My favorite show is Hops. It’s about a fun bunny rabbit. And Hops always says that ‘Perfect days are one in a million’. That means that they don’t happen a lot.

I got the one in a million today, because all day, I didn’t feel sad, or mad, or bored, or anything bad today. I didn’t cry even once! I didn’t fall over or get a boo-boo, or drop something and break it. I was happy every single minute. So it was a perfect day.

We all readed what Miss Kramer put on the big board. “Today is Tuesday, November 8th, 2011. Today, we learned how to count to fifteen, how to mix colors, and how to sing Old McDonald had a Farm.”

“Very good! Clap your hands!” She clapped with us. “Now, bus kids line up at the door on the left side, car kids on the right. Let’s pack up and go!”

I got my lunch box and my backpack and lined up with the bus kids. My bestest friend Thelma lined up in front of me. She was really cool and she had those glasses I always wanted to wear, but Mommy said it was only for kids with bad seeing, so I wasn’t allowed to wear them, because I could see good. She was also super-duper smart!

Miss Kramer leaded us to the big doors of the preschool, which was called First Steps Preschool. She stopped, so everyone had to stop, too.

“Diana! Look at my springy!” My friend Celeste runned to me with a thing in her hand. It looked fun. It had colors of the rainbow, and it looked like a bunch of stars on top of each other.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s called a springy!” she said. “See? It’s like a big string, and it’s like a star, and it all bounces together! See?” She pulled it and pushed it together. It was really funny. We giggled.

“Can I try it?” Thelma asked.

Celeste’s face went angry. “No! You have to be four!”

Thelma’s face went sad. She was three, and she was gonna be four in March.

“Can I try?” I asked Celeste.

“Okay.” She smiled really nice to me and gived it to me. I played with it.

“Celeste, get back in line, please,” Miss Kramer said.

Celeste runned back to the back of the line. Her family’s name was Zucker, so she had to go all the way to the end of the alphabet.

“Here.” I talked really quiet so nobody could hear me. I gived Thelma the springy and put my finger on my mouth, because that meaned to be quiet.

She smiled. “Thank you!” she said loud.

I put my finger on my mouth again. “Shh!”

She covered her mouth. “Thank you,” she said more quiet.

We went to the bus place and Miss Kramer called our names so we could get on the big bus. I went up the little stairs to the bus and sitted next to the window near the front. It was my favoritest spot.

Thelma sitted next to me. She looked really happy, too. We both got the most perfect day ever today.

Celeste Zucker walked inside the bus last. Thelma gived me the springy, because Celeste was gonna be angry if she seed Thelma with it. I didn’t like when other kids were mad at me. And today was a perfect day. So mad and sad wasn’t allowed.

The bus moved and the school got smaller and smaller until I couldn’t see it anymore. Buses and cars were magic! The world moved around me, and stuff got smaller when I leaved it. It shrinked behind me, and the stuff in front of me growed until it was big enough to go inside.

The bus stopped at our street, Waterfield Street. Thelma went to her house and said bye. I walked all the way to my house all by myself. My mommy said I was inpendent. That meaned you didn't have a pendent, and people weren’t doing things for you all the time. I was a big girl.

I singed the Perfect Day song that Hops always singed. “Nothing bad, nothing mad, nothing sad… no, no, today is a perfect day! Today is a perfect day! Nothing can go wrong on…”

I stopped at my house. Something looked… diffrent. Daddy said diffrent was good, but this kind of diffrent was the kind I didn’t like. It maked me scared inside, like something bad. There was always light in the big glass windows. But it was dark. There was no light.

No. Nothing bad. Today was s’posed to be perfect. So nothing bad was gonna happen.

I went up the steps to the porch place and turned the door-knob. It didn’t move. Daddy telled me that meaned it was locked. So I needed a key. But not a toy key. A real one.

I remembered Mommy put a key under the welcome mat. I looked under the mat and finded the key. It was cold and sharpish, and it was maked out of metal.

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What did Mommy say? Lefty-loosy…

I put it inside the little hole in the door and turned it to the left. I heard a click and something moved. When I moved the door-knob, the door opened.

I smiled. I opened the door all by myself. So it was a perfect day!

I went inside my house and took my winter things off. It was kinda dark, but the sun had light. Mommy and Daddy weren’t here like always. It was empty.

“Mommy? Daddy?” They were quiet, so that meaned they weren’t here.

I taked the key out of the hole, closed the door, and turned the lock. Mommy said that a bad guy could come in if I leaved it open.

I went to the kitchen. It was my favorite part of the house because I got to eat. There was something on the refigirater. It was a piece of paper with my name on it. I took it off the refigirater and readed it.

Diana, Mommy and Daddy went to do some important things. We won’t be back until 4:00.

I looked at the electric clock. It said 3:05.

Your food is in the fridge in a blue box. It’s supposed to be cold, so do not use the microwave.

I didn’t like the microwave. Thelma telled me it catched fire.

We also left a cup of milk next to the box. Do not open the door to anyone, keep the doors and windows locked, and call us if you need any help. We left the extra smartphone on the dining table.

The smartphone was like a phone, but smart. I knowed how to call people there.

