Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. It’s time! This day has been so long, the longest day in the history of the world. I don’t know why they don’t do the spring egg hunt when we first get to school. They make us wait till after lunch, which is like forever. Mommy said it’s because the teachers don’t like us to have sugar first thing in the morning, but I told her that didn’t make sense ’cause I have cereal or pancakes for breakfast sometimes and they both got sugar in them. But Mommy said that cereal and pancakes have other things in them that are good for you and that Easter eggs are, like, 100 percent sugar, and that 100 percent sugar can make you all jumpy and excited and make you not be able to do your work in class. But I couldn’t do my work in class anyways ’cause I was too excited thinking about the egg hunt!
When we finally got to have lunch, I was almost too excited to eat the sandwich Mommy packed for me, but I knew I wasn’t supposed to eat the eggs unless I had something good for me in my tummy. So I ate the whole thing, and the carrot sticks and the string cheese she sent, and I ate it all real slow, so it would take time. Then we got recess, and I played on the jungle gym with my friend Jesse, and he said he was going to find the most eggs and I told him, no, I was going to. The one who finds the most eggs gets to take home Marco, Mrs. Hartnett’s stuffed monkey, for the whole vacation. I want to take Marco home so bad.
After recess, my teacher made us line up by the gate and handed all of us the paper baskets we made yesterday for putting the eggs into. We’ve been waiting here for five minutes while the fourth and fifth graders are hiding the eggs. Jesse kind of sneaks over to the side of the building and looks around the corner like he’s trying to see where the big kids are hiding the eggs, and my teacher calls him back with a real serious voice and tells him now he has to go to the end of the line. He kicks the ground and makes a mad sound, but he goes.
Then all of a sudden, a fourth or fifth grader comes around the side of the building and says they’re ready. I jump up and down, but in my place ’cause I don’t want to get sent to the end of the line. Then Mrs. Hartnett looks at all of us and repeats the rules. I don’t need to listen ’cause she already told us them this morning, and they’re just about being nice and respectful, not grabbing or pushing or shoving, and everybody already knows that anyways. Then she tells us that as soon as we hear the whistle, we all need to stop finding eggs and march straight over to the four-square courts and that anyone who doesn’t won’t be able to win Marco. I’m glad I listened to that last part ’cause I kind of forgot about it.
Then my teacher raises her hand and says, “Happy hunting!” And I dash around the corner toward the big-kid playground, with all my classmates running along with me.
The fourth and fifth graders are all standing in a big circle around the jungle gym, blacktop, and field area, watching us kindergartners find eggs, making sure we’re not fighting or anything. I see Eden over by the monkey bars, and I give her a big wave. She must not have seen me because she doesn’t wave back, but I don’t have time to think about that right now ’cause I got to find my eggs.
While most of the other kids go onto the big-kid jungle gym, I duck underneath it, because I know that’s a good place to hide eggs. And I’m right, ’cause they’re everywhere. I can’t even count how many I put in my basket, but lots and lots, and then, when Jesse and some other kids follow me under, I scramble out the other side and go to where the grass starts. I see so many eggs hiding in the long grass! I get down on my hands and knees and kind of crab walk along the grass, scooping eggs into my basket. I pretend I don’t see the ladybugs on the grass—they’re called Coccinellidae—’cause if I stop to look at ’em, I won’t get as many eggs.
I’m just grabbing a couple more when I hear the whistle. My fingers are already on them, so I scoop ’em up and put ’em in my basket and then I march over to the four-square area. I can’t believe how fast that hunt went! And I think I got a lot of eggs, but when I look at other kids’ baskets I see that a lot of my classmates have a lot of eggs, too, and I think maybe I’m not going to win Marco after all. I still get to keep all the eggs for eating and sharing with Eden and Mommy and Daddy, and that’s good, too, but I sure do wish I could take Marco home.
Our teacher puts us in another line along the four-square lines and tells us to all sit down where we are. Then she tells us to count the eggs in our baskets. She tells us that if we have too many to count, we should put them in little groups of five. I can count to a hundred, so I don’t need to make little groups, but I know some of my classmates can’t count that high yet.
I dump over my basket and a couple of my eggs go rolling over and one of them hits Cindy in the side of her leg. She grabs it and goes like she’s putting it with hers and I tell her it’s mine. She sticks her tongue out at me but hands it back, and I’m glad ’cause I don’t want to fight, I just want to count ’em all, and what if we had ’zactly the same number of eggs, but her taking that one of mine made her have one more than me? That would be stinky winky.
I count my eggs, all the way up to forty-seven eggs. There’s lots of cookies-and-cream for Eden and lots of peanut butter for Daddy and lots of plain chocolate for Mommy. I want to eat one so bad right now, but I know I have to wait until everybody’s counted and the winner is picked.
I look around to see what kind of piles my classmates have and whether they look bigger than mine, but I can’t tell. Finally, Mrs. Hartnett asks us to raise our hands when we’re done counting. Most of us put our hands up, but a few kids don’t, so she goes over and helps them count, then tells them how much they got.
“Okay,” she says. “Moment of truth.” I’m not sure what that means, because you should always tell the truth every moment. “We’re going to go down the line and call out how many eggs we found. Ready?”
And so we do. I’m sort of in the middle of the line, and every person up to me doesn’t have as many as me. Jody came real close with forty-five, and he’s all excited until I shout out, “Forty-seven.”
Then I get all scared that someone after me is going to say forty-eight or fifty or something. A few kids have forty and forty-four, and then it’s Jesse at the very end of the line, and he looks at me with kind of a mad face and says, “Forty-six.”
“Well, that means that Jonah Davenport is the winner!” Mrs. Hartnett says, and she’s giving a real big smile and I’m smiling real big right back at her because I won!
“Okay, everyone,” she says. “It’s time to go back to class. Grab your eggs, and let’s go.”
I pack mine up real fast and as I’m walking toward the kinder area, I see Eden. She’s talking to someone, but I’m so excited about winning Marco and finding all the eggs to share, I run over to where she is and give her a great big hug.
“I won, I won, I won!” I yell at her. “Isn’t that great, Eden? I get to bring home Marco, and I got so many cookies-and-cream eggs you’re not going to believe it!”
Eden isn’t hugging back, but that’s okay. I must have sort of scared her. She steps away from me, but she’s not looking at me, she’s looking at one of her friends, and her friends walk away.
“I won,” I tell her again.