Daisy's Defining Day Read online

  “We found some at the library, but they weren’t quite right,” she explained. “But the movie theater posters were full of wonderful words. Maybe I should be an actress.” Daisy considered this for a moment. Then, all of a sudden, she gasped loudly and let her head drop to the table, being careful to just miss the plate of food in front of her. She kept one eye open to see her family’s reaction. The only one who looked a little alarmed was Lily, who asked, “Daisy okay?” Her mother just smiled and said, “Very dramatic, my dear.” Daisy lifted up her head and nodded. Hmmm. Dramatic might be a useful word to have in her name. If she were Dramatic Daisy, she could act out whenever she pleased.

  After dinner, Daisy played checkers with Lily. But when Daisy got into bed, her head was so full of words beginning with the letter D that she didn’t think she’d ever be able to fall asleep. She sat up, reached over to her nightstand and picked up her green notebook with the purple polka dots. She opened it to her list of Quiet-Time Words and smiled as she read good-night, snuggle, hush-a-bye, lullaby and sweet dreams. She added dreamy and drowsy.

  Daisy smiled again. She loved it when she thought a list was finished and then, when she wasn’t even thinking about that list at all, she came across new words to make it even better!

  Daisy lay down and, instead of counting sheep, recited all the words beginning with the letter D that she had come across that day. As she said each one, she pictured the words jumping over a fence and dancing away. By the time she got to the word dreamy, she started to feel a little drowsy and soon fell asleep.

  Chapter Seven

  The next day was science day, so Daisy and Emma got to school earlier than usual. Miss Goldner always made science fun. But when they got there and put their backpacks away, they couldn’t believe the mess they saw. There were strips of newspaper on every desk and table, big pieces of cardboard against the walls and bottles of all different sizes on the carpet at the front of the room.

  “What happened in here?” Will asked when he came in. Daisy and Emma were wondering the same thing.

  “Oh, nothing,” Miss Goldner said, coming into the classroom with her arms full of bottles of starch and a bright red apron on over her clothes. “It’s papier-mâché day!”

  “I want to make an elephant!” Samantha announced.

  “Well, that would be fun,” Miss Goldner answered, “but today, we’re going to make land forms. We’re turning these bottles into mountains. But first, we’re going to talk about them. And let’s have some fun!” Then a little smile crept onto her face. “Perhaps they’ll be mighty mountains,” she said.

  “Or mammoth mountains,” Ben called out, picking up on Miss Goldner’s use of M words.

  “Or majestic mountains,” Daisy offered.

  “Exactly!” Miss Goldner said. “And let’s not forget our oceans.”

  “Open oceans,” Emma offered.

  “How about grasslands?” Miss Goldner asked. By now, the students really had the hang of it. They called out green and graceful, and for bays, the students added blue and bright.

  “Now that we have described our land forms so well, let’s get to work,” Miss Goldner said, handing out smocks to the class. One group made beautiful bright blue bays, one made majestic and mighty mountains and one made graceful green grasslands. And absolutely everyone got covered with starch and had a marvelous time.

  ***

  Daisy and Samantha had made plans to finish their handball battle at recess. So far, they had each won two games. The girls raced outside to make sure they got their favorite handball wall, and Emma stood off to the side to be scorekeeper. It was a fierce battle, and Daisy put up a good fight. The score was tied before the final serve. But Samantha triumphed by hitting the ball just outside Daisy’s range. Daisy was exhausted, but she still gave Samantha a high five as they sat on a bench to catch their breath. Just then, Grant walked by and called, in a not unfriendly way, “Hi, Sammy and Lazy Daisy!”

  Daisy couldn’t believe it! Lazy? Hadn’t she just played her hardest! She’d like to see him almost beat Samantha.

  Daisy decided she had better choose her new name as soon as possible.

  Chapter Eight

  At home that afternoon, Daisy got right to work. When her mother offered her an after-school snack, Daisy just shook her head.

  “You seem very determined today,” her mother said.

