Ordinary Girl

Riley Phoenix was an 11-year-old farm girl who lived in a ranch in Texas. She had 11 brothers and 9 sisters. And all of them lived in a 4-bedroom house; one for parents, one for guests, one for boys, and one for girls (these were big rooms). The Phoenixes owned 60 acres of farmland, 7 cows, 10 horses, 6 pigs, 20 chickens, 30 sheep, 5 dogs, 3 cats,  8 goats, 20 ducks, 5 turkeys, 8 geese, 12 rabbits, 5 pigeons, 25 silkworms, and in addition, they had 3 beehives, 10 acres of wheat, 10 acres of corn, 10 acres of oats,  and 5 acres of garden for tomatoes and green beans and such. What a farm!

60 acres

30 acres food fields

30 acres

20 acre livestock (barn and fields)

10 acres

5 acre living

5 acres

5 acre garden

0 acres

Mr. Phoenix

Mrs. Phoenix

1; 18-year-old Michael

2; 17-year-old Hannah

3; 16-year-old Brian

4; 15-year-old Valerie

5; 15-year-old Vale

6; 14-year-old Nia

7; 12-year-old Gerald

8; 12-year-old Glenda

9; 12-year-old Garry

10; 11-year-old Riley

11; 10-year-old Chris

12; 9-year-old Luna

13; 7-year-old Xavier

14; 6-year-old Jackie

15; 6-year-old Jack

16; 5-year-old Tina

17; 4-year-old Stuart

18; 3-year-old Lily

19; 2-year-old Derek

20; 9-month-old Bonnie

21; 1-week-old Zack               

Riley and her 20 siblings woke up at 6:00am as usual, they had breakfast with their parents, then the older children (from Michael to Luna) went to take care of the food and livestock. The rest of the children (from Xavier to Zack) stayed in the house.

The six teenagers went to take care of the livestock, and the other six went with Mr. Phoenix to take care of the fields-that was their posts for today, and then tomorrow they would switch.

On this particular spring day, Luna, Chris, Riley, Gerry, Glenda, and Gerald were planting corn seeds. While Gerald, Glenda, and Gerry poked holes in the ground, Riley, Chris, and Luna followed them and dropped the seeds in, while Mr. Phoenix followed them and watered the seeds: it was a good system.

“Don’t poke the holes so big, Gerry,” Mr. Phoenix advised the triplet. “You’re making the holes too shallow, Glenda,” he said to the other triplet.

Luna smiled, “Just think-in the winter there will be fresh corn on the table everyday!”

“I’m not sure about everyday, Luna.” Riley corrected her sister.

Mr. Phoenix nodded, “Riley’s right, Luna-but we can have corn sometimes.”

Luna smiled, “Okay.”

Riley smiled as she dropped her kernels in-she loved her life!

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            Later, after dinner, the family settled down in the family room to relax; the older siblings [from Hannah to Tina] worked on their schoolwork; Michael had an online college course to take, so he went up to the boys room to study in peace: Stuart, Lily, and Derek were playing loudly with their toys, and Bonnie and Zack screamed and howled out sounds that Mrs. Phoenix knew quite well-feeding time.

            Riley pushed all the noise out of her head and opened her history book;

Chapter 1

Finding America

In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean to find a new route to India. In those days, people thought the world was flat; so Christopher Columbus decided to sail around the world to reach India-but he never reached India; instead he landed in America. He was greeted by the natives. Columbus thought he was in India, so he called them Indians.

            Riley thought Christopher Columbus had to be pretty smart to prove that the world was round-maybe even smarter than Christopher Phoenix; who thought he was a know-it-all.

            “Oww!” Lily shouted, “He hit me!” she pointed accusingly at Stuart who shrank back in the shadows.

            Riley sighed; how could she study in this madhouse? She shut her book and headed up to the attic-her hiding place.

            In the attic, Riley turned on the lamp and set her book down on a chest that served as a table. Then she started to read again:

But at first, Columbus didn’t have any money to sail-and no one would give him any. Finally; Queen Isabella of Spain lent him some. With the money, he bought three ships; the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Christopher rode on the Santa Maria.

            Riley paused here, and decided to draw Christopher Columbus and his three ships on her ‘doodle wall’; a wall where she liked to draw. So she grabbed her Sharpie, turned around, and starting drawing a picture of Columbus; but-like everything else on her wall-it turned into a complex tune about Columbus reaching America after many hardships of sea.

            When Riley finished, she sat back and smiled-what a wonderful song. Then she sighed; would it ever be performed? Or would it just soak into the wood without notice from anyone?

            Then another brainstorm hit-Riley grabbed her Sharpie again and started writing.

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            The days flew by, and soon, the seeds were planted, and the seedlings started to  grow.

            One fine Summer morning, the children went out to do their chores as usual, this time, the older ones went out to the field, and the younger ones went with their father to take care of the livestock.

            When they got to the barn, Mr. Phoenix said,

            “Luna, Chris, and Riley, I want you three to go up to the loft and start tossing down hay bales with the rakes, while the triplets and I will spread it around in the stalls-got that?”

            Riley and her brother and sister nodded, “Got that.”

            Then they grabbed their rakes, climbed up the hay loft, and started tossing-backwards-while the others started spreading. As they worked, Luna started telling about how Sneakers, one of their cats, stood up to one of their dogs, Randy,  and fought him-and winning! Everyone laughed at how silly and brave Sneakers was.

            When they finished the hay, they went to the cows to milk.

