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Danny the Disrespectful Kid
An Excerpt
By Elizabeth Pantley
Danny walks in the door after school the way he usually does: muddy footprints, abandoned backpack, half-eaten lunch and jacket trailing him on the floor. His mother looks up at him, making that "tsk" sound that only mothers can produce quite that way, followed by a weary sigh. "Geez, Danny, 
why do you have to come in like a tornado?" Danny mocks her the way he always does when she makes this comment. Whirling around, he knocks several things off the counter on the way to his first destination, which is, of course, the refrigerator.
As his mother picks up the first wave of his debris from the floor, Danny busily creates another as he roots through the refrigerator, knocking over yogurt containers, spilling juice out of a pitcher, bruising apples and leaving leftovers uncovered. This messy expedition yields a muffin – and a complaint that his mother never buys anything good to eat. He devours half the muffin in one bite, scattering crumbs all over the floor with a cough. As his mom reaches down to scoop up the crumbs, he sees she's none too pleased, but that doesn't bother him as he carelessly rains more crumbs down on the floor.
She hates this piggish behavior, hates that he, sated by his muffin feast, will turn up his nose at a dinner she spent all day preparing. "Danny! Can't you see that I'm making dinner?" she asks. "I wish you wouldn't eat a bunch of snacks right now."
Through a mouth filled with muffin number two, Danny mumbles something that sounds like "Whatever."
"Honey, did you get the book you need for your book report?" Mom asks.
Ignoring her question, Danny asks, "Did you get me new shin guards for soccer?"