Esmeralda’s Quiet Place

“BLAAATT!” Esmeralda hated when her sister Maria practiced the trumpet in their room.

“I want to read my book,” said Esmeralda, stomping out. “It’s too noisy in here!”

She piled all the towels in the tub and climbed in. Towels puffed up around her ears. “That’s better.”

Then, Maria pounded on the bathroom door, “What?!” Esmeralda said grumpily.

“Are you ever going to come out? I have to go! ”

In the family room, the TV BOOMed and CRASHed!”

In the workshop, Papa sawed wood. “BUZZZZZZ!”

In the living room, Mama stopped the vacuum cleaner, WHEEERoooom! “You will have to find quiet elsewhere today, mi hija.”

Esmeralda went outside and climbed her favorite reading tree.

The garbage truck thundered down the street. Trash collectors yelled. Machinery roared. THUMP-BUMP-GRRRRUMBLE!

Their next door neighbor started his lawn mower KaZOOM-HUMMMMMMMM!

An airplane flew overhead WHEEEEEE OOOOM! and a motorcycle sped by VAROOM-RAT-A-TAT-TAT!

“It’s too noisy out here!” she cried.

Esmeralda ran back inside to the closet under the stairs. On the shelf lay the family’s winter hats. She grabbed her red knit hat. Then she stretched Maria’s tam, Diego’s stocking cap, Mama’s beret and Papa’s large ski hat, one on top of the other.

Esmeralda smiled. She sat on the comfy sofa and read her book. All she heard was her own breathing.

Illustrations by Lynette Reed and Story by Elizabeth W Seaver

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