GARFIELD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

GARFIELD ELEMENTARY SUMMER STEM

Teaching-Writer Laura Roghaar

Addie Garield Elementary School Summer STEM

In this world a leshy, meaty smell follows you everywhere, and the ground is forbidden. The buildings reach up to the clouds, and everything is man-made, even the livestock. Inside, the skyscrapers are cold and dark illed with scared families in bare rooms. On ground level, all you can see is destruction and the smell is the worst down there. Everyone knows what the smell is, nobody wants to talk about it. The only way to even see the ground is on a bridge that feels as if it could break any second, and it’s loud on the bridge and you don’t want them to hear you. Walking on the rickety old bridge as its waving and making a terrible creaking sound, I can hear them. I can smell them. They smell horrid, maybe they smell so bad to lure you in.

Don’t look down, don’t look down! You don’t see them, you don’t hear them, just walk and forget the feeling of the wood bending. But I can feel them trying to climb, trying to get to me, sweat dripping down my face as I speed up. How can walking across a bridge take this long? I can hear their hunger, I can hear the horrible sound of their nails, or should I say claws rubbing against the metal. Please don’t die. If I do, I can’t protect my sister. Finally I make it to the other tower. I’m safe. A wave of relief washes over me, but it’s short lived because I may have evaded the monsters outside but there are still people inside these bare, dark hallways. Walking the cold corridors, my footsteps echo, and I hope no one can hear me. If they hear me I could get hurt. The bad people might want my food or they might want my sister. With every step I take, my heart drops. Why do these hallways have to be so empty and echoey? I may have made it across the bridge, but I’m still scared. I’m always scared I can’t protect her. I hear someone walking. “Oh no,” I said. Wait. Did I say that out loud? Oh god, no, please be a good person. Please be kind. “Hello?” the stranger said. I instantly remembered the voice. It was Nana. She was one of the people on the top loor. So I knew I was safe with her. 91

I instantly called out, “Nana!” As soon as I saw her a wave of relief washed over me. Finally I was safe. Nana ofered to take me. “So how’s your little sister?” Nana asked, hoping for good news. “She is getting better or worse, it’s hard to tell,” I stated, knowing that my sister gets worse every day. “Well, I will be praying for her every night,” stated Nana. Nana was a kind old woman. I always felt safe around her. Nana was like a roof of protection. She always helped me when I was in trouble, but she won’t be able to forever. “Oh, well, here we are. See you tomorrow,” Nana stated. “Bye, see you tomorrow!” I yelled. Turning to my pod door, fear overwhelms me. Wha—what if Kara isn’t alive? I think. This thought always comes into my head every time I go to open the door. I’m shaking as I open it. Once I inally open the door, my heart skips a beat. A wave of fear washes over me when I see her lying on the loor, face down. I run over to check her pulse. Oh, good, she’s still, she’s still alive, must’ve fallen of the long bright orange sofa. I pick up my sister and place her back on the sofa and prepare dinner. I’ve never really thought about how bright that couch is. It’s almost neon. My sister has always been sick, it’s just never been this bad.

GO BACK FOR GLOBAL WARMING

Celia Garield Elementary School Summer STEM

Kevin woke up sweating. He looked around and saw a purple lower and emerged from his den to get a closer look at it. It was wilting. He thought to himself, I’m not the only one that the heat is getting to. He thought about what would happen when it got too hot. Would everything melt? Would he have to leave? So many questions but not one answer. He didn’t want to think about it but he knew that worse was coming. And coming fast. Kevin walked to the lake that was once frozen over but now had less than 20 platforms of ice and they were thin, too. He thought that some food might cheer him up, realizing that with all the thinking he had just done, he never ate. The lake 92

