Grade: Kindergarten
Age: 4
Just before Christmas break Miss McNanny gave us a full day of recess. We were allowed to just play or take a nap or do anything we wanted all day long. It was pretty awesome especially to a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds (and one 7 year old that just couldn’t get out of grade K for some reason). For snack she brought us all a treat.
Wow, what is this? Something I’ve never had before. I looked at the box…hmmm? Popcorn? I love popcorn! Peanuts? Yummy!!! All covered in SUGAR?!?!? Heaven!!! and we each got a WHOLE BOX!
I savored each piece. Oh, man! What a treat.
Then I heard a buzz about the room.
“What did you get?” asked one little girl to another.
A bunch of “Ooh! Neat!”s and “Wow!”s were bandied about.
I had no idea what was going on. Then someone asked me what I got in my box. I happily exclaimed on a slight sugar high “Popcorn and peanuts all covered in sugar! GLEE!!! *drool*”
“No, I mean what was your prize?” she asked.
“Prize? What prize?”
She showed me her little plastic toy, if I remember correctly it was a red plastic charm for a necklace in the shape of a dangerously pointed star, you know something that just belongs near your jugular vein.
“I didn’t get a prize” I said through a droopy frown face and I sat down and tore my little box of empty goodness into little pieces hoping my prize was somehow hidden in one of the flaps. No dice.
One kid in all of history received nothing from a box of Crackerjacks and that was me.
After watching the others joyously playing with their wonderful prizes I got up the nerve to tell Miss McNanny about my dilemma.
“Miss McNanny, I didn’t get no [sic] prize” I almost sobbed.
“Are you sure?” she asked, “Everyone gets a prize in Crackerjacks.”
I showed her the pieces of my box and explained that it never left my sight so no one could have taken it without me knowing. It just wasn’t there.
“I think you’re the only person ever to get a prizeless box of Crackerjacks,” she mused.
My eyes teared up. (Hey, I was only 4!) Miss McNanny pulled me aside and said, “Here, you can have mine if you don’t tell anyone I gave it to you. They’ll think you got it in your box so don’t tell them any differently.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said. She winked at me and gave me a little pouch. I smiled back at her to let her know I was in on the big scam. “I won’t tell anyone,” I said.
I tore into the pouch and eyed my prize. It was a little clear green magnifying glass that didn’t really magnify anything, it just made things look green. *sigh* I ended up throwing it away with my torn up box and sitting down and sulked the rest of the day with the 7 year old kid. He was sulking anyway but just because that’s what he did. He didn’t have a reason.
I wonder how many other kids never got a prize in their Crackerjacks. Oh, yeah. Zero. It’s just me.
Lesson learned: People will always share if what they’re sharing is crappy.
Trackbacked to:
Freedom Watch
Those Bastards!
The Liberal Wrong Wing
Common Folk Using Common Sense
The Conservative Cat
NIF
History Mike’s Musings
Diane’s Stuff
The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns
Quietly Making Noise
Mental Rhinorrhea
Right Wing Nation