FREE CHILDREN'S BOOK

                                                                            SANBRINA’S  SPECIAL DAY
                                                                                                       BY
                                                                                            RICK KURTIS

                                                                            SANBRINA’S  SPECIAL DAY
                                                                                                       BY
                                                                                            RICK KURTIS
                                                                    Chapter 1                      Sanbrina’s Morning,
                                                                                                    age 8
               Sanbrina woke up all excited, because today was her birthday. She jumped out of bed and woke up her sister, Lyanna. “Lyanna,” she said, “wake up. It’s my birthday.” She was so excited, she couldn’t wait to see what the new day would bring.
          Lyanna, on the other hand, didn’t like being woken up so early in the morning. She threw her pillow at Sanbrina, and grumpily said, “Sanbrina, leave me alone. I’m sleeping.”
          Sanbrina did what she asked and prepared to dress for the day. She stood by the closet door to decide. “Now, what should I wear? Let’s see, if we go somewhere outside, I should wear pants. However, if we go someplace that’s indoors, I should wear a dress. Oh, decisions, decisions, decisions. I know, I’ll wear both.”
          Sanbrina pulled out her prettiest purple dress and a light pair of leggings to go underneath. By the time she finished getting dressed, she heard her baby brother, Christopher, start to cry. She walked down the hallway and peeked into Christopher’s room. As soon as she opened the door, Christopher stopped crying. He stood up in his crib and smiled at her.
          “Good morning, Chris,” she said, “Today’s my birthday.” She walked into the room and Chris pointed at his favorite toy sitting on the floor. Little man, their pet cat was wrestling with the toy. “Little man,” she said, “that’s not yours.” She picked it up and handed it to Chris. Little man jumped, ran into the closet then darted out from the room.
          While the two played together, Cassie came in the room with a bottle for Chris. She saw Sanbrina and said, “Oh, good morning, Sanbrina. You’re up early.”
          Sanbrina smiled. “Hi, what are we going to do today? I’m so excited, I just can’t wait.”
          Cassie picked up Chris and gave him his bottle and said, “Wait for what? Do you want to come to my teachers meeting with me, today?”
          Sanbrina gave her a puzzled look and said, “No, today is my birthday, and I thought we were going to do something special. I am a year older, you know.”
          Cassie placed Chris down on the floor to change his diaper. “Oh, yes, I completely forgot. Happy Birthday, Sanbrina. Oh, Chris, will you hold still.”
          Chris laughed and tried to crawl away. “Come back here,” Cassie demanded, “I’m sorry, Sanbrina. I have just been so busy lately. Maybe your daddy has something planned.”
          Sanbrina felt disappointed, but thought maybe she was right. She bucked up with a smile and said, “Okay, I’ll go ask Daddy.”
          Cassie picked up Chris and put him into his playpen and said, “Your daddy is already gone for the day. Could you do me a favor and watch Chris while I take a shower? Thank you, Sanbrina.”
          Cassie walked out of the room and left the two alone. Now Sanbrina felt really sad. She thought this year would be different. She thought it would be better. Chris jumped in his playpen to get her attention and said, “Sab, ooh ye ay yah baa.”
          Sanbrina changed her train of thought and laughed. “Well, at least you still love me,” she said. She bent down to pick Chris up. “Let’s go out to the living room and watch TV while munching on some Fruit Loops.” Chris giggled and squirmed and off they went.
 
                                                                                  Chapter 2                Sister Trouble
 
         Sanbrina sat and played with Chris for most of the morning, while watching a Teen Titans’ marathon. Cassie picked up Chris and headed out for the day. She turned to the girls and said, “You girls be good. I’ll be back by 4 o’clock.”
          Lyanna plopped down onto the couch and crowded Sanbrina off the edge. She said to Cassie, “We’ll be good, I promise.”
          Cassie walked out the door, and Sabrina sat back on the couch. She tried to get comfortable, but Lyanna kept pushing her away. Lyanna became annoyed and said, “Geez, Sanbrina, keep your stinky feet away from me. Go take a shower or something.”
          Lyanna changed the channel to watch her favorite show, Alex and Katie. Sanbrina jumped off the couch in a huff, and went into the family room to pull out her big toy box. It was only a big cardboard box that held all her toys, but it was hers. She tipped the box over and poured her toys out onto the family room floor. She began to play with her Minnie Mouse Playset.
          The time slowly passed by, and the clocks hands pointed straight up to 12 o’clock. Lyanna’s tummy grumbled, so she went to the kitchen to get something to eat. She barreled through Sanbrina’s toys, kicking them out of her way.
          “Hey,” Sanbrina said, “you messed everything up.”
          Lyanna ignored her and made herself a bowl of Frosted Flakes, and Sanbrina said, “Lyanna, look what I made.”
          Lyanna felt like picking on her little sister for fun. She put her cereal down and grabbed Sanbrina’s toy, and tossed it into the big box. Sanbrina put her hands on her hips and said in a stern voice, “What did you do that for?” She turned and crawled into the big box to get her toy. Lyanna quickly turned the box up and over on top of her sister. She sat on top of the box and began to eat her cereal. She knew Sanbrina was afraid of the dark, but she didn’t care.
          Sanbrina screamed, “Lyanna, let me out. You know I’m afraid of the dark. Lyanna!”
          Lyanna just sat eating her cereal, while laughing out loud.
          Sanbrina became really scared, but had to calm herself down. She closed her eyes and covered them with her hands and said to herself, “It’s okay, Sanbrina. You are in your house, and just inside your own toy box. Everything is okay. You can handle this. It’s a bright sunny day, and you are just playing hide and seek with your sister. Your eyes are closed and covered with your hands, that’s all. You can still hear the TV, everything is fine. Your sister is just being a little smarty-pants.”
          The longer she sat and talked to herself, the more she forgot about being in the dark. She kept her mind busy, and soon rested her head and arms on her knees. She continued to think.  “Boy, I’m going to get her back someday,” she said and opened her eyes.
                                               
