It Could Be Worse

 

“I’m never going back to school again,” I declared jumping off the school bus.

“What happened, Jason?” Mom asked as we slowly walked up the driveway to our house.
“First, Ms. Marmoth picked me to feed the fish today. So I jumped up on the chair to reach for the fish food and the chair shook. I fell off and the chair crashed into the fish tank. Jimmy ran over with the rubbish pail to catch the waterfall pouring out.
Then Ms. Marmoth scooped the fish up with a coffee cup and handed them to me.

“Take them to Mr. G and ask him to keep them in his tank please.”

“It could be worse,” Mom said.

“I handed them to Mr. G and he asked what happened. So I told him and the whole class laughed at me. I placed the cup of fish on Mr. G’s desk and ran out of the room. I ran down the hall and hid on the stairs.”

“It could be worse,” Mom said.

“The principal found me.”

“We have been looking for you,” he said.
“Can’t you see me on the cameras?” I asked.
“No. we don’t have cameras in the school,” he said. “Do you want to go back to your classroom or my office?”
“I chose the classroom. Big mistake!”

“When I sat down at my desk, I saw the note! –Fish Killer!”

Ms. Marmoth appeared behind me and grabbed the note. “The fish are fine!” she announced to the classroom. “I will get a new fish tank and they will come back.”
“We are reading page 59, Jason. Open your book.”

“I opened the book but I couldn’t read it. I just wanted to run away again. But I didn’t!”

“I’m proud of you for not running away. It could be worse!” Mom said.

“Shadow!” she screamed as she opened the doorway and stepped into the kitchen.
Jason stepped into the kitchen and saw the mess. A pan was upside down on the floor and our dog was eating our dinner.

“It could be worse!” I said.