Here is a children’s story that I wrote a few months back. I hope you enjoy it.

One bright, sunny morning, three year old, Calie Mouse wandered into her older sister’s room. Adria had told Calie many times not to go into her room. Adria being five years older than Calie, did not want her baby sister playing with her toys. However, something shiny had caught Calie’s eyes. Many times curiosity got Calie into trouble with her older sister, and now she just had to take one little peek at the shiny object. Quietly, she climbed up onto the little green chair. The chair had been placed between Adria’s bed and her dresser. On top of the dresser lay the shiny object. Calie stopped for a moment to listen. She did not hear anyone coming. Quickly and maybe a little bit too quickly, Calie jumped onto the dresser. Her little paws grabbed onto the shiny object. She wobbled unsteadily. Unable to stop herself, Calie and the shiny object fell to the floor with a thump. Unhurt, Calie got up and looked at the floor in dismay. The shiny object had broken into many tiny pieces.

Calie carefully picked up one of the pieces and looked at it. What she saw surprised her. It was another little pink mouse staring back at her. Calie dropped the shiny piece and started to run from the room. Then she became afraid. “What if Adria comes into the room and finds the broken pieces all over her floor?” Calie thought, “And what if the other little mouse tells on me?” Calie wasn’t sure what to do. Even though, she was scared of the other little mouse, Calie knew that she had to pick up the shattered pieces. One by one, she began her task . She was careful because some of the edges where sharp. Calie didn’t want to cut her paws. As quiet as Calie had tried to be, she wasn’t quiet enough. Adria was calling Calie’s name.

“Calie, I know you’re in my room,” said Adria. “What have you been doing?”

Calie knew that she could not reply, “Nothing,” because that wouldn’t be the truth. Momma and Daddy had always told her to tell the truth.

“I am sorry,” Calie said. “I was curious about the shiny object that I saw in your room. It made a sparkle on your floor. I just had to see it, but when I climbed on your dresser, I fell. The shiny object fell too. I broke it, Adria, and I’m sorry.” Calie started to cry, but Adria did not feel sorry for her little sister.

“Did you know that there is another little pink mouse just like me in that shiny object?” asked Calie.

“There’s not another little mouse, you silly,” said Adria. “This is my mirror, and you broke it. Do you know what happens to little mice that break mirrors?”

“No,” said Calie. “I don’t know.”

“They have seven years of bad luck,” said Adria with a snicker. “That means that you are going to have bad luck starting today. You’re going to have bad luck until you are ten years old.”

“Really,” said Calie. “That’s awful. What kind of things will happen to me?”

“I don’t know, but you will find out when it happens,” said Adria.

Calie left the room in tears and as she did, she stubbed her toe on the door. “Ouch,” Calie said and cried even more. She went to her room and climbed into her bed. She did not want her mother to know what she had done. She felt safe in her bed. Maybe bad luck wouldn’t follow her here.

As Calie lay crying softly in her bed, someone knocked on her door. Older than Calie by three years her brother Lars whispered, “Calie,” may I come in?”

“Yes, you may come in, but you might not want to be around me,” Calie said. “I am bad luck.”

“I know,” said Lars. “Adria told me what you did. You are really in for it. I would not want to be you.”

“Lars, I am afraid to leave my room,” said Calie. “But Momma and Daddy will wonder where I am. What can we tell them?”

“I don’t know, but you can’t stay in your bedroom forever,” said Lars. “What are you going to do when we eat? What about when we go to the store? You will want to go with us. Momma and Daddy will want you to go too.”

“You are right,” said Calie. “And Adria could have been kidding about the bad luck.”

Calie crawled out of bed and decided to go outside and play with Lars. She and Lars were having fun until Calie slipped and skinned her knee. When Calie got up off the ground, she ran for the house. While she was running, she tripped. This time she fell on her face and hit her nose. “Bad luck,” Calie cried. “Seven years of bad luck. How can I make it?”

Momma had been watching through the kitchen window. She had seen Calie fall. She opened the door. Momma stood there waiting for Calie with open arms. Calie ran into them and hugged her mother tight.

“It’s bad luck,” Calie whimpered. “Seven years of bad luck.” By now, her crying had reached her Daddy’s ears.

“What’s going on with our little Calie,” Daddy asked.

“That’s what I want to find out,” said Momma.

Momma walked into the house cradling Calie in her arms while Daddy followed. They took Calie into the living room and sat her down on the couch. Momma went to get a washcloth and some bandages. She cleaned Calie’s little wounds. Then she put bandaids on Calie’s scrapes. After Mamma was finished, she sat down beside Daddy and Calie. Momma told Daddy what Calie had said about the bad luck. Daddy looked concerned.

“Please tell us, Calie what this is all about,” said Momma.

“Yes,” said Daddy. “We want to help you.”

“Okay,” Calie sighed. “I will tell you what I did. I saw something shiny in Adria’s room. I was curious about it, so I climbed onto her dresser. I wasn’t very careful and I fell. When I fell, the shiny object came with me. I didn’t know what it was, and it broke into many little pieces. Adria came in and found me. She told me that I had broken her mirror. She said I would have seven years of bad luck.” After finishing the story Calie cried until big drops of tears began falling on her red dress.

“Now, now, Calie,” said Daddy. “We will have to bring Adria downstairs and have a talk with her. What she told you isn’t true.”

“But,” said Calie, still crying. “When I was leaving Adria’s room, I stubbed my toe on her door. Then when I went outside to play with Lars, I fell and skinned my knee. Then I tripped and hurt my nose. Isn’t that bad luck?”

“Those things might’ve happened to you any way, whether you broke the mirror or not,” said Momma. “Sometimes, bad things happen, but that doesn’t mean that you will have bad luck for seven years. Adria was probably teasing you because you had been in her room. You were wrong to be in her room, but she was also wrong to tell you what she did.”

Daddy called Adria down stairs. He also called Lars into the house. Together the family had a long talk about loving and respecting one another. Daddy talked about the importance of being honest and always trying to tell the truth.

“I’m sorry, Calie,” Adria said. “I was just upset that you had gone into my room. I shouldn’t have told you what I did. I guess I wanted to scare you so that you wouldn’t come into my room again.”

“You sure did scare me,” said Calie. “And I’m sorry too. I promise not to go into your room unless you say I can.”

“Well, have we all learned something today,” asked Momma.

“I have,” said Calie.

“Me too,” said Lars.

“And I have learned the most,” said Adria. “I am the oldest and I should be a better big sister to Lars and Calie.”

Momma and Daddy both laughed. The children ran outside to play. Momma smiled at Daddy.

“We have a very nice family, don’t we,” said Momma.

“We certainly do,” said Daddy. He grabbed Momma’s hand and together they went outside to watch their children play.

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