Anna lived with her mother and father and her brother Bill who like a lot of older brothers usually just picked on her and said mean things to her for fun They lived in the quaint town of Rolling Hill Penn sylvania which was a really nice place to live Anna was a really great kid She was smart and worked hard in school She had good friends too Jimmy Lisa and Jenny She walked to school with them every day But Anna had one big problem The problem was there all along and not really such a big deal Anna didn’t even know anything was wrong When Anna won the spelling bee at school she correctly spelled the word E X A C T L Y 2
And she spelled it exactly right This meant that Anna was the best speller in her grade in her school As luck would have it the town’s mayor Mayor Johnson believed it was very important for kids to learn how to spell He thought that was just great So he arranged for the winners of the spelling bees for each grade to join him on television for a short program This meant that the winners of the spelling bee for the first second third fourth and fifth grades would all be on television with the mayor 3
This was a VERY big deal Every kid in the school was going to watch Anna was going to be on TV Needless to say her parents were very proud Even her brother Bill said something that wasn’t mean to her The big day came quickly Her mother had bought her a nice new dress to wear so she would look just perfect Anna was very excited and talked of little else with her friends Jimmy said I can’t believe you’re going to be on TV Lisa said I can’t believe you’re going to be on TV Jenny said I can’t believe you’re going to be on TV Anna smiled each time but didn’t say anything Yes this was exciting but she was really scared too She had never been on TV before Anna didn’t know that this was also a chance for everyone to find out about her problem filed into the studio All of the children who had won the school spelling bees They sat in a row of chairs next to each other youngest to oldest A smiling woman came in and patted some makeup on each child so he or she would look just right for the camera Each one was fidgeting while trying to stay calm Then the mayor arrived He was smiling and shook each child’s hand Most of them were nervous as this was the mayor of their town not to mention they were about to be on TV Then the man with the camera said he would count down until the TV went live meaning they would be on the air and everyone could see them 4