  “I’ve got to decide on my new name,” Daisy said. “And it has to be just right.”

  Daisy looked at the list she had compiled:

  Dynamite from Emma.

  Dazzling and delightful from the movie posters.

  Dusty and dizzy had been crossed out.

  Dreamy and drowsy had question marks next to them.

  Delicious had a picture of a slice of pizza next to it.

  Dramatic had a star next to it.

  Lastly, she added determined.

  She wrote down many combinations and practiced saying them out loud.

  “Dreamy Dynamite Delicious Daisy,” she tried. No, not quite right.

  Finally, after many more tries, Daisy felt certain she had it.

  She put on her favorite red feather boa and ran to find her mother and Lily.

  “Drum roll, please,” Daisy said to Lily, who obliged by playing air drums and saying, “Da-da-da-daaa!”

  “Presenting me, Dynamite Dramatic Determined Dazzling Daisy!”

  “Wow!” said her mother. “I certainly am dazzled.”

  “Me, too!” said Lily, although she wasn’t quite sure what dazzled meant.

  “I’ve got to go tell Emma,” Daisy said, taking her boa with her as she ran out the door.

  “Bye, Dynamic Dazzle Daisy,” Lily called.

  Daisy frowned for just a moment. “That’s okay,” she said to Lily. “I’ll teach you the right way to say it when I get home.”

  Chapter Nine

  “Dynamite Dramatic Determined Dazzling Daisy!” she said, twirling around Emma’s front yard.

  “Coolio!” Emma said, using the word she and Daisy had made up. They used it when something was so super that no other word would quite do. It was such a good word, they had wondered if someone else might have discovered it first.

  “I think I’ll be Exciting Extraordinary Emma,” Emma said.

  Daisy stopped twirling for a minute. “It’s a little short,” she said.

  Emma just smiled and said, “I like it!”

  Daisy, who was determined, appreciated that same quality in her best friend. “Then Exciting Extraordinary Emma it is!”

  The girls decided to go inside and practice writing their new names with Emma’s sparkly gel pens.

  Emma, whose name was a bit shorter, wrote hers five times using five different colors. Because it took Daisy a little longer, she was only able to write hers three times, with three different colors, before it was time to go home. But she didn’t mind. She loved her new name and was sure everyone else would, too.

  ***

  When she got home, she played Go Fish with Lily before dinner.

  “Daisy! Lily! Please come set the table,” their mother called.

  Daisy was shocked.

  “Please use my full name,” Daisy responded, in her most adult-sounding voice.

  “Daisy Ann,” her mother said. “Please come to the kitchen.”

  “Not that full name,” Daisy said. “My new name!”

  So Daisy’s mother tried again. “Dazzling Dynamite Daisy? Dramatic Determined Daisy? Determined Dynamite Dramatic Daisy?”

  But even with three more tries, she couldn’t get it right. Lily set the table and picked which bowl of macaroni and cheese she wanted. Daisy just knew Lily had picked the cheesiest. Finally, Daisy’s mother remembered the new and amazing name. “Dynamite Dramatic Determined Dazzling Daisy!” she called, and Daisy came running. She was star
ved.

  At dinner, between bites, she tried to teach her new name to her dad and Lily.

  “Dynamite is something that blows things up, but it also means ‘great’ and it’s the first thing Emma said when I told her about coming up with a new name. Dramatic is because I’m an actress,” she said, letting out a very dramatic sigh and laying the back of her hand across her forehead.

  “Very dramatic,” her father agreed.

  “Determined is because that’s what Mom says I am a lot of the time. And dazzling is because it sounds fabulous.”

  “Well, it certainly is a fabulous name,” her mother said.

  “Definitely!” said her father.

  “Dramatical Dazzle Daisy!” Lily said, happily.

  “No,” Daisy said firmly. “It’s Dynamite Dramatic Determined Dazzling Daisy.”

  “Can you write it down for me on a little piece of paper I can keep in my wallet?” her father asked. “That way, I can look at it and it will be easier for me to learn.”

