10/20/11 2:32 PM
10/20/11 2:32 PM
10/20/11 2:32 PM Max kicked the dry crumbled dirt. He grumbled, he groaned. His face scrunched up in a sort of way of a warning for people not to come near. He cracked his knuckles and narrowed his eyes. His red orange curly hair stuck out in all places. His shirt was black and wrinkled as well as his beige shorts that were starting to stink. He was dragging down the path that went from school to his home. Well for Max he called home the thrown away shack. The path cut through a park that was covered in green. Green trees, green grass, and even green water fountains. Max stopped dragging. He pulled some bubble gum wrap that was still sticky from the gum, and his crumpled up homework from school out of his pocket. He ripped up his homework and threw it all over the freshly cut grass. He took the still-sticky bubble gum wrap and stuck it on the public water fountain on the place where you drink from. He knew that the gardener hated this, but he did it anyway. Completing things that were bad or being horrible to people made Max feel great, big, strong, and almost like he was king. His stories of evil would go on the newspaper and through out his school. Kids at his school, and his classmates especially, would back away as Max grinned and took big proud steps down the halls. Max nodded at his evil work. This time the gardener will act NUTS! Max thought slyly, after he see’s this he might even go crying to the mayor! Max started walking proudly this time, until something unusual caught his eye. It looked like he was a homeless man slouching beside a tree. He looked thin and boney, and his face was covered in wrinkles. His clothes were filthy, and he wore a green base ball cap that was starting to lose it’s color. His pale gray eyes were eyeing Max suspiciously as he walked away from his work. Max immediately got annoyed at this staring from the man and stuck his tongue out viscously and then ran away, afraid that maybe the man might do something to him. When Max ran a block he looked back, the man had disappeared like he was never there. In Max’s confusion he shook his head and walked the rest of the way home. When Max got to his “throw away shack”, he dropped his bag at they entrance and immediately started watching TV. Although it was hard to concentrate on they entertainment from the happening from the park. Thoughts and questions were swimming in his mind, how could he disappear so quickly? Why was he so interested in me? These thoughts never went away until dinner. Then his mind just clicked to “food”. “How was school?” asked his mom a little worried. “Great!” Max lied stuffing spoon-fulls of food in his
mouth. His mother sighed. Knowing her son she knew that “great” meant “awful”, and “awful” meant not-good-signs for his report card. The rest of the dinner was silent. The only thing that could be heard was clinking of spoons and grunting noises from Max. The next day was as usual but with a little change. Max got up with a disgusted look knowing that this would be a usual day of school. He took as long as he could to enjoy the time out of school, although his mom would constantly try to hurry him up saying, “Come on Max! Hurry, hurry, hurry!” But Max wouldn’t listen and always miss the bus. Max dragged out the door, and saw that across the street generous Addison was out early helping the homeless. Everybody in his class were friends with Addison, except for Max. Show off. Max grunted under his breath. Max tried to hate Addison, and pretend that her voice was really annoying, but Max was always ridiculously jealous of Addison. Ever since he heard of Addison he wanted to be just like her. Have lots of friends, earn great comments from everybody, and always be cheery. But when ever he tried to be like Addison, he always ended up failing by getting angry and locking a kid in his locker. Now Max watched as Addison smiled brightly and said good-bye to the homeless she helped and started walking happily toward school. Max had a sudden urge to ask Addison how he can become like her. Max tried to hold to it back but in they end caught up to Addison and asked demandingly, “How do you become nice!” At first Addison was surprised with a sudden demand, but calmed down and answered cheerily, “Be generous, be kind, and always smile.” Max frowned. How could he do that? He was always the big king, but would it be the same if he was nice? Max decided that maybe he would give it a try, but not all his effort. The day was very difficult as Max tried to be nice. First of all Max tried to not crumple up his homework and scribble in his notebook. Or punch at least one kid, or let the class hamster out in history. Max tried not to do all these things but always ended up doing it anyway. Max had failed again. After school Max gave up on his goal, and took his usual route through the park to trash it again. Max was about to toilet paper one of the trees, when he stopped to think twice. He held onto the toilet paper roll and checked the same place the slouching man was. Just as he thought, he was still there. But this time looking weaker than ever, and had sad eyes staring at Max as
if he was trying to make Max feel bad for him. Max tried to avoid looking into the man’s eyes, it made him feel very guilty. It made him think of all the things he had, and what the man did not. Finally a gently but cold wind woke Max from his deep thoughts. Max shook his head and started to walk the tree again trying to act mad and mean again, but something pulled him to the man. As if they were friends for a long time. He walked back to the man trying to look horrible and threw the toilet paper on the ground near him. The man looked up at him as if he didn’t expect that Max would do this for him but smiled brightly. “Thanks kid.” The man finally said in a gruffly deep voice with all his might. Max was surprised that somebody had actually said something nice to him. Just those two words affected Max as though he’d been hit by a huge bulldozer. Max couldn’t help but smile at the man. “Your welcome.” Max replied sticking his chest out. “You know you a good kid,” the man said examining the toilet paper, “most kids just leave me hear or threaten me. You a good kid.” The man repeated unrolling the toilet paper and wrapping it around his hands. “Names Jeffery.” Jeffery got comfortable by his tree now and fell into a deep sleep. Max left Jeffery alone with pride. The next day he would come again, better. The next day everybody in his school was startled. Max had tried to act nice to the kids, pay attention in classes, and not cause any trouble. The teachers were baffled by Max’s new behavior, but still kept a stern look thinking that this was some part of Max’s evil plans. The kids in his classroom were just the same. Everybody was startled by Max’s new behavior, but still kept distance from him thinking that they might disturb him. Max was confused by why everybody was acting the same even though he had done the right things. Did he do anything wrong? Max was disappointed by his work, but was happy about one thing. At lunch he sat at his usual seat, the darkest corner of the cafeteria. A new kid in school, Jacob, came late to lunch of finishing some homework and by the time he got his lunch mostly all the seats were occupied. The only seats that were left were next to the girls or the dark corner of the cafeteriawhere Max was. Jacob finally went to where Max was sitting. Max looked up from his home made lunch and smiled at Jacob. Jacob awkwardly smiled back. Jacob knew that Max was trying to be friends with him so he started a
conversation. “Hello, my name is Jacob.” Max smiled and as grown up as he could he replied, “Hello, my name is Max.” After that the two boys didn’t know what else to say, so the rest of the lunch was silent. Although Max smiled excitedly as he ate, he thought he made his first new friend. Max went to the park, and happily gave Jeffery the left overs of his lunch. “Best kid I know.” Jeffery said, as he devoured Max’s lunch. Max left Jeffery eating his lunch full. Max smiled proudly, “Best kid I know.” Those words kept shining in Max’s mind. He decided that he would try to be like this for the next few days. But he already knew how it was going to end. Max was right. By the end of the week, everybody loved Max, including Jeffery. He had shown a good enough impression for everybody to understand that he had changed the way he was. Lots of boys were friends with Max, and the teachers smiled this time when he walked through the door to their classroom. Jacob turned into Max’s best friend. They did everything together. Sleepovers, play dates, and playing soccer at recces. And Jeffery always commented of how good of a kid Max was whenever he brought him something useful. Max shined like the sun at day. Max hummed, he whistled. His hair was neatly combed, and he wore his new shirt and pants he bought with his mom on Sunday. He smiled like the stars at night. He was walking a path that went from school to home. Or which Max called it, they awesome mansion. He took proud steps toward the front door of his “mansion”. He slammed the door to let his mother know he was home. “How was school honey?” his mother asked brightly. Max hugged his mother and replied greatly, “Awesome.”
