Emily Little

Emily Little – a short story for kids by LJ Kundananji

Emily Little was a smart little girl who lived in Little Town. Everything in Little Town was little. The trees were little, the houses were little, and the people were little.

Emily lived in a little nice cottage on Little Street. She lived with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Little. Mr. and Mrs. Little loved their little girl very much. She was very clever and very smart. She kept her little bedroom very neat and tidy, and her little bed was very neat and tidy.

Emily Little went to a wonderful little school called Little Town Primary School. Her teacher, Mr. Small, loved her very much because she was very smart and very clever. In fact, she was the cleverest pupil in the class. Her classmates also loved her and were so proud of her because she helped them to understand difficult things.

Emily’s best friend was Nancy Short. Emily loved Nancy because they did a lot of fun things together. They read stories together, they drew pictures with their pencils and coloured them with their crayons, and they played in the park with Nancy’s dog, Tiny. They liked throwing the Frisbee so that Tiny could catch it. Emily and Nancy were two very happy friends.

One day, Mr. Small told the class some good news.

“Children,” he said, “We have a new pupil.”

Everyone was happy. They whispered to each other, and smiled at each other, and winked at each other. They looked around this way and that way, but they did not see the new pupil.

“Come in, Mary,” Mr. Small said, staring at the door.

She walked in. Everyone gasped. She was very big. Her hands were big, her legs were big, and her head was big. Even her bag was big. She stood next to Mr. Small. He reached her in the waist.

“She is very big,” Nancy said to Emily.

“She is a giant,” Emily whispered back.

“Mary comes from Big Town,” Mr. Small explained. “She moved to Little Town with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Big. She is joining our class.”

“Welcome, Mary Big,” the children said in tiny, frightened voices.

“Thank you,” Mary said with a big smile. “I am so happy to be in your little class.”

“Go and seat down, Mary,” Mr. Small said, pointing to the big chair and the big desk in front.

“Thank you,” Mary said again as she walked with big steps to her seat.

At break time, Emily and Nancy played together. They played together on the swings, on the slide, and on the merry-go-round. The other children played together too. They played football, they played on the swings, they played on the slide, and they played on the merry-go-round.

But Mary Big played alone. She could not play on the swings, on the slide and on the merry-go-round. She could not play because she was too big, and they would break. So she sat alone on a large stone under the shade of the big mango tree, eating a big mango. There was a big smile on her face.

“Maybe she is lonely,” Nancy said to Emily as she pushed her on the swing.

“She is not,” Emily said as she swung forward and backward.

“Why do you say that?” Nancy asked in a small voice.

“She has got a big smile on her face,” Emily said, thinking hard. “She is happy.”

“Yes,” Nancy agreed, “she is big and she is happy. I wonder why.”

“Don’t wonder why,” Emily said, “We will know very soon.”

And so they waited to see why Mary was so happy even when she was always alone. They watched her when they played at school, they watched her when they played in the park with Tiny, and they watched her in class. Everyday, she was happy, and everyday, the smile on her face got bigger and bigger.

One day, after classes, Mary ran after Emily and Nancy and told them to stop.

“You, little girl,” she told Emily, “stop and talk to me.”

“Hello,” Emily said.

“Hello,” Nancy said.

“I am Mary and I am big,” Mary said. “I want you to do something for me.”

“What may that be?” Emily asked.

“I want you to do something for me,” she said with a big, bad smile. “Do my homework for me.”

Emily and Nancy were shocked. Their eyes went very round.

“That is wrong,” Emily said, “I won’t do it.”

Mary stopped smiling. She held Emily’s little hand in her big hand and squeezed it hard.

“Stop!” Emily cried. “It hurts very much.”

“Do my homework,” she said with a mean look. “Remember, I am Mary, and I am big, and if you don’t, I will seat on you.”

She let go of her hand and put on her big smile.

“She will do it,” Nancy said quickly, shivering from fear.

“Good,” Mary said with a big bad grin. “Tomorrow morning, I need my homework.”

With that, she quickly walked away.

Emily was angry with her friend, Nancy.

“I will not do it,” Emily said with a big frown.

“But she will seat on you, and that will hurt, and maybe you will die,” Nancy cried with tears in her eyes.

“You are right,” Emily said, “she will seat on me, and that will hurt, and maybe I will die. But I will not do it still.”

“No Emily!” Nancy cried, “Please do it!”

“Okay!” Emily said at last. “I will do it, and she will not seat on me, and it won’t hurt, and I won’t die.”

And so, when she went home that day, Emily did her homework, and she also did Mary Big’s homework. It was not very hard because she was a very smart girl.

The next day, before class began, Mary called to Emily. She was seated on the big stone with a big smile on her face.

