Jasmine’s Big Idea
A Major Mistake
On the day of the carnival, the weather is beautiful. Jasmine, her parents, and other regular shelter volunteers show up early to help get everything set up. Jasmine’s dad hangs the WANTED posters all around the park. They drape colorful crepe paper streamers from tree branches. Everything looks festive.
Mrs. Wallace buzzes around waving a clipboard. She compliments Jasmine and the decorations, and thanks Jasmine’s mom for helping with the food. The food? Then, Jasmine turns around to see her Tía Alicia, who came to help out, too. In fact, it was Tía Alicia who brought the food. Behind her, servers from El Coquí Café, her aunt’s Caribbean restaurant, were unloading a van. They had brought rice, empanadas, roasted meats, and fresh fruit, as well as pitchers of iced tea and lemonade.
Jasmine’s mouth waters at the sight of all of that traditional Puerto Rican food. Jasmine’s favorite dish, sweet plantains, even appears. She’d watched her aunt cut off the hard peel of the plantains, slice them to small flat pieces, and fry the strips many times. As Jasmine says goodbye to her aunt, her mom comes over and suggests that Jasmine join her friends in the arts-and-crafts corner.
Jasmine bounds across the park, noticing the bounce castle and petting zoo in one corner. She spots ducklings, sheep, a goat, and a small pony giving rides to children. She sees a donation tent where people could buy t-shirts, make a donation, or enter the raffle. There’s a games tent and a small stage, where a local band is setting up instruments. The whole carnival looks incredible.
As Jasmine approaches the arts-and-crafts corner, she sees an adult volunteer running the spin art station, which already has a line of five or six kids waiting. There’s also several picnic tables with cups of crayons, colored pencils, and paper. Keiko, Sofia, and Madison are huddled there, whispering.
Jasmine calls out to them, but when they notice her, they break their huddle. Madison snatches the paper they’d been looking at and hides it behind her back. What were they doing? When Jasmine asks them, Keiko refuses to answer Jasmine’s question, and Madison changes the subject. She points out that Mrs. Wallace turned the arts-and-crafts corner into an art gallery. Keiko points to some drawings of shelter animals hanging from colored yarn strung between two trees.
Jasmine focuses on the drawings, clipped with clothespins. She recognizes a drawing of Frankie and one of the five kittens. Keiko explains that after kids draw pictures of the animals, they post them on the board for people to buy. And all the money will go to the shelter.
Jasmine loves the art gallery, but she still feels like her friends are hiding something from her. She turns back to Madison, and asks what she’s hiding in her hand. Madison’s eyes go wide, she says it’s something to give to her mom. Then, Madison pretends to hear her mom calling, and runs off. Sofia and Keiko struggle to contain their giggles.
Jasmine’s stomach twists. She demands to know what’s so funny. She asks what they’re leaving her out of now?
Keiko is confused? When did they leave her out? Jasmine, frustrated, says they didn’t include her when they tried to walk Sadie at the shelter. And Keiko never told her that Madison was in her art class. And now the three of them are laughing at her.
Sofia shakes her head. They’re not laughing at Jasmine. Madison was just-
Jasmine interrupts Sofia mid-sentence. She shouts out that she doesn’t want to hear about Madison anymore. She wishes it was just the three of them again. Keiko glances past Jasmine, and her eyes widen. Jasmine turns around, and sees Madison standing right behind her. Madison overheard everything. Without saying a word, Madison turns her head and quickly walks away. Jasmine could tell that Madison’s eyes were probably full of tears.
Jasmine feels awful. Even worse, when she turns back to her friends, she sees the same hurt expression on their faces. Jasmine doesn’t know what to say. Finally, she turns and walks away. She knew she messed up. She was honest, but she didn’t mean for Madison to hear. Now everyone was mad at her.