10/20/11 2:32 PM
A Man, A Change Max kicked the dry crumbled dirt. He grumbled, he groaned. His face scrunched up in a sort of way of a warning for people not to come near. He cracked his knuckles and narrowed his eyes. His red orange curly hair stuck out in all places. His shirt was black and wrinkled as well as his beige shorts that were starting to stink. He was dragging down the path that went from school to his home. Well for Max he called home the “thrown away shack”. The path cut straight through a park that was called Green Away Park. Obviously it was covered in green. Green trees, green grass, and even green water fountains. Max stopped dragging. He pulled some bubble gum wrap that was still sticky from the gum, and his crumpled up homework out of his pocket. He ripped up his homework angrily and threw it all over the freshly cut grass. He took the still-sticky bubble gum wrap and stuck it on the public water fountain on the place where you drink. He knew that the gardener hated this, but he did it anyway. Completing things that were bad or being horrible to people made Max feel great, big, strong, and almost like he was king. His stories of evil would go on the local newspaper and throughout his school. Kids at his school- and his classmates especially, would back away as Max grinned with evil eyes, and took big proud steps down the halls. Max nodded at his evil work. This time the gardener will act NUTS! Max thought slyly, after he see’s this he might even go crying to the mayor! Max started walking satisfied this time, until something unusual caught his eye. It was a heavyhearted man. It seemed like he was homeless, and was slouching in they shade of an old oak tree. He looked thin and boney, and his face was covered in wrinkles. His clothes were filthy and almost as smelly as Max’s, but more. He wore a green base ball cap that looked like it already lost it’s color, and had scrawny socks with hundreds of holes. His pale gray eyes were eyeing Max suspiciously as he walked away from the mess he made. Max immediately got irritated at the staring from the man and stuck his tongue out viscously and then ran away, afraid that maybe the homeless man might do something to him. When Max ran a block or so he looked back. The man was now a tiny dot still staring in Max’s direction. In Max’s annoyance he stuck his tongue out again at the man, and easily walked the rest of the way home.
When Max got to his “throw away shack”, he dropped his bag at they entrance and immediately started watching TV. Although it was hard to concentrate on they entertainment from the happening from the park. Thoughts and questions were swimming in his mind, Why was he staring at me so long? Why was he so interested in me? These thoughts never went away until dinner. Then his mind just clicked onto “food”. “How was school?” asked his mother a little unsure. “Great!” Max lied as he stuffed spoon fulls of white rice in his mouth. His mother sighed deppressed. Knowing her son she knew that “great” meant “awful”, and “awful” meant not-good-signs for his report card. The rest of the dinner was silent. The only thing that could be heard was clinking of spoons hitting against the dishes, and the grunting noises from Max. The next day was as usual but with a little change. Max got up with a disgusted look knowing that this would be another usual day of boring school. Why do we have to have school? It isn’t like I learn anything there anyway Max thought disgustedly. He took as long as he could to enjoy the time out of school, although his mom would constantly try to hurry him up saying, “Come on Max! Hurry, hurry, hurry! You’re going to miss the buss!” But Max wouldn’t listen and onperpously always miss the bus anyway. Max dragged out the door, and saw that across the street generous Addison was out early helping the homeless in Green Away Park. Everybody in his class were friends with Addison, except for Max. Show off Max grunted under his breath. Max tried to hate Addison, and pretend that her voice was really annoying, but Max was always ridiculously jealous of Addison. Ever since he heard of Addison he wanted to be just like her. Have lots of friends, earn great comments from everybody, and always be cheery. But when ever he tried to be like Addison, he always ended up failing by getting angry and locking a kid in his locker. Now Max watched, pretending to act angry, as Addison smiled brightly and said good-bye to the homeless she helped. Max had a sudden - urge as always - to ask Addison how he can become like her. Max tried to hold to it back but just couldn’t take holding in the long lasting urge anymore. Max caught up to Addison by fast walking, he was too lazy to run. “How do I become nice like you!” At first Addison was surprised with a sudden demand, but calmed down and answered cheerily, “Be generous, be kind, and always smile.” Max frowned. How could he do that? He was always
the big king, but would it be the same if he was nice? Max decided that maybe he would give it a try, but not all his effort. The day was very difficult as Max tried to be nice. First of all Max tried to not crumple up his homework and scribble in his notebook. Or punch at least one kid, or let the class hamster out in history. Max tried not to do all these things but always ended up doing it anyway. Max had failed again. After school Max gave up on his goal, and took his usual route through the park to trash it again. Max was about to toilet paper one of the trees, when he stopped to think twice. He held onto the toilet paper roll and checked the same place the slouching man was. Just as he thought, he was still there. But this time looking weaker than ever, and had sad eyes staring at Max as if he was trying to make Max feel bad for him. Max tried to avoid looking into the man’s eyes, it made him feel very guilty. It made him think of all the things he had, and what the man did not. Finally a gently but cold wind woke Max from his deep thoughts. Max shook his head and started to walk the tree again trying to act mad and mean again, but something pulled him to the man. As if they were friends