"One of Those Days" BY MARTHA BOLTON Ever have one of those days? From the time you wake up, absolutely nothing goes right. You get out of bed in the morning and walk into the wall. You try to pour yourself a bowl of cereal, and the whole box dumps onto the table. You take a shower, but all the hot water is gone. You can't decide whether to dry off or stay in there and go ice fishing. You mistake a tube of Ben-Gay for your toothpaste. Your hair has more electricity in it than the Hoover Dam. You discover that the shirt you ironed last night, the one you were planning on wearing today, walked out of your house 15 minutes ago on your little sister's back. You burn your forhead with your curling iron. You put your shoes on the wrong feet, but don't notice until third period. The school bus splashes through a puddle just as it stops to pick you up. You can't get your locker open, and that tuna sandwich you left in there two weeks ago is making the whole school smell like a cannery and affecting the data in the chemistry lab. You remember it's the day for choir tryouts, and that hoarseness you woke up with doesn't seem to be going away. Being the trooper that you are, you audition anyway. You're now the lead singer in the boy's choral group. You leave your new jacket, the one with your lunch money and a note that says "I love Jeremy" in the pocket, on the PE field and now it's gone. You're wondering how you're going to explain the missing jacket to your parents, the missing lunch money to your stomach, and the note that's now mysteriously taped to Jeremy's locker to Jeremy. You run over a concrete planter in driver's training, and your teacher's not buying the fact that you thought it was a speed bump. That book report you tried to bluff for English class just happened to be on a book that's been out of print for decades and the only copy is in a locked case in the Smithsonian. Your teacher is so impressed and excited that you got the opportunity to actually read it, she's asked you to give your report to the entire school at the next assembly. You pull a loose string on your sweater. Your sweater is now a vest. You totally forgot it was picture day and that fruit punch mustache you got at lunch seems to be growing darker by the minute. There is one good thing about bad days, though. At the most, they can only last 24 hours, and then we all get a chance at a better one. ** Martha Bolton lives in Brentwood, Tennessee. She writes "The Cafeteria Lady" for Brio, a Christian magazine for teenage girls from Focus On the Family. For a taste of what this awesome magazine is like, visit Brio's official website: Brio Magazine Email: perfection@chickmail.com