Eager Beaver

Chapter Four - Required Reading

It was Friday and I was laying on my bed on my stomach staring at the tablet I had been able to sneak out of Dad's office. It only had minimal scratches from the few times it slipped out of my hands in the past. My feet were swinging in the air in excitement since I was watching one of my favorite movies 'The Land Before Time'. I loved all of them, but the earlier ones were my favorite. I had my head perched on my hands and I recited the character's lines before they even got to them. Mom and Dad told me I had until the end of summer to prepare for Grade Six and that I had a lot of catching up to do. So far we have moved twice this year, once in January and again a few weeks ago to Canada. All my classes were jumbled up and I didn't even go to school in June. Mom and Dad had given me reams of homework, reading and assignments I was supposed to do over the summer. I hated regular homework, who wants to do homework during the summer?

My ears perked up as I heard, the door quickly swung open - my door never seemed to latch properly and would open at the slightest draught. This time however, Mom was standing right there! My feet stopped mid swing as my movie played in the background on the tablet propped up on a pillow.

"Um, hi." I squeaked. I had been caught red handed. Worse, I had actually convinced my mom I would catch up on the readings today.

Mom furrowed her brow. "Um, hi!" She imitated, in her high accusatory pitch.

We stared at each other - the tension would have been building if it wasn't for the cartoon dinosaurs nagging for my attention. I quickly tapped the screen to pause my movie and gave her a smile, hoping to soften whatever punishment was crossing her mind.

Mom crossed her arms and stared at me on the bed, my legs still frozen in place. "Are you finished reading?" She asked, getting right to the point.

"Not yet." I admitted, defeated. I dropped my legs onto the bed. "I was just going to after my movie." I bargained.

Mom glanced at the tablet and rolled her eyes when she saw the movie title now prominently displayed on the pause screen. She stepped into the room and picked it up. "I thought you weren't supposed to have this?" She asked, making my face turn a light pink. She slipped the tablet underneath her arms, putting down a small bag she had been holding. "If I recall you dropped it down the stairs." She remarked, running her finger over a prominent scratch on the back of it. "Besides, how many times have you watched this movie?"

I rolled over and kicked my legs off the bed, sitting up to look at Mom, and shrugged. "I don't know." I stated. Could you really watch your favorite movie too many times?

Mom sighed and pointed to my desk. It was the first thing they'd unpacked for me when we moved here. "Work on your reading because we're going out later." She informed me.

That piqued my interest. Now that I thought about it, both Mom and Dad were home today. I knew that Dad usually had to be on site on Fridays. He was an Architect, which I had always thought was a pretty cool job, but it was why we were always on the move. He worked for a big international company, and they always wanted him around to supervise whatever project he was working on. "Where are we going?" I asked curiously.

"It's a holiday today." She said, her tone changing to a chipper upbeat lilt and her lips lifting to a bright smile. "Canada Day!"

"What's that?" I questioned.It sounded familiar though, and I'd noticed an awful lot of Canada themed decorations around the small town.

"I'll explain later. For now, hop to it!" Mom instructed, waiting for me to trod over to my desk. She reached into a bag she had been holding before and produced a stuffed fluffy beaver. She placed it on the desk in front of the pile of homework I had. "Just a gift for Canada Day." She told me. "He can keep you company while you study!"