  “Sure,” Daisy said, going over to a drawer in the kitchen to take out a piece of paper, a pen and some scissors.

  “Time for dessert,” her mother said, putting out a plate of homemade sugar cookies.

  “Delicious,” everyone agreed.

  Chapter Ten

  The next morning, Daisy’s mother called out, “Time to get up, Dynamite Dramatic Determined Dazzling Daisy!”

  Daisy was so pleased with her new name and the fact that her mother hadgotten it right that she leapt out of bed.

  On the way to school, Daisy and Emma taught Samantha their new names. By the time they got to the edge of the playground at school, Samantha had both names down.

  Emma remembered to use Daisy’s long name for most of the morning. But by lunchtime, she was a little worn out.

  “Do you think I can just call you Dazzling Daisy?” she asked. Daisy couldn’t believe it! After all the time she had spent working on her name, her best friend wasn’t even willing to use it. Samantha had given up at recess, calling out, “Handball rematch, Daisy?” Daisy had refused to answer.

  But she simply couldn’t refuse to answer Emma. Not Emma. So she sighed, “No, please use my full name.”

  And Emma, because she was Daisy’s best friend, did.

  “Dynamite Dramatic Determined Dazzling Daisy, what are you doing after school today?” Emma asked.

  “Well, Exciting Extraordinary Emma, I’m going to help Lily learn to ride the new bike she got for her birthday.”

  The rest of the school day, Daisy thought Emma seemed a little less chatty than usual. But maybe it was just her imagination.

  ***

  On the way home, Grant walked with the girls. Just as he opened his mouth to say, “Hi, Lazy Daisy,” Daisy held up her hand.

  “My name is Dynamite Dramatic Determined Dazzling Daisy,” she said, quite dramatically.

  Grant didn’t know what to say. So he said nothing at all. Daisy breathed a sigh of relief.

  As Emma turned to head home, she started to say, “Bye, Dais …” but stopped. Instead she just said, “Bye,” and hurried off.

  Daisy called after her, “Bye, Exciting Extraordinary Emma!”

  Emma turned and waved but didn’t say anything.

  Chapter Eleven

  After having a snack, Daisy helped Lily put on her helmet. But before Lily would even consider getting onto her new bike, she spent a good ten minutes finding things to put into the white basket that was attached to the front. First, Lily put in a water bottle, which Daisy had to admit was practical. But when Lily added a sweatshirt, a granola bar and a single mitten that had been lying in the garage, Daisy thought it was enough. “We’re not going very far,” she said. “We’re just going to practice in front of the house for a while.”

  “Just one more thing,” Lily said. “I need my lucky scarf.” Lily ran back into the house and emerged a few minutes later with an orange bandanna tied around her neck. Their mother had gotten it for her to wear to Western Day at school last month. Lily had loved learning to square dance, and when her foursome won an award for best dancing, she had decided the scarf was “lucky.”

  Finally, Lily was ready to go. Daisy taught Lily how to walk the bike down the driveway, carefully holding onto the handlebars. When they were on the sidewalk, she helped Lily get on the bike. Even though the bike still had training wheels, it wasn’t altogether steady on the uneven sidewalk. But Lily quickly got the hang of it, happily riding along with Daisy jogging next to her. When it came time to turn around, Lily yanked the handlebars sharply to the right. Daisy managed to grab the bike before it fell.

  “Don’t turn so fast,” Daisy instructed.

  “I’ll do it better next time, Dyna Dazzle Daisy!” Lily promised. Lily still needed some help getting Daisy’s new name right, but Daisy didn’t have any time to think more about it because Lily had zoomed ahead.

  “Slow down!” Daisy called to her. “And stop at our driveway.”

  When Daisy and Lily were finished with the lesson, they saw a bunch of kids gathering for a neighborhood game of soccer. After making sure Lily and her bike got safely back into the garage, Daisy went to join in.

  “Daisy,” Samantha called out when it was her turn to pick someone for her team. Daisy started to walk over to Samantha but stopped.