had a refreshing mist covering it that was not only thick but also cool. The ish in the lake were swimming about, not noticing Kevin. He quickly dove in and caught a ish. Ater a few more ish, Kevin thought again and again about what might happen to his home, he was only a polar bear, what could he do? Ater inishing his meal he went to ind a short, stubby, lightless bird, a penguin named Pax. Kevin found Pax on an icy and slippery clif watching ater his daughter while his mate went to ind food. “Kevin!” Pax said, surprised to see him. “Where have you been?” “By the lake,” Kevin said. “Haven’t you heard?” said Pax. “The seals are going away to ind a colder climate. They can’t take the heat!” he said excitedly. Kevin knew Pax would be happy, the seals were never nice to him or anyone else. “So,” said Kevin. “I came here to ask you if you wanted to help me try to do something about this global warming thing.” Pax laughed. “What can we do against it?” Pax said. “Tell the sun to go away? “No,” said Kevin. “Something like…like…” Kevin had no idea. He let Pax and his daughter there and went to the research center. While he was walking there a short, lufy, camoulaged igure hopped up to him. It was an arctic hare named Calvin. “Hello!” said Calvin cheerfully. “Going to the research center?” “Yep! I just need to see something,” said Kevin. “Great!” Calvin said. “I’ll come with you.” When they got there, Kevin saw a scientist was watching TV through the window. The scientist was watching a movie about a man who went back in time to see his grandpa. Kevin then got an amazing idea. He rushed to his den as quickly as possible to think about how he could build a time machine. Ater a while he developed a plan. “Kevin!” someone interrupted. It was Calvin, out-ofbreath Calvin. “You ran away so fast I thought something was wrong! So I followed you back, but I kinda got lost because hare legs don’t get you very far chasing an animal 1,000 times your size.” 93

“Well, I’m ine,” replied Kevin. “I just got a great idea.” “What is it?” asked Calvin. “I’m going to build a time machine to go back in time and make people aware of what will happen if they don’t do something about global warming,” said Kevin. “Cool,” said Calvin. “If you need any help building it, Stephani can help. She’s made some great stuf from the scraps of the plane that crashed in the lake.” “Thanks,” replied Kevin. “I’ll get her tomorrow.” A little while later, Kevin went to his den to sleep, thinking about his plans. The next morning, Kevin awoke to Stephani salvaging metal scraps from the plane wreck to build the time machine. There were plenty of scraps because the plane was as big as an elephant, like a giant metal bird. Stephani was like a vulture feasting of of a carcass. Stephanie was the most creative polar bear in the polar ice caps. She built snow statues using her bare, (or bear, if you must) paws. Kevin went to help her get parts, which was easy seeing as polar bears are good swimmers. Ater collecting the scraps, they started making the basic shape of The Time Machine. Kevin then went to get ish, some nice and tender ish. He came back to a basic time machine structure. All that was let to do was beef it up and ind a button. When Stephani and Kevin inished, the time machine was as big as four vending machines, a life changing box. Stephani warned Kevin it could be dangerous. “So,” she said, “while you were away, I brought Calvin and Pax, and we all agreed to help you save our home.” “Great!” said Kevin, “let’s get this party started!” They all hopped in the time machine and pressed the ON button. BOOM! Pax jumped on Calvin, who immediately collapsed. They heard the crackling of ire, and looked at each other. And found themselves human! They were no longer animals. They all started panicking. “C’mon,” Pax said. At least, Kevin thought it was him. “Let’s just get this over with. The faster we inish this, the quicker we become animals again.” They awkwardly walked out into a Native American village. Locals started greeting them while their children asked where they came from and why Pax, Calvin, and Kevin’s hair 94

was not long, like the other locals. They ignored all the staring and proceeded to tell them about what will happen to their homes in the future if they don’t do something about it. They then disappeared as fast as a penguin swims. Ater the time machine brought them back to present time, they became your average animal, but now they were heroes! A cold breeze came around and they all sighed in relief period Kevin stepped out and saw all of the Arctic animals gathered there, including the seals, they were all happy and thanking Kevin and his friends were saving their homes. They thanked them all day until Kevin went to bed. Before driting of to sleep he said, “That’s what a polar bear can do.”

THE SPIDER WASPS

Fili Garield Elementary School Summer STEM

In a very deep Amazon rainforest, a 26-year-old girl lives in a tiny house. The Amazon rainforest is the world’s most biodiverse rainforest containing many million species of insects, plants, birds, and mammals. The area is covered with tall green trees. The trees are very brightly colored and the sweet smell of the lowers attracts the pollinators such as bees, bats, butterlies, and birds. Emma is very friendly to the animals. She always listens to the sound of nature and was adapted to the Amazon rainforest. She could study the animals from forest loor through the emergent. Emma used to go to school when she was a kid, but she thought school won’t help her become a pharmaceutical scientist and zoologist. So she went to the Amazon rainforest to study animals. One day Emma went to the city and asked people how she is going to apply for a job. She tried to apply for a job but many people said that she needed a bachelors degree. While Emma was walking someone stole her bag. In Emma’s bag, there was a note about how animals behave. Emma was frustrated so she went home with an evil idea. She thought people were mean. She started hunting for spider wasps, lower nectar, and snake venom. She kept the spider wasps in an apiary.

