This is a story about a girl named Jessica Hemauer who is trying to fit in with the other kids in her school. Being that she comes from a farm she has more responsibilities before and after school and she is not able to participate in school activities or other activities that the other kids have the opportunity to do. She wants to be involved with school activities like basketball and different clubs because this way she feels that she will fit in with everyone else. On the farm, Jessica gets up at 5 am with her two sisters, Angie and Melissa and her brother, Nick, so they can help their father with the morning chores. No matter what else is going on with her or her family they still have to get up early in the morning and take care of the farm. When they get up in the mornings they go about their usual routine of washing their faces, brushing their teeth an as she says quote “taking turns on the white porcelain throne.” Then they proceed to the basement, where their mother makes it a rule that they keep their outside clothes, so they will not stink up the house. They get dressed and go to the barn. On this particular day there is a brisk and bitter wind accompanied by icy snowflakes that feel like needles digging into their faces. When they get to the barn, Nick goes to help his father herd the cows and get them into the stalls to be milked. Jessica and her sisters go and sanitize the milking machines, prepare the milking equipment, and set up a station with towels and charts of the cows that need medication. Melissa and her father milk the one hundred cows, Nick and Angie feed them, and Jessica feeds the newborn calves because Jessica is the youngest in the family. This is her favorite chore she feels it gives her some responsibility. Jessica does not realize that this is the beginning of a lifetime of responsibility. After the cows and calves have been fed, they clean out various huts and pens and lay down fresh straw. Jessica does not like this part of the chores because it is dusty and hard to breathe. They finish with the chores and return to the house around 7:30 am in the morning. Once they get back to the house they drape their clothes on a folding chair by the washing machine in the basement, and go up stairs to shower. The smell of smoked bacon and cheese omelets speed them up to shower and dress for breakfast. Grabbing a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice and a piece of toast as they run by the kitchen they yell frantically at the bus, “Wait!” It seems their daily lives run in shifts, not as a real family. In my school, the other kids roll out of bed an hour before the school bell rings and I have already been up for four hours. The school day goes by fast. While other classmates are thinking about what television show to watch after school, she is thinking about all the chores that await her once she gets off the school bus. School has always been her social life. Jessica wants to join a team or different clubs, but if she were to join a team she cannot practice after school because of her chores and since she has chores in the mornings she is not able to join any clubs. Being a farm girl makes her feel different from the other kids in her class. Not being able to participate in school activities like her friends makes her feel left out and depressed and not part of any conversations at the lunch table. “Hey, Carrie, how was basketball practice last night?” Susan asked. “It was terrible! Coach was in such a bad mood!” Carrie replied. “He made us run sprints for every shot we missed. And Kelly was missing all her shots last night. I’m so sore today.” Hey Carrie, how was the student council meeting this morning? Did you decide if we’re going to have a formal dance this winter?” “Yeah, we’re having it on the Saturday before Christmas. Are you going to come?” Jessica would sit in silence, eating French fries, listening to her friends talking and laughing waiting for the lunch period to end. In the eighth grade, she really wanted to play basketball, she begs and pleas with her parents and they finally say she can join the team. She has to promise to continue to help with the chores before school and after practice in the evening and she agrees. She becomes the team’s starting point guard. She finally starts to feel like a part of the group. She never tells her friends, teachers or coaches that she has to go home to the farm and do chores because she does not want them to know she is different. In high school she is more involved with school. The farm has grown to two hundred cows. Her freshman year in school she continues to play basketball and getting her chores done on the farm before and after school. After her freshman year, her father calls a family meeting. He explains that he wants to expand the farm and he needs more help then the family can provide. He says he does not want the family working on the farm anymore, unless they want too. He wants his children more involved in school and to go on to college. From this moment on, she is more involved with her school. She joins the homecoming club, auditions for musicals and plays, and serves as president of the student council and also the class president. She also gets a waitressing job at a resort in a neighboring town. During this time, people in school come up to her and ask how she manages her time so well, without getting stressed out. When she is with her friends she seems to be more mature and always leading the group. When she is at work she is always on time, never sick and does what she is asked to do. One night she sits down and starts to think about her life. She thought joining clubs and social activities would make her fit in, but it has not, she still sticks out. From an early age, she has learned how to manage her time to do her chores and attend school. She had to manage her time even more when playing basketball. The work that was done on the farm was worst then any job imaginable, so she had a high tolerance for work than most people. Though she hated it, working on the farm has taught her many lessons in life. At school teachers and organization leaders are impressed by her time management skills and the amount of responsibility she takes on. Her boss is always asking for more hard working people like her. She simply tells him, “Try hiring some farm girls.”
References
A Writer Shares Her Experiences: Jessica Hemauer’s Final Draft (pages 83-87) The McGraw-Hill Guide - Writing for College, Writing for Life, by Roen/Glau/Maid, 2nd Edition/2011