  “Please use my full name,” she said.

  Samantha nodded.

  “Drama Dazzling Daisy,” she tried. “Determinable Dramatical Daisy?” she asked. But Samantha couldn’t get it right. The other kids wanted to get started, so Samantha picked someone else. Daisy sat and watched. The only good part was that Grant didn’t say anything to her.

  When Daisy got home, she decided to help Lily practice saying her new name.

  “Dynamite Dramatic Dazzle Daisy,” was the best Lily could do. Even though Daisy was determined to have Lily include the word determined, Lily seemed just as determined to leave it out.

  Chapter Twelve

  When her father got home from work, he found Daisy sitting beneath her favorite tree.

  “How’s Dynamite Dramatic Determined Dazzling Daisy?” he asked.

  “Feeling like discouraged Daisy,” she answered.

  Her father sat down next to her on the grass, even though he was still wearing his work clothes.

  “Why is that?” he asked.

  “Because even though I have a fabulous new name, no one wants to use it,” she said. “I missed out on the cheesiest bowl of macaroni and cheese last night, handball at recess and soccer after school.”

  Lily rode by on her bicycle and waved. She had been riding around while Daisy was outside on the lawn.

  “Hmm,” said her father. “Well, I do think your name is fabulous.”

  “I guess so,” Daisy said. “But maybe it’s just too hard to use.”

  “Definitely a difficult dilemma, Daisy,” her father said.

  “Good alliteration!” Daisy remarked as her dad headed inside.

  After a few minutes, Daisy’s mother called out, “Dinner!” Lily, who was zooming along, turned her head. Then, without putting on the brake, Lily yanked the handlebars sharply to turn around. The bike toppled over and Lily let out a cry.

  “Daisy!” she yelled.

  And then a funny thing happened. Daisy didn’t think, even for a second, about the fact that Lily hadn’t used her full name. She didn’t think about all the time she had spent teaching it to Lily that very afternoon. All she thought about was getting to her sister.

  “I’m coming, Lily!” she yelled, running down the driveway.

  Daisy rolled up Lily’s pants to check her knees for scrapes and then checked the palms of her hands. Daisy brushed off the dirt and took off Lily’s helmet. Then Daisy gently held Lily’s hand, so as not to rub the part that was scraped, as they walked back to the house.
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  “You need a little first aid,” Daisy said when they got inside. Daisy sat Lily down on the couch and wiped away her tears. Then Daisy disappeared for a minute and came back wearing a nurse’s hat and holding a bunch of brightly colored Band-Aids, a bottle of antiseptic spray and a box of tissues.

  “Nurse Daisy at your service!” Daisy announced. First Daisy cleaned the scrapes with the spray and some tissues.

  “Does this need a Band-Aid?” Daisy asked, pointing to the scrape on Lily’s right knee. Lily nodded.

  “How about the other knee?” Daisy asked.

  “That one, too,” Lily answered.

  Lily wanted Band-Aids on her hands as well.

  “Does it hurt here, too?” Daisy asked as she pointed to Lily’s arm, which hadn’t gotten scraped at all.

  “Oh, yes,” Lily replied.

  “And here?” Daisy asked, pointing to her nose. Lily giggled as she nodded again.

  Soon both girls were giggling happily as Daisy put on more Band-Aids. When they were all done, Lily raced to show her mother.

  “Oh, my,” said her mother. “Did you take a bad fall or just have a very nice nurse?”

  Lily looked over at Nurse Daisy and said, “Thank you, Dynamite Dramatic Dazzle Daisy!”

  ***

  That night, Daisy was totally kersapped, her made-up word for the confusion she was feeling. She loved her fabulous new name, but she did have to admit that it was a bit long to use in everyday conversation. And her new name had meant missing out on things she enjoyed.

  Then she thought about Grant. She disliked being called Lazy Daisy so much that she thought about sticking with her new name. But there was something even worse than missing out on things she enjoyed and even worse than being called Lazy Daisy. She really didn’t like that her name was hard for her best friend to use.