'I'd Rather Just Be Me'

Licking the creamy frosting from her fingers, Lauren said, "I hate to wash my hands. It takes too long."

"What if you were an octopus?" asked Mother.

Lauren pictured herself with eight arms and remembered her rhyme book:

If I were an octopus,

I would surely sigh,

Each time I had to

Wash my hands,

I might even cry!

"Lauren," her mother called, "please put your shoes on so we can go shopping."

"I don't like to tie my tangly shoelaces," Lauren said.

"What if you were a centipede and had 100 feet?" asked Mother.

Lauren sighed, thinking of all those shoelaces.

She began chanting:

If I want to dress with speed,

I'd better not be a centipede,

For 100 shoes I'd need,

A hundred shoes I'd need!

It was raining when Lauren and her mother got back from shopping and they were dripping raindrops.