Britney’s Busy Bee Day

My name is Britney. I have a very busy family. Today as usual, everyone was busy. Busy going to the mall, busy going to work, busy going somewhere. I wasn’t busy. I was bored. It was the school holidays and I had nothing to do. Then I had a brainwave.
‘I think I’ll go to work today,’ I announced, ‘ Can I Mum?’
‘Can you what? Oh Britney, look I really am very busy.’ Mum said.
She hadn’t said no so I took that as a yes. I walked down the street until I came to Mrs Brown the bakers shop.
‘Hello Britney.’ smiled Mrs Brown, ‘has your Mum sent you shopping?’
‘No, not today.’
‘Oh, what can I do for you then?’ Mrs Brown asked.
‘I’d like to work in your shop.’
Mrs Brown looked surprised. ‘You want a job?’
‘Yes please,’ I grinned.
‘Well I suppose I do get busy from time to time. I’ll tell you what, why don’t you help me this morning to see how things work out.’
I gasped. ‘You mean I’ve got the job?’
‘You can start now if you like,’ Mrs Brown smiled, handing me a baker’s apron.
‘Wow, great!’
I got to work carrying trays of buns out to the counter. They looked and smelt very tasty but Mrs Brown told me I wasn’t to eat any while working. After a while though, I started to get a bit bored. All I seemed to do was carry things about. Then I noticed some loose doughnuts. I’d seen a man on T.V once, juggling doughnuts.
‘I could do that.’ I thought. And I did. I juggled first two, then three doughnuts until they all fell splat onto the floor.
‘Hurray!’ I heard clapping and looked around. Some old ladies in the shop had been watching. I took a bow. Mrs Brown didn’t clap. She looked a bit cross.
‘Sorry Mrs Brown,’ I said ‘Thanks for letting me try but I don’t really think I want to be a baker.’
Mrs Brown smiled. ‘No harm done dear. Here, I’ll give you fifty pence for your help.’
‘Thanks, Mrs Brown.’
I walked down the road. Suddenly, a fire engine whizzed by, it’s siren wailing loudly.
‘That’s it!’ I smiled, ‘I’ll be a fire-fighter.’
The fire station was just around the corner. I hurried inside.
‘I’d like to be fire fighter. Do you have any vacancies?’ I asked the fire chief.
He looked me up and down. ‘Interesting, we’ve never had such a small fire fighter. Still I don’t see why not,’ he said.
‘Great!’ I smiled.
‘You can start by learning how to use a hose.’
The chief took me to where some firemen stood squirting hoses. They squirted water into the upstairs windows of a pretend house. The chief handed me a hose.
‘See how you get on. I’ll be back soon.’
I aimed the hose and squirted the windows.
‘This is fab,’ I laughed.
‘Not bad for your first time,’ cheered the other firemen.
But after a while I got bored squirting windows. Instead I squirted the other firemen.
‘Hey, watch it!’ they shouted.
‘I thought you needed cooling down.’ I chuckled.
Just then the chief came back. He didn’t look very happy.‘ What’s going on?’ he frowned.
‘Ooops, sorry Chief. Thanks for giving me a try but I think I’ll look for a different job.’
‘I think maybe you should,’ grinned the Chief, ‘before all my firemen catch colds.’
I walked back into town.
‘There must be a job I’ll like,’ I thought to myself.
I passed Tom the window cleaner, up a ladder. ‘Hello Britney what are you up to?’ he called.
‘I’m looking for a job,’ I told him.
‘A job eh. What about givin’ us a hand with the windows?’
I couldn’t believe it. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Sure I’m sure, come on grab a cloth.’
Tom and I scrubbed the windows of Mrs Fish’s pet shop. There was a cheeky kitten in the shop window and I made a face at him.
Window cleaning was quite a good job. But I soon got a bit fed up. Outside the pet shop were some old boxes of straw. I had an idea. While Tom wasn’t looking I emptied the water out of his bucket and replaced it with straw. Then I took the bucket up the ladder and called Tom.
‘What’s up Britney?’ Tom asked.
‘I think there’s something wrong with this water.’
‘Let’s have a look.’
‘Okay! Here goes.’ I said and tipped up the bucket.
‘Careful!’ cried Tom but it was too late. He was covered in a shower of straw.
I laughed ‘ You look like a scarecrow.’
‘Very clever.’ Tom smiled, ‘you’ll not wash too many windows with straw.
We had a good chuckle then I thanked Tom for letting me help.
‘Maybe getting a job hasn’t been such a great idea after all.’ I wondered as I walked on a bit. I found a bench and sat down to have rest.
Just then I heard a voice say. ‘Howdy down there!’
I looked round to see two huge legs. I looked up…and up…and up. ‘Wow! A stilt walker. Where did you come from? I asked.
‘I’m telling everybody the circus is in town, for a whole week.’ The stilt walker explained.
‘Wow! I love the circus.’ I smiled.
‘I saw your trick with the straw, very funny.’ laughed the stilt walker.
I told the stilt walker about my adventures trying to get a job. The stilt walker listened then said.
‘You know I think I can help.’
‘You can!’ I gasped.
‘Come on follow me.’
I hurried after the stilt walker. It was hard work keeping up. The stilt walker took such big strides.
In a few minutes we arrived at the Circus. There was a big colourful tent. There were lots of trucks as well. And all the circus acts were practising outside, jugglers, tightrope walkers, and acrobats. The stilt walker spoke to a man in a fancy suit. He called me over.
‘Britney, I’d like you to meet the ringmaster. He’s in charge of the circus.’
‘Hello.’ I said.
‘How would you like to be a clown in my circus, Britney?’ smiled the ringmaster.
‘A clown, Yippee, I’d love it.’ I could hardly believe it.
‘The show’s tonight.’ said the Stilt walker.
‘Tonight, but won’t I need to practise.’ I asked.
The Stilt walker chuckled, ‘I don’t think so, you’ve been practising all day.’
That night I was a part of a great clown act. I got to wear baggy pants and a big red nose. I juggled sausages and squirted the boys and girls with water. And threw buckets of confetti at the other clowns. It was amazing. There was a big audience and every time we came on they all clapped. Mum and Dad came. I think they enjoyed not being busy for a change. I even noticed the Fire Chief, Mrs Brown, and Tom the window cleaner in the front row.
‘Now why didn’t I think of this sooner?’ I thought to myself.

The End

Story written by Derek Keilty, illustrations by Trixie Keilty.
To visit Derek's website click here