for a long time. He walked back to the man trying to look horrible and threw the toilet paper on the ground near him. The man looked up at him as if he didn’t expect that Max would do this for him but smiled brightly. “Thanks kid.” The man finally said in a gruffly deep voice with all his might. Max was surprised that somebody had actually said something nice to him. Just those two words affected Max as though he’d been hit by a huge bulldozer. Max couldn’t help but smile at the man. “Your welcome.” Max replied sticking his chest out. “You know you a good kid,” the man said examining the toilet paper, “most kids just leave me hear or threaten me. You a good kid.” The man repeated unrolling the toilet paper and wrapping it around his hands. “Names Jeffery.” Jeffery got comfortable by his tree now and fell into a deep sleep. Max left Jeffery alone with pride. The next day he would come again, better. The next day everybody in his school was startled. Max had tried to act nice to the kids, pay attention in classes, and not cause any trouble. The teachers were baffled by Max’s new behavior, but still kept a stern look thinking that this was some part of Max’s evil plans. The kids in his classroom were just the same. Everybody was startled by Max’s new behavior, but still kept
distance from him thinking that they might disturb him. Max was confused by why everybody was acting the same even though he had done the right things. Did he do anything wrong? Max was disappointed by his work, but was happy about one thing. At lunch he sat at his usual seat, the darkest corner of the cafeteria. A new kid in school, Jacob, came late to lunch of finishing some homework and by the time he got his lunch mostly all the seats were occupied. The only seats that were left were next to the girls or the dark corner of the cafeteriawhere Max was. Jacob finally went to where Max was sitting. Max looked up from his home made lunch and smiled at Jacob. Jacob awkwardly smiled back. Jacob knew that Max was trying to be friends with him so he started a conversation. “Hello, my name is Jacob.” Max smiled and as grown up as he could he replied, “Hello, my name is Max.” After that the two boys didn’t know what else to say, so the rest of the lunch was silent. Although Max smiled excitedly as he ate, he thought he made his first new friend. Max went to the park, and happily gave Jeffery the left overs of his lunch. “Best kid I know.” Jeffery said, as he devoured Max’s lunch. Max left Jeffery eating his lunch full. Max smiled proudly, “Best kid I know.” Those words kept shining in Max’s mind. He decided that he would try to be like this for the next few days. But he already knew how it was going to end. Max was right. By the end of the week, everybody loved Max, including Jeffery. He had shown a good enough impression for everybody to understand that he had changed the way he was. Lots of boys were friends with Max, and the teachers smiled this time when he walked through the door to their classroom. Jacob turned into Max’s best friend. They did everything together. Sleepovers, play dates, and playing soccer at recces. And Jeffery always commented of how good of a kid Max was whenever he brought him something useful. Max shined like the sun at day. Max hummed, he whistled. His hair was neatly combed, and he wore his new shirt and pants he bought with his mom on Sunday. He smiled like the stars at night. He was walking a path that went from school to home. Or which Max called it, they awesome mansion. He took proud steps toward the front
door of his “mansion”. He slammed the door to let his mother know he was home. “How was school honey?” his mother asked brightly. Max hugged his mother and replied greatly, “Awesome.”
10/20/11 2:32 PM
Max kicked the dry crumbled dirt. He grumbled, he groaned. His face scrunched up in a sort of way of a warning for people not to come near. He cracked his knuckles and narrowed his eyes. His red orange curly hair stuck out in all places. His shirt was black and wrinkled as well as his beige shorts that were starting to stink. He was dragging down the path that went from school to his home. Well for Max he called home the “thrown away shack”. The path cut straight through a park that was called Green Away Park. Obviously it was covered in green. Green trees, green grass, and even green water fountains. Max stopped dragging. He pulled some bubble gum wrap that was still sticky from the gum, and his crumpled up homework out of his pocket. He ripped up his homework angrily and threw it all over the freshly cutgrass. He took the still-sticky bubble gum wrap and stuck it on the public water fountain on the place where you drink. He knew that the gardener hated this, but he did it anyway. Completing things that were bad or being horrible to people made Max feel great, big, strong, and almost like he was king. His stories of evil would go on the local newspaper and throughout his school. Kids at his school- and his classmates especially, would back away as Max grinned with evil eyes, and took big proud steps down the halls. Max nodded at his evil work. This time the gardener will act NUTS! Max thought slyly, after he see’s this he might even go crying to the mayor! Max started walking satisfied this time, until something unusual caught his eye. It was a heavyhearted man. It seemed like he was homeless, and was slouching in they shade of an old oak tree. He looked thin and boney, and his face was covered in wrinkles. His clothes were filthy and almost as smelly as Max’s, but more. He wore a green base ball cap that looked like it already lost it’s color, and had scrawny socks with hundreds of holes. His pale gray eyes were eyeing Max suspiciously as he walked away from the mess he made. Max immediately got irritated at the staring from the man and stuck his tongue out viscously then ran away, afraid that maybe the homeless man might do something to him. When Max ran a block or so he looked back. The man was now a tiny dot still staring in Max’s direction. In Max’s annoyance he stuck his tongue out again at the man, and easily walked the rest of the way home.
