My little sister
got the letter in the mail
I got silence.
She opened it up,
screamed that she was
going to be honored
at the Philharmonic
and then disappeared
in a cloud of congratulatory hugs
from my proud parents.
“Um…are you sure
there wasn’t another letter?” I asked,
but nobody heard me.
I trooped off to the mailbox
with a flashlight
to check for myself.
“Maybe it got stuck to the
back wall of the mailbox?”
I asked myself hopefully.
The mailbox creaked
as I opened it.
I stuck my hand inside.
Nothing.
It started raining,
which exactly matched my mood.
This was just plain humiliating.
I just loved
having my little sister
beat me in a contest.
You see, my sister had written
this novel about a spankaholic
school teacher who burst children
into “tiny bottom bombs.”
Apparently, this work of fine
literature had caught the
attention of the judges,
while my searing novel about epic
hardship and adventure
in the Yucatanian rainforest had not.
It was truly mind boggling.
I had turned in 50 pages!
She had only turned in a flimsy thirteen!
Grr.
I stomped back inside,
flicked on my computer,
and banged out another
25 pages to my story.
Oh well
there’s always
next year.