Eliza Martin extraordinary animals have tails so that’s why it’s a very extraordinary letter The way I woke up this morning though Completely extra ordinary The door sounded like it was going to split in half from the force of Dominic’s knocking WAAAKE UUUP he yelled I pulled the pillow over my face breathing in floral patterned flannel extra ordinary is a whole other word extra ordinary isn’t extraordinary at all it’s much much worse I mean ordinary is okay but extra ordinary is extra okay If you think about it it’s really really bad extra ordinary is your older brother pounding on your bedroom door like a woodpecker practicing practicing Morse code at exactly seven thirty in the morning on your eleventh birthday MIMIIIIII Mimi short for Miriam is an extremely extra ordinary named given to me by my great aunt Miriam Nothing extraordinary has ever been given by a great aunt Aside from dusty old names great aunts only give doilies raisin oatmeal cookies you thought were chocolate chip and fleece pajamas with itchy tags Very extra ordinary things indeed 6
Harvey and the Extraordinary At least that’s what I’ve decided Oh and did I mention that I’m the chief authority on all things extraordinary because you see I invented Extraordinaryism I’m an expert That is I have a long chart taped to my bedroom wall where I write down everything in my life as extra ordinary ordinary or extraordinary It looks like this extra ordinary ORDINARY EXTRAORDINARY Bucket hats Pumpkins Turnips Irish dancing Ruffley umbrellas Zebras Falling asleep in movies Orange color Principal Miller’s coffee breath Back crawl Hawaiian pizza Orange fruit Video games Non-chocolate milk Raisins Skateboarding Aunt Daphne’s ramps kisses Mom Art class Dominic Putting on sunscreen Cheesecake White chocolate Orange soda Dad Painted toenails Turquoise 7
Eliza Martin The truth is I’m an expert because from the moment I was born I was extraordinary Everyone knew At least that’s what my dad said And here I was eleven years later still extraordinary extraordinary but much taller far more freckled and with a neon green cast on my right arm My dad would know a thing or two about being extraordinary because though I did invent the word Extraordinaryism it was my dad who inspired it Extraordinaryism Extraordinaryism doesn’t have a lot of research behind it yet but it must be at least partially genetic because I take after him I’m sure he would do a better job of explaining it too but he’s off being way too famous and extraordinary By far the most extraordinary thing about me is that my dad is a renowned circus performer Having a famous dad changes a lot of things Sometimes it means he won’t be there for your birthday at least not this year But as a fellow extraordinary person he knew I would understand Extraordinary people are made for something more That’s why they can never stay That’s the first rule of Extraordinaryism Maybe on a less extraordinary day the rude knocking would have dampened my spirits but today was my special day and nothing would stop me from enjoying it I leapt out of bed 8
Harvey and the Extraordinary After a careful peek into the hall to ensure Dominic had already gone I threw open my bedroom door As I reached the top of the stairs I noticed a small red paper arrow pointing down to the main floor I smiled with delight The best surprises are birthday surprises I raced down the stairs collecting the arrows as I went my bare feet making the old wooden steps creak The arrows led me all the way into the bright yellow kitchen which was streaming with sunlight and looking if possible even more yellow than it normally did Dominic was already seated at the table frowning and eating his cereal Next to him directly in front of the last paper arrow on the counter was a small cage Dominic was shoveling spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth with one hand while the other was crammed into the side of the cage fingers waggling I skidded to a stop on a black and white tile as my mom turned around from where she was standing at the sink Is that is that the surprise I asked Mom smiled and pointed to the table Why don’t you go check I ran over and Dominic glumly pushed the cage toward me What is it I asked him 9