First, she made a vaccine from the snake venom so she didn’t get stung by the spider wasps. Then Emma added a very tiny controlling gadget on the lower nectar and fed the spider wasps. Now that the spider wasps were controlled, Emma let the spider wasps spread. The spider wasps stung every person one by one, except for Emma, and everyone started to feel pain. Ater a few hours, everyone turned into a zombie. Emma ordered the spider wasps not to sting the South American president. Ater a few days, Emma called the president and told him that she has the vaccine that will turn everybody back into a normal person. The president was happy to hear that. “I will give you anything you want if you give the vaccine to the people,” the president said. “I agree to your ofer,” Emma replied. Emma and the president started to vaccinate everyone. The zombies slept and ater one day, everyone was back to normal. Emma asked the president if she can be a pharmaceutical scientist and ecologist. “If you have the talent, you can be anything you want,” the president answered. Emma became one of the most popular pharmaceutical scientists and zoologists. Ater a few years, Emma felt bad for trying to destroy people. So she made a video on YouTube to apologize to the people and to tell them that she planned to turn them into zombies. She also explained how badly people had treated her. The video hit 23 million views. Many people were as mad as hungry giants, so they wrote mean comments. Some people forgave her, and the president wrote, “There are mean people and good people in this world. So many people hate me, but I only focus on those people who like me.” Emma only focused on the people who liked her and went back to her life.

Lili Garield Elementary School Summer STEM

No one has ever adventured outside of our loating island, or even our tunnel. Our island is far up in the sky with the clouds and is in the shape of a square. If you go on top of the green hills surrounding our island, you will see a steep drop of. Some say that if you look down, a four-headed beast will appear from the darkness to gobble you up. Others say that you will be manipulated to jump of the island, never to be seen again. That’s why we mostly stay in a deep, dark tunnel. No one is allowed to leave the tunnel except for the elders. However, I have traveled outside the tunnel myself many times. When you look out of the tunnel, you see trees upside-down, a loating river, and even a snowstorm on the corner of the island, although the snow is falling the wrong way. There are many colorful lowers, and even the upside-down trees are colorful. The trees turn into a forest the farther you walk towards them. We call the forest the upside-down forest for obvious reasons. I was just about to leave the tunnel again through a separate well-hidden tunnel that I created, when just before I could reach it, someone asked me where I was going. It was one of the elders. You rarely saw them away from the heart of the tunnel. As he spoke, his white beard bounced up and down. “Where are you going Chris?” he asked me. “Nowhere,” I replied, now becoming more fearful of what he would say. In the dimly lit tunnel he looked ghostly. “Where are you going, Elder?” “Nowhere,” he replied, as he slowly turned around, disappearing back into the blackness of the tunnel. I could hear his footsteps on the brown dusty loor fade away. When I thought I couldn’t hear anymore footsteps, I breathed a sigh of relief and continued on my own to the outside of the tunnel. When I got to my hidden tunnel, I noticed that the vines covering the entrance had been pushed aside so you could see into the tunnel. I didn’t think much of it but as I entered, I looked around to make sure no one was watching me. I hurried through the dimly lit tunnel and could begin to see a gleaming light ahead. When I made it to the end, I stepped on the familiar squishy green grass and saw the familiar hills. For 97

whatever reason I felt like I was being watched. I could feel their glassy eyes looking at me from a distance. However I had no idea where they were. I ran to the upside-down forest to hide in the trees. It seemed to take forever to get there but at last I inally made it and jumped in the nearest tree. I found a good branch to sit on and looked around me. From what I could tell, there was nothing but the colorful trees of the upside-down forest, and the occasional melody of the birds singing. I waited a good ive minutes before I jumped down. The leaves below my sandals made a loud Crunch. It was actually a nice sunny warm day, the sun beating through the trees to the ground. I was now regretting wearing my giant green sweater and baggy black pants. It was almost too hot to stand. I decided to go back to the tunnel, even though I had only let about 10 minutes ago. “What a waste,” I mumbled to myself. On my way out of the upside-down forest, I looked around to see if I could see anyone, and to my surprise, I saw a little green bald head bobbing through the rocks near the entrance of the tunnel. Right when I saw it, I jumped up at least two feet and began to run back to the forest when the creature said, “Wait, Chris!” I stopped in my tracks immediately and slowly turned around. “You, you know my name?” I asked nervously. “Yes, everyone knows your name. You come out here a lot, so it’s hard not to see you,” it replied. “Wait, who are you? How do you know my name? What do you mean by everyone?” I began walking backwards, trying to hold my balance so I wouldn’t fall. I was becoming more and more terriied with every second that went by. “You mean you haven’t seen us out here?” asked the green creature. A bit of disappointment was beginning to show on his face. The creature began to slowly rise out of the rocks. “My questions irst. What is your name?” I whispered. I could barely get the words out of my mouth, I was so terriied. “78!” replied the green creature, his mood seeming to lighten slightly. “What do you mean, 78?” I replied, confused. “That’s my name! Now, how have you not seen us? We have been following you for a while now,” 78 asked. “Uh, can you show me what you mean by everyone 98

