COMING TOGETHER

Charlie Lust

5th Grade • John C. Coonley Elementary

Jake Martin was your average fifth-grade boy, but he ended up changing the whole future of his little town, Edgebrook. This is the story of how he did it.

One day, Jake noticed how much trash was in his town, and how little people cared about it. He had seen the trash for years, but he had never really realized how little people cared. They walked right by the overflowing trash cans. They stepped over the soda cans in the town square. They ran right past the potato chip bags on the sidewalk. They just ignored it. Jake knew that it had to change, but he didn’t know how to do it. So, he told his best friend, Michael. He would know what to do.

Michael Brown was a very smart boy. He was always the first to raise his hand after the teacher asked a question. He was always right. But when Jake told him that he needed help with cleaning up the town, he was puzzled.

“The whole town?” he asked. “Yeah. Is there something wrong?” replied Jake. Michael didn’t know what to say. In order to clean up the whole town, they would need help. In order to get help, they would have to ask around for volunteers. “Yes. We will need help. But how will we get it?” he said. “By asking for volunteers, of course!” Jake exclaimed. That was what Michael was fearing. He wished that Jake had come up with something else. There was one problem with asking.

57

“Jake, no one is going to help.”

“What do you mean, no one is going to help?”

Haven’t you seen it? The way people just walk right by the trash? They don’t care, Jake, and nothing will change their mind.”

“We’ll just start cleaning up, and maybe others will follow,” Jake said uneasily. Jake realized how hard it was going to be, but he followed through on his plan and started cleaning up the town square with Michael and a few other friends from school. No one noticed them. Some even told them to stop. All of the kids went to bed that night with heavy hearts, especially Jake.

Early the next morning, Jake gathered his friends that had helped clean up the day before. This time, he gave them a pep talk.

“All right, everybody. You saw how people didn’t notice us cleaning up. Today, we’re getting an early start. We are going to finish the town square before most people come outside. Then, people will notice that the town square is clean. Let’s get started!”

They all went down to the town square and started cleaning. They finished just as people started coming. They noticed, all right. Some people even congratulated them on cleaning it. But still, people looked on with disgust. The kids went back home to grab a snack. But when they came back, the square was back to its original state: full of garbage.

“What happened?” Jake exclaimed. “We can’t clean it up fast enough. The whole town litters too fast for us to keep up,” said Michael grimly.

“Well, there are those people who congratulated us. I

58

remember them. We could ask them to help, or at least to convince their friends to help. It’s a small town, after all,” Jake suggested.

“Let’s do it!” everybody exclaimed. Jake’s plan worked. Within one week, the workforce had doubled, even tripled, and a lot of adults had pitched in. The majority of the town still opposed them, though. One day, the Chief of Police came over to them.

“You cannot continue cleaning. You are making the residents of Edgebrook rebel against the town government,” he said.

“Rebel?!?!” said Jake’s mom. “We’re just making this town a better place!” “That may be true, but you are also causing others to request a new town government.” The members of the “Keeping Our Town Clean Crew,” as they had called themselves, looked at each other in surprise. They never knew that they were so effective, but they stopped cleaning. No one wanted to disobey the police.

One day, Jake woke up to a crowd outside yelling. “No more littering! No more littering!” he heard them say. He quickly changed and went outside. He saw a great number of people outside walking down the road, waving signs and yelling things. They were headed to the town hall. Jake joined them as they stopped at the town hall. Soon enough, the mayor came outside and spoke through a megaphone.

“We will take into account your opinion. If you keep protesting, I will have to deploy the police. We will let you know the result of the trial on cleaning up the litter in about.....say, a couple of months,” the mayor said.

The crowd did not like that. They kept yelling and yelling and

59

yelling. The mayor signaled to the police. They quickly moved through the crowd, taking those who were urging the crowd on. The rest of the crowd quickly ran away.

“Wait,” the mayor said. Everybody obeyed. “Who started this movement? Who started it all?”

“He did!” a voice rang out. “He did, I know it!” It was one of the people on their side. He was pointing right at Jake. Jake couldn’t believe it.

