Happy Thought
by Robert Louis Stevenson
The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as
happy as kings.
Question
author unknown
Do you love me Or do you not?
You told me once But I forgot.
I Should Have Stayed in Bed by Joan M. Lexan
Some days it doesn’t pay to get up. Some days you can’t do anything
right.
One day I woke up. The sun was shining. Birds were singing.
I got dressed. I put on my shoes. I tied the shoelaces. The shoes were
on the wrong feet.
When I untied the shoelaces, I made two
knots. So I left the shoes on the wrong feet. I went down to breakfast.
“Good morning, dear,” said my mother. “Why are you wearing your Cub
Scout suit? Tomorrow is Cub Scout day.”
“Good morning, Sam,” said my father. “Your shoes are on the wrong feet.
What’s the matter with you today? This isn’t like you.”
I got dressed all over again. When I tried to untie the shoelaces, they
broke.
I put the shoes on the right feet. I went down again to breakfast.
“Not so much sugar on your cereal, dear,” my mother said.
“I like it this way,” I said. I put some more sugar on my cereal.
At the bottom it was all soggy sugar. I ate it all up. It was terrible.
I went to call for Albert. Good old Albert.
My best friend.
“Albert, hey, Albert,” I yelled at his window.
“Albert left. It’s late,” his mother said.
That Albert. Some friend!
I took off for school. I saw a nickel in the street. “Good,” I said.
“Something good at last.”
I went over to pick it up. My foot kicked it into a sewer. “Boy, I
should have stayed in bed,” I said.
I got to school when the first bell rang. “Here conies Sam the snail,”
Albert said.
“What took you so long?”
I threw a notebook at him. He ducked.
The notebook hit Amy Lou.
“You could have killed me,” Amy Lou said.
“I’m going to tell.” She ran into the school.
I ran after her. “Amy Lou,” I said. “Amy Lou, Amy Lou, Amy Lou.”
Amy Lou went into our room. “Sam tried to kill me!” she yelled.
The teacher wasn’t there. So everybody ran around the room.
“Watch me,” I said. “Watch how fast I
can go.” I turned around and around and around, faster and faster.
The second bell rang. Everybody sat down. Everybody but me. I fell down.
The teacher came in. “Well, Sam?” said the teacher.
“I got dizzy,” I said.
“Oh. Go see the nurse,” said the teacher.
So I did.
Boy, was the nurse mad when she found out why I got dizzy. She told me
off. She gave me a note for my teacher.
The teacher told me off too. She told me to open my reader and read.
I read, “Bob walked down the dark
street. He was getting colder and colder. By and by he was a snowman.”
Everybody laughed.
“He saw a snowman,” said the teacher. “Maybe you are still dizzy,
Sam. Amy Lou, it is your turn.”
Amy Lou read it right. She always does.
Albert gave me a note. I opened it up.
The teacher saw it. “Read the note out loud,” she said.
What could I do? I read it out loud. It said: “Can you read this fast?
Eye yam. Eye yam. Eye ree lee yam. Eye man ut.”
Everybody laughed.
I didn’t look at Albert.
“You read that very well,” said the teacher. “But after this when you
and Albert have something to say, say it to all of us. No more notes.”
I thought lunchtime would never come. But at last it did. I didn’t wait
for Albert.
“Sam, Albert is calling you,” Amy Lou said.
“Albert?” I said. “Who is Albert? I don’t know any Albert.”
I ran all the way home. I said over and over, “I should have stayed in
bed. I should have stayed in bed.”
When I got home I said, “Why not? It can only help. Things can’t get any
worse.”
So I went to my room. I put on my pajamas. I went to bed and counted to
one hundred.
“I’ll call the doctor,” my mother said. “Now I know something is the
matter.”
“I’m all right,” I said. “I’m starting the day over.”
“Oh,” said my mother. She looked at me as if I were crazy. But she
didn’t call the doctor.
I got up and put on my robe and slippers. I asked for some cereal. I put
just a little sugar on it.
Then I got dressed and ran to school. I didn’t see Albert. I heard the
first bell ring. I
heard the second bell ring. Everybody was in school.
No, not everybody. There was Albert by the door.
“You’re late,” he said.
“Well, so are you,” I said.
“I know,” Albert said. “I saw you coming, so I waited for you. We can
both stay after school.”
Good old Albert. Good old best friend Albert.
We went into our room.
“Sam and Albert are late,” Amy Lou said.
“So I see,” said the teacher.
“They’ll have to stay after school, won’t they?” said Amy Lou.
“Yes, they will,” said the teacher.
“You know what?” said Amy Lou. “You know what? Sam has his slippers on!”
Everybody laughed. What a crazy day.
“Amy Lou,” said the teacher, “you will have to stay after school. You
talk too much.”
I looked at Albert. Albert looked at me.
It didn’t look like such a bad day after all.
Would you like to read more about Sam and his best friend, Albert?
Then follow them as they play detective in The Rooftop Mystery. Or,
try another Joan Lexau book, Benjie on His Own. It’s about a young
boy who, even though he is afraid, does what he has to do.
