“What did you do?” I gasped. “I broke it!” my brother answered.
“It was an accident!” Knowing that he was freaked out, and not wanting him to get in trouble, I did what any friend would do. I tried to help him. I quickly ran and got some glue. I didn’t know what time my mother was going to be back or when my father was going to wake up, so I tried to hurry. I frantically gathered up all of the broken pieces and started to glue them together. It took me an hour but I finally fixed the vase. Then came the real disaster.
“Oh my gawd! Oh my gawd!” I screamed.
I had fixed the vase, but I had accidentally glued my hair to it!
While my brother looked at me like I was some kind of idiot, I carried the vase—with my hair attached to it— into the bathroom. I looked in the mirror.
“My beautiful hair,” I cried.
Realizing that there was no way to pull my hair from the vase, I grabbed a pair of scissors. With every single strand of hair that I cut, I cried again. My hair was ruined and the vase looked like a wig was attached to it! As I was leaving the bathroom with my ridiculous new hairdo, I heard a key turn in the front door. “Hey guys, I’m back!” My mother was back! My brother ran to his room and quickly pretended to be asleep leaving me to deal with her all by myself. Before I could explain, my mother yelled at me and grounded me because she thought I had broken the vase. I went to my room to think about what had happened. I was grounded and I was also going to have to go to school looking like an idiot!
While I was lying on my bed looking up at the ceiling, I realized that what I had done for my brother was an act of friendship. I knew that even though my brother and I fight a lot, I had made a sacrifice for him. This was a huge sacrifice though — my hair and my freedom!
“Knock, knock,” sounded someone at my door. “Who is it?” I asked.
My brother walked in and gave me a hug.
“Thank you,” he said. “You’re welcome,” I replied. “I guess that’s what a big sister is for, to be a friend when you need one.”
-- Belladonna Richuitti, age 12
