Secondly, I wanted to share Madeleine's non-fiction writing from school with you all (all spelling and grammar appears as in the original):
A Day in the Rain at As
By Madeleine Rowe
Exactly 26 minutes later, we got in the car. Mommy put the car into drive, and we were off. I kept my eye on the weather, because Mommy said it would probably rain that day. It was barely a drizzle outside right then, but who knew what would happen? I looked outside almost the entire time, but stopped once or twice to look at my feet. It was a long but short drive.
Finnally, we got to Newton. It was cloudy but not rainy. We walked through the wet grass. "My feet are wet!" I cried. Mommy and Julia giggled. "Of course they are! It's the dew." explained Mommy. "And the rain." I corrected her.
When we got the tent, Julia put her stuff down. I looked around. I felt tears form in my eyes. "Where can I put my stuff?" I barely managed to say softly. "Here, Madeleine. You can put your stuff here." Our friend Molly, patted the spot next to her on her towel. Those girls weren't kind enough to let you sit with them." She smirked at Julia and her fraturnal twin, Claire. They nodded rapidly. "Okay, uh, yeah." I studdered. I sat down slowly on the dirty pink towel. Molly hugged me. "See, girls? Madeleine's my friend." she bragged. "I'm both your friends." I said. Molly and Claire shrugged. Claire continued chatting with Julia and Molly got back to writing in her journal. After warm-ups, we all scurried back over to the tents. It's not raining. It's not raining. I told myself. It was sprinkling. "It's raining!" I bundled up in my sweatshirt. The pool was as cold as the air, so everyone needed extra layers. I layed my feet down on Molly's towel. Bare feet + rough cement = feet hurt.
The rain continued, getting harder and harder every half minute. It seemed determined to annoy us, not even bothering to listen to God, who was trying to answer our prayers.
The roofs of the tents would sag with the piles of rain on top. The older, taller people had to push the rain off. But that water would rush in! And every time someone would push, another filled up. All the tents were flooded and I started crying!
Finnally, the rain stopped. No one had been washed away, and I was safe. So we all went to the showers to warm up.
(End of Essay)
Okay, I am legitimately impressed with Madeleine's writing skills here. However, I must point out a few things I noticed.
#1: I can guarantee I did not ever yell at the girls that morning, let alone yell "For the last time, we're not ready!!!" I'm WAAAAY nicer than that.
#2: I can guarantee I didn't drive to the pool because I don't dare to drive with Ethan in the car. He's the worst backseat (passenger seat) driver because he knows I'm the worst driver's seat driver.
#3: I like how in Madeleine's recollection, she had to correct her dunce of a mother that the grass was wet from rain, not dew.
#4: All of the stuff about the rain is true. In fact, I will never forget having to stand on the pool deck timing events all while getting increasingly more soaked to the bone. It was miserable, and the tents definitely flooded and Madeleine definitely cried. However, I am curious about the fact that she ended her story with the rain stopping and didn't bother to mention that in the midst of the torrential rain, she got into the pool and WON THE GIRLS' 8-AND-UNDER BUTTERFLY FINALS. That, to me, seemed like the highlight of the meet for her, but I guess she's just scarred by the rain.
I asked her about this, in fact:
ME: Madeleine, how come you didn't write about winning the butterfly?
MADELEINE: Because it's called "A Day in the Rain at A's."
Oh, so I guess it can only be about the rain and not about any of the actual swimming events that took place in the rain.
At any rate, I give A's to "A Day in the Rain at A's!" Bravo, Madeleine!
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