“Little Emily,” she said, “Have you done my homework? I hope you have, because if you haven’t, I will seat on you. I am Mary and I am big.”

“Yes,” Emily said. “Yes I have. So you won’t seat on me, and it won’t hurt, and I won’t die?”

“No,” Mary said, “I will not seat on you, and it won’t hurt, and you will not die. But you have to do my homework today, tomorrow and everyday.”

Emily was very shocked.

“I cannot do that!” she said with round eyes. “I cannot do your homework today, and tomorrow and everyday.”

“Yes, you will,” Mary Big shouted, “Or else I will seat on you, and it will hurt, and you will die.”

With that she walked away laughing hard and loud.

“This is very bad,” Nancy said. “She is a very bad girl. She wants you to do her homework today and tomorrow and everyday, just because she is big!”

“Yes, it is very bad,” Emily said.

“What shall we do?” Nancy asked.

“I think we should tell Mr. Small,” Emily said. “We should tell him that Mary is a bad girl, and that just because she is big, she wants me to do her homework today and tomorrow and everyday.”

“No!” Nancy said. “He is small. She will seat on him, and it will hurt, and he may die. Do Mary Big’s homework. Do it today and tomorrow and everyday.”

“Okay!” Emily said at last. “I will do it. I will do Mary Big’s homework today. But I will not do it tomorrow and everyday.”

And so that is what she did. She went home and did her homework. And she also did Mary Big’s homework.

The next day, before classes began, Mary called Emily. She was seated on the big stone with a big smile on her big face.

“Emily Little,” she said, “Have you done my homework? I hope you have, because if you haven’t, I will seat on you. I am Mary, and I am big.”

“Yes, I have,” Emily said. “I have done your homework. So you won’t seat on me and it won’t hurt and I will not die.”

“No I won’t,” Mary said, “I won’t seat on you because you did my homework. You did it today, and you will do it tomorrow, and you will do it everyday.”

With that, she walked away laughing hard and loud.

That day, in class, the teacher collected the homework and marked it. But when he marked Mary’s homework, she got nothing correct. He called her to the front and looked up at her with his hands on his hips.

“Mary Big,” he said. “You are big, but you have got nothing correct. Everyone else has got everything correct.”

“I am sorry, Mr. Small,” Mary said with a big, sad look. “I will work hard next time.”

“Good,” Mr. Small said. “Please do work hard.”

With that, Mary sat down. There was a very sad look on her face. A big tear slid down her face from her large eye.

“Emily Little,” she said to herself. “She wrote only wrong answers. I will seat on her! It will hurt, and she will cry, and perhaps she will die.”

At break time, all the children ran outside.

Nancy said to Emily: “Why did you write wrong answers?”

“I want Mary Big to learn a lesson!” she said with a laugh.

“Gosh!” Nancy said. “Now Mary is mad, and she will seat on you!”

“Let us run,” Emily said. “Let us go play ball with our friends.”

And so that is what they did. They went to play ball with their classmates. They were very happy to play together.

Suddenly, Mary came. There was a big, bad look on her face.

“Come here!” she called in a big voice. “Don’t run because I can run faster than you!”

“What do we do?” Nancy cried.

“What do we do?” Emily’s classmates cried.

“She is bigger than us,” Emily said. “But if we all come together, we are bigger than her.”

So, when Mary called Emily, they all ran together towards her.

“Why are they coming together?” Mary cried. “They look big together.”

She tried to run, but she fell down to the ground, and all the kids in Emily’s little class all came together and sat on Mary.

Mary cried because it hurt so much and she thought she would die.

“Stop!” she cried. “Stop seating on me! It hurts very much, and I will die!”

“Promise first of all that you will do your own homework.” Emily said. “Promise that you will do it today and tomorrow and everyday.”

“I promise,” Mary cried. “I promise I will do it today and tomorrow and everyday.”

And so, they all got off her. Mary sat on the ground crying. Nancy felt sorry for her. Emily felt sorry for her. Her classmates felt sorry for her.

“Stop crying,” Emily said.

“Stop crying,” Nancy said.

“Stop crying,” her classmates said.

“I will only stop crying if you promise to be my friends,” Mary said. “I have no friend.”

“We will be your friends,” Emily Little said. “We will be your friends today, and tomorrow and everyday.”

“Thank you,” Mary said. “Now I can stop crying, and now I can play ball with you.”

And that is what they did. They played ball together, and they were very happy together.

And from that day, Mary Big always did her homework, she did it everyday.

And that day, Emily Little and her friend, Nancy Short, learnt that when little people came together, they are big people. So Emily little and her little friends were a big people.

© 2009 Kundananji Creations

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