by Steven Tatum, age 14

This piece is one of a series written by students at the Hutch School. The Hutch School, which spans grades K–12, seeks to meet the educational needs of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance pediatric patients. On his trips to Seattle, Dave Eggers visits the school to work with students on various projects. During a recent trip, students wrote in response to Jamaica Kincaid’s short-short story "Girl." The students then read their stories aloud at a reading at the Elliott Bay bookstore, on October 2, 2002.

This is the first of three short pieces by Steven Tatum that we will be running this week.

Make your bed, clean your closet, vacuum up the paper, straight out your clothes, don’t put your stuff under your bed. There are so many things you do to get your room clean. Make your bed. So many things you have to do or don’t.