Recently, Luna read me the story below, which she wrote in 40 minutes during California testing. I was very pleased and proud that my sweet little 10-year-old granddaughter (not so little since we’re now the same height) had composed this well-written, true story. In fact, I continue to be so happy about it that I have decided that it deserves to be shared. So, introducing Luna Pacheco Beaty’s story, “The Moon Cake Incident.” And, yes, I am always and forever a proud Grandma.

The Moon Cake Incident

Click, click, click, click went my pen. It was a gloomy Friday. It was like those sorts of Fridays when you didn’t have the energy to skip school but didn’t want to go either. I slumped in my chair in my 4th-grade math class, staring at the first graders playing handball on the playground.

“Luna, are you understanding the lesson?” Mr. Kim asked me.

“Aw, yeah,” I answered, even though I actually wasn’t.

“Then you probably wouldn’t mind if you told me the equation for number thirteen.” 

Ugh. Smart Mr. Kim, I thought. I stared at my unopened notebook when he suddenly said, “Actually, lucky you, Luna. It’s time for the assembly.”

Yes! I thought as I shoved my book in my desk.

Usually, we would go to the multi-purpose room for our assembly but because we were under COVID restrictions, we all just waited for the video our principal sent to our teacher through email, which was then projected onto a big screen.

The face of the principal filled the screen and in a loud voice she said, “Hello, MHS, this is Dr. Narro speaking. Today we have a special treat for every one of you…mooncakes!”

A loud yay! filled the class as Mr. Kim brought a box with fancy print into the classroom.

He called the tables one by one.

Marley chomped slowly on her mooncake and then swallowed. Moments later, she started to cry.

“What’s wrong?” asked Mr. Kim.

“Mmmmy stomach, it hurts sooo bbbad,” she said as she wrapped her arms around her belly.

As more and more people started groaning about their stomach aches, Mateo inched over to the waste basket and bent over.

What we all feared, happened.

Right at that moment, he puked.

It splashed in the wastebasket as the groans turned to cries and screams.

At that moment, when we thought NOTHING could possibly get worse, it got worse.

Mila took a bite out of her mooncake and then remembered she was allergic to nuts. “Oh, my God,” she screamed. “I’m already feeling dizzy!”

While Mila was about to pass out, Marley was crying like crazy, and Mateo was still puking, we were all just waiting to get dismissed for lunch so we could be done with this.

Finally, the bell rang and everyone rushed outside to go to the nurse’s office.

Me, Miya, Olivia, Alexis, and Nadia were the only ones in the whole class at the playground.

“What do you think the nurse is going to do with 21 students rushing in?” I asked.

“What do you think the teacher’s going to do?” asked Olivia. “It’s his first year, too.”

No one had answers to any of those questions. We just sat there staring off into the distance trying to remember why this happened.

After recess, we got dismissed to home. When I got there, I saw my mom rocking in her rocking chair, reading a book. “Didn’t you hear what happened?” I asked.

“No, what happened?”

Boy, did I have a story to tell her.

The Author