Olivia – age 11

Dear Diary,

Tonight at dinner, Garrid and I got in trouble with dad. Again.

Maria, the cook, made this spinach soup. Both Garrid and I absolutely despise spinach, so we told dad that we weren't going to eat it. He, of course, took offense to this and told us that we had to eat the whole bowl or we wouldn't get any dessert.

Why did tonight have to be the night they serve our favorite dessert? Couldn't they have served something besides chocolate cake?

So Garrid and I were NOT under any circumstances, going to eat the soup. But we really wanted the cake.

Luckily, Bucky the squirrel tapped on the window, giving us an idea.

We excused ourselves from the table and made our way upstairs to our bedroom.

We found Bucky outside, sitting in the tree. We opened the window and let him inside.

We told him about our spinach situation and he offered to round up some of his buddies. We accepted his offer and he dashed out the window.

Garrid and I went back downstairs and pretended to eat the 'food'. Actually, we just put it in Garrid's pockets. I don't think anyone knew except Jamie. I think Garrid has a crush on her.

Bucky appeared outside the window again and we went back upstairs.

When we opened the window an army of squirrels was waiting for us.

I guess squirrels go nuts over spinach because the next thing I know, they tackled my brother and were eating the soup from his pockets.

Then dad came upstairs and demanded to know what was going on. So we told him what any calm, rational, and sane 11 year-olds would do.

We told Bucky and his army to attack dad.

Having just eaten his soup, dad's moustache had bits of spinach in it.

The squirrels devoured it in seconds.

Dad was enraged, so we barricaded ourselves in our bedroom. Then Bucky made the mistake of chewing through our door, letting dad into the room.

He started yelling at us but he only had half a moustache and it was slightly comical. Garrid started laughing, which only made him angrier. Mom tried to calm him down but it didn't work.

Needless to say, we are grounded for a week and are not allowed out of our room.

Hopefully Jamie comes to visit.

Love,

Olivia