When Max got to his “throw away shack”, he dropped his bag at they entrance and immediately started watching TV. Although it was hard to concentrate on they entertainment from the happening from the park. Thoughts and questions were swimming in his mind, Why was he staring at me so long? Why was he so interested in me? He was so disgusting! These thoughts never went away until dinner. Then his mind just clicked onto “food”. “How was school?” asked his mother a little uneasily. “Great!” Max lied as he stuffed spoon fulls of soft white rice in his mouth. His mother sighed depressed. Knowing her son she knew that “great” meant “awful”, and “awful” meant not-good-signs for his report card. The rest of the dinner was silent. The only thing that could be heard was clinking of spoons hitting against the dishes, and the grunting noises from Max. The next day was as usual but with a little change. Max got up with a disgusted look knowing that this would be another usual day of boring school. Why do we have to have school? It isn’t like I learn anything there anyway Max thought disgustedly. He took as long as he could to enjoy the time out of school, although his mom would constantly try to hurry him up saying, “Come on Max! Hurry, hurry, hurry! You’re going to miss the buss!” But Max wouldn’t listen and purposefully always miss the bus anyway. Max dragged out the door with a frown on his face, and saw that across the street generous Addison was out early helping the homeless in Green Away Park. Max narrowed his eyes her while she wasn’t looking and kept walking toward school. Everybody in his class were friends with Addison, except for Max. Show off Max grunted under his breath as he took a quick glance at Addison. Max tried to hate her, and pretend that her voice was really annoying, but Max was always ridiculously jealous of Addison. Ever since he heard of Addison he wanted to be just like her. Have lots of friends, earn great comments from everybody, and always be cheery. But whenever he tried to be like Addison, he always ended up failing by getting angry and locking a kid in his locker. Now Max couldn’t help but stare, as Addison smiled brightly and said good-bye to the homeless she helped. Max had a sudden urge - as always - to ask Addison how he can become like her. Max tried to hold to it back but just couldn’t take holding in the long lasting urge anymore. Max caught up to Addison by fast walking, he was too lazy to run. “Tell me how to become nice like you! Or I’ll punch you’re face in!” At first
Addison was surprised with a sudden demand and threat, but calmed down a little) and answered quivering, “Be generous, be kind, and always smile.” Max frowned. How could he do that? He was always the big king, but would it be the same if he was nice? Max decided that maybe he would give it a try, but not all his effort. The day was very difficult as Max tried to be nice. First of all Max tried to not crumple up his homework and scribble in his notebook. Or punch at least one kid, or let the class hamster out in history, or any other kids of trouble. Max tried not to do all these things but always ended up doing it anyway. Max had failed again. After school Max gave up on his goal, and took his usual route through the park to trash it again. Max was about to toilet paper one of the trees, when he stopped to think twice. He held onto the toilet paper roll and checked the same place the slouching man was. Just as he thought, he was still there. But this time looking weaker than ever, and had those sad eyes again staring at Max as if he was trying to make Max feel bad for him. Max tried to avoid looking into the man’s eyes, it made him feel very guilty. It made him think of all the things he had, and what the man did not. Finally a gentle but cold sharp wind woke Max from his deep thoughts. Max shook his head and started to walk the tree again trying to act mad and mean again, but something pulled him to the man. As if they were friends for a long time. He walked back to the man trying to look horrible and threw the toilet paper on the ground near him. The man looked up at him as if he didn’t expect that Max would do this for him but smiled brightly. “Thanks kid.” The man finally said in a gruffly deep voice. Max was surprised that somebody had actually said something nice to him. Just those two words affected Max as though he’d been hit by a huge bulldozer. Max couldn’t help but smile at the man. “Your welcome.” Max replied sticking his chest out. “You know you a good kid,” the man said examining the toilet paper, “most kids just leave me hear or threaten me. You a good kid.” The man repeated unrolling the toilet paper and wrapping it around his hands. “Names Jeffery.” Jeffery got comfortable by his tree now and fell into a deep sleep. Max left Jeffery alone with pride. The next day he would come again, but better.
The next day everybody in his school was startled. Max had tried to act nice to the kids, pay attention in classes, and not cause any trouble. The teachers were baffled by Max’s new behavior, but still kept a stern look thinking that this was some part of Max’s “evil plans”. The kids in his classroom were just the same. Everybody was startled by Max’s new behavior, but still kept distance from him thinking that they might disturb him. Max was confused by why everybody was acting the same even though he had done the right things. Did he do anything wrong? Max was disappointed by his work, but was happy about one thing. It happened at lunch. He sat at his usual seat, the darkest corner of the cafeteria. A new kid in school, Jacob, came late to lunch of finishing up some homework. And by the time he got his food, mostly all the seats were occupied. The only seats that were left were next to the girls or the dark corner of the cafeteria - where Max was. Jacob finally went to where Max was sitting, he was a new kid so he didn’t know much about the school’s enemies yet. Max looked up from his home made and saw that Jacob had chosen to sit next to him. Usually he would push Jacob or any kid that sat next to him on the ground and threaten them, but today was different. Addison’s words repeated in his mind “Always smile.” He decided to experiment if it worked. He smiled friendly at Jacob. Jacob awkwardly smiled back. Jacob somehow knew that Max was trying to be friends with him so he started a conversation. “Hi, my name is Jacob.” Max smiled and as grown up as he could he replied, “Hello, my name is Max.” After that the two boys didn’t know what else to say, so the rest of the lunch was silent. Although Max smiled excitedly as he ate, he thought he made his first new friend. Max went to the park, and happily gave Jeffery the left overs of his lunch. “Best kid I know.” Jeffery said, as he devoured Max’s leftovers. Max left Jeffery eating his lunch full. Max smiled proudly, “Best kid I know.” Those words kept shining in Max’s mind. He would’ve just put them on his shirt if he could. He decided that he would try to be like this for the next few days. But he already knew how it was going to end. Max was right. By the end of the week, everybody loved Max, including Jeffery. He had shown a good enough impression for everybody to
understand that he had changed the way he was. Lots of boys were friends with Max, and the teachers smiled this time when he walked through the door to their classroom. Jacob turned into Max’s best friend. They did everything together. Sleepovers, play dates, and playing soccer at recces. And Jeffery always commented of how good of a kid Max was whenever he brought him something useful. Max shined like the sun at day. Max hummed, he whistled. His hair was neatly combed, and he wore his new shirt and pants he bought with his mom on Sunday. He was walking a path that went from school to home. Or which Max called it, they awesome mansion. He took proud steps toward the front door of his “mansion”. He slammed the door to let his mother know he was home. “How was school honey?” his mother asked brightly. Max hugged his mother and replied greatly, “Awesome.”
10/20/11 2:32 PM
A Man, A Change Hana Donovan
Max kicked the dry crumbled dirt. He grumbled, he groaned. His face scrunched up in a sort of way of a warning for people not to come near. He cracked his knuckles and narrowed his eyes. His red orange curly hair stuck out in all places. His shirt was black and wrinkled as well as his beige shorts that were starting to stink. He was dragging down the path that went from school to his home. Well for Max he called home the “thrown away shack”. The path cut straight through a park that was called “Green Away Park”. Obviously the place was covered in green. Green trees, green grass, and even green water fountains. Max stopped dragging. He pulled some bubble gum wrap that was still sticky from the gum, and his crumpled up homework out of his pocket. He ripped up his homework angrily and threw it all over the freshly cut grass. He took the still-‐sticky bubble gum wrap and stuck it on the public water fountain on the place where you drink from. He knew that the gardener hated this, but he did it anyway. Completing things that were bad, or being horrible to people made Max feel great, big, strong, and almost like he was king. His stories of evil would go on the local newspaper and throughout his school. Kids at his school -‐ and his classmates especially, would back away as Max grinned with evil eyes, and took big proud steps down the halls. Max nodded at his evil work. This time the gardener will act NUTS! He thought slyly, after he see’s this he might even go crying to the mayor! Max started walking satisfied this time, until something unusual caught his eye. It was a heavyhearted man. It seemed like he was homeless, and was slouching in they shade of an old oak tree. He looked thin and boney, and his face was covered in wrinkles. His clothes were filthy and almost as smelly as Max’s, but more. He wore a green base ball cap that looked like it already lost its’ color, and had scrawny socks with hundreds of holes. His pale gray eyes were eyeing Max suspiciously as he walked away from the mess he made. Max immediately got irritated at the staring from the man and stuck his tongue out viscously then ran away, afraid that maybe the homeless man might do something to him. When Max ran a block or so, he looked back. The man was now a tiny dot still staring in Max’s direction. In Max’s annoyance he stuck his tongue out again at the man, and easily walked the rest of the way home. When Max got to his “throw away shack”, he dropped his bag at they entrance and immediately started watching television. Although it was hard to concentrate on they entertainment from the happening from the park. Thoughts and questions were swimming in his mind, Why was he staring at me so long? Why was he so interested in me? What a hobo.
