Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream

When I woke up that morning and saw the red and gold leaves swirling around my backyard, I just knew it was gonna be my kind of day. We started collecting leaves early in the morning, and by afternoon, we had three very nice, fat piles. My best friend, Shayna; my little sister, Emmeline; and me, Clara Lee. Clara Lee is my name, first and last. All the kids at school call me Clara Lee and not just Clara. It just sounds better that way. Like peanut butter and jelly, like trick-or-treat, or fairy and princess, those words just go together. Just like me, Clara Lee.

Later on, we would jump in our leaf piles, but first, we were playing a game I made up called Fall Royalty. Shayna is Queen, Emmeline is Prince, and I am the King of Fall.

"Why do you always get to be king?" Emmeline complained. She loves to complain; it's her favorite hobby. She is six. She's small for her age. A runt, like Wilbur from Charlotte's Web. I call her that when no one's listening. It really makes her mad. She has chubby cheeks and round button eyes and everybody thinks she is just the cutest thing ever. But not me. I can see through her like plastic wrap.

"It's not fair," she whined.

"I'm the one who made up the game," I reminded her. "If you don't want to play, you can go and help Grandpa—"

Emmeline pushed her bottom lip out a smidge but didn't argue. She scooped another leaf off the ground and added it to her pile.

I picked a brownish leaf out of the pile. "Not bright enough," I declared, in my best King of Fall voice.

Emmeline put her hands on her hips. "Just because you're the king—," she started to say. Then she looked over at Shayna. "Shayna, do you think it's fair that Clara Lee gets to be king?"

"I would rather be queen any day," Shayna said, fixing her crown of leaves so it set just right on her head. "Why don't you be princess instead of prince this time?"

"Princesses are boring," Emmeline said. And then she threw her handful of leaves in the air and danced around our pile. She bounced around like a kangaroo, shook her hips from side to side, and moved her arms like she was doing the backstroke.

Shayna and I looked at each other and shrugged. And then we threw our leaves in the air too, and we danced like Emmeline danced.

After all the dancing, it was time for me to make my toast to fall. I had already practiced it that morning when I brushed my teeth. "Ahem. Now the king will make a toast." I paused dramatically. I lifted the jug of apple cider that my mom had brought out for us.

"A toast? But we already had breakfast," Emmeline whispered to Shayna.

"A toast is a speech," Shayna explained.

"Then why didn't she just say speech?"

"Quiet, the both of you!" I boomed. Shayna glared at me, and I mouthed, Sorry. Then I cleared my throat. "Fall is a time of change. The seasons are changing. Soon it will be cold. But we will always, always remember the fall, because it is the best time of year. Amen."

Emmeline crossed her eyes at me. She learned that talent very recently, and now she does it every opportunity she gets, because she knows I can't. Emmeline said, "I like summer the best."

"Do not disrespect fall," I told her, taking a swig from the jug. Then I passed it to Shayna, who sipped it in her ladylike way. Then she passed it to Emmeline, who drank almost half of it.

Our leaf piles were looking good, so I said, "Ready?"

Shayna and Emmeline yelled, "Ready!"

We all jumped into our piles at the same time. It was like jumping into a cloud of fall. Leaves floated in the air like snowflakes. We three couldn't stop screaming, it was so fun.

After a lot of jumping, we laid down on our leaf piles. It was getting dark. We would have to go inside soon. That was the only bad thing about fall. It got dark so darned quick.

"Clara Lee?" Shayna's leaf pile was in the middle, right in between Emmeline and me.

"Yeah?"