"Angel or Not? Angel for Sure!"
Introduction
I didn’t even need my alarm. It was 6:32 A.M., my
room was glowing pink from the rising sun and I
was so excited! Some may think I’m crazy, but my
summer was so borrrring that I couldn’t wait to get back to
school. The last two weeks couldn’t go by fast enough. So
I jumped out of bed.
Now, if I hurry, I thought, in two minutes tops I can be
downstairs and will beat hearing my mom’s first-day-of-
school wakeup call: “School days, school days, those goodie
golden rule days. . . Rise and shine for school today. . . ”
I’m definitely too old for that one!
As I headed toward the door, I could hear Mom
coming up the stairs. I opened my door just a crack and,
to my surprise, I saw her entering my brother Anthony’s
room, not mine! This, I had to see.
So I ran to his door just in time to see him cover his
head with his pillow and moan at Mom as she tried to
tickle him while she sang. Anthony is a junior in high
school and Mom is still singing, “School days, school days” to
him. How great is that!
I stood there watching as Anthony and Mom were
goofing around. She kept tickling and singing to him. One
day, when Anthony calls me a “baby,” I hope I get to bring
this moment up, because right now you’d think it was
Anthony who was the baby.
What great payback ammo! (That’s what we call it in
our family when you have some unbelievable secret that
you can bring up at just the perfect time.) Having payback
ammo is always good, especially in the Hennessey home.
As I stood there watching them I could barely keep
quiet. I actually had to cover my mouth with my hand to
stifle the noise that was trying to escape my lips! My mom
was a hoot and that song . . . oh, boy! I turned away from
the door, just as Mom nearly ran me over as she came out
of Anthony’s room.
“Up early, Angel? You must be excited!” Mom said as
she gave me a huge hug.
“How could I not be excited?” I said. “I am starting
fourth grade!” And yes, you heard her right, but in case you
missed it, my name is Angel.
Chapter 1
Fourth Grade . . . Here I Come!
I kissed Mom and went downstairs, followed by Anna and Marie. They’re my older sisters and, if that isn’t bad enough, let me just say my older, twin
sisters. Right again, twins and in the eighth grade. Need I
say more: one older brother, two older twin sisters and me,
the baby! The baby named Angel.
Mom always feels she needs to remind me of it, too.
“For as long as always is, you'll always be my baby,” she’ll
say. Try living that down!
While I am explaining my family and heading downstairs,
let me just add that we are Catholic and being born
in a Catholic family should have entitled me to at least
another sibling or two. Big families are wonderful and
exactly what Jesus would want: lots of children around to
spread His love. Anyway, many of my school friends have
five or six kids in their families! Why couldn’t Mom and
Dad have had just one more . . . then I wouldn’t be the baby!
Forget it, Angel, I must remind myself. You see, I’ve
asked that question a bazillion times to my mom and the
answer is always the same.
“We have four healthy, smart, beautiful children, Angel. We are blessed. Be happy with what you have.” I’m sure you’ll understand me when I say that moms are all the same, always reminding us to be happy with what we have. Anyway, nothing was going to spoil my mood, because today I started fourth grade at Sacred Heart Catholic School and being the baby in my family was not going to bother me today. Breakfast was the usual, with Mom busy making pancakes and pouring milk. Anthony looking like he crawled out from under a wet rock, his hair standing in all directions and eyes half open. My brother attended an all boys high school and never cared what he looked like. Mom was always on him to brush his hair before going out the door — like it mattered. It did to Mom, but to Anthony it was a huge waste of energy, and besides, all the boys looked like that at his school. Of course, Anna and Marie were always primping with their hair, even at the table, and Mom was always trying to get them to stop. Then there was me, I guess I learned from them a long time ago that if I got myself ready in my room, no one said a word about my hair and that is just how I like
it! I like my hair pulled back from my face, so I use a
headband or put it up in a ponytail. Either way seems to make
Mom happy, and she rarely says a word to me about it.
“Two minutes and we leave. If you’re not in my car,
you go with Mom,” Anthony announced.
It is amazing how he seems to come to life just in time
to drive us to school. Riding to school with Anthony was
always cooler than riding with Mom, especially on the first
day back from summer vacation. So, Anna, Marie and I
stopped eating at Anthony’s pronouncement and ran to
brush our teeth. The twins brushed so fast I’m not sure why
they even bothered; they couldn’t have done a good job.
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“It won’t matter,” I told myself. A day without
brushing for a full two minutes (like the dentist says) can’t
give me a mouth full of cavities — or could it? Angel or not?
This time — not. I cut short the brushing and ran to kiss my
mom goodbye. No way was I going to start my day without
her good karma.
“Bye, Mom, love you!” I said as I sprinted toward
Anthony’s car and hopped in. Just a note in case it comes
up later: Anthony says it’s his car, but it is really my dad’s
. . . Oh no, Dad! I forgot to kiss my dad!