Daddy’s phone number is (208) 390-8664 and Mommy’s number is (208) 235-8796. If there’s an emergency and you can’t call us, go to a neighbor’s house. You can go to the Hortons’ across the street.

I liked the Hortons. They were super nice.

If the emergency is really bad, call 911 and give your address. If there’s a bad guy, ask for the police; if you’re seriously hurt, ask for the ambulance; and if there’s a fire, the firetruck.

“Okay, Mommy,” I said.

We love you. Mommy and Daddy

I went to the refigirater and opened it, and I finded the blue box Mommy said about. It had my favorite food, pasta salad! I knew I would get my favorite food today!

I taked a fork and bringed the food to the table with my milk. I said a prayer like Mommy and Daddy teached me, with my hands together. “Thank you, God, for this meal, for making it so yummy; now today, and for real, I’m gonna fill my tummy. Amen.”

I finished my food and went to watch TV. When the TV turned on, it had the boring news on it. A man was talking on it, and there was a picture next to him. It looked like a car, but it was all weird, like smashed up.

It was the same color as my mommy and daddy’s car, which was red. It was under a truck. The picture changed to another smashed up car that was blue, and it was smashed with a green car.

“… just happened on the highway. We’re not sure what caused the pile-up, but it’s definitely fatal; five cars and one cargo truck were involved. Paramedics are working to free the trapped passengers…”

How was I supposed to change it? Daddy always changed the screen.

On the remote controller, I pressed all the buttons that had numbers on them. That made the screen change to other stuff, and I finded a cartoon. I giggled and bounced onto the sofa to watch it. It was always so much fun watching cartoons, but it was most fun with my mommy and daddy.

But they weren’t here, so I got to watch even more than one show! They always telled me not to watch too much TV, or my brain would get killed. But Thelma telled me that wasn’t true because her brain didn’t get killed, and she watched a lot of TV!

They always said only one show, but I watched… like a hundred! It really was a perfect day. “Perfect, perfect, perfect day…” I singed the song from Hops. I was gonna tell Mommy and Daddy all about today when they came back. Maybe they weren’t gonna be mad if I watched a lot of TV.

I turned off the TV with the big red button and looked out the window. The sun was less bright now. When I looked at the clock, I didn’t feel that happy anymore.

It said 4:56.

I runned to the dining table and looked at the note Mommy left. She said they’d be back at 4:00. That was a zillion trillion minutes!

No. No crying. Today was s’posed to be perfect, so no crying allowed. Mommy and Daddy were okay. They said that sometimes, people were late to stuff.

But late was bad, right?

Nothing bad could happen on a perfect day… that meaned today wasn’t perfect, right? But I wanted it to be… it feeled like one.

I got the smartphone and went to the phone picture at the bottom. There were numbers on the screen. I readed Daddy’s number on the note and put it on the screen so I could call him.

It started making a long, beeping sound. Mommy was always really quiet when that sound started, so I stayed really, really quiet.

“Hello, you’ve reached Stuart Watson. Unfortunately, I can’t answer the phone right now…”

“Daddy? Daddy, it’s me, Diana,” I said to him.

“… please leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”

There was a beep after. Then quiet.

“Um… Daddy? It’s me, Diana. Can you hear me?”

Quiet again.

“You said you’d be back at four-oh-oh. What happened? Are you okay, Daddy? Is it a ‘mergency?”

He wasn’t talking.

“Am I supposed to call 911? What’s going on, Daddy? Is Mommy there? Mommy, are you there?”

Mommy didn’t talk, either. Maybe she only talked on her phone number.

I looked at the screen and pushed the red button to stop it. I put Mommy’s number on the screen and waited for the long beeping to stop.

“This is Charlotte Watson. Unfortunately, I’m unavailable right now. Please leave a message!”

There was a beep again. Mommy didn’t say anything anymore.

“Mommy? Mommy, can you hear me? Are you there?”

She was quiet.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? Are you okay?”

She didn’t say anything to me.

I did a sigh. “I love you.” I stopped the call with the red button again.

I went to the window again and looked at the Horton’s house. Mommy said to go there if there was a ‘mergency. Was this a ‘mergency?

I feeled like something really bad happened. And ‘mergencies were supposed to be bad. So today wasn’t perfect like I thinked. That maked me sad.

So I put my jacket on, ‘cause it was really cold, and went outside all by myself. I looked both ways and walked across the street, just like Daddy said. Thinking about Daddy maked me miss him. And Mommy. I didn’t like when they weren’t home. I was inpendent, but I loved my mommy and daddy. I was a big girl, but I wasn’t an ‘adult’ like them. There were lots of big kids bigger than me, and they still wanted their mommies and daddies.

I ringed the doorbell at the Hortons’ house. There were feet walking and then the door opened.

“Oh… hi, Diana, sweetie. What are you doing here?” Mrs. Horton said.

“Mommy and Daddy haven’t come back yet,” I said.

She looked at my house. “They left you alone?”

“Mommy gived me a note and she said they would be here at four-oh-oh. And they’re not here.”

Mrs. Horton did a weird sad face. “Come on in, sweetheart. You can play with Ellie.”

I went inside the house and she closed the door.