“Ella Mae and the Messy Day,” a story for small children by Suzanne Burchell

Ella Mae threw off the covers of her bed and tossed them onto the floor. Then she bounced out of bed and went to her closet to get dressed to go to school

First she tried on her new dress. No, too fancy! So she tossed it on the floor.

Next she tried her new jeans. No, too stiff! So she tossed them on the floor.

Next she tried her favourite skirt. No, too small! So she tossed it on the floor .

Maybe her track suit...? No, too dirty. So she tossed it on the floor.

Her closet was almost empty when she finally decided that the outfit her grandmother had given her for her birthday would be just right for school today.

Soon she was ready for school, but first she needed to kiss her Sweet Baby Cat goodbye.

“Sweetie!” Ella Mae called, but her kitten did not come.

Ella looked all around the house. No kitten. She looked all over the yard. No kitten. Ella Mae ran around  the block calling, “Sweet Baby Cat, where are you?”

But she couldn’t find her kitten anywhere.

Ella Mae went back to her room. “Sweetie!” she called once more, but her kitten did not come. Ella Mae began to cry.

All of a sudden her fancy dress started to move around on the floor, all by itself. Yikes, thought Ella Mae. There’s a monster under my fancy dress!

Her fancy dress moved some more and meowed!

Ella Mae picked up her dress, and there was Sweet Baby Cat!

Ella Mae hugged her precious kitty.  And from that day on, instead of throwing her blankets on the floor, Ella Mae made her bed. And instead of throwing her clothes on the floor, she put them in her dresser or hung them in her closet. So Sweet Baby Cat was never lost again.

But sometimes, just for fun, Sweet Baby Cat would hide under the blankets on Ella Mae’s bed and then pounce of her!

Suzanne Burchell retired from teaching secondary school drama after 38 years but continues to  lecture in Drama in Education at Brock University. She is developing a new profession as a story teller in Ontario after having a lengthy time of story-telling in the summer in her homeland of Nova Scotia. 

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