Grade 6

A Lesson to Learn My little brother is so irritating. All day long he says, “Eddie, I wonder why people can talk but animals can’t.” Or, “I wonder why the ocean looks blue.” Of course, I don’t know the answers, but I don’t let him know that. I just make up reasonable explanations, and he accepts them as if I’m the smartest person in the world. Before I answer one of his questions, I usually tell him that he’s pretty stupid and asks too many questions. Well, yesterday we both got our report cards. I got B’s and C’s, and he got straight A’s.

The Racist Warehouse It was a beautiful August morning. The sun was brightly shining on my sunglasses while my mother drove the U-haul truck to a warehouse in Santa Ana, California. As my mother drove down the streets of Santa Ana, I looked out the window and began to realize that the mixture of people was no longer a mixture; there was only white. When we arrived at the warehouse, I had to peel my arm off the side of the hot door like a burnt sausage off a skillet. There were not many cars in the parking lot, and I could see the heat waves.

Giving Life It was a hot summer day. My dad and I were getting ready to go out for a ride on the boat with my friend Katie and the dog. That’s when the phone call came, the call that made that bright, beautiful day a cold, dark, gloomy one. I had just put on my suit, shorts, and tank top, and packed my bag with sunscreen and everything else I would need for the day. I ran into my parents’ room to find Dad. When I saw him on the phone, he was crying. I’d never seen my dad cry before. My heart sank. What possibly could have happened? “Max, I’m so sorry,” I heard him say. That’s when it hit me.

The Great Paw Paw Memory. The dictionary defines it as the mental ability to recall past experiences. We think of it as that picture we saw, the words she said. Who in your life is so vivid in your memory that you could describe him or her without a second thought? For me, it’s my grandpa. But when I was small, I couldn’t say “Grandpa,” so 13 years ago, Theodore Lazarus became Paw Paw. To all the grandkids, Paw Paw was full of fun and games. We all remember his favorite expressions, the ones that would pop out each time we saw him. Luckily, we visited Paw Paw quite often.