These thoughts never went away until dinner. Then his mind just clicked onto “food”. “How was school?” asked his mother uneasily. “Great!” Max lied as he stuffed spoonfuls of soft white rice in his mouth. His mother sighed depressed. Knowing her son she knew that “great” meant “awful”, and “awful” meant not-‐good-‐signs for his report card. The rest of the dinner was silent. The only thing that could be heard was clinking of spoons hitting against the dishes, and the grunting noises from Max. The next day was as usual, but with a little change. Max got up with a disappointed look knowing that this would be another usual day of boring school. Why do we have to have school? It isn’t like I learn anything there anyway Max thought disgustedly. He took as long as he could to enjoy the time out of school, although his mom would constantly try to hurry him up saying, “Come on Max! Hurry, hurry, hurry! You’re going to miss the buss!” But Max wouldn’t listen and purposefully always miss the bus anyway. Max dragged out the door with a frown on his face, and saw that across the street generous Addison was out early helping the homeless in Green Away Park. Max narrowed his eyes at her while she wasn’t looking and kept walking toward school. Everybody in his class was friends with Addison, except for Max. Show off Max grunted under his breath as he took a quick glance at Addison. Max tried to hate her, and pretend that her voice was really annoying, but Max was always ridiculously jealous of Addison. Ever since he heard of Addison he wanted to be just like her. Have lots of friends, earn great comments from everybody, and always be cheery. But whenever he tried to be like Addison, he always ended up failing by getting angry and locking a kid in his locker. Now Max couldn’t help but stare, as Addison smiled brightly and said good-‐bye to the homeless she helped. Max had a sudden urge -‐ as always -‐ to ask Addison how he can become like her. Max tried to hold to it back but just couldn’t take holding in the long lasting urge anymore. Max caught up to Addison by fast walking; he was too lazy to run. “Tell me how to become nice like you! Or I’ll punch you’re face in!” At first Addison was surprised with a sudden demand and threat, but calmed down a little and answered quivering, “Be generous, be kind, and always smile.” Max frowned disappointed. How could he do that? He was always the big king, but would it be the same if he were nice? Max decided that maybe he would give it a try again now that he had some advice, but not all his effort. The day was very difficult for Max as tried to be nice. First of all Max tried to not crumple up his homework and scribble in his notebook. Or punch at least one kid, or let the class hamster out in history, or any other kids of trouble. Max tried not to do all these things but always ended up doing it anyway. That Addison. I knew she was a phony, Max thought angrily. But it didn’t matter whether he was angry or not, Max had failed again.
After school Max gave up on his goal, and took his usual route through the park to trash it again. Max was about to toilet paper one of the trees, when he stopped to think twice. He held onto the toilet paper roll and checked the same place the slouching man was. Just as he thought, he was still there. But this time looking weaker than ever, and had those sad eyes again staring at Max as if he was trying to make Max feel bad for him. Max tried to avoid looking into the man’s eyes; it made him feel very guilty. It made him think of all the things he had, and what the man did not. Finally a gentle but cold sharp wind woke Max from his deep thoughts. Max shook his head and started to walk back to the tree, trying to act mad and mean again, but something pulled him to the man. As if they were friends for a long time. He walked back to the man trying to look horrible and threw the toilet paper on the ground near him. The man looked up at him as if he didn’t expect that Max would do this for him but smiled brightly. “Thanks kid,” The man finally said in a gruffly deep voice. Max was surprised that somebody had actually said something nice to him. Just those two words affected Max as though a huge bulldozer had hit him. Max couldn’t help but smile at the man. “Your welcome,” Max replied sticking his chest out. “You know you a good kid,” the man said examining the toilet paper, “most kids just leave me hear or threaten me. You a good kid,” The man repeated unrolling the toilet paper and wrapping it around his hands. “Names Jeffery.” Jeffery got comfortable by his tree now and fell into a deep sleep. Max left Jeffery alone with pride. The next day he would come again, but better. The next day everybody in his school was startled. Max had tried to act nice to the kids, pay attention in classes, and not cause any trouble. The teachers were baffled by Max’s new behavior, but still kept a stern look on their faces, thinking that this was some part of Max’s “evil plans”. The kids in his classroom were just the same. Everybody was thinking up thoughts that why Max changed. But still kept distance from him thinking that they might disturb him. Max was confused by why everybody was acting the same even though he thought he done the right things. Did he do anything wrong? Max was disappointed by his work, but was happy about one thing. It happened at lunch. He sat at his usual seat, the darkest corner of the cafeteria. A new kid in school, Jacob, came late to lunch of finishing up some homework. And by the time he got his food, mostly all the seats were occupied. The only seats that were left were next to the girls or the dark corner of the cafeteria -‐ where Max was. Jacob finally went to where Max was sitting, he was a new kid so he didn’t know much about the school’s enemies yet. Max looked up from his homemade lunch and saw that Jacob had chosen to sit next to him. Usually he would push
Jacob or any kid that sat next to him on the ground and threaten them,, or shout “Get lost, or I’ll punch your face in!”, but today was different. Addison’s words repeated in his mind “Always smile.” He decided to experiment if it worked. He smiled friendly at Jacob. Jacob awkwardly smiled back. Jacob somehow knew that Max was trying to be friends with him so he started a conversation. “Hi, my name is Jacob.” Max smiled and as grown up as he could he replied, “Hello, my name is Max.” After that the two boys didn’t know what else to say, so the rest of the lunch was silent. Although Max smiled excitedly as he ate, he thought he made his first new friend. Max went to the park, and happily gave Jeffery the left overs of his lunch. “Best kid I know.” Jeffery said, as he devoured Max’s leftovers. Max left Jeffery eating his lunch full. Max smiled proudly, “Best kid I know.” Those words kept shining in Max’s mind. He would’ve just put them on his shirt if he could. He decided that he would try to be like this for the next few days. But he already knew how it was going to end. Max was right. By the end of the week, everybody loved Max, including Jeffery. He had shown a good enough impression for everybody to understand that he had changed the way he was. Lots of boys were friends with Max, and the teachers smiled this time when he walked through the door to their classroom. Jacob turned into Max’s best friend. They did everything together. Sleepovers, play dates, and playing soccer at recces. And Jeffery always commented of how good of a kid Max was whenever he brought him something useful. Max shined like the sun at day. Max hummed, he whistled. His hair was neatly combed, and he wore his new shirt and pants he bought with his mom on Sunday. He was walking a path that went from school to home. Or which Max called it, they “awesome mansion”. He took proud steps toward the front door of his “mansion”. He slammed the door to let his mother know he was home. “How was school honey?” his mother asked brightly. Max hugged his mother tightly and replied greatly, “Awesome!”
