Speculative Essay

                                                                                                                                  Hadia Malik

                                                 Speculative Essay

                 Kelly gazed at the calendar in front of her and located the eighth of May.

               “Brian, its Mother’s Day on May eight,” said Kelly circling the date with a marker. “We should do something special for mom.”

                  Brian looked up from is Sherlock Holmes novel and glanced at his sister. “Your right, mom looks so exhausted when she comes back from work,” he replied. “Then she has to clean the house and take care of us.”

                  Kelly was aware of this. She knew taking care of two middle school kids, managing the house and working fulltime was no easy feat for a single parent.

                  “How about we bake a chocolate cake, that’s her favorite kind but she never has enough time to enjoy it.”

                    “We can also clean the entire house as well,” added Kelly.

                    It sounded good to them and together they gathered all the supplies and planned how they would do everything. They worked hard because they wanted to show their gratitude and their love for their mom. When May 8 finally arrived, Kelly and Brian were anxious to get started. They could not wait to see mom’s face when they were done.

                    “Bye! See you later.” said Kelly.

                  Brian kissed his mom goodbye. They watched the front door close and immediately jumped to their feet. Brian got the vacuum and soon the humming of it filled the house. Kelly got out her recipe and all the necessary supplies. She mixed the batter and set the oven while Brian cleaned the rooms and swept the floor.

                  Soon Kelly cried out, “Brian are you done?”

                  “Yeah, come and look how clean the room is.”

               Kelly walked in and gasped. Everything was dusted off and sparkling.

“Wow,” she exclaimed, “This house has never been so organized before.”

                The pillows were set and all decorations were in place. Upstairs, the beds were made and the floors were spotless. Suddenly a strange aura filled the house.

               “The cake!” yelled the two siblings

                 They stampeded into the kitchen and started coughing. Smoke filled the air. Kelly finally managed to yank open the oven door and the two stared in mute shock at their creation. Sizzling and brown the splattered cake lay in the oven, stale and filthy. Kelly and Brian could only stare. Ding-Dong! The sound of the bell jarred back to reality. The door opened and in walked their mom. She looked from the ruins of the cake to her children.

                  “What ha. . .  .” she trailed off. She looked around becoming aware of the clean house and trying to comprehend what was going on.

                  Unexpectedly she burst out laughing. Kelly and Brian looked at each other in surprise.

                   Finally, Brian managed to say, “You’re not mad?”

                   Grinning, their mom reached into her bag and pulled out a large box.

                     “It’s a chocolate cake!” yelped Kelly laughing along with Brian joining in.

                   They hugged each other and sat down while their mother exclaimed that she had never seen the house so tidy before. After a good laugh and delicious chocolate cake, Kelly and Brian decided this was the best surprise they ever did and the best surprise they ever got.