                                                                Chapter 3                   Coping with the Darkness
 
          When she opened her eyes, Sanbrina saw all the characters on the Minnie Mouse Show standing in a big beautiful park. Minnie Mouse saw her and walked over. “Sanbrina, I’m so glad you could join us. We needed another player.” She reached down and grabbed Sanbrina’s hand to pull her up.
          Sanbrina didn’t know where she ended up, or how she arrived, but it was a bright and sunny day in the park. Her fear of the dark disappeared. “What?”
          Minnie pulled her across the park while explaining, “We have to play the Teen Titans in a game of soccer, and we need your help.”
          Just then, she saw her best friend, Allyson running over. Allyson seemed all excited to see her. “Sanbrina, you came,” she said and gave her a big hug. “I told them you would come. Happy birthday by the way. We have to win, or we don’t get a party.”
          Sanbrina forgot all about her day, and ran with Allyson and Minnie onto the field. She gave Allyson a big smile and said, “Okay, we better win then.”
          Minnie Mouse faced off with Beast Boy for the kickoff, and the ball flew into play. Beast Boy kicked it first, and it rolled toward Robin. Allyson blocked his way and kicked the ball over to Sanbrina. Sanbrina worked the ball down the field, dodging fire balls thrown by Raven. “Hey, no fair,” Sanbrina yelled, and passed the ball to Mickey Mouse. The Teen Titans all ganged up on Mickey, so he kicked the ball right back to Sanbrina, and she kicked it into the goal. “Score,” everyone yelled.
“One to zero,” Allyson said, “Way to go, Sanbrina.”
The game went back and forth, while the time counted down. Cyborg had the ball with three minutes left in the game. He turned his leg into a Cannon and sucked up the ball, and (Kaboom), shot the ball out with a mighty force. Mickey Mouse quickly dug a hole and jumped in. The ball whizzed over his head and hit Goofy, pushing him into the side of the goal post that held the net. No score was made and the ball rolled back into play. Allyson grabbed the ball with her toes, pivoted and began down the field. “Let’s show them what we girls can do,” she said.
          All three girls started down the field. Beast Boy grew into a huge beast to scare Allyson. She kicked the ball between his legs and he was too big to reach for. Minnie continued with the ball across the field. Robin came in fast, too fast. Minnie stopped, pivoted in a circle, and Robin whizzed on by. She passed the ball to Sanbrina.
Raven made the ground roll up in front of her, while Starfire tried to kick the ball away from her. Because of her long legs, Starfire tripped over the rolling sod, and Sanbrina quickly kicked the ball back to center, where Minnie stopped the ball and booted it into the goal.
Sanbrina yelled, “Bango, score. Two to zero.”
The time had run out and the horn blew. The game was over. All three girls jumped up and down singing, “We won, we won, we won.” Everyone cheered with bells and whistles, and dings and dongs.
                        
                                                                                 Chapter 4                A Big Surprise
 
 The sunlight faded away, and it became dark once again. But this time it felt different. The cheerful noises continued along with the dings, the bells, and the whistles. Then she heard a band singing. She recognized the voice, and the song, but couldn’t place whom or where she heard it before.
At that moment, the top of the box flew open. Sanbrina stood up and saw a whole bunch of flashing lights. After her eyes adjusted, she saw all of her family standing in front of her. “Surprise!” They all shouted as a big silly looking mouse came walking up to her and picked her up out from the box.
The big mouse held her up and said, “Happy Birthday, Sanbrina,  from Chucky Cheese.
 
The band began to play a personal happy birthday song using Sanbrina’s name, and all the people sang along.
Sanbrina was so happy, tears of joy flowed from her eyes.
Daddy and Cassie were there along with her baby brother, Chris, and all her half-sisters and their families. It was the biggest surprise ever. They had pizza and cake with Starburst ice cream in a special room that was filled with balloons and streamers just for Sanbrina.
When it all came to an end, Lyanna hugged Sanbrina and said, “Happy Birthday, Booty girl. I’m sorry for the box thing, and the dark.”
Sanbrina gave her a big smile and said, “That’s okay. I had a most wonderful day.”
 
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