My grandmother mailed this to me a few weeks ago- a story I wrote when I was six, although I did update some grammar and misspellings for this round of sharing. Enjoy.

Once there was a raccoon. His name was Ricky. He lived in a tree in the meadow. He ate acorns, fish, and eggs. Ricky liked to wash everything. Ricky said, “I have to wash my food before I eat it.” Then he saw some kids eating fish. He made friends with them. He told the kids “can you teach me how to do a back flip?” “No we can not.” “That’s okay, I can already do one,” said Ricky. He was very, very glad he had good friends. The kids went home with Ricky. Ricky met the kids’ mom. She was washing the clothes. Ricky said, “Can I help? I like to wash things.” “Yes,” said mom. He started to clean the sink and put mom’s book in the sink and filled it with bubbles. Then he met the kids’ dad when he was playing a golf game. “Can I play, I like playing games too.” “Yes,” said dad. “Nintendo golf is lots of fun,” said Ricky. He played the game and then he put it in the bathtub to wash it. Mom screamed! Everybody came running! “Look what happened to my book! It is soaking wet!” said mom. Dad yelled! Everybody came running. “What is the matter?” said the kids. “My Nintendo golf game is in the bathtub!” Ricky said, “I’m sorry, I was just trying to help. I was just trying to wash things.” “That’s okay,” said mom and dad. “I can buy a new book,” said mom. “Me too,” said dad. Mom showed Ricky how to read a book. Ricky liked to read books. Mom told him to ask before he washed things. Mom read Ricky lots of books. Ricky washed lots of things for mom. They became best friends.

(Shout-out, Mrs. Pate!)