irst?” I asked. I wasn’t going to answer his questions before he answered mine. “Alrighty then!” yelled 78. “You can come out now!” Suddenly the whole area around me began to make noise. It was as loud as a passing airplane. I began to look around and saw lots of little green bald heads starting to pop out of bushes, grass, and even the ground! They were about as tall as a desk in a school classroom, so I was easily able to tower above all of them. “Who are you?” I asked, now feeling like they might try and tackle me because of how many of them there were. They all started saying random numbers anywhere between 1 and 1,000. “53!” one yelled. “653!” another yelled Those were the only numbers I was able to understand in all the noise. When it had inally quieted down, I asked where they were all from. “From the Earth, of course!” answered 78. That’s when I learned about the world outside of the loating island. The so-called Earth had trees, like here, but the trees weren’t upside down. It had many other interesting things on it as well. I would have to go against the Elders, but it would be worth it to see the blue and green sparkling planet. “I’m going to go back to the tunnel,” I told them. “I have to get some things from inside.” “Okay,” they all replied at the same time. I raced back into the dimly lit tunnel, my footsteps echoing against the dry dirt loor. I was most worried about seeing the pale, ghostly face of one of the elders, mainly the elder I saw earlier. I would have to pass by the heart of the tunnel in order to get the items I would need. All of the elders would be huddled in the heart of the tunnel, all sitting around a small silver cofee table. I began to think of what I might need. “Maybe a lashlight?” I mumbled under my breath. I honestly had no idea what I would need to go to the planet. 78 had told me that there was an old, rickety fallingapart-bridge I would have to cross. “It is hidden and everyone who has crossed it has fallen of,” 78 explained. “You mean there are others that have gone outside the tunnel?” I asked, now beginning to feel terriied of the bridge,

but yet excited that I wasn’t the irst person to go out of the tunnel. “Why, yes!” replied 78, now practically dancing. I was in front of a large doorway opening that led into the heart of the tunnel. I tried to walk as quietly as I could, but I guess it wasn’t enough. “What are you doing?” asked a voice from behind me. I spun around so quickly that I almost fell over. “Kyle?” I asked. It was one of the children that lived in the tunnels. “Uh, nothing,” I replied quickly in a hushed voice. “Are you sneaking out again?” asked Kyle, sounding very dull, like he had asked it a million times.

A KIND OF LOVE ONLY SHE CAN MAKE

Ruth Garield Elementary School Summer STEM

This story takes place in the village in Uganda. In the village there is a group of friends who go fetch water at the stream every day. The girls always liked the dry land in the village. They liked it because they could play so many games on the dry lands. One day as they were on their way to school, someone gave them lowers. When they were reaching close to school most people knew that Mercer, Maddy, Esther, Monet, and Angel, would come to school together because they were a group of best friends. In their school that they went to they were in secondary. In their class they had diferent teachers coming for science math English and more subjects. The reason why all the classes were in one class was because in Africa, especially in the village, many schools didn’t have enough classrooms for every student. So one classroom would have everyone in like the 6th grade together in one room and some of the students didn’t get to sit on the chairs. Some stood, and some sat on a rough hard dry loor. Some students couldn’t even aford the shoes that went with the school uniform so when they sat on the loor or stood on the loor it would feel bumpy and rough under their feet. The teachers at the school were very strict like in school from my experience, every time you misspell a word, if your 100

