It S Beautiful, Whether You Win First Place Or Not

WHAT SHOULD KELLY DO?

“It’s beautiful, whether you win first place or not. ”

That’s what Mother said when Kelly showed her the painting she’d done for the school art contest. But Mother put it differently to Aunt Lois. “She really has talent, Lois,” Kelly heard her say on the phone. “I’ll certainly be disappointed if she doesn’t win first prize.”

Kelly would be disappointed herself, in a way. She was almost the best artist in the whole school. Almost. Of course, there was always Evelyn Fields.

When Evelyn felt like painting, she could turn out pictures that looked good enough to be on magazine covers, but she only painted when and what she wanted to. She had said over and over again that she couldn’t care less about prizes and contests and rules.

The art teacher certainly cared about rules, though. “Last year,” she said, “I spent half my time reminding students of the deadline and rounding up paintings on time. This year each person is responsible for his or her own painting. Anyone whose picture isn’t in the office by nine-thirty Friday morning is out of luck.”

On the day of the contest Kelly, with her painting carefully wrapped in brown paper, waited on the school steps for the bell to ring. Evelyn arrived, propped a picture against the side of the school, and hurried over to the swings.

Kelly looked at Evelyn’s picture. Evelyn certainly must have felt like painting this time, for the picture was the best she’d ever done – horses on the desert, and a fiery sun in the background casting a red glow over the entire landscape. Evelyn was sure to win first prize whether she wanted to or not.

Kelly could hardly hold back the tears. When the bell rang, she turned the picture in at the office and went to the fifth-grade room. The teacher assigned some mathematics examples. Kelly broke her pencil on the first one, so she went the sharpener by the window. As she was grinding away, some drops splattered against the glass. Kelly looked out and saw that it was raining. She saw something else too.

There right where Evelyn had left it, was the splendid horse picture. In five minutes, it would be too late for Evelyn to enter her picture in the contest, and Kelly would probably win. Kelly looked quickly at Evelyn, but the other girl was hard at work on a problem.

Well, she’s got to learn to take care of her own things, Kelly told herself. The teacher said we were each responsible for our own painting, so Evelyn’s responsible for hers. That’s the rule. It’s her tough luck if she doesn’t win first prize.

But that wasn’t the only problem. A few more minutes in the rain and the painting would be ruined. That would hurt Evelyn a lot more that losing the contest. Kelly went back to her seat with her heart pounding. What should she do?