1st 5 Pages Oct Workshop - Helt

Name: Julianna Helt

Genre: MG Contemporary

Title: Slime Wars 

Lexi waved her sign at a passing car, “Get your slime,” she shouted. We stood in Shelby’s yard, behind an old fold-out table we lugged from her garage. Ten plastic containers lined up on the top each filled with a different color of homemade slime.

My sweaty hands slipped on the poster board with, “SLIME FOR SALE,” emblazoned in large red letters. Old Mrs. Mabel passerby by walking Charlie, her equally old dog. She peered at our signs and containers, shaking her head as she walked by muttering, “slime?” 

Lexi wrote “SLIME $1” on her poster board. She messed up the dollar sign and scratched it out with black marker.  

Shelby laid down on her sign, “It’s so hot,” she whined. She decorated her poster board with hearts and stars. I couldn’t even read what it said especially since she now sprawled across it.     

“No one is going to want our slime!” I collapsed into the grass next to Shelby, throwing my arm over my closed eyes. No one had driven or walked past our table except for Mrs. Mabel who definitely didn’t look interested. But then a car door slammed. 

“Hi,” Lexi said. I peered out from under my arm to see who she was talking to.  A boy stood on the sidewalk with a crisp five-dollar bill.

“Maycie,” she whispered, kicking me, “get up!”

I stood up off the grass. I guess we had our first customer.

“Um, did you want slime?” I mumbled pulling the end of my ponytail into my mouth. This seemed like a good idea until someone actually wanted to buy slime. Talking to customers made my already hot body become drenched in sweat.  

 “I don’t know,” the kid studied the merchandise, “Do you have blue?” He peered at the containers of slime on our table. 

“Of course,” Lexi picked up a container of slime and opened the lid.

 “Ew,” she dropped the container, squishing her face up in disgust.      

   

“Um, never mind,” the kid backed away. 

“Wait!” Desperate to make our first sale, I called out to the kid, but he was already in the car. 

I looked in the container in Lexi’s hand. 

“Gross,” What was once blue slime was now a pool of glue and laundry detergent. It didn’t look anything like slime. 

“They’re not all like that are they?” Shelby opened the other containers. They were. All the slime melted in the sun. 

Lexi let out a deep breath and threw herself down in the grass. 

“This is terrible!” She buried her face in her hands in a dramatic pose of defeat. But I had an idea! We needed something to thicken the slime in this heat. Maybe flour?

“I’ll be right back!” I ran across the street to my house. 

“Mom!” I screamed as the front door banged open.

 A blast of cold air hit my face but I didn’t pause to enjoy it. Mom wasn’t in the living room or the kitchen. She must be in the backyard with the twins. Since she’s usually ok with me borrowing stuff and I was in a hurry, I grabbed the bag of flour without asking from the kitchen and carried it back to slime headquarters. 

“What are you doing?” Lexi asked as I sprinkled some flour into the first container of blue slime stirring it with a plastic spoon. More and more flour went into the mixture, but the goo didn’t thicken like I thought it would. Flour covered the front of my #laxgirl shirt. 

“Borax!” I yelled to no one in particular, picking up the bag of flour to run back home with it. 

As I made my way across the front yard, my sweaty hands lost their grip on the bag of flour. It slipped through my fingers exploding on to my front yard like a flour atomic bomb. 

“Oh no!” I yelled. Lexi and Shelby came running. 

“Look at you,” Lexi tried to brush the flour out of my hair and clothes. It only smeared it in more. Her sweaty hands now white with flour. She looked at them in disgust.   

Shelby only smiled. I knew she was trying not to laugh. She sniffed. Any second she was going to explode in fits of giggles. 

“Don’t do it,” I warned her putting my hand up to stop her. That just sent a whiff of flour dust in the air. I couldn’t help but crack a smile. 

Shelby covered her mouth with both hands, but the sound burst from her lips under her fingers. Peels of laughter exploded across the lawn. I grabbed a handful from the bag and threw it in the air. It rained down on the three of us. 

“No, don’t!” Lexi cried in horror while Shelby spun around in the flour rain.

I threw another handful of flour in the air and danced in it with Shelby. Lexi laughed, streaking through the yard to escape the mess.  She’d be in so much trouble if she got flour all over her clothes. I knew this but I continued chasing her anyway.

She stopped running, out of breath, facing me, “Please stop, Maycie!” She put her hands out in front of her. 

A fistful of flour in my hand, I held it up threatening to throw it. She cowered.

“Don’t, Maycie,” I heard a stern voice behind me. Lexi relaxed, triumphant, looking passed me to the owner of the voice.

“Hi, Dad,” I turned, smiling my sweetest smile. 

“What in the world are you doing?” he demanded. My sweetness having no effect on him whatsoever. 

“I could ask you the same thing, you know? Did you skip out of work early?” I gave him a playful but stern look, shaking my finger at him. 

I expected him to have some witty comeback and we would exchange banter like we usually do. Instead his face darkened, a cloud passing over his eyes.   

      

“Just put the flour away, Maycie, and clean up. You’re a mess!” He opened up the backseat door, lifting out a box. “Can you close that door for me?” he said as he walked past.

I nodded, watching him walk toward the house, balancing the box on his hip as he opened the front door. I let go of the clump of flour in my hand, letting it fall to the ground, painting the grass with white specks. Using my hip to avoid touching Dad’s car and getting flour on it, I slammed it shut.             

“I have to go guys,” I said to my still laughing friends. 

Shelby’s face fell as I picked up the bag of flour. “Why?” she asked. 

“My dad,” I waved my hand at the car, “I just have to go.” Dad’s tension snaked its way into my laughter, twisting it. I could always make my dad laugh or at least crack a smile. 

“Bye, Maycie,” Lexi said to my back as I left my friends standing in the mess of flour.