Free PIECES OF LAUGHTER AND FUN by Unknown

just as soon look after you a while longer. I thought I was ready to take care of myself when I was your age, too. But I discovered that I needed a few more years' experience before I could run my own life. That was a good lesson to learn, but not a very pleasant one."
    Grandma sat down with her crocheting, and I pulled up my chair to listen to a story....
    One day Sarah Jane and I were walking home from school.
    "Are you going to tell your folks what Miss Gibson said about making our own decisions?" I asked her.
    "Yes, I'll tell them, but I don't think it will do any good," she replied. "They'll just keep right on telling me what to do and what not to do. I'm pretty sure they won't let me make up my own mind. Do you think your folks will let you?"
    "I don't know, but I'm going to try. Maybe if they know Miss Gibson says we should, they'll feel differently about it."
    That night at the supper table, I approached the subject.
    "Miss Gibson says we are old enough to make decisions for ourselves," I announced. "We shouldn't have to be told anything, anymore."
    The boys looked at me in surprise. "She didn't say anything," Reuben said. "She meant we should be able to decide whether something is right or wrong before we do it."
    "Yes," Roy put in. "She was talking about returning something you found. You should know that keeping it would be stealing."
    "If I'm old enough to know what's right and what's wrong, I'm old enough to make all my own decisions," I declared stubbornly. "I'm tired of being told every move to make. I can do it myself."
    "That's pretty risky business," pa commented. "There are some things you can decide on your own. But I think you still need help with important matters."
    "Then will you let me decide the not-important ones?" I asked eagerly.
    Ma and pa exchanged glances. "Did you ever hear someone say, 'You made your bed, now lie in it'?" ma asked me.
    I shook my head. "I don't think so. What does it mean?"
    "It means that when you make a choice, you have to live with the results. There's a lot of responsibility in making your own decisions. I'm not sure you're ready for that."
    "Oh, I am!" I assured her. "Just try me and see."
    "All right," ma agreed reluctantly. "We'll see how well you do. But pa and I will have the final say on what's important."
    I was pleased with this arrangement. While I did my homework, my mind kept wandering to my new freedom. What would I decide first? I considered staying up past my bedtime, but discarded that almost immediately. Ma would say that my rest was important.
    I went to bed that night without finding anything I could do on my own. In the morning, however, a thought occurred to me. I could wear my good dress to school! I knew the other girls would look at me with envy and wonder how I had managed such good fortune. As I pulled my light blue dress over my head, I glanced down at my legs. I certainly couldn't wear my everyday black stockings with this beautiful dress. I removed them and pulled on my white Sunday stockings. That looked better.
    I glanced at my good shoes longingly. But I knew they were strictly for church and dress-up occasions. I wouldn't push my luck too far.
    When I appeared in the kitchen, ma opened her mouth to say something; then she closed it again. I breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't going to send me back.
    The boys didn't hesitate to say what they thought, though. "Well! La-de-da!" Roy exclaimed. "Look at Miss Priss! Where do you think you're going?"
    "I'm going to school, of course," I replied. "Where did you think I was going?"
    "We thought you'd lost track of the day and gotten dressed for church. You look pretty fancy to be going to school," Reuben snickered.
    "There's no reason why I can't dress nice every day," I retorted. "Boys don't care how they look. But I do."
    "Enough," pa said. "We don't need an argument this morning. Let's have breakfast, shall we?"
    When I left the house, Sarah Jane was at the end of the lane waiting for me. She