National Day

It was a beautiful, late autumn day. The air was bright and crisp and the trees were bare of leaves. After the hike to his house, we noticed no one was around. We approached the house carefully. There was a twist of rope around the doorknob.

"Probably his idea of a key," said Steve. I opened the door. The shack was no bigger than my bedroom at home, but it was a real mess. I had this idea to clean it up. Everyone thought I was crazy. I found a broom behind the door, and started to sweep. Steve started picking up the dishes on the table, and then we realized that there wasn’t a sink.

"Where’s the sink?" We looked around. Mr. Grady had no plumbing.

"I wonder how he stays warm," I said. My friends and I started feeling sorry for Mr. Grady. We took his dishes outside and found a well. The water was cold, but we managed to clean everything with a rag we found in the house. We made his bed and got everything as sparkling as we could. As we were finishing up, my friend Paula piped up. "I want to get some asters from Mrs. Lennon’s house, I’ll go ask her if it’s okay." She ran off to see what she could do. Meantime, Steve had been outside shaking the dirt out of the rag rug that had been on the floor. He came back in with it in pieces.

"It just fell apart. I’m gonna go home and ask Mom if he can have one of the rugs in our basement." I continued dusting the furniture and started scrubbing the warped and creaky wooden floor. I didn’t hear the cart come up, but I did hear the heavy footsteps coming up to the door. My heart skipped a beat. There was nowhere to hide! Mr. Grady hesitated at the door, probably noticing the missing rope. I stood in the corner, holding my breath and nearly sobbing looking at my feet.

Mr. Grady saw me and yelled at me, "What are you doing in my house!"

I started to cry. He looked around and saw the results of what my friends and I did. He took a couple of steps and sat on his bed with his hands on his knees. Then he whistled. I looked up at him through my tears. He was smiling. Just then, Paula showed up with a vase full of flowers, tentatively knocking at the door. Mr. Grady opened the door. With a gasp of surprise, she handed them to him. He smiled even broader.

"You chillun do this for me?" he said.

"Yes, sir," I said. I thought he was going to call our parents. Just then, Steve showed up with a rug. He looked just as surprised as Paula had been. He threw the rug at him and ran.

"We broke your rug trying to clean it," I explained. He smiled at me. I smiled back. "Oh, that’s alright… it was a rusty ole thang anyways," replied Mr. Grady with moist eyes.