All Nonfiction
- Bullying
- Books
- Academic
- Author Interviews
- Celebrity interviews
- College Articles
- College Essays
- Educator of the Year
- Heroes
- Interviews
- Memoir
- Personal Experience
- Sports
- Travel & Culture
All Opinions
- Bullying
- Current Events / Politics
- Discrimination
- Drugs / Alcohol / Smoking
- Entertainment / Celebrities
- Environment
- Love / Relationships
- Movies / Music / TV
- Pop Culture / Trends
- School / College
- Social Issues / Civics
- Spirituality / Religion
- Sports / Hobbies
All Hot Topics
- Bullying
- Community Service
- Environment
- Health
- Letters to the Editor
- Pride & Prejudice
- What Matters
- Back
Summer Guide
- Program Links
- Program Reviews
- Back
College Guide
- College Links
- College Reviews
- College Essays
- College Articles
- Back
A Vignette from the Perspective of Sheryl Davis: A Penny Too Much
Pat pat pat go the feet down the aisle, shluup goes the fridge door, chilliness creeping out. I see Josie’s eyes searching the labels but not the price tags beneath. And I can read the thoughts off her face; she wants that pumpkin ice-cream. The sort she had forever ago in the park when the ice-cream cart cam by, and the lady wearing a compact of cover-up gave her a scoop “Cuz she looks like the world depended on it.”
Josie. Who skips over to Mama in her too short corduroy pants and whimpers like a dog in the rain when Mama shakes her head slowly, “No, we can’t. Maybe next week.” And I can see her whole five year old world come tumbling down in the one instant.
“But I’m gonna die if I don’t get some!” I wrap my arms around her like a cocoon. Her body is still small enough to hold easily in the bony angles of my arms. “Sheryl, Mama always says next week. Then it’s next week and I still don’t get it.”
“Sorry, sorry, but it’s just a penny too much.” I coo in her ear. “A penny too much. But sometime it won’t be and we’ll all eat ice-cream on park benches.”
I give her the teeniest smile and she jumps away, humming a song from her heart, the ice-cream already moving aside to make room for other thoughts.
Similar Articles
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
This article has 0 comments.
I was placed in the Davis family for this project and this vignette is from the pperspective of one of the Davis' children, Sheryl. It looks at one of the smaller complications of living on a tight budget though it shows how important those small things can be when your only five.
given a monthly income and had to come up with a shopping list for one week of food, toiletries ect. Then we walked to