Mina bit back a scream of frustration. Getting on her knees, she tried to look through the bathroom hole and find out what sort of lock it was. After assessing the situation, she discovered she had no clue what it was or how to get out. Frantically, she began to pull out drawers and open cupboards to look for something she could jam into the hole and turn the door. She tried several different things: her mother’s tweezers, and her hairbrush, which was too thick. She had nearly given up her search when, finally, her eyes fell on the toothbrush holder.
Would it work? Should she try? Grabbing the fattest toothbrush, which happened to be Charlie’s, Mina inserted it handle first and gave it a few turns. It pulled on the lock a bit, but not enough to release the catch. Opening up another drawer, Mina grabbed a nail file and inserted it between the door frame and the catch. If she could budge the latch enough to push the nail file through, she’d be free.
For the next few minutes she pushed the file against the catch, carefully twisting the toothbrush back and forth until eventually she felt the door slide open in response.
Mina could almost have cried in relief. Just another reason to talk to her mother about getting a cell phone. But this latest debacle had made her late for school. Throwing clothes on, she grabbed a violet zippered hoodie and ran out the door and across the lawn, having to double back only once to grab the Happy Maids packet from the kitchen table.
After pedaling for two blocks on her bicycle, Mina heard a slight mewing noise. Looking down, she saw an orange tabby cat keeping pace just to her right. Mina swerved a few feet to the right to avoid the cat and almost ran over a large dog that was now on the left of her bike.
“Yikes!” Mina stood up and tried to pedal harder to outdistance the animals, but after a few more labored breaths, she looked behind her and saw they were still there.
“Go away! Shoo!” Mina was worried that the dog and cat would continue to follow her and get hit by a car. They sped up and seemed to be chasing Mina. Who would have thought a dog and cat together would be chasing her on her bike?
A loud screech and the large colorful object flying toward her head was the only warning that Mina had of a rooster propelling himself from a nearby fence. Ducking, Mina swerved and almost lost control of the bike.
“What the…?” This was the oddest thing that had happened to Mina in a while. She turned her head to see the rooster land behind her next to the dog and cat, and it seemed to join in on the chase.
Turning her head, Mina had only a split second to register that there was a large animal directly in her path, and slammed on her brakes. Too late. Mina lost control and flew headlong over the handlebars of her bike to land crumpled on the sidewalk. In that instant, Mina recognized the animal that caused her wreck, but she couldn’t believe it. It was a donkey, in the middle of town. And was it wearing a hat?
***
Shivering and sore because of her wet hair and skinned hands, Mina rode slowly the rest of the way to school. She decided today was turning into another epic disaster. When she hit the sidewalk, she must have blacked out for a split second. Either that or she was hallucinating, because when she dusted off her hands and looked around, there was no sign of the donkey, rooster, dog, or cat. There was no evidence that they were ever there. Mina ran up and down the block looking for the donkey, but with no success. Maybe it wasn’t a donkey. Maybe it was another large dog? She didn’t even bother pulling up to the bike rack, but threw her bike on the ground, her feet pounding the pavement as she ran up the stairs and into school.
Mina glanced at her watch; she was five minutes late for class. Keeping her head down, she tried to walk as fast and as quietly as she could, hoping to avoid the hall monitors. Maybe if she pleaded hard enough with her first-hour teacher, she would have pity and avoid writing a tardy slip. Yeah, right.
Her teacher, Mrs. Porter, had her back to the door and was writing on the whiteboard, so Mina slipped into the classroom and tried to nonchalantly slide into her desk next to Nan. Mina took a quick peek at the rigid spine of Mrs. Porter, noticing that the teacher never turned or made any movement to acknowledge her late entrance. She turned slightly and began to shuffle some papers around on her desk; she didn’t even glance Mina’s way. Mina was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when Mrs. Porter walked over and dropped a tardy slip on her desk, with Mina’s name written in perfect penmanship across on the top.
She never even saw her teacher fill out the form. Mina took the yellow slip of paper between her shaking fingers and looked toward Mrs. Porter’s desk in confusion.