Benito And The Last Orange Juice
Posted on April 2, 2015
Ten-year-old Benito stares at Carla and wonders how she gets her long silky hair to twist and turn into perfect curls. He doesn't know what it is about Carla that attracts him so much, he just likes looking at her. 

"Benito," James pushes his shoulder, waking him from his trance.

"What?"

"Are you going to eat your lunch or not?"

"No. You can have it."

James snatches Benito's lunch and takes a mouthful of the turkey and cheese sandwich as Benito returns to gazing upon his muse. After a deep inhale, Benito releases a sigh so loud that James takes notice.

"You are going to freak her out," James mumbles through the food in his mouth.

Another deep breath. "I'm going over there."

After a hard gulp of his half-chewed bite, James says, "Don't. She's just going to be mean to you. She's bossy, remember?"

"But I have to talk to her."

"Why?"

"Because... I think I like her."

James' nose scrunches; he narrows his eyes. "Why? She's so bossy and mean. She bosses everyone around."

A moment later, Benito is at Carla's table, and all her friends giggle. From his seat across the lunchroom, James slaps his forehead and shakes his head in shame. Benito clears his throat. "Um, Carla, I noticed you don't have any orange juice. Don't you like orange juice?"

Carla smiles. All of her friends hold their breaths, waiting for Carla's response. "I do. I love orange juice, but they ran out." Carla looks at the girls who seem to expect something more out of her. She rolls her eyes back up to Benito. "Why don't you give me your orange juice?"

With that, Benito runs back to the lunch line to talk to the lunch ladies. Carla and her friends watch curiously as Benito and the lunch ladies exchange words and smiles before he returns to her table.

"Here," Benito says as he puts down a plastic cup, opens his orange juice carton and fills the cup half way. "You can have some of mine."

Carla's friends all gasp as Benito walks back to his table where James is sitting with his mouth agape.

"Why did you do that?" James asks. "Now she knows you like her."

"Yeah, but she also knows she's not the boss of me."

4 comments:

  1. Very nice! What a great way to help a kid solve a problem and do it positively! I loved reading it at 66, and I think my grandson age 8 might like it too. Except he still thinks girls have cooties, so I'm not sure he'll really understand yet. I know kids are more mature now than ever, but I would expect this level of problem solving and girl attraction more from a 12 or 13 year old than ten. Just an opinion, as a mother and a former psychologist.

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    Replies
    1. My son tells me about this one particular kids in his 2nd grade class who is in love with a different girl every week. I think it's so adorable that some kids are just born thinking about love and marriage and relationships. My son? So far, he only has love for soccer. :-D

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  2. Haha! I love this. Super cute. James was my favorite. I like his practicality, and characters talking with food in their mouths is always entertaining (which is weird, because it's a big pet peeve of mine in life).

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    Replies
    1. I love pairing up opposite personalities. Kids make it easy because everything is black and white for them. Well, at least for most.

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