Bouncing Beads & New Necklaces

Emily sat on her front porch, watching the butterflies flutter around her mom’s purple bush. “I just don’t know,” Emily muttered to herself.

“You don’t know what?” asked her cousin Jessie, who was walking up the sidewalk toward her.

“Huh? Oh.” Emily looked up. “Hi there. I was thinking about what to get my mom for her birthday,” she explained.

“I love birthdays! They’re lots of fun,” said Jessie, sitting down beside Emily. “What’s Jeremy getting for her?”

“Well, you know my brother,” Emily replied with a goofy look. “He wants to get her a box of candy so he can eat the ones she doesn’t like.”

Jessie laughed. “How about some flowers or a new purse or a wallet?”

“No, she just bought a purse, and Daddy always brings her beautiful flowers before he takes her out to dinner.”

“Let me see. . . .” Jessie thought for a moment. “Moms always like homemade stuff.”

“Yeah! I’ve got a new craft kit with beads and things to make jewelry.” Emily’s face lit up; now they were getting somewhere.

“How about a necklace?” Jessie suggested.

“I think a necklace would be great,” agreed Emily. “Just the other day, one of my mom’s necklaces came apart in the middle of the grocery store! Blue beads bounced all over the floor.”

Just then, Emily’s mom opened the front door. “Jessie, your mom just called and said she needs your help with something.”

“Okay,” Jessie told her aunt. After she closed the door, Jessie turned to Emily. “Well, I guess you’re on your own. See ya later!”

“All right. I’m going to start on a new necklace for my mom right now!” Emily skipped up the stairs to her room. She dug around in the closet looking for her craft kit. “Ah-ha! Here it is.” She opened the box and poked around at the beads, trying to decide which ones to use.

Emily unfolded the instructions. The writing was tiny and full of words Emily didn’t know, but she noticed a few pictures. “This shows a long string,” she muttered, “then you poke it through the hole in the bead. Okay, I can do that.”

Emily cut a piece of string and picked out several beads. She held the string up to see it more clearly and began putting the beads on the end. It was a little difficult to get the string to go through the tiny holes, but Emily kept working until she had used up all the beads she had set aside.

“There!” she said proudly. “That didn’t take long.” But when she looked down at the necklace, she saw nothing but an empty string!

“Where’d they all go?” She checked the table and spotted her last bead bouncing over the edge onto the floor.

Then she heard a knock on her door. “Who is it?” she asked fearfully. She hoped it wasn’t her mom—that would spoil the surprise!

“It’s me, Jessie,” came a voice from the hall. “My mom said I could come back for awhile.”

“Come in,” Emily called, feeling relieved.

“How’s the necklace coming along?” asked Jessie, eager to see what her cousin had made so far.

“It’s not coming along at all,” moaned Emily. “I put the beads on the string, but they all fell off the other end! Now they’re all over the floor.”

“Oh no!” Jessie got down on her hands and knees and scurried around helping Emily pick up beads.

“I don’t know how to make them stay on the string,” explained Emily.

Jessie opened the instructions and peered at each picture. She read a few words. “It says to tie a knot in one end of the string before adding beads. Did you do that?”

“No,” Emily replied. “I don’t know how.”

“Remember when Grandma helped us with our knitting? She showed us how to make a knot. Let’s do it like that.” The girls worked together to tie a knot in the string at one end. “There,” said Jessie. “That should do it.”

Emily began to make a new necklace. She put two beads on then checked to make sure they were staying on the string. “So far, so good,” she commented and added two more beads.

Jessie looked for the right color beads and handed them to Emily one by one. “These are so pretty! Here, add a sparkly one in the middle.” Jessie gave Emily a shiny bead to add to the string.

Finally, Emily fit the last bead on, and Jessie helped her tie another knot. “Hooray! We did it, Jessie.” Emily held the necklace up.

“It’s beautiful!” said Jessie. “Sorry you had to make a new one, but your mom’s gonna love this one.

“Actually, I’m glad I redid the necklace,” said Emily. “The first one wasn’t as pretty; it didn’t have any sparkly beads. You picked out some great colors.

Jessie beamed. “Now, let’s wrap it up, and you can make a card to go with it!”

Emily drew hearts on a card while Jessie wrapped the necklace.

“All ready!” announced Jessie, handing the pink package to Emily.

“Thanks to you,” said Emily, “this new necklace is much better—it’s perfect!”

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