The Girl Who Always Stalled

The girl I will tell you about
Is Mariana Mamaya na.
She has to stall and take her time,
When mum asks her to clean her grime.
She loves to play and chitty chat,
Won’t brush her teeth or take a bath.

“Mariana, come!” her mum would shout.
Bad Girl just turns her back around.
“Mariana, fix your bed right now.”
“Later mum! I’m busy (frown)!”
This is the daily scene
In the house where Mariana and Mum live in.

And then one day Mariana learned
Her lesson in a hard way.
She got her class card with failing marks,
Worried about how mum would react.
She stayed in the garden for a while,
Waited for Courage to come by.

Looking at her card she thought,
“How will I make this work?”
And then to her surprise and awe
Her marks came to life and talked!
“Hello Mariana,” 75 said.
“I’m sure you are scared to death,”
“You got low grades because, you know,”
“You didn’t study after all.”

Mariana got confused and scared,
So she screamed and then she fled.
On to the house she went,
Locked the door and climbed the stairs.
She then thought she needed a bath,
But then too bad the faucet cried!
“There is no water for you, I’m sorry,”
“Isn’t it that taking baths make you feel itchy?”
“Why are you in such a hurry,”
“To get rid of the grime on your body?”

“Ahhhh!” Mariana cried.
She couldn’t understand her plight.
She ran to the kitchen and got some soup.
It was all too much she needed to scoop.
But then as she put the spoon to her mouth,
The spoon wiggled and tugged with all it’s might.
“No! No! No food for you!”
“You have always ignored me, no food for you!”

Shocked and bafffled Mariana ran,
In her bedroom she ended up all wan.
“This is all impossible!”
“Spoons don’t talk and numbers don’t walk!”
She then thought it’s just a dream,
And to her bed she tried to un-dream.
Her bed then laughed outloud and jumped up,
And said, “No, Mariana! Enjoy the fun!”
“Why sleep when you have always wanted to play?”
“Isn’t it that you hate to sleep so early in the day?”

As if by magic, the faucet and the spoon,
Together with the numbers, were now in the room!
They were all laughing and jeering and sneering,
Poor Mariana couldn’t hide, couldn’t scream.
They were all around her now pushing and pulling,
She tried to fight them but her arms turned to pudding.

It was when she felt really scared and perplexed,
That a nut hit her head and thought she was going berserk.
So she looked up and everything then disappeared!
Poof! She was back in the garden under a tree...

Whew!it was just a curious dream!
But Mariana knew better now about things.
She would tell mum that she failed and learn from her mistakes.
And would promise not to stall ever again!
She’d promise to study and get homework ready,
Before she’d watch TV or play with her Barbie.
She’d promise to brush her teeth and shower,
After a bag of jelly beans and a game of Chinese garter.

What Mariana didn’t know,
Is that the numbers smiled and winked,
“The curious dream worked!
The girl who loved to stall, won’t be a brat anymore!”