Michaela Quinn sat at her desk. Her unfinished homework sat before her, but she didn't care. She stared out her window, watching the kites flying over Boston green. She sighed and wished that she was allowed to join in. She loved her father very much, but wished that he wasn't so strict. She wanted to run and play on the green like other seven year olds. Rebecca understood. She and Michaela would sometimes sneak to the green and play tag with some of the other children. At least they used to. Lately, Rebecca had been more interested in balls and parties like Marjorie, Maureen, and Claudette. Michaela sighed again. She hoped that she and Rebecca weren't growing apart. They'd been inseparable for as long and she could remember. Suddenly there was a knock on her door. 'Come in,' she called. The door opened and Martha walked in.

'Dinner's ready Miss,' Martha told her.

'Thank you, I'll be right down,' Michaela said. She got up and washed her face and hands at her bureau. She flattened her fly-aways with her damp hands before walking downstairs. 'Father, you came home for supper today!' she cried, as soon as she walked into the dinning room and saw him at the head of the table. She gave him a kiss on the cheek before sitting down at her place.

'So Mike,' her father said. 'How was your day?'

'Just fine Father,' she told him.

'And have you gotten all your homework done?'

'Yes,' she lied quickly, not wanting to see the disappointment in his eyes if she told him that it wasn't yet done. 'I'll do it after dinner,' she told herself.

After dinner, however, Rebecca asked her to play checkers in her room, while the others went into parlor to sit after dinner. Mike was so pleased to have Rebecca all to herself, just like old times, that her homework was instantly forgotten. She and Rebecca play five games, Michaela winning them all. After the fifth game, Martha came in to tell them to get up to bed. Mike got into her nightgown and climbed into bed without a single thought for the unfinished paper sitting on her desk. She dreamed about playing tag and flying kites on the green with Rebecca, without a care in the world.

The next morning, Mike packed up her books without looking at them. She was still lost in her dream from the night before. She remembered laughing as she and Rebecca had collapsed onto the green after a game of tag. They had laid there; looking for shapes in the clouds, and watching the kites fly overhead like a flock of brightly colored birds. James, the driver drove Michaela, Maureen, and Claudette to school. Rebecca and Marjorie no longer attended school. Maureen and Claudette chattered about the upcoming Cotillion, while Mike stared out the window, disinterested. She only remembered her homework at school that day, when she went to turn in the essay, and saw one sentence on her paper. She glumly walked to the teacher's desk and handed it to Miss Shay. She realized at her seat that she had no other homework done. The essay was the first thing she had done, and she had had math and history. She handed in her blank papers, and vowed that it would never happen again.

That night, she had even more homework. She sat at her desk and tried to concentrate. She looked out her window, and saw two girls she knew from school standing across the road. When they saw her looking, they beckoned to her. They pointed at Mike, then at themselves, then at the green. That was all the coaxing Michaela needed. The rushed outside, and went with them to the green, where they flew a kite, played tag, and ate ice cream. Mike thought, 'this is what it should be like to be a seven year old.' She had never had such a good time. After supper, she could barely keep her eyes open, and went straight to bed.

At school the next day, she handed in her unfinished homework again. Miss Shay asked her to stay after class. Michaela was so ashamed. She had never had to stay after class before.

Miss Shay handed Mike a note. 'Get that signed by your parents so that I know they saw it. This isn't like you Michaela. You've never turned in incomplete homework before.'

Mike hung her head at the disappointment in Miss Shay's voice. She had to walk home because James had already left with Maureen and Claudette. She couldn't imagine this day getting any worse…until she thought of Father. How disappointed he would be with her. Not doing her work and lying about it. He would never forgive her.

Harrison opened the door. 'There you are Miss,' he said. 'Your Mother was wondering where you were. Your Father came home early today, they're waiting for you in the parlor.'

'Oh no,' Michaela thought. 'No putting it off now.' She gritted her teeth and walked into the parlor.

"Hello Mike," Father said. "Where have you been?"

"Miss Shay asked me to stay after class," she replied, avoiding his eyes.

"And what did she want from you?" Father asked. "It's good, I hope."

Mike felt tears coming to her eyes. She threw the note onto the side table and ran to her room. She flung herself onto her bed and cried and cried.

Martha came and told Michaela that dinner was ready, but she didn't go down. 'I'd rather stay up here forever and starve,' she thought, as her stomach rumbled protest. She did all of her homework so that she wouldn't have to hand it in incomplete again. She was just finishing and essay when there was a knock on her door.

"You're wanted in the parlor," Martha told her. "Your Father wants to speak with you."

"So," Father said when Mike entered the parlor five minutes later. She had brushed her hair and washed her face. Her Mother sat on the couch. "So," Father said again, bringing her attention back to him. "You haven't done your homework in two days."

"I did it tonight Father," Michaela told him in a small voice.

"But you didn't do it last night, or the night before. Why is that?"

"Well, the first night, I was looking out my window. I wasn't paying attention. I promised myself that I would do it after dinner, but Rebecca wanted me to play checkers."

She saw her Father fight to stay calm. "So you lied to me? That night when you told me at dinner that you had all your homework done?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"What?" her Father said, almost shouting.

"Yes Father," she said, close to tears.

"And what happened last night?"

"Some girls from my class asked me to go out with them. I went and played on the green."

"You snuck out, didn't you?"

"You would never let me go," she sobbed.

His face softened. "Mike, I want you to be able to play. Your mother and I would have let you go after you finished all your work."

"Yes Father," Michaela sniffled.

"Mike, it's very important that you understand this. You will get no where in life if you don't do your work. You won't become a doctor, nothing. Work first, pleasure later. Do you promise to always do all your work?"

"Yes Father, I promise" she said, feeling a wonderful sense of enlightenment. Father forgave her as long as she always did her work. And that is why she always wants to get everything done and put nothing off.

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