Paper Doll World: Entry 7 - Annie and Sam (Clara)

My inspiration was a camp counselor from Camp Green Cove named Brooke.

Strawberry Ice Cream

“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

Annie groaned and rolled over in her sleep. Then, mumbling something about a snooze button, got out of bed. She began pulling on her wrinkled blue shirt, too-big khakis and heavy work boots and remembered that she had to wake up Sam. Annie stumbled into Sam’s room, and began shaking him awake.

“Stop, that tickles,” Sam screeched.

“Then get up, and get dresses, Annie said, equally loud. Sam rolled out of bed and pulled on an outfit similar to Annie’s. After that, laughing and running, they raced down the stairs.

Her mother and father, already awake at the time, reminded them not to run down the stairs, and served them breakfast.

“I have some exciting news,” their mother said. “Your Aunt Leora is getting married.”

“What!” said Annie, almost spitting out her orange juice. “You mean we’re gonna have to go to the wedding?”

“Yes,” their mother answered, “and I told them that we will make our strawberry ice cream for the wedding. Now, James,” she said, addressing Annie’s father, “should Annie work in the fields or in the kitchen?” She shot a warning look at Sam. “And before you ask, since it’s raining, we will study in the morning.”

Sam frowned, then sighed and finished his breakfast. Annie did the same.

Math took place in their mother’s room about 30 minutes after breakfast. They all sat down and began to fill out a worksheet.

“Mom,” Sam said, “I don’t get a question!”

“Let’s look in your great grandma’s Math book.

“No!” Sam screeched. “I will not get it ever more!” All the same, he sat down with his mom as she began to speak, but about halfway through the sentence, he looked like he would fall asleep.

“The math book strikes again,” Annie giggled and continued on her worksheet.

Soon enough it was free time. Sam went to his room to play with the cars Aunt Patsy had given him. Annie went to the barn to feed the chickens.

Lunch was quick but a little less thank quiet. Sam was in an uproar about not being able to feed the pigs. Mom didn’t want him falling in the mud and Dad didn’t want him spilling the slop. So he grumbled while finishing his meal.

In the afternoon Annie went to feed the pigs. Peter, her pet pig, scampered up to her. She gave them the doughnut she had left over from breakfast, and he gobbled it up immediately. Annie smiled and went and dumped the slop in the pig’s trough.

As she walked over to the barn, she saw her dad trying to teach Sam how to bridle a horse. Unfortunately for the horse, Sam kept trying to stick the bit into his nose.

“Hi Dad,” I said. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Sure,” he said. Can you go put the plow on Moosaic?”

“Sure, Dad,” Annie replied. The rest of the afternoon Annie helped Dad plow the field. At dinner there was discussion about Aunt Leora’s wedding. Then they went to bed.

The next few days went by like a flash. Soon it was market day. Everybody got up and helped load all of the leftover eggs, milk, corn and pastries. Then they got in the truck and drove to town. When they got out, Annie and her dad began to unload the boxes, while Sam and Mom found our tent and tables.

In the middle of the day, they packed up their stuff and went to find somewhere to eat. They sat down at a pizza parlor and ordered pepperoni for Sam and olive for Annie.

“Hey!” Sam said. “Why can’t I have ketchup on my pizza?” The waitress hurriedly offered to bring some ketchup.

“No,” said Mom. “Sam will just have to do without.” The finished their meal and left a gracious tip for the waitress.

They hurried down the street and mom dragged them into a store. She sent Sam off with dad and pulled me over to a dress display. She reached over and pulled out the dressiest dress of the bunch. It was a purple ankle-length dress with a belted empire waist and green undershirt.

When Annie tried to protest, Mom answered, “Don’t worry, you look fine.”

When we met back, Sam had the same look on his face as I did. We went back to our tent and packed up to go home.

Saturday was wedding day. Annie’s job was to look after her cousin, the flower girl, Darcy. The wedding was about to start and Sam and Darcy were at the front… except… where were they? Annie looked around. She glanced at the clock. She had five minutes until the ceremony started, so she stepped out of the lineup and hurried down the hall. She spotted one of Darcy’s flowers… four minutes. She saw Sam’s jacket… three minutes. Then she heard muffled laughter in the closet. Quickly, Annie opened the door and found Sam and Darcy… two minutes.

Annie grabbed Darcy and Sam and dragged them down the hall… one minute. She dropped them in the front, just as the line was moving forward. Annie quickly slipped back in line as well.

The rest of the wedding was a success, and the strawberry ice cream was a BIG success – everyone had some – event Darcy.

At home, her mom congratulated her. “Hey, Mom,” Annie said, “I think it would be nice to install an alarm clock.”