CANFUSION!

A riddle: What do you call a mix-up over cans?

Answer: CANfusion!

Get it? Unfortunately, there’s nothing funny about the canfusion that is going on at Fern Falls Elementary.

The problems started this morning.

Today was the last day of the food drive. Kids from every grade—and not just the reps—brought cans to the gym. I think everyone was curious to see if they could tell which grade brought in the most cans.

By lunchtime, we realized we had a problem.

Joey, Mrs. Daily, and I went to the gym to try to straighten out the cans, but it was an impossible task. There were cans EVERYWHERE!

“What are we going to do?” I asked Mrs. Daily as I picked up a can of cranberry sauce that was sitting in the middle of the gym floor.

She looked at all the cans like she was trying to figure it out. But before she had a chance to do that, Jake and Olivia and Zoe and Mary Ann came into the gym.

“Which grade brought in the most cans?” Jake asked.

They all looked curious, but it was pretty clear there wasn’t a simple answer to Jake’s question. “I’m afraid we have a mess on our hands,” said Mrs. Daily. She picked up a can of green beans and a can of sweet potatoes that were sitting on the bleachers. “I don’t see how we’re going to be certain which grades brought in which cans.”

That was definitely not the answer anyone wanted to hear.

“If you don’t know which grade brought in the most cans, how will you know which grade wins the homework-free week?” asked Mary Ann.

Mrs. Daily shook her head. “It doesn’t seem that we will be able to know that.”

Olivia gasped like what Mrs. Daily said was the worst thing she’d ever heard. Mary Ann, Zoe, and Jake all stood there open-mouthed with their arms crossed like they felt the same way.

“It’s important to remember why we had a food drive,” Mrs. Daily said.

But I had a feeling that the reps weren’t listening to her.

Word spread faster than butter melting on pancakes that there was a mix-up over the cans. By the end of lunch, everyone knew about the problem.

“Is it true?” some second graders asked me.

“How did the cans get mixed up?” a third grader asked Joey.

“We heard the contest is off,” a group of fourth graders said to us both.

Kids in every grade were talking about how no one was going to win the contest. Everyone was mad about it. To be more specific, they were mad at Joey and me.

When the last bell rang, all I wanted to do was go home. But as I was leaving, Devon stopped me. “I’m sorry everyone is mad about the mix-up over the cans,” he said. “I think it’s great that we had a food drive, even if nobody wins the contest.”

“Thanks,” I said. I was glad somebody got it.

Devon had more to say, though. “I don’t talk about this much,” he told me. “But when I was little, my dad lost his job. Since there are five kids in my family, it was a pretty hard time for us. When we didn’t have enough money and needed food, we went to a food bank and it really helped.” He paused and looked at me.

I wasn’t sure what to say. I hadn’t realized his family had gone through such a tough time. “I’m really sorry that happened to your family,” I told Devon.

“I just wanted you to know that what you’re doing will make a lot of difference for a lot of people,” he said.

I said I was really glad he told me the story.

All day, I had been worrying about the mix-up over the cans. But hearing Devon’s story made the fact that everyone is mad at Joey and me seem less important. The homework-free week would be nice, but this food drive is really about doing something good in the community.

When I get to my street, I walk straight to the wish pond and sit on the bench by the edge of the pond.

I used to come here all the time when I wanted to make a wish. I haven’t done it for a long time. I guess as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten more doubtful about the whole make-a-wish-and-it-will-come-true thing.

But right now, there’s a wish I want to make.

Even though it seems kind of babyish, I pick up a stone on the side of the wish pond and squeeze my eyes shut.

I wish I can find a way to make sure that the whole school will remember why the food drive is important and that we can all focus on what really matters.

When I’m done making my wish, I throw my stone into the wish pond and I open my eyes. This is one wish that I sure hope comes true.