Act Your Age

“Act your age,” said Aunt Augusta sharply. Frances had been blowing bubbles in her bedtime milk. She had made sure there was only about a quarter of the milk left. The bubbles weren’t going over the sides of the glass. But it seemed that Aunt Augusta was annoyed anyway.

When Frances’s mother came back into the room, Frances was quiet.

“Are you OK?” asked her mother.

“Yes,” said Frances. But she felt better when Aunt Augusta had finished visiting them and gone home. 

At recess the next day, Frances was playing ring-around-the-rosy with her five-year-old sister, Grace, and four of Grace’s friends.

Just then Frances’s friend Julie came along. “You’d better act your age,” said Julie. “What will Sandra and Susan think?”

Reluctantly Frances said good-bye to Grace. She went with Julie to join their friends Sandra and Susan on the other side of the playground.

The next day was Saturday. Frances wasn’t feeling as excited as she usually did about going to Grandma and Grandpa Burton’s house for dinner — especially since Aunt Augusta was invited as well. Usually Grandma and Grandpa made Frances laugh, but today Frances wasn’t in a laughing mood.

Before dinner, Grandma and Grandpa and Frances’s mom and dad played ring-around-the-rosy with Grace. Frances just watched. 

When they sat down to eat, Frances saw that they were having her favorite meal — spaghetti and meatballs and salad, with chocolate pudding for dessert. She began to feel a little better. Then Aunt Augusta started talking about her fights with her next-door neighbor.

“… and yesterday I came home to find his dog burying a bone right in the middle of my flower bed!” she said. “Do you know what I did next?”

No one answered her question, so she answered it herself.

“After the little beast left, I dug up the bone, gift-wrapped it, and put it in that man’s mailbox.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Augusta,” said Frances’s mom. “You should learn to act your age.”

At the thought of proper Aunt Augusta being told to act her age, Frances started to laugh. Then she started to sputter. The more she tried to stop, the more she laughed and sputtered. Finally even Aunt Augusta managed a small smile and murmured, “I guess I should.” 

Grandma chuckled and said, “You know, that’s the first time I’ve heard Frances laugh all evening. I’m glad she remembers how.”

The next afternoon Frances was playing hopscotch with Grace when Julie walked by.

“Hopscotch?” asked Julie. “You still play a baby game like hopscotch?”

“Yes, I do,” said Frances firmly.

There didn’t seem to be anything left for Julie to say. For a while she watched Frances and Grace hopping and giggling and playing. Then quietly she asked, “May I play, too?”