But it was too late — we were already pulling onto the
street. Anthony would never let me run back to kiss Dad
goodbye. How could this day be nearly as good without a
kiss from my dad? I could feel my excitement draining just
like water in our bathtub goes spiraling right down the
drain. No way was my first day in fourth grade going to be
as good as it could have been, if I survive at all! I sat quietly
the rest of the way to school wondering if my dad felt the
same way: sad that his Angel had forgotten him. Some
angel I am — not!
I was brought back to earth by Anthony saying, “Out
you go, Lil’ Chick.” That was what he always called me.
Lil’ Chick. I know chick is just another name for “baby”
but it sounds cute and not babyish.
“Anthony, are you excited about today?” I asked.
“Why would I be, it’s just school,” he said. “Are you?”
“I was, but now I’m not so sure,” I answered.
“Just get going . . . you’ll be fine. It’ll be fun, you’ll see,”
Anthony said as he reached back and gave me a little
shove toward the door.
“I’m going, I’m going. See you, Big Bud,” I said. (Big
Bud is my nickname for him.)
“See you, kid,” he said, smiling at me. He really is a pretty cool brother.
Chapter 2
Let the Day Begin!
The walk to the basketball court, where we all had to
line up each day before school began, seemed a lot
longer today. Maybe it was because I didn’t see a
single one of my friends. Where is everyone? I thought to
myself as I searched the court. Could I have missed some
note sent home about the fourth graders meeting in a
different place?
No, probably not, but then where were Michelle,
Danni, Mary Katherine and all the others? All I could see
was a group of eighth graders. I knew they were eighth
graders because my sisters were smack in the middle.
Then I got a glimpse of what I knew had to be Mary
Katherine’s head. Mary K was what we called her, because
she was one of something like sixteen Mary Katherines in
our school. Our Mary K stood out because she was one of
the tallest fourth graders, and also because she has the
darkest, reddest hair of anyone in our school.
“Come here, Angel!” Mary K called out while jumping up and down. “How was your summer? Did you go to Disney or the beach? See any cousins? You didn’t see me so I know you didn’t see any friends — what did you do all summer?”
She gasped to catch a breath — I figured it was my
chance to get in a word.
“We did nothing, Mary K, just stayed at home, nothing
exciting,” I said. “What about you?” Here it comes, I thought,
as I saw her face glowing with the I-can’t-wait-to-tell-you
look Mary K always seems to have.
“Well, we went to Disney and to the beach, my cousins
came in from
named her after me, another Mary Katherine is born . . . ,”
Mary K kept going, but at this point the noise on the court
was so loud that I couldn’t make out the rest of what she
said.
It was probably for the best, as I knew she would just
be reminding me of what a truly boring summer I really did
have. I looked around with a smile, half-listening to Mary
K as she went on about her summer and half-wondering
where Michelle and Danni were.
Michelle and I have been in S.H. (Sacred Heart is
always shortened this way, even our teachers are okay with
it) since we were three, and we are always together. Then,
when Danni came she joined our pack. Dad calls us the
“Three Musketeers.”
Michelle is blonde, tall and thin with blue eyes and a
big smile, and she’s very smart and funny. Danni is a
brunette with brown eyes, a little shorter than Michelle and
I, very strong-willed and equally as smart. She moved here
from
every now and then, mostly when she’s excited.
Then there’s me, Angel Rose Hennessey. Brown hair,
blue-gray eyes, tall, sort of thin, not so sure if I’m smart or
funny, but I definitely try to live up to my name. With the
name Angel it’s just expected of you to act like one.
Mary K was just catching another breath, and that is
when I spotted them. “Sounds like a great summer, Mary
K,” I said, “but look, there is Michelle and Danni. Let’s go
see them.”
Both Michelle and Danni had been gone for all but
the first couple of weeks of summer; Michelle had just
gotten home late last night. She had vacationed with her
family, went to a month-long summer camp, and stayed
with her grandparents, all more exciting than my stay-at home summer.
Then the bell rang loud in our ears and, seconds later,
Principal Sister Ann called to us using her megaphone:
“Welcome back students.”
With that all seven hundred of us became instantly
quiet. Respect — that is what is expected and most
certainly deserved by Sister Ann.
She led us in Morning Prayer as always. This is how it
is in Catholic school: We pray at the start of each day, at
each class, before lunch, before each event, at the end of
the day, and pretty much any other chance we get. It’s not
a bad thing because if you are constantly thinking and
praying to God then how could you ever go too far off the
path of goodness?
The choice between “Angel or not” is easier if you are
connecting often with God, right? This thought reminded
me that I was still bothered by not kissing or even seeing
my dad this morning, so I made a silent intention for
him, and for me, during Morning Prayer.
Prayer . . . it’s what we do. As Sister Ann brought the
prayer to a close I thought to myself, Let the day begin!
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