WHAT IF THERE WERE NO YEARS, JUST TALLIES
Sally woke up with the most absurdly interesting idea. She was not happy that she had just clocked 6 years old. She and most of the kids in Greenville felt all too small, too little. They didn't like being called kids.
Sally wanted to feel big, much bigger than the adults who would rub their ages on the faces of little kids like herself.
"Show some respect, Sally!!" — Her mother would yell whenever she didn’t greet the guests in the house. And when she does greet them, she’ll let out a grim expression and mumble some words of greeting as she quickly walks upstairs, stamping her feet heavy with every step.
Respect this, respect that, do this, do that, come here, go there… Sally had it up to her neck about being seen as a kid and wished she could just grow up fast.
And so…
Just like a flash of light, an idea popped up in her sleep. She couldn't hold back the smile even as she slept. An idea, so pleasurable and canny that Sally was unusually all smiles the next morning.
Her mom, Katy, could not piece together what could be so good about the morning to Sally that she was all ready for school an hour earlier than normal.
"That's strange, are you ok honey?" Her mom, Katy asked, her eyes dizzily following Sally as she walked about the house getting ready for school.
"Uhuh!! I'm fine Mom," replied Sally with a smile that seemed scary and beautiful at the same time.
"Did she just take her bath, brush her teeth, have her breakfast, and have herself all dressed up for school?" Asked Katy, dragging Morgan's shirt as he just came out to witness the morning wonder from his daughter.
"Oh yeah, let's see if she'll drive to school," he whispered, not wanting Sally to pick up on his words.
"Ummm, I don't think it would be a good idea to find out Morgan," Katy whispered back, reminding them of the last time Sally angrily walked herself to school. And they were forced to pick her up on the way.
"Don’t worry Dad, I’ll go with the school bus today," said Sally, with a voice so commanding and consistent they almost thought their daughter had grown up - in a night!
Sally couldn't wait to break the news of her great idea to the rest of the kids at school.
At break time, she went from class to class, pitching and campaigning her idea to all the kids.
"Aren't you tired of being called kids, being sent around by adults, being hauled and screamed at by Principal Muller just because we are a couple of years old" she would quietly begin her campaign amongst the kids.
" I have an idea that would make us look older than adults. We would become adults ourselves. What if there were no years? just Tallies " she would continue with dramatic expressions.
And completing the whole scenery, with a smile lightening up her face, she would climb a table, spread her arms, stamp her feet, and scream…
"What if we calculate our ages with tallies and not years?"
Now, the introduction had been done, and with no further ado, Sally picked a chalk and with a flurry, went on to stage a performance at the board in every class she entered.
"Gringer!!" She screamed, pointing at a brown-haired, weary-looking kid sitting in the class corner.
"Y-yes, Sally," he responded, slow-paced and heavy with the noodles he had just gobbled up.
"How old are you Gringer?" She asked, smiling and pointing at him with the only long chalk she picked.
"I'm 6," he responded wondering how Sally was going to magically transform his years to tallies.
"Great," Sally said and turned back to the huge blackboard behind her.
"Ok Gringer," she said, scribbling numbers and calculations on the board.
"What if, I told you, that you are… 72 tallies old Gringer," she said as finished the calculation on the board and dropped the chalk as if she had just concluded a masterclass.
"Wow!!" Gringer and the rest of the class screamed, wide-eyed with excitement that they were now older. Much older than even their parents Or their older siblings.
"How old is your dad, Gringer?" Sally asked again, trying to make her point even more obvious.
"He’s forty-five ye…"
"Without the 'years'," Sally said, obstructing Gringer's response.
"He's 45!! My dad is forty-five!!!!!" screamed Gringer.
"See!!" Said Sally with her hands spread to her side and a smile blushed all over her face.
"Wait, wait, let’s calculate mine. How do I do it?" Screamed an excited, afro-haired brown-skinned Moya from the back of the class.
"Hey Moya, how old are you?" Asked Sally who was so excited that the kids were buying into her extraordinary idea.
"I'm 7 Sally, '' she replied. In a whisk.
"Ok Moya," Sally began.
"Each month in a year is a tally, so in a year we have 12 tallies," She said as she scribbled 12 tally marks on the board.
"So that means you’ll be 7 x 12 tallies. That’s eighty-f…,"
"84 tallies!!!" Moya interrupted and screamed with excitement as she ran out of the class to spread the word.
Now, all the kids began calculating their ages with the tally.
"I'm 96 tallies old," screamed Mark.
"I'm 84 tallies old," screamed Jill who lived with her Grandma!!
"I'm 96 tallies old too," screamed shy Bella, whose new age had given her profound confidence.
"But, what do we call ourselves? Surely we can’t still be kids," asked Jill.
"Hmmm, how about kid-adults," suggested Jack who had just discovered he was 72 tallies old and older than his bully of an elder sister.
"No, we will call ourselves kidults," screamed Sally as she proudly put her hand on her waist, standing at-ease and letting out a bold smile.
The news spread across the whole city of Greenville, from school to school, neighborhood to neighborhood, yard to yard, and playground to playground.
And from that day, the kidults of Greenville proudly counted their ages with tallies and felt all grown-up.
But they didn't know something you and I do… wait do you? 🤦
Oh!! In all the heavens, I hope you do.😤
But the adults knew this, and let the kidults of Greenville have their taste of adulthood using the tallies.
If only these kidults knew how many tallies their Grandpas are!!! 😅
The End…
Hey, did you enjoy this? Sure you did.
Here's what the kidults of Greenville want you to do.
- Follow me for more stories like this.
Aaaaaaaand…. - Share this so all the kids can see this too 😅. It’s Sally’s little way of sharing her brilliant (me, choking with laughter 🤣) idea.
And here's what I want you to do.
First of all, I, the parents, and other adults of Greenville are secretly calculating our tallies 😅. We don't want the kidults to know.. 🤫
For example,
Gringer's dad is 45 y/o, but going by Sally's wonderful invention, he's 540 tallies old and 468 tallies older than his son. He just got a lot younger😂
Moya's mom is 300 tallies older than her. Oh dear 🤭.
Heck, I'm already 348 tallies old and I don't have any kidults yet 😅. Oh, wait, now I feel old 😓.
Oh, there's Jill and her grandma! 🙊.
But, do the kidults need to know? No, no, no… they dare not 😅. It's our dear secret at Greenville, I, and the adults. and now YOU!!
So, here's what you'll do, how many tallies old are you? Comment down below!
And hey, we’re adults, right? Let’s clap for these brilliant kidults👏.
