May Read/Ruby 2

Title:The English Roses

Author: Madonna

Have you ever heard of the English Roses? They are not a box of chocolates, a football team, flowers growing in the garden. What they are is this : Four little girls named Nicole, Amy, Charlotte, and Grace.

They go to the same school and live in the same neighborhood, in many ways, it all sounds so perfectly fun an nice, but they are all a little bit jealous of another girl in the neighborhood. Her name is Binah, she is very beautiful, an excellent student and good at sports, and always kind to people, but she is very lonely. She has no friends, and everywhere she goes, she is alone.

The English Roses want to be friendly and the know that Binah was lonely, but they couldn't bring themselves to be nice to her. They decide to pretend they don't see Binah when she walks by, so time goes by, the English Roses continue to have fun with each other, while Binah remains alone.

One night when all the girls are having a sleepover party at Nicole's house, her mother talk to them about Binah, she wants all of them be friendly with Binah, and have a conversation with Binah not just based on how her look. The girls know Nicole's mother has a point, but they didn't want to say it. And while they are sleeping, they each have the same dream. All four of them are having a picnic in the park, complaining (as usual) about how beautiful Binah is, how unfair it is for them, when suddenly, a fairy godmother appears !

The girls sit and stare at her with their mouths open, the fairy godmother offers them the opportunity to be someone else. So they ask to be sprinkled with fairy dust, and off they fly to Binah's house. Suddenly they found themselves sitting around Binah's kitchen table. And there, Binah is scrubbing the floor, sweat is dripping from her forehead, and she looks very tired. All at once, her father comes into the room and says, " It's getting late, Binah. When you've finished scrubbing the floor, I think you should start cooking dinner. I'm going outside to fix the car." When Binah finished cleaning the floor, she cooks, she washes and irons the clothes, and finally she empties the trash. The English Roses can't believe their eyes, they have never seen a girl work so hard in their lives. Binah's mother died long time ago, so she lives alone with her father and spends all her time on her own.

When morning comes, the girls awake, they tell one another about their dream, and they promise each other that, from that day on, they will be kinder to Binah and stop complaining their own lives. They invite Binah to a tea party, and then they start walking to school with her, they soon find out that she is very likable indeed, they grow to love her like a sister, and after go to her house to help her with her chores. Time goes by, and soon everywhere the English Roses go, Binah goes with them.