writing doesn’t make sense, if you can’t answer a question they ask you, if you don’t get your answer right, or if you are late for school, they would beat you up with a stick, or they would remove their bounce and beat you. But that was only for some teachers. In fact some teachers were nice and they would help you if you asked for help. Some of them would help buy some students uniforms for them. Mercer–Mercer was a girl. She loved to learn. She was the ith member in their friendship group with Maddie, Esther, Monet, and Angel. She loves to play with her friends. Mercer was 13 years old. She lost her parents when she was 10 years old. Her parents died from poison. One day her parents had gone out to visit her neighbors. But as hours and days passed without her parents coming back, she went to ask about her parents. She went to go ask the neighbor that her parents went to go visit. Her parents had went to go visit Maddy’s stepmother. Mercer and her friends, even Maddy, they didn’t like Maddy’s stepmother because she was really mean to them. When Mercer went to go ask Maddy’s stepmother why her parents didn’t come back the stepmother had answered, “Because I poisoned them. Why? Because I didn’t like them.” When Maddy’s stepmother said that, Mercer felt the wind blowing on her. She felt like the world was upside-down now. She felt like nothing would ever workout again. She also felt like she would never be happy again. Things just felt like it was the end of the world. It was like, by losing her parents, she had lost another part of her. Anyway, Mercer never liked talking about her past experience of losing her parents. She wanted to be happy. Mercer was not always happy. She used to be mean too. She was the only child in her family. She used to be ungrateful to her parents. She used to take other kids stuf that she saw. But she changed her actions when her parents died she said to herself that she would never be ungrateful or mean to anyone else again. From the day her parents died, she started to be nice. She started to help her neighbors out when they needed help. She gave food, treats to the little kids who were hungry, and she started to change. In school Mercer’s favorite subjects are writing and English. “Why do you like writing so much?” Angel asked. “Because when I write I can express my feelings easily 101

by writing it out,” Mercer replied. “And you never know, writing can be handy in the future.” Ater Angel heard her, she said, “That’s pretty smart. But why do you like English?” “I like English because it can help me get a job when I inish with school. And it can help me earn my own business.” “That’s pretty smart!” Mercer loved school because her parents used to force her to focus in school but she never wanted to. But she started to like school when she thought about why her parents used to force her in school. Her parents used to tell her, “Focus on your education. You can get a nice job when you’re older.” She would always say, “You guys will always be here for me. Why do I need to focus on school?” They would always say to her, “You never know when we can be gone or dead, and it will help your future. That’s why we want you to focus on school.” Ater they would say that, Mercer never talked back to them, never argued with them, because she knew that they were always right. Ater school, Mercer would always play with her friends, study, then she would go fetch water at the stream. She would go barefoot under the hot sun because she only had a pair of shoes for school, church sometimes. Mercer is a Muslim and Christian. One question Monet would ask Mercer, “How can you be half Muslim and half Christian?” Mercer would answer her, “Because my mother’s side is Muslim and my father’s side is Christian.” Monet was full Muslim. “Okay, but don’t you feel weird when people know you’re half Muslim and half Christian?” said Monet. “Well, actually I think you shouldn’t be ashamed of your religion. Instead you should be proud of your religion,” said Mercer. “Well okay, I guess you have a point over there,” replied Monet. “Monet, let me tell you, I know you don’t like school, but I want you to focus on schools as you see your parents are struggling to keep you in school. I want you to focus on school so in the future you can have a good job in the city and move your family to the city,” said Mercer. 102

“But why should I do that?” said Monet. “Well, you see you have a sibling. Set a good example for them,” replied Mercer. “Okay, I will do my best to focus on school,” Monet replied, knowing that Mercer was right. Days went, Mercer kept on doing the usual things, until she met her best friend who was back from the city where he goes to school. “Hey!” exclaimed Mercer, hugging him tight. “Hi, how have you been? I’ve missed you,” said Enock. “You know, things have been hard for me since my parents died, but I have been missing you so much. How is the city?” said Mercer. “The city has been okay but, I miss being in the village with you and my other friend,” Enock replied. “But you know the village is a hard place to live in,” said Mercer. “It’s as hard as running up a mountain.” “I know. I feel like this is the place where I belong. It feels like a beautiful wonderland to me,” said Enock. “Okay,” replied Mercer. One day as Mercer was walking back to her house, it was a dark night. As she was walking, she felt as if her parents’ voices were talking to her. Her eyes illed with tears as the memory illed. The sorrow and pain came back to her, the same pain she felt when her parents let her. But this pain was stronger than she had felt before. As she was almost back home she saw some of her friends waiting for her. As she was approaching them they handed her roses. “Close your eyes,” Monet told her. “Why should I?” Mercer replied. “Just do it,” replied Monet. “Okay,” said Mercer as she was covering her eyes. Her friends helped her enter the door. She didn’t know when she was entering the door was there was a surprise for her. “Happy birthday, Mercer!” said everyone in the house. “Thank you guys so much. I forgot about my own birthday!” replied Mercer. “It’s okay. We have a surprise for you, but irst we have a poem for you. It’s called ‘Roses’,” Monet replied with everyone else.

