Lost and Found In September of the year that he was four going on five Russell Michaels began going to the Sunshine Nursery School He was not sure that he wanted to go Of course he had heard all about school from the other children who lived in his apartment building near Riverside Drive in New York City and were older than he 9
was There was Nora Resnick who was seven years old and her little brother Teddy who was five And there was also Eugene Spencer Eastman who was eight years old These friends often played with Russell and sometimes they even played school Nora and Eugene Spencer took turns being the teacher and telling the others what to do Playing with his friends was always fun for Russell But attending a real school was not quite the same True knowing that he was big enough to go off to school every morning just like the others made him feel grown-up Still many mornings as his mother helped him get dressed Russell wished that he could stay home with her the way he did when he was little He looked at his baby sister Elisa She 10
was only a few months old so she didn’t have to go anywhere How lucky she was to stay home alone in the house with Mommy and do whatever she wanted She didn’t have to listen to the teacher and remember all the nursery school rules like clean-up time and no-pushing-on-line Russell you’re a big boy now his mother reminded him when he said that maybe he would stay home too Only babies stay in the house with their mommies mommies all day long One of the problems with going to school was that Russell always seemed to be losing things On the very first day of school he had taken his favorite little car with him I think you should leave that at home said Mommy 11