“Jake? Is that you?” the mayor asked. “Did you start this?” “Uhh....yes,” Jake said. “Why did you do this?” “Because, well, ummm....I saw how much trash was in our town and uh, how little people cared about it.

“I understand, Jake,” the mayor said. Then, he addressed the crowd. “My mistake, everybody. We should clean up this town. Jake has helped me realize that. He just wants to make this town a better place. Release the instigators!”

But the order was not obeyed. The chief of police did not agree with the crowd. “No. We will not release them,” the chief said. “I vote to remove the mayor from office!” said a voice. There was a collective gasp from the crowd. The town council members walked out. It was one of them who had spoken.

“All in favor of removing the mayor from office, raise your right hand!” Ten out of ten members raised their right hands. There was a crushing silence as the mayor was carried off the platform and down to the crowd. The council members then went on to choose a new mayor. The new mayor declared that all cleaning of the town was to be forbidden because it could make the town government unstable. No one dared challenge

60

it. But then, 25 years later, 36-year-old Jake Martin and his friend Michael Brown were elected to the town council.

Jake was a wise man who was highly respected by the whole town. Michael was also highly respected as a very smart man. So when two of the council members stepped down, Jake and Michael were the easy choices to replace them. Edgebrook was still a very polluted town, and now, the river was a sickly brown color. The air above the town was thick with smog, and still, the mayor ruled. Jake once again realized how little people cared about it, and tried to get a movement started. But all his friends opposed him, even Michael.

“Come on, Michael! We’ve done this before! We even have more power now, so we can finally come through!” Jake said.

“Jake, we didn’t make it last time. Why should it work this time?” Michael replied. “We’re on the town council, Michael! We have so much more power!” “But what if the rest of the council thinks you’re crazy? They might vote us off the council!”

“Please. Michael, please?” Jake pleased.

Michael sighed. “All right, I’ll help. But don’t blame it on me if we get voted off.” Jake was overjoyed. They got started right away. They brought their idea to the council. As Michael expected, most of them shook their heads and told them to get out of their childhood fantasies. But to his surprise, Jake convinced some of them that this was the right course of action. The eight other members and the mayor took a vote.

“All in favor of cleaning up the town, raise your right hand. All in favor of keeping the town how it is, do not raise any hands.”

61

There was a pause. Obviously, the mayor kept his hand down. Then one hand went up. Then two. Then three. Then four!

“It’s not good enough,” Jake muttered. “I knew John was unsure about it.” The council member called John had kept his hand down. Jake and Michael needed five members to win, and they only had four. “Well,” said the mayor, “I guess that settles it.” Slowly, John raised his right hand. Everyone gasped. “Well, I guess that settles it,” John said. “We should remove the mayor from office!” Michael exclaimed. “He didn’t want to make this town a better place!”

“Shh, Michael. We’re pushing it too far,” Jake said. But the mayor had heard Michael. “Okay, let’s take a vote. All in favor of removing me from office, raise your right hand.” Michael, Jake, John, and four other members raised their hands. The mayor dejectedly left the room.

“Yes! Now, who will be the new mayor?” Michael said. Everybody pointed at Jake. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s get to work!” He told them what he planned to do. “John, divide the citizens into groups to work on different areas of the town. Michael and Joe, make signs that show what groups people are in. Make sure to post them all over town. Dan, tell the citizens to gather in the town square so I can tell them about it. The rest of you, carry out the signs that Michael and Joe are making. Come on! Let’s get to work.”

The council members got to work. Within a couple of hours, Michael and Joe had designed a sign showing the groups. After another hour, the signs were posted around the town, and Jake was making his speech.

“I have been elected as the new mayor. We are going to clean

62

up this town, and stop littering. Look at the river. Look at the sky. Our town needs to be clean, and we are going to make it clean! Get to work. There are signs telling which group and which area of the town you will be cleaning up. We will make this town a better place!”

Jake’s plan was put into action immediately, and within a couple of days, the town was free of trash. Jake was a good mayor, and everyone trusted him. He had rallied his community, and within a couple of months, the sickly brown color had disappeared from the river, along with the smog in the sky. His voice alone changed his community.

63