Cows: (- = milked by)

Buckeye- Mr. Phoenix

Veldt- Gerald

Grass- Glenda

Frig- Garry

Needless- Riley

Crummy- Chris

Easy Pie- Luna

            Luna had the easiest cow because she was the youngest there, then it went up (Christ, next easiest, Riley, next easiest, and so on).

            By the time they finished the livestock, it was lunchtime. At the table, Mrs. Phoenix made an announcement;

            “The County Fair is in 10 weeks; and I want to know what each of you are doing for it. The list is on the fridges, you may fill it out after cleaning up from dinner.”

            Mr. Phoenix put down his silverware, “And also, the sheep’s wool needs cut tomorrow; Michael, Hannah, and I will do the cutting, Brian, Valerie, and Vale, will do the tying, and Nia, Gerald, and Glenda will run the wool up to the loft.” He turned to Gerry, “Gerry, I want you and the younger ones to round the sheep up to the small corral so they can be shaved; then you can feed the rest of the livestock. Okay?”

            Gerry nodded, “Should we do the fields too?”

            “If there’s time.” Mr. Phoenix replied.

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            The next morning, Riley looked at the fair list on the fridge:

County Fair

1; Michael: enter his cow; Buckeye

2; Hannah: enter her Arabian; Swift

3; Brian: enter his goat; Hiccup

4; Valerie and Vale: Pas de deux

6; Nia: enter her Coffee-fed Cucumber

7; Gerald, Glenda, Garry: Irish Dance

10; Riley: play ‘Columbus’ on piano

11; Chris: enter his pig; Frog

            Riley smiled, she couldn’t wait for the fair! But now she had to go out and throw walnuts at the birds to keep them from the crops. So-still smiling-Riley hurried out the door

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            Several weeks later, the Phoenixes were on their way to the fair-they didn’t need to take anything because they had brought everything the day before.

            Michael, Hannah, Brian and Chris went to check on their animals; meanwhile, Nia went to check on her cucumber. Then Mr. And Mrs. Phoenix shooed their triplets, twins, and Riley to the stage where the talent show was going to start in 20 minutes.

           

            20 minutes later, Riley and her triplet and twin siblings were by the stage ready to go. When the dance group was called, Riley wished them good luck, which Valerie returned with;

            “That’s bad luck-say ‘Break a Leg’ instead.”

            So that’s what Riley said.

            When the twins were call on stage, Valerie and Vale showed everyone that the Pas de deux wasn’t just for couples to dance to-they were fantastic. Then two other people went; finally, it was the triplets’ turn.

            When the triplets made their Irish bow, the announcer called for the instrumental group-that’s was Riley’s group-she took a deep breath and walked towards the stage. After five people went, the announcer called;

            “Riley Phoenix.”

            This was it. The moment that she had been waiting for-her time to shine-Riley took a deep breath and stepped out in the spotlight, then she walked over to the microphone and said into it;

            “Hello, my name is Riley Phoenix, and I will be playing a little piano piece that I wrote; it’s called, ‘Columbus’.”

            Then Riley walked over the piano, sat down, and began to play.

            When Riley finished, she stood up what she heard next was unbelievable. She thought that a thunderstorm was coming in-but no-it was the audience’s thunderous applause. Riley smiled, curtsied politely, then left the stage as the announcer call the last completer.

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            Later, everyone else was called on stage so the judges could say the results. First, the variety acts went, then it was time for the dance acts to come up, Riley crossed her fingers:

            “Third place goes to; Michael Mack,” the announcer started-the crowd cheered. “Second place goes to; The TID.” Riley clapped loudly (for TID stood for ‘Triplet Irish Dancers), while the crowd incited. “And finally,” the announcer continued, “First place goes to, Dancing Duet!”

            Riley clapped hard and loud-her siblings actually got first and second place! They must of  felt like they were on cloud nine!

            But the clapping soon ended, when the announcer called for the instrumental acts; Riley gulped hard and stepped forward:

            “Third place goes to, Judy Miller; second place-Matthew Michaels. And finally-for first place-we have Riley Phoenix!”

            As Riley stepped forwards to receive her prize, she heard the thundering sound again, but now she knew it wasn’t a storm-it was the crowd’s deafening applause. For who? For her.

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            After the fair, it was time to cut the wheat. Last year, just Mr. Phoenix and the triplets cut the wheat while Luna, Riley, and Chris stacked. But this year, Mr. Phoenix made an announcement;

            “Riley, today you will learn to cut the wheat-you’re old enough now to handle the machete without chopping your fingers off. After all-a girl can’t learn any younger.”

            Riley was thrilled at this privilege.

            After that, Mrs. Phoenix wanted Riley and Chris to help her get honey from the bees. By the time that was done; it was time for Michael to kill a turkey (which was pretty mean anyway) for Thanksgiving. By the time THAT was done, it was time to can preservatives.

            Riley hated that job-but lo and behold! Mrs. Phoenix said that Luna could help her this year because Riley was needed in the barn to thresh the wheat.

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            Many years later, Riley Phoenix was all over the news:

Riley Phoenix strikes out 10 hitters in the Major Leagues

Riley Phoenix scores 20 points for the New York Mets

Riley Phoenix  wrote 20 musical numbers

And finally; Riley Phoenix moves from a Private to a Colonel in the United States Army; next year she will join the Navy, then the Air Force after that.

            Yes; for being just an ♫Ordinary Girl♫ Riley Phoenix became a living legend. So don’t just think your ‘ordinary’ if you want to do something amazing-do it!