Hana Chang Donovan
A Man, A Change Hana Donovan Max kicked the dry crumbled dirt. He grumbled, he groaned. His red orange curly hair stuck out in all places. His shirt was black and wrinkled as well as his beige shorts that were starting to stink. He was dragging down the path that went from school to his home. Well for Max he called home the “thrown away shack”. The path cut straight through a park that was called “Green Away Park”. Obviously the place was covered in green. Green trees, green grass, and even green water fountains. Max stopped dragging. He pulled some bubble gum wrap that was still sticky from the gum, and his crumpled up homework out of his pocket. He ripped up his homework angrily and threw it all over the freshly cut grass. He took the still-‐sticky bubble gum wrap and stuck it on the public water fountain on the place where you drink from. He knew that the gardener hated this, but he did it anyway. Completing things that were bad, or being horrible to people made Max feel great, big, strong, and almost like he was king. His stories of evil would go on the local newspaper and throughout his school. Kids at his school -‐ and his classmates especially, would back away as Max grinned with evil eyes, and took big proud steps down the halls. Max nodded at his evil work. This time the gardener will act NUTS! He thought slyly, after he see’s this he might even go crying to the mayor! Max started walking satisfied this time, until something unusual caught his eye. It was a heavyhearted man. It seemed like he was homeless, and was slouching in they shade of an old oak tree. He looked thin and boney, and his face was covered in wrinkles. His clothes were filthy and almost as smelly as Max’s, but more. He wore a green base ball cap that looked like it already lost it’s color, and had scrawny socks with hundreds of holes. His pale gray eyes were eyeing Max suspiciously as he walked away from the mess he made. Max immediately got irritated at the staring from the man and stuck his tongue out viscously then ran away, afraid that maybe the homeless man might do something to him. When Max ran a block or so, he looked back. The man was now a tiny dot still staring in Max’s direction. In Max’s annoyance he stuck his tongue out again at the man, and easily walked the rest of the way home. When Max got to his “throw away shack”, he dropped his bag at they entrance and immediately started watching television. Although it was hard to concentrate on they entertainment from the happening from the park. Thoughts and questions were swimming in his mind, Why was he staring at me so long? Why was he so interested in me? What a hobo.
These thoughts never went away until dinner. Then his mind just clicked onto “food”. “How was school?” asked his mother uneasily. “Great!” Max lied as he stuffed spoon fulls of soft white rice in his mouth. His mother sighed depressed. Knowing her son she knew that “great” meant “awful”, and “awful” meant not-‐good-‐signs for his report card. The rest of the dinner was silent. The only thing that could be heard was clinking of spoons hitting against the dishes, and the grunting noises from Max. The next day was as usual, but with a little change. Max got up with a disappointed look knowing that this would be another usual day of boring school. Why do we have to have school? It isn’t like I learn anything there anyway Max thought disgustedly. He took as long as he could to enjoy the time out of school, although his mom would constantly try to hurry him up saying, “Come on Max! Hurry, hurry, hurry! You’re going to miss the buss!” But Max wouldn’t listen and purposefully always miss the bus anyway. Max dragged out the door with a frown on his face, and saw that across the street generous Addison was out early helping the homeless in Green Away Park. Max narrowed his eyes at her while she wasn’t looking and kept walking toward school. Everybody in his class were friends with Addison, except for Max. Show off Max grunted under his breath as he took a quick glance at Addison. Max tried to hate her, and pretend that her voice was really annoying, but Max was always ridiculously jealous of Addison. Ever since he heard of Addison he wanted to be just like her. Have lots of friends, earn great comments from everybody, and always be cheery. But whenever he tried to be like Addison, he always ended up failing by getting angry and locking a kid in his locker. Now Max couldn’t help but stare, as Addison smiled brightly and said good-‐bye to the homeless she helped. Max had a sudden urge -‐ as always -‐ to ask Addison how he can become like her. Max tried to hold to it back but just couldn’t take holding in the long lasting urge anymore. Max caught up to Addison by fast walking; he was too lazy to run. “Tell me how to become nice like you! Or I’ll punch you’re face in!” At first Addison was surprised with a sudden demand and threat, but calmed down a little and answered quivering, “Be generous, be kind, and always smile.” Max frowned disappointed. How could he do that? He was always the big king, but would it be the same if he was nice? Max decided that maybe he would give it a try again now that he had some advice, but not all his effort. The day was very difficult for Max as tried to be nice. First of all Max tried to not crumple up his homework and scribble in his notebook. Or punch at least one kid, or let the class hamster out in history, or any other kids of trouble. Max tried not to do all these things but
always ended up doing it anyway. That Addison. I knew she was a phony, Max thought angrily. But it didn’t matter whether he was angry or not, Max had failed again. After school Max gave up on his goal, and took his usual route through the park to trash it again. Max was about to toilet paper one of the trees, when he stopped to think twice. He held onto the toilet paper roll and checked the same place the slouching man was. Just as he thought, he was still there. But this time looking weaker than ever, and had those sad eyes again staring at Max as if he was trying to make Max feel bad for him. Max tried to avoid looking into the man’s eyes, it made him feel very guilty. It made him think of all the things he had, and what the man did not. Finally a gentle but cold sharp wind woke Max from his deep thoughts. Max shook his head and started to walk back to the tree, trying to act mad and mean again, but something pulled him to the man. As if they were friends for a long time. He walked back to the man trying to look horrible and