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oscar ávila - writing lyrics

welcome to oscar takes on! today, i will be reading my own short story titled grounded
[music]
i mentioned my story, grounded in the previous episode about nature. if you didn’t hear that episode, it’s fine. but let me tell you about it. grounded is a short story about kid named oakley who hates school. when school shuts down because of the coronavirus, report cards were handed out by the school. when his parents saw the bad grades, oakley knew he was in trouble. he was grounded and forced to clean the entire house once his parents had finished reading the report card. the first place he cleaned was the attic. while he was cleaning, he saw a camera! and that was when his love of photography began. he went outside every day to take photos and explore nature. isn’t that amazing how he transformed from a antisocial, video game addict, to now a nature addict? well, that was a little sample of the story. now, i am going to read the whole thing to you

grounded
by oscar ávila
my thumbs jumping up and down, the only sight i see while i’m on the bus for an hour. thank goodness i have my phone to keep me entertained. sometimes i don’t even notice when we arrive at school. “oakley, we’re here,” my friend tells me. i look up to see to see the beige brick building, and i sigh. in school, i barely pay attention. i’m thinking about that new iphone that just came out, or how i’m going to beat my friend in fortnight, or the new greenscreen effect on snapchat. at recess, i sit on the sidewalk curb snapchatting while the other kids are running around screaming. i hardly eat lunch because i’m too busy hiding my mophie inside my jacket so i can keep my phone charged all day
when i get home, i put away my stuff from school. i spend five minutes looking for a snack. my mom says i’m always distracted, that i’m a bad looker. before bed, i use my phone while brushing my t++th. one time, my dad caught me, and he was furious. but i continue to use my phone while i brush. then sleep happens. i try going to sleep, but every two minutes i feel a vibration from my nightstand, so i check it: another instagram notification. that leads to more time on my phone in bed, and i can’t get off, sometime for the whole night
my door creaks open, a familiar sound at 11:00 p.m. it’s my dad, checking on me. i immediately hide my device under my pillow. as soon as he leaves, i grab my phone again and watch youtube. every morning, my dad says, “it looks like you didn’t get enough sleep last night.” and i say, “i think i’m fine.” that’s a typical day for me
another thing that’s become typical for me is hearing my classmates talk about the coronavirus. i’m not really interested, so i just try to ignore them. but apparently, it’s getting pretty serious. when i walk through the hallways, i glance at the teachers wearing masks and gloves. this didn’t make sense to me until one week later, when my parents received a letter from my princ+p+l. it said that our school was going to close for the rest of the year! attached to that letter was my report card. my dad’s dry hands crinkled against the envelope. my parents were smiling, thinking i had earned good grades. however, their smiles disappeared into thin air
“oakley, what have you been doing in school?” my mom asked
“paying attention,” i cautiously said
my mom handed me the report card and i looked at it. i was shocked. i didn’t think my teacher saw me watching youtube, i thought to myself
“this must be a mistake!” i said
“oakley, i thought you were a good student,” my dad said
“go to your room. your father and i need to have a little chat.”
halfway to my bedroom, i tried to eavesdrop
“carlos, we have to punish oakley for all of his bad grades at school,” my mom said
“i agree. i think we should ground him.”
i tiptoed to my room and closed the door. as my parents headed toward my door, i hid under my bed
“oakley, your mother and i have something to say.”
i crawled forward and sat on my bed
“your father and i have talked, and we’ve decided that you are grounded for three weeks.”
“what? why? how can you ground me during a quarantine? aren’t we all grounded now?”
“he makes a good point, erin.”
“well, oakley, you’re grounded from your devices! hand them over. now, as a part of your punishment, you need to clean this entire house, including the attic.”
“the attic?”
“yes, and you will start with that.”
in the hallway, i pulled a string hanging from the ceiling. a ladder came flying down, and i climbed up into the dark attic. once the dust particles settled, i looked around and thought, i am never going to finish this whole thing. i started by opening some boxes full of knickknacks. in one of them, i found a nikon camera. a camera? i thought. i know i’m not allowed to have electronics, but i wonder if my parents will let me take pictures with this. i finished cleaning and went downstairs to the living room to talk to my mom
“mom, i found this camera in the attic. can i have it?”
“sure, only if you use it to take pictures of nature.”
“nature? what do you mean?”
“nature. you know, like trees and grass.”
“ok, i guess.”
i don’t know if my mom was trying to punish me or help me, but taking pictures outside sure beats cleaning the whole house! i opened my front door, searching for nature. there it was—a massive tree towering over the side of the house. i went to the very bottom of the trunk, looked all the way up, and snapped a shot. i saw the picture and was surprised at how different it looked from that angle. i kept taking pictures of everything outside, of anything that grew from the ground. i did it until it got dark. at dinner, i wasn’t on my phone, of course, but i wasn’t even thinking about it. i was thinking about all the nice pictures i took today. i brushed my t++th, went to bed, and slept through the night without missing the phone
i woke up excited to take pictures. my parents took me to a new place every day. one day, i went to a rose garden to photograph the colorful flowers and trees. i always got a good angle. sometimes, i’d kneel. other times, i’d take a closeup. for days i took pictures of tulips, lilies, dandelions, sycamore trees, and maples. when the sky was blue, the pictures turned out vibrant. on cloudy days, the light was different but still beautiful
weeks into my photographic journey, i got my phone back. i only used it for communicating with my parents. the next day, my teacher told all the kids that we were doing a zoom meeting. i was excited to see my classmates! at the meeting, our teacher did a breakout room, where she put us into separate groups to talk for five minutes. we did these zoom meetings every day until quarantine was over. every chance i got, i shared my photos with the class. they loved the shots and often asked, “oakley, how did you take that? were you on the ground? were you hanging from a tree? were you on your tippy toes?” “i do whatever it takes to get the perfect angle,” i replied
quarantine lasted about four months. when i went back to school for fifth grade, i kept my phone in my bag when i went on the bus, i noticed every detail of my day, and i had lots of friends that i made from my zoom meetings. my new teacher, miss davis, liked my photos so much that she told the whole school about them! she asked me why i love taking pictures, and i said, “it’s a way for me to capture things that most people would never notice. these things are important.” it’s funny, but in a way, being grounded and cleaning the dusty attic was the best thing that ever happened to me. i can’t wait to get my next report card. i’ll take a picture of it right next to the oak tree in front of the house
and we are done the story. what did you think of it? you can let me know in a podcast review on apple podcasts or in an anchor voice message. i hope you enjoyed today’s episode of oscar takes on. if you did, subscribe so you don’t miss out on any episodes. make sure to check the description box for the audio message link. i’ll see you soon in another episode! bye!

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