The_Skirt_Girl Once there was a girl who had a favorite yellow skirt. Her mother gave it to her at her birth. When the nurse said it was too big for her, the mother said, “Don’t worry. She may be just a little squirt now, but soon enough she will grow right up.” The little girl did grow up and now she wore the skirt all the time. She wore it with her blue shirt. She wore it when she jumped off the curb. She wore it when she ran through the ferns. She wore it when she played in the dirt looking for worms. In fact, she wore it so much that pretty soon it began to look like a black skirt with blurry yellow spots. One day, her father came home from work while the girl was playing in the yard. When he saw her, he jerked back in surprise. “Young lady,” he said sternly, “your skirt is far too dirty! You are in third grade. You should know by now how to take care of your clothes! That is the dirtiest skirt in the world! We are getting rid of that filthy skirt.” The next day, the girl was so, so sad. When her mother asked what was wrong, the girl blurted out, “Daddy threw away my skirt!” She turned around and hurled herself to the floor as she started to sob. “Shhhh”, whispered the mother. “It’s not that bad.” Then the mother opened her purse. To the little girl’s surprise, the mother pulled out a bright yellow skirt. Her skirt! “It just needed to be washed,” her mother said with a smirk.