threw the toilet paper on the ground near him. The man looked up at him as if he didn’t expect that Max would do this for him but smiled brightly. “Thanks kid,” The man finally said in a gruffly deep voice. Max was surprised that somebody had actually said something nice to him. Just those two words affected Max as though he’d been hit by a huge bulldozer. Max couldn’t help but smile at the man. “Your welcome,” Max replied sticking his chest out. “You know you a good kid,” the man said examining the toilet paper, “most kids just leave me hear or threaten me. You a good kid,” The man repeated unrolling the toilet paper and wrapping it around his hands. “Names Jeffery.” Jeffery got comfortable by his tree now and fell into a deep sleep. Max left Jeffery alone with pride. The next day he would come again, but better. The next day everybody in his school was startled. Max had tried to act nice to the kids, pay attention in classes, and not cause any trouble. The teachers were baffled by Max’s new behavior, but still kept a stern look on their faces, thinking that this was some part of Max’s “evil plans”. The kids in his classroom were just the same. Everybody was thinking up thoughts that why Max had changed. But still kept distance from him thinking that they might disturb him. Max was confused by why everybody was acting the same even though he thought he done the right things. Did he do anything wrong? Max was disappointed by his work, but was happy about one thing. It happened at lunch. He sat at his usual seat, the darkest corner of the cafeteria. A new kid in school, Jacob, came late to lunch of finishing up some homework. And by the time he got his food, mostly all the seats were occupied. The only seats that were left were next to the girls or the dark corner of the cafeteria -‐ where Max was. Jacob finally went to where Max
was sitting, he was a new kid so he didn’t know much about the school’s enemies yet. Max looked up from his home made lunch and saw that Jacob had chosen to sit next to him. Usually he would push Jacob or any kid that sat next to him on the ground and threaten them or say “Get lost or I’ll punch your face in!”, but today was different. Addison’s words repeated in his mind “Always smile.” He decided to experiment if it worked. He smiled friendly at Jacob. Jacob awkwardly smiled back. Jacob somehow knew that Max was trying to be friends with him so he started a conversation. “Hi, my name is Jacob.” Max smiled and as grown up as he could he replied, “Hello, my name is Max.” After that the two boys didn’t know what else to say, so the rest of the lunch was silent. Although Max smiled excitedly as he ate, he thought he made his first new friend. Max went to the park, and happily gave Jeffery the left overs of his lunch. “Best kid I know.” Jeffery said, as he devoured Max’s leftovers. Max left Jeffery eating his lunch full. Max smiled proudly, “Best kid I know.” Those words kept shining in Max’s mind. He would’ve just put them on his shirt if he could. He decided that he would try to be like this for the next few days. But he already knew how it was going to end. Max was right. By the end of the week, everybody loved Max, including Jeffery. He had shown a good enough impression for everybody to understand that he had changed the way he was. Lots of boys were friends with Max, and the teachers smiled this time when he walked through the door to their classroom. Jacob turned into Max’s best friend. They did everything together. Sleepovers, play dates, and playing soccer at recces. And Jeffery always commented of how good of a kid Max was whenever he brought him something useful. Max shined like the sun at day. Max hummed, he whistled. His hair was neatly combed, and he wore his new shirt and pants he bought with his mom on Sunday. He was walking a path that went from school to home. Or which Max called it, they “awesome mansion”. He took proud steps toward the front door of his “mansion”. He slammed the door to let his mother know he was home. “How was school honey?” his mother asked brightly. Max hugged his mother tightly and replied greatly, “Awesome!”
10/20/11 2:32 PM
A Man, A Change Hana Donovan Max kicked the dry crumbled dirt. He grumbled, he groaned. The tips of his mouth formed the most uncomfortable frown. Stupid math tests. Stupid school, he thought grumpily. He clenched his fists tightly which made some of his knuckles crack. His red orange curly hair stuck out in all places. His shirt was black and wrinkled as were his beige shorts which were starting to stink. He was dragging down the path that went from school to his home, a home he called the “thrown away shack”. The path cut straight through Green Away Park. Obviously the place was covered in green; Green trees, green grass, and even green water fountains. Max stopped dragging. Out of his pocket he pulled some bubble gum wrap that was still sticky from gum, along with his crumpled up homework. He ripped up his homework angrily and threw it all over the freshly cut grass. He took the still-‐sticky bubble gum wrap and stuck it on the public water fountain right over the place where people drink from. He knew the gardener hated this, but he did it anyway. Being bad, or being horrible to people made Max feel great, big, strong, and almost like he was king. Stories of his evil were reported in the local newspaper and throughout his school. Kids at his school -‐ and his classmates especially-‐ would back away whenever Max took big proud steps down the halls. Max nodded at his evil work. This time the gardener will act NUTS! He thought slyly, after he sees this he might even go crying to the mayor! Max started walking, satisfied this time, until something unusual caught his eye. It was a heavyhearted man. Who looked like he might be homeless. The man was slouching in the shade of an old oak tree. All thin and boney. His face was covered in wrinkles, his clothes were filthy and almost as smelly as Max’s, he wore a faded green base-‐ball cap. His scrawny socks were peppered with hundreds of holes. His pale gray eyes viewed Max suspiciously as Max walked away from the ruined fountain. Max immediately got irritated by the staring from the man so he stuck his tongue out viscously then ran away, afraid that maybe the homeless man might do something to him. When Max ran a block or so, he looked back. The man was now a tiny dot, but he was still staring in Max’s direction. To Max’s annoyance he stuck his tongue out again at the man, and easily walked the rest of the way home.
