I am am not a baby!

Manana knew she was home alone even before she went through the house room by room, looking for her winter coat.

Manana’s mother worked for a family in town, so she has to leave her home early so she could help her boss get the kids ready for school.

Her father was a taxi driver . He too had to leave the house early. He had to join the line of taxis at rank early so he that he could help people get to work on time.

“Mama says I’m smart and I can get myself ready for school just fine, even if I am six,” Manana bragged to her cousin Billy.

“Yeah? So if you are so smart, how come your mother asked my mother to make me walk you to school everyday?” Billy asked.

Manana didn’t have an answer for that. Billy was nine years old, and was repeating grade two, so he always got mad when people said she was smart.

Every morning, before she left for work, Manana’s mother set out her school uniform on the bed.
“So you can easily find the clothes after you take a bath,”she said.

Manana’s mother also put the girl’s porridge on the table. All Manana had to do was put sugar and milk in the bowl, stir and eat.

Manana’s mother also packed her lunch box and put it in her school bag. She always left the school bag at the door so Manana didn’t have to look for it.

On this day, Manana didn’t think her Mama knew it was going to be cold. She didn't set out Manana’s coat, so the little girl had to look for it.

The coat was a gift from Manana’s mother for her sixth birthday.
“Mrs Bosch didn’t want it anymore, but it still has some life in it,”Manana’s mother’s said.

Manana loved her coat even if it is too big and had funny patches in places, like an old sick dog losing some of its hair. The coat was soft and fuzzy, with lots of colours.
“It looks like a tiger,” Manana’s father said.

Manana looked for the coat in the wardrobe.
It was not there.

She looked in the box her Mama put special stuff for winter.
It was not there.

She looked in Mama's wardrobe.
It was not there.

Where was Manana’s coat?

"Manana? Hurry up! We're going to be late!" cousin Billy called her.

“I can’t find my coat,”I said.

“Hurry up. We’ll run. You will be warm enough,” he said.

Manana decided to leave the coat and breakfast and just go. She didn’t want Billy to leave her behind.

Billy hated walking with Manana to school. He said he would rather walk with his friends, who had something to say, not little babies who cried all the time. It didn’t help that his friends teased him about his chore too.

As soon as Manana came out of the house, Billy closed the door, then hurried away, making me run after him.

"Wait for me!" she said.

Billy knew Manana got scared when he runs too fast and leaves me behind. So he loved doing it to tease her.

"Stop being such a baby," he said when she began cry because he was running to fast.

"I'm not a baby!" Manana said.

"If you can't cross the main road by yourself and cry everytime someone does something you don’t like, then you are still a baby," Billy said.

“You know what? I think you hate walk with me to school because I'm smarter than you in class, is what I think,”Manana said.

“Right! You’re not smarter than I am?”

“I am too..I can say my alphabet and count up to 100 and I'm only six. My teacher says I'm a star, but she doesn’t say anything to you except Billy except “Billy! Stop that!”.

“Well, if you are smarter than me, you don’t need me to take you to school. You can do it yourself!” he said, then ran off.

The tears wanted to come back, but Manana fought them. She was going to show Billy that she could get herself to school. Her Mama said it was not too far.

“I’m just worried that she will get hit by a car. She doesn’t know how to cross the road yet,” Manana heard her mother say to Billy’s mother that day.

So she walked faster and made sure she was very far from oncoming cars. When she had to cross the roads, she looked left, right, then left again. S

he was supposed to cross then, but she got so scared she just stood on the side of the road. Again, she looked left, right and then left again. The oncoming car was very far away. So Manana crossed the road.
.
“Are you going to tell on me?” Billy asked her when they were in class.
“Maybe,”Manana said.

She knew she would not tell on him. If she told, Billy would get a hiding and would just make him meaner. Anyway, she was scared when she crossed the road alone, but she did it, and she wanted to do it again.

“Please don’t tell,” Billy said. “Please?”
“You have to give me something if you don’t want me to tell,” Manana said.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Something nice.”
“What if I stop calling you a baby? Is that enough?”

Nia had thought Billy would give her a sweet or some money, maybe even his juice, but not calling her “a baby” anymore was even better.

“Okay,”she said.

That evening, Manana asked her her mother if she had seen her coat.
“I looked and looked for it and I couldn’t find it,”she said.

“It’s on my bed. took it to the dry cleaner,” she said. “Winter is coming and I thought you were going to need it soon.”

Manana went to the bedroom to look at her coat. It was even more beautiful than before. The coat was softer and it smelled very nice.

She wished for cold weather for the following day, so she could wear the coat.


END