another exercize from my fiction class

Frogs

(March 03)

"Do you have to do that now?" she asked.

"Do you have to do that now?" I mocked in a high voice from the cabinet next to the sink.

"No seriously. Don't mimic me!"

"No seriously. Don't mimic me!" Mary Elizabeth is thirteen, and in junior high. She seems to think that means she can boss me around, because I'm eleven, and still in primary school.

"MOM!" Her face was red with frustration as she blew strands of hair out of her eyes.

"MOM!" I heard mom groan in the other room and turn up the volume on the TV. She didn’t answer.

"I don't see what your problem is, Mary Elizabeth. The kitchen isn't yours." It was Mary Elizabeth's turn to do the dishes, which always made her irritable. She didn't like doing the dishes. It makes her hands all wrinkly, and she said it makes them dry. How can water make your hands dry? And what does it matter, anyway? She also didn't like to be called Mary Elizabeth. She'd rather be called Lillian. That was our Great-aunt's name. She thinks it sounds sophisticated. I always call her Mary Elizabeth.

"Come on, Tucker. Can't you do that later? What are you doing rooting around in there, anyway?" I had crawled about halfway into the disaster known as the tupperware cabinet, rattling through the disorganized mountain. The dog jumped around my knees and ankles, barking as the plastic containers knocked together.

"I’m trying to find something," I said matter-of-factly. "Have you seen the big jar with the holes in it I left on the counter yesterday? I thought maybe someone washed it and put it in this maze."

"Did it have mud in it?" She flicked soapy water off her fingers at Bailey. He took off in the other direction, out the back door. He's such a wuss.

"Yeah, it might've. Why?"

"I bet Mom threw it out. You're always leaving gross stuff around."

"Urgh! But it took so long to get the holes just right so the tadpoles didn't freak out and the flies didn't escape! Do you know how hard it is to catch flies?" Of course she didn't. God forbid my sister ever got dirty, or did anything fun. "My stuff isn't any grosser than your stuff, anyway." Nope, she can't stand mud, she can't even stand regular soap, but she always left all sorts of weird smelling things around the bathroom, and half of them were pink. I don't want to know what they put in that goo to get rid of spots, or in the stuff she smears all over her eyes. It's definitely grosser than plain, simple mud.

"Didn't Mom tell you to keep your gross pets outside, anyway?" I wanted to tell her to keep her gross face outside, but that was a one-way ticket to getting kicked the rest of the way into the tupperware mountain.

"Well, can you wash this for me?" I said, changing the subject. I'd found a comparable container, minus the holes, of course, and plus a thick layer of grayish cabinet dust. I had to get my new frogs somewhere safer before her stupid dog knocked over the flowerpot I'd turned over on them and ate them, but I wasn't looking forward to poking all those tiny holes into another jar.

"Can't you wash it yourself?"

"You're hogging the sink," I pointed out. She scrutinized one soggy, soapy hand and wrinkled her nose.

"You can take over if you want it that badly. I don't mind," she said, going back to scrubbing a pot with a disgusted look on her face.

"Oh, come on, Mary Elizabeth. You're already washing the dishes. Why can't you wash one little tiny jar for me," I pleaded. I didn't really care if I had to wash it, but she might as well since her hands were buried in the sink anyway.

"You crazy dog, what have you been getting into?!" we heard Mom shout from the other room. Bailey tore into the kitchen, running from the shouting. One small, greenish leg dangled limply from his mouth.

"Mary Elizabeth! Now look, you distracted me too long and now your stupid dog ate my frogs! I should make you go catch me more yourself!" Mary Elizabeth shook her head, like they deserved to die or something. I ran out the back door after Bailey, chucking the container I'd scrounged up at her ankles as I went.