porch, stomped up and down on it with both feet and then slumped down on the step. She put her head in her hands and began to cry. Big wet tears streamed down her face. She would just have to wait until her Mom got home. She wasn’t working today, so hopefully she should be home soon, Cassidy thought hopefully as she sat on the step with the arms crossed and her face covered in a full-faced frown.

“I bet with MY luck today though Mom won’t be home for hours and I’ll just have to sit here on the step waiting,” she muttered, kicking one of her pencil crayons down the step.

“What a day,” she muttered, whiping her tears away and resting her chin in her hands.

“I just hope this day doesn’t get any worse, it just can’t,” she thought.

Just then her Mom drove into the driveway. Cassidy looked up and a little smile began to appear on her face. Finally, this day was getting better! What luck!! She got up and ran over to her Mom, yanking open her door as the car stopped.

“Mom, I’ve had such a horrible day, I’m so glad you’re home,” Cassidy babbled as the tears began flowing again.

“I missed the bus and had to walk home and I forgot my housekey and my homework and my thermos broke and I hurt my hands and knees and all the kids laughed at me,” Cassidy blurted out all at once.

“Whoa, there honey. What’s all this? Did you have a rotten day?” her Mom asked, pulling Cassidy up onto her lap to give her a big hug and kiss.

“It was the worst day EVER in history! It was such a rotten day. It’s not fair. Nothing would go right and all these bad things happened and the day just kept getting worse, and worse and worse and worse,” Cassidy said, sniffling as her eyes filled with tears that spilled out over her flushed cheeks.

“Well, I guess we’d better make the day better,” Cassidy’s Mom said, smiling, giving Cassidy another big hug and kiss saying, “no matter what bad things happen you know sweetie, if I had a million girls you’d still be my favourite.”

“You’re still the most special girl ever to me, silly accidents, missed buses, forgotten homework and forgotten keys and all,” her Mom said as she wiped away Cassidy’s tears.

Those words from her Mom always made Cassidy feel so special, they gave her the warm fuzzies and made all the bad things go away.

“In fact, I think I have a few delicious fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies in one of these grocery bags if you help me carry them inside!” said Cassidy’s Mom.

Cassidy grinned a big lopsided smile through her tears, feeling better already.

Suddenly, now sitting in her Mom’s lap with her arms around her the day didn’t seem so bad. And Cassidy knew that it just couldn’t get worse, it just couldn’t.

It could only get better now, Cassidy thought.

So Cassidy and her Mom carried the groceries _ stepping around the mess Cassidy made by dumping her knapsack upside down on the porch _ and then had milk and cookies while Cassidy told her Mom about her bad day at school.

At dinnertime with her Mom, Dad and brother Brock, Cassidy told all of them about her WORST DAY EVER, and they all told her about something that went wrong in their day too. So, the day did get better.

And as Cassidy’s Mom tucked her into bed, she followed her usual routine that Cassidy loved.

At bedtime, she would come into Cassidy’s pink and purple bedroom, with the shelves of toys and stuffed animals, and fluff up her pillows.

Then she would make sure Cassidy’s favourite stuffed animals _ Tigger the cat, and Tex the horse _ were beside her.

Then she would tuck her in, making sure all the blankets were all snug and warm around her, like a cocoon.

She would smooth back Cassidy’s hair and then kiss her on the forehead, and tell her: “You’re my favourite, my love. If I had a million girls, you’d still be my favourite.”

Cassidy smiled. She felt all warm and fuzzy inside when her Mom told her that. No matter what had happened that day, it didn’t matter anymore when her Mommy told her how much she loved her.

Then she’d give her another kiss and say, “goodnight my favourite little girl. I love you.”

And Cassidy would say, “love you too Mom, g’night.” Then she’d smile as she rolled over and drifted off to sleep.

Tomorrow just had to be better.

It just had to.