Janet did as she was told and got in trouble.
When her mother said, “No dessert till your plate is clean,” she scraped all of her dinner into the dog dish and then washed her plate. She did not get any dessert.
When her mother said, “Be nice to your cousin, Madeline,” Janet offered to give her a nice haircut. But she cut all of Madeline’s hair off—her cousin was completely bald! Janet had to give Madeline her favorite hat.
When her mother was talking on the phone and told Janet to go draw a picture, she drew a picture that covered the entire wall.
“Follow rules the right way!” said her mother.
“But my way is more fun,” answered Janet.
Her mother sent her to her room.
“If my mother wants me to go to my room,” Janet told her hamster, “then I will. But I WON”T LEAVE!”
So Janet stayed in her room.
She stayed in her room so long, that winter came. She could see snow piling up all the way to her window. Outside, her friends were ice-skating on the pond, catching snowflakes on their noses, and building snowmen. Janet pet her hamster.
After that, she still stayed in her room, and spring came. Her friends climbed trees, played hide and seek, and threw balls. Janet fed her goldfish.
Next came summer. Everyone, except Janet, was outside swimming. Their laughter and shouting and splashing was so loud, she had to plug her ears.
Then came the fall. She watched as her friends put brown crinkly leaves into a huge pile then run and jump into them. They fell and slipped and giggled.
Janet was still in her room.
And Janet had not been ice-skating, climbed a tree, been swimming, or jumped into a pile of brown crinkly leaves. She had not left her room for an entire year.
So Janet decided to peek outside of her bedroom door and see if maybe, just maybe, she should tip toe out of her room and go outside.
Creeping down the stairs, she saw her mother in the living room.
“Who are you?” asked her mother. “You look like my daughter, Janet, but I haven’t seen her for an entire year.”
“It is me, Mother, and um, I was thinking I’d go outside now.”
“What a great idea,” said her mother. Just before Janet got to the door, her mother called to her, “Be back in time for dinner—and I mean dinner tonight, not a year from now.”
Janet giggled.
“Yes, mother, I know what that rule means.”
So Janet went outside and made the biggest pile of leaves to jump into--she jumped higher and made more noise than anyone! And was home in time for dinner.
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