The Grayest of Days. University of Massachusetts Boston. From the SelectedWorks of Rebecca Saunders

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1 University of Massachusetts Boston From the SelectedWorks of Rebecca Saunders 2008 The Grayest of Days Rebecca Saunders, University of Massachusetts Boston Available at:

2 1 The Grayest of Days Starring (in alphabetical order) Belber Jonny Belber Nadia Belber Sage Belber Kizzy Mark Meadows Lin Haire-Sargeant Rebecca Saunders Beth Soll And other children, other parents

3 2 One day Lin Haire-Sargeant, AKA, hopped quite dramatically and mysteriously up onto a cloud. What??!! I m going for a ride. Can we come? All Lin All Lin I m afraid not. This is a special mission that only I can perform. I ll be back as soon as I can. You must wait for me and believe that I am coming back. No, no! Come back, come back! All All of their pleas were to no avail. Lin waved good bye and although she reassured her family that she would be back, she smiled secretively. So none of what was happening before their eyes was reassuring. I ll be back..... Lin : Her voice trailed away, no matter how long and Nadia reached for the cloud, grabbed the air, stretched out their arms. Oh, if my arms were longer I could fetch her back! Mine too! Stretch,, stretch... Nadia What a shock!, Nadia, Sage, and Jonny, Mark and Kizzy, and Beth and Rebecca exclaimed all at once so no one heard what anyone else was saying after the absolutely astounding event each had just witnessed. Then we all became silent, lost in our private thoughts of what it could all mean.

4 3 For days, we wandered listlessly about the house. Even Kizzy was in no mood for a walk. It was as though he knew he couldn t find the spot where Lin was, even with his exceptional nose. Now that was daunting. If s arms couldn t reach far enough and Kizzy s nose couldn t smell far enough, we were forced to accept that Lin was on an important mission and that, of course, she would return as soon as she could. That none of us doubted. thought that perhaps Nadia and Beth might try singing... Nadia and Beth, please come back,, don t lose track Time, well, it matters a lot Time together is what we ve got. Well, that didn t accomplish much but we all felt a little bit better. Then one night when we were all eating dinner together... Jonny It s been a week now. One whole week. Gloomy. Mark Oh, no, what s this? I forgot to polish the silverware. It s looking awfully gray. [Rubs and scrubs] Can t seem to get any shine on this ladle. I feel strange. I m getting gray hair. Sage Jonny Any one would get gray hair with all this wondering and worrying. Rebecca My hair was already grayish but now it looks like I m wearing a steel helmet. Oh, no! Now my hair is gray!! No, it isn t, honey. It s just the light. Nadia Jonny Mark What did you make these pancakes with, Jonny? They look a little... Gray? Jonny

5 4 Beth Having pancakes for dinner by candlelight seemed like a good idea but... Mark... These candles are gray; maybe they are casting a gray light. I m sure that s it. Probably in the morning, they ll look like pancakes again. Yes, and these grayberries will look like blueberries again. Let s save one pancake for tomorrow and reexamine it. Jonny Good idea,. And you used a nice, new big word, too. The next morning, Jonny got up early to check on the pancake and the grayberries were even grayer than they had been the night before. And what s more... Help, help! My pink and purple and orange and green and blue quilt has turned gray!!! Mama! Sage Here I am sweetheart. Let s try to stay calm... oh, my gosh! [wailing] Our whole room is gray! Nadia Sage Nadia, try not to cry, sweetheart. [Shrieks] Jonny! Can you come here for a minute? You re all gray! So are you! What s happening? Jonny [entering] Everyone We all scrambled to look at our things and to the window and something very strange had happened. The whole world had turned gray. Shirley s house was gray; Lucy s house was gray and so was the house next door. The street was always gray but now it was completely ashen. Yikes! Look at my fingernails! Rebecca

6 5 Moan! All and Nadia There s only one thing we can do...,, please come home. We know it s important but we hope you re done soon. Our thoughts are with you wherever you roam. But could you come home before noon? Waaf, waaf [grayly] Kizzy [They, continue to chant and bark softly in the background, softening into a pantomime of a family chanting, so that what comes after may be heard clearly.] Meanwhile, in some other parts of the country.... The people there, too, were gray. They hadn t always been gray, but they sure were now. Their dullness was suffocating them. The gray was like weeks when there is too much rain, too many clouds. Not rain clouds that are dramatic and awesome, but the too-much rain that creates the soggy and the soggy that s wet and the wet that s cold. The people turned cold. With soggy becomes sodden. Lumpish. Not very cheerful. That s when said... And they lived happily ever after. With those words, the soggy of Franksville, WI, turned bright green. With those words, the sodden of Kansas City, Kansas, flamed red. With those words, Florence, SC, flashed golden. With those words, Sumter, SC, flickered fluorescent pink. I thought that might help. Children Tell us another story, tell us another story exclaimed the children from the suburbs of not just Statesville, NC, but of many, many cities, towns, and villages all over the country.

