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Chapter One
My family lives on Oak
Street. It is called that because there are a lot of oak trees. They are
all very tall and in the fall they get acorns. Squirrels and chipmunks
live in the oak trees, so do cardinals, blue jays and doves. My house is
in the middle of the block. We have a big oak tree in our front garden.
Dad has to paint our fence every year. It is white and goes from one side
to the other. Sometimes I swing on the gate.
Chapter Two
We have a flower garden. I
help Mum pull the weeds out. In the spring we have tulips, iris, and
daffodils. In summer we have roses and in fall we have marigolds. The
flowers make our garden pretty. I see bees and butterflies near the
flowers. One day Ethan pulled all of Mum’s flowers out and threw them on
the grass. Mum was mad at first, but then she hugged Ethan and said it was
all right.
Chapter Three
Mr. Pickle is our next-door
neighbor. His real name is Mr. Peters, but he gets angry a lot, so we call
him Mr. Pickle. He doesn’t like Alec to ride his bike on his grass. Mr.
Pickle stands outside every morning and waters his flowers with the hose.
At night he sits on his porch swing and swats moths and midgies. He
doesn’t smile very often. Mr. Pickle doesn’t have a fence in his front
garden but I know he wishes he did.
Chapter Four
Mr. and Mrs. Butler are our
other next-door neighbors. They are gone all the time. Mum says they work
too much. Sometimes I see two cars parked in their driveway. One is silver
and the other is red, like my dad’s. They don’t have any flowers and Alec
cuts their grass every Saturday with our lawn mower. He gets ten pounds
for doing that. I asked if I could help, but he wouldn’t let me. They
don’t have a fence either.
Chapter Five
At the end of Oak Street is
a grocery store. Mum often takes Ethan and I for walks to pick up milk and
bread. If I am a good girl, Mum will buy me a biscuit for a treat. On
Saturday our whole family goes shopping. We have to have a cart to carry
all our food in and each of us has to carry grocery bags into the house.
Every Tuesday we go to the Farmer’s Market to get fresh fruits and
vegetables. Mum picks up melons and smells them. She always buys apples
because she knows I like them. I don’t like onions, but Mum always gets
some.
Chapter Six
There is a fire station
across from the grocery store with a big, red fire engine. It must get
dirty a lot because the firemen wash it nearly every day with a big hose.
If there is a fire in the neighborhood, the firemen turn on the sirens and
honk loud. The fire engine goes down the street with lights flashing and a
fireman always stands on a long ladder. Alec wants to be a fireman when he
grows up. I hope he likes to wash fire-trucks.
Chapter Seven
We have to go three blocks
to get to the Post Office. Dad takes Alec with him when he goes to buy
stamps. Alec always comes home with a new one for his collection. When Mum
wants to post packages, she sends them with Dad. It is always busy there.
The postman drives past our house and leaves letters in our postbox.
Sometimes he waves at me and other times he drives by. We also have a
school, a library, a hospital, a park, a police station, and a chemist in
our neighborhood. |