“Okay,” replied Mercer.

“Roses

Roses look as beautiful as fresh lowers and rose cakes Roses you can hear bees around them as they’re buzzing with happiness. The petals of roses are as sot as a newborn baby. But rose thorns sting like a bee sting. Roses taste like a beautiful decorated rose cake. Roses smell like new fresh lowers and rose cakes. Roses,” they said.

“You guys copied my poem assignment,” Mercer said with happiness.

“I know, I didn’t have any poems in my mind so I had to copy yours,” said Angel. “You did a great job writing your poem. I want to read your poem to the class tomorrow,” said her writing teacher. “Okay, I will,” Mercer said. Of the night, Mercer had fun. Later that night when everyone let her house she recited her poem for the next day. When Mercer went to school, she was reciting her poem. When she went to writing class, her teacher said, “Mercer, please read us your poem.” “Okay,” she replied, getting ready to say her poem.

“Roses

Roses look as beautiful as fresh lowers and rose cakes Roses you can hear bees around them as they’re buzzing with happiness. The petals of roses are as sot as a newborn baby. But rose thorns sting like a bee sting. Roses taste like a beautiful decorated rose cake. Roses smell like new fresh lowers and rose cakes.

Roses,” she said, loud and proud.

Everyone clapped for her. Her teacher was really proud of her. From that day on she had a scholarship for university and she was happy. Mercer had never thought that she could get a scholarship. But she got her prize in the end because of the hard work she put into her education. Her friends threw a party for her getting a scholarship, and her teachers were so proud of her hard work. Ater Mercer got a scholarship, she moved to the city to make investments so she can make her own company. Though she was in university she also got employed to work in a company. In school she studied how to make investments, math, science, and chemistry. At work she was a cleaner and a messenger. Although she had to work and go to school, her friends were always there to help her out. Her friends helped her pay the rent in the house she was currently living in. About three years later she graduated from university with so much struggle, but she made it through. Her friends were also proud of her. A week later, ater she graduated, she inally went to work in her own company. She employs some of her friends from university, and some of her friends from the village. “I can’t believe you have your own company now. How did you do it?” asked Alice, her friend from university. “Well irst of all, one thing I can say, is that you have to believe in yourself, and never let anyone get in your way, just keep believing in yourself and work hard for your dream, or what you want to be in the future,” replied Mercer. “Thanks for the advice. I am really proud of you for achieving your dream. And thank you for hiring me,” Alice said with a warm smile on her face. “You’re welcome.” Ater a few weeks later, Mercer is sitting outside of her house she just bought. She starts to think, “Now I live in the city with so many car noises at night, with so many lights at night glowing as beautiful as a sunset. I am supposed to be happy for what I have achieved on my own... But I still feel a sorrowful pain because I don’t have my parents to share my happiness with. I see children playing with their parents which makes me want to have that childhood,” she says, driting to sleep. A week later as she is going back to the village, she sees 105

a family sleeping on the rugs. She decides to give them some money. She says, “Here, take this money. It’s all I have on me right now. Use it to ind some food to eat. I promise, next time I come I will take you guys to your house that I will buy for you guys in the city,” Mercer said with a smile. The mom of the family replies, “Thank you so much young lady. But why are you helping us? I always thought that city girls like you don’t like helping poor villagers like us,” said the mother. “Well, I want to help you guys because I used to be a villager like you guys. I know the struggle you guys go through. And my late mother always told me, ‘Always help those in need because you never know the pain they’re in,’” said Mercer with a warm smile on her face. “Thank you for helping out my family,” said the mother. “You’re welcome, but can I take your kids with me to the city? I promise I won’t hurt them. I want to enroll your children in the school in the city. And I will have bought a house for you guys in about a week. I promise,” said Mercer. “Thank you. Of course you can take my children. But please, don’t hurt them. God has sent you to us, may God bless you my daughter,” said the mother. A week later ater the children had been enrolled in school, Mercer went to get their mother from the village.