7 6 [Impatiently] Come on, kids. We re out of toothpaste, mouthwash, and videogames. We re going to Walmart. Children No, no! Another story, please, another story. Come on. If we miss this sale on mouth products because of some story, why I ll... c mon! Quit your stalling. Just who are you talking to, anyway? Just one more. Please. Now it s your turn to tell a story. We can t tell stories. Yes, you can. Children Children And so she taught the children how to make up their own stories. One child...and so there was this little house full of tiny little people. Oh! That s right. Another child...and each one of them had a magic dog... Hey! There you go. Another child... who could take them anywhere in the world they wanted to go...wow! What on earth are you talking about? And who are you talking to? And Jessica, where did you get that incredible red sweater from? Why, you look... magical!

8 7 And so you see, Lin had been teaching young children from all over the country how to make up stories. She would have been run out of town in some places, but the people were distracted, were taken with the colors they suddenly saw all around them when they heard their children s stories. Look, just look at this world! Much of the country was a dullish shade of gray. I say a dullish shade, because of course gray can be quite pearly and beautiful. But this gray was the color of a wet blanket. There were children did not know how to play act. There were children who could not tell stories or sing. There is color, lots of it, but somehow, something vibrant was missing. Even Disney s color seems all the same, which in my book, amounts to gray. Children Turn off that stupid DVD. I have a story to tell, one that no one has ever dreamed of! Wonderful! Can you act it out? Margaret, Where s that old guitar I used to have... James, remember when I used to play the recorder? That s when knew she had taught the people how to imagine. And that they would teach each other. Some sound that had been tugging on a part of the back of her mind became louder and louder. Seemed like it was singing. Seemed like it was Kizzy, barking in gray. Time to go home. Oof, back up on the cloud. Hum.. I don t remember being up quite so high when I flew away. I hope I haven t overdone it. She whispered to herself all the reassuring phrases she knew. The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom. Hum.. I have my doubts about the wisdom of crashing. When I am lead from hence, let my last words be... Not sure I like that part. That what I have seen was unsurpassable. True, but I haven t finished seeing yet. Whoa, I m getting dizzy. What s this? I hear Kizzy in a tizzy!

9 8 and Nadia Kizzy s barking sounds a little less gray. It s almost yellowish shading into orange! and Nadia ran out of the house. Kizzy was barking in full red now, nose pointed to the sky. Woof, woof! Kizzy Beth! Nadia! Keep singing! Kizzy, keep barking! I think it s working! Look! There she is! There she is!! Hi, sweet girls. I m on my way home but you sure look far away from up here. And I can t seem to get this cloud moving... You need a soft house......to land in. We ve got one! Nadia [embellish] It s full of pillows and there are no sharp edges anywhere. It s made of cloth and it s waterproof on the outside, it s fleecy on the inside. Steer yourself over here. There s a big door. Of course. We made it. We made it together. But do you think you could help me land this cloud? Nadia,, Beth [and whoever knows the song] Hey,, come down from that cloud. Hey,, come down from that cloud Come down from that cloud, step to the ground, that s right, babe. Watch out for the wild turkeys! How many? Eleven?! Missed em. Whew. And before you knew it, Lin was in that house with and Nadia and Kizzy all kissing and licking her. Jonny and Sage, Rebecca and Mark came running when they heard that Kizzy s barking had turned completely red and they all jumped in the house. And they were so excited that they all fell asleep. When they woke up, after about two hours of laughing and crying, they were hungry and wanted to give Lin some cake.

10 9 To celebrate your safe return. It s gray berry cake, I m afraid. Mark Mark But no! In fact, the blueberries are as blue as Christmas Eve and the cake is as white as clouds and the silverware is back to silver. I told stories to many children. Your world is fun and colorful and happy and imaginative, but that s not true for many, many children. Nadia. That was a very lovely thing you did,. Sage That was a very gracious thing you said, Nadia. I didn t really mind the gray all that much... well, I did, but now it s ok. Because now you ve come back. Well, I wasn t going to stay away that much longer... but you helped me come back. Your song brought me back. Woof, woof! And of course, Kizzy s barking. Kizzy End of Play.

Deer KatarinA, You are an amazing sister. I love you ver y much and hope that you have the best 16 h birthday you cood posseibly have.

Deer KatarinA, You are an amazing sister. I love you ver y much and hope that you have the best 16 h birthday you cood posseibly have. 3rd Place Middle School Raindrops By Dani Smotrich-Barr I used to dream of rain. It would look like it smells, of hope and promises, it would look like it tastes, wet and refreshing, it would look like