When Max got to his “thrown-‐away shack”, he dropped his bag at the entrance and immediately started watching television. Although it was hard to concentrate because Max’s mind kept retuning to what happened in the park. Thoughts and questions were swimming in his mind, Why was he staring at me so long? Why was he so interested in me? What a hobo. These thoughts pestered him until dinner. Then his mind clicked onto food. “How was school?” asked his mother uneasily. “Great!” Max lied as he stuffed spoon fulls of soft white rice in his mouth. His mother sighed depressed. Knowing her son she knew that “great” meant “awful”, and “awful” meant not-‐good-‐signs for his report card. The rest of the dinner was silent. The only thing that could be heard was clinking of spoons hitting against the dishes, and a few grunting noises from Max. The next day was as usual. Max got up with a disappointed look knowing that this would be just another day of boring school. Why do we have to have school? It isn’t like I learn anything there anyway Max thought disgustedly. He took as long as he could to enjoy the time out of school, although his mom would constantly try to hurry him up saying, “Come on Max! Hurry, hurry, hurry! You’re going to miss the bus!” But Max wouldn’t listen and would purposefully miss the bus. Max dragged himself out the door with a frown on his face and saw that across the street Addison was out early helping the homeless in Green Away Park. Max narrowed his eyes at her while she wasn’t looking and kept walking toward school. Everybody in his class was friends with Addison, except for Max. Show off Max grunted under his breath as he took a quick glance at Addison. Max tried to hate her, and pretend that her voice was really annoying, but Max was always ridiculously jealous of Addison. Ever since he heard of Addison he wanted to be just like her. Have lots of friends, earn great comments from everybody, and always be cheery. But whenever he tried to be like Addison he always ended up getting angry and locking a kid in his locker, or something like that. Now Max couldn’t help but stare as Addison smiled brightly and said good-‐bye to the homeless she helped. Max had a sudden urge -‐ as always -‐ to ask Addison how he can be like her . Max tried to hold it back but just couldn’t take holding in the long-‐lasting urge anymore. Max caught up to Addison and asked, “Tell me how to become nice like you! Or I’ll punch you’re face in!”
At first Addison was surprised by Max’s with a sudden demand and threat, but she calmed down a little and answered, “Be generous, be kind, and always smile.” Max frowned, disappointed. How could he do that? He was always the big king, but would it be the same if he was nice? Max decided that maybe he would give it a try again now that he had some advice, but not all his effort. The day was very difficult for Max as tried to be nice. First of all Max tried to not crumple up his homework and scribble in his notebook, or punch at least one kid, or let the class hamster out in history, or any other kinds of trouble. Max tried not to do all these things but always ended up doing them anyway. That Addison. I knew she was a phony, Max thought angrily. But it didn’t matter whether he was angry or not, Max had failed again. After school Max gave up on his goal, and took his usual route through the park to trash it again. Max was about to toilet paper one of the trees, when he stopped to think twice. He held onto the toilet paper roll and checked the place where he had seen the slouching man yesterday. Just as he hoped, the man was still there. But this time the old man was looking weaker than ever, and his sad eyes were staring at Max as if he was trying to make Max feel bad for him. Max tried to avoid looking into the man’s eyes, it made him feel very guilty. The sight of the old man made him think of all the things he had, and what the man did not. Finally a gentle but cold sharp wind woke Max from his deep thoughts. Max shook his head and started to walk back to the tree, trying to act mad and mean again, but something pulled him to the man, as if they were friends for a long time. He walked back to the man trying to look horrible and threw the toilet paper on the ground near him. The man looked up at him surprised, as if he didn’t expect Max to be generous and then he smiled brightly. “Thanks kid,” the man finally said in a gruffly deep voice. Max was surprised that somebody had actually said something nice to him. Just those two words affected Max as though he’d been hit by a huge bulldozer. Max couldn’t help but smile at the man. “Your welcome,” Max replied sticking his chest out. “You know you a good kid,” the man said examining the toilet paper, “most kids just leave me here or threaten me. You a good kid,” the man repeated unrolling the toilet paper and
wrapping it around his hands. “Names Jeffery.” Jeffery got comfortable by his tree now and fell into a deep sleep. Max left Jeffery alone with pride. The next day he would come again, but with something much better than just a toilet paper roll. The next day everybody in his school was startled. Max had tried to act nice to the kids, pay attention in classes, and not cause any trouble. The teachers were baffled by Max’s new behavior, but still kept a stern look on their faces, thinking that this was some part of one of Max’s “evil plans”. The kids in his classroom were just the same. Everybody was wondering why would Max changed. They still kept distance from him though, thinking that they might disturb him like he declared them not to do one morning. Max was confused by why everybody was acting the same even though he thought he had done the right things. Did he do anything wrong? Max was disappointed by his work, but skipped and whistled down the hall because of one thing; It happened during lunch. Max sat at his usual seat, the darkest corner of the cafeteria. A new kid in school, Jacob, came late to lunch after finishing up some homework. By the time Jacob got his food, mostly all the seats were occupied. The only seats that were left were those next to the girls or the dark corner of the cafeteria where Max was. Jacob finally went to where Max was sitting, he was a new kid so he didn’t know much about the school’s bullies yet. Max looked up from his home-‐made lunch and saw that Jacob had chosen to sit next to him. Usually he would push Jacob or any kid that sat next to him on the ground and threaten them or say “Get lost or I’ll punch your face in!”, but today was different. Addison’s words repeated in his mind, “Always smile.” He decided to experiment. He smiled at Jacob. Jacob awkwardly smiled back. Jacob sensed Max was trying to be friends with him so he started a conversation, “Hi, my name is Jacob.” Max smiled and as grown up sounded as he could he replied, “Hello, my name is Max.” After that the two boys didn’t know what else to say, so the rest of the lunch was silent. Although Max smiled excitedly as he ate, he had made his first friend. Max went to the park and gave Jeffery the left-‐overs of his lunch. “Best kid I know,” Jeffery said, as he devoured Max’s leftovers. Max left Jeffery eating his lunch. Max smiled proudly, “Best kid I know.” Those words kept shining in Max’s mind. He would’ve pasted them on his shirt if he could. He decided that he would try to be like this for the next few days. But he already knew how it was going to end.
By the end of the month, everybody loved Max, including Jeffery. Max had made a good enough impression with his actions for everybody to understand that he had changed the way he was. Within weeks lots of boys were friends with Max, and the teachers smiled when he walked through the door to their classroom. Jacob became Max’s best friend. They started doing everything together; Sleepovers, play dates, and playing soccer at recces. And Jeffery always commented of how good on a kid Max was whenever he brought him something useful. Max shined like the sun on these special days. Max hummed. He whistled. His hair was neatly combed, and he wore his new shirt and pants he had bought with his mom while shopping on Sunday. He was walking a path that went from school to his home. Which Max called “the awesome mansion”. He took proud steps toward the front door of his “mansion”. Once inside he slammed the door to let his mother know he was home. “How was school honey?” his mother asked brightly. Max hugged his mother tightly and replied, “Awesome!”