Chapter One

Glenda Walker had always been told that Margaret’s first day of school would just be awful.

“I cried all that day,” Glenda’s friend Wendy warned. “I just couldn’t believe my little baby was five and going to Kindergarten!”

Glenda had listened sympathetically. She could see how some moms, and maybe even dads, would really have a hard time accepting that their “babies” were doing what everybody is supposed to do - growing up. Still, Glenda wasn’t like a lot of her friends. She didn’t cry at movies or at television shows unless they were really sad. And she didn’t cry much at other times either. She was proud of her daughter and was excited to see how Margaret would do at school.

On Margaret’s first day, Glenda did wake up a little bit earlier than usual. She made Margaret’s favorite, pancakes, for breakfast. Margaret’s little brother Isaac hated pancakes for some reason. Margaret thought that was really weird.

Margaret ate her pancakes really fast. In fact, her dad, Gary, couldn’t believe how fast she had eaten.

“Someone is excited, huh?” He said smilingly.

Margaret smiled and wrapped her arms around her dad’s neck. He was already dressed and ready for work. Margaret loved how her dad smelled after shaving. It was the smell of fresh and clean. It also made her think that it was the smell of being ready to work hard. She wondered if she smelled that way to her dad.

Margaret looked at her mom. “Can I put it on now? Please?”

“Yes, I’ll be up in a minute to help you with your hair.”

“Yay!” Margaret practically ran upstairs to her bedroom. Her brand new dress, which she and her mom had gotten a couple of weeks ago, had been bought special for this first day of school. It was quite a pretty dress, with a dark red top and then a little plaid skirt at the bottom.

By the time Glenda made it upstairs, Margaret already had her dress on. “How do you want to do your hair, M?” Glenda asked.

“I want a ponytail, please. With my red ribbon.”

Glenda pulled out the pretty, shiny red ribbon that was in Margaret’s top dresser drawer and started combing her daughter’s hair. Margaret’s hair was a combination of her mom and dad’s hair. Like her dad, Margaret had hair that was thick and wavy. Like her mom’s hair, there was some curl to it, and it was thicker in the bottom levels than it was on the top.

As Glenda gathered all of Margaret’s hair into a ponytail, she went over again some of what Margaret should be ready for.

“Always remember that when you’re at school, you are to listen to your teachers and respect them, just like you are to listen and respect dad and me when you’re at home. Be nice to other kids, and if kids are mean to you at any time, just tell a teacher. Never talk to strangers, and always take the bus home. Dad or I will write a note and let you know in person if we are coming to pick you up or if someone else is, okay?”

Margaret had heard all of this before, but she wasn’t really paying attention. The dress looked as pretty as it had in the store, and now it was all hers. Her favorite shiny red ribbon was in her hair. Now her mom was struggling to get her in her tights, which would then lead to Margaret getting to put on her new shiny black shoes. They clicked on the floor when she walked because they had little heels on them.

While Margaret continued to dance and twirl in her new outfit, Glenda double-checked the lunchbox. Peanut butter and jelly on white bread, cut into 2 triangles. Strip cheese. A special little surprise was the last touch - a little candy bar.

Gary called up to Margaret. “Hey Margo, come on down, we want to take some pictures of you on this special day!”

Margaret came carefully clacking down the stairs, a noise that her little brother thought was hilarious. He started hitting his little toy drumstick on a table to copy the sound. Glenda gently removed the toy from his grasp.

Everyone went outside. Margaret stood with her lunchbox in her hand, carefully showing off her new dress, her hair, and her new shoes in different poses. For a very brief moment, Glenda caught her breath and thought how strange it was that her little girl could look so grown up. Her eyes burned a little. She wiped her face and Gary gave her a little look. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

All of a sudden, a big lumbering sound came towards the house.

“Here comes your bus, babe!” Gary said.

Margaret hugged her dad, then her mom. She tried to give Isaac a hug but he was very busy watching a squirrel that was hopping around.

“Have a good day!” Glenda yelled as Margaret climbed the giant bus steps.

When Margaret got on the bus, the skies had been blue. It was sunny and warm and all of the birds were chirping. But when the bus came back in the afternoon, the sky was grey, and just as Margaret opened the front door, it started to rain.

Glenda came out of the living room and gave her daughter a big hug.

“Well? How was it? Tell me everything! How is your teacher? Do you like her?”

Margaret was very tired and felt a little overwhelmed. She had met a lot of new people that day. A lot of new kids, a lot of new teachers. When she felt like there was too much going on, she got kind of quiet. Her mom had guessed that this might be how Margaret would feel.

“Would a brownie help you remember how to talk to your old mom?”

“Is it a brownie with walnuts in it?” Margaret asked.

“Well, there’s just one way to find out!”

Glenda walked into the kitchen, where Isaac was already set up in his high chair. Margaret sat down, and suddenly, in front of her, on a little plate, was a big brownie with her mom’s homemade icing on top. Margaret took a bit.

“It does have walnuts!” She practically yelled with glee.

“She might be in Kindergarten, but I still know what she likes,” Glenda thought to herself.

After Margaret had taken a few bites, she asked, “Mom, can I see your bird book?”

“You mean my Field Guide?”

“Yeah, the one with all the pictures and names of the birds,” Margaret replied. This had been one of her favorite books when she was a toddler. She loved all of the colors and shapes that birds came in.

“Did you learn about birds today?” Glenda asked, handing the book to Margaret.

“Well, no, not really. But at recess, these kids were swinging, and I was walking toward them, and they all started yelling that they saw a midget! I looked around and didn’t see one, so I wanted to see what they look like so I can maybe see one tomorrow.”

Glenda and Gary had known that Margaret would be teased because she was different from other kids. She had always been very small. The doctors had done lots of tests and hadn’t found anything wrong. Everything seemed to work fine. Margaret was just a bit smaller than everyone else. Since there weren’t a lot of kids in the neighborhood, she had not really noticed this much. Gary and Glenda had hoped that Margaret’s first experience with lots of kids would be mostly okay. Now, Glenda really did feel like crying.

Margaret finished her brownie and started looking through the field guide, looking for bird names that began with the letter m. Glenda cleared away her brownie plate, then took away the book and put it back on the shelf.

“But I didn’t find it yet, Mom!” Margaret was frustrated.

“Margaret,” Glenda said, I have to tell you something, and you’re not going to like it very much.”

Margaret was a little scared. She wasn’t used to being talked to this way.

Glenda took Margaret’s hand. “Honey, a midget is not a kind of bird. Midget is what people sometimes call other people who are small.”

“So, they were pointing at me when they were laughing and saying that word?” Margaret gulped.

Glenda took her daughter into her lap. “I’m afraid so, honey. But you don’t worry about that. You are fine just the way you are, and if they pick on you again tomorrow, you just tell a teacher.

“I wish it was a kind of bird,” Margaret whimpered.