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 36 
Tonight Mom and my little sister, Brianna, 
were putting up decorations for Halloween.
I knew what was coming next because it 
happens EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR!
Brianna SNEAKS up on everyone and tries 
to scare us with this HUGE, stupid-looking 
PLASTIC SPIDER!
It’s almost like a Maxwell family Halloween 
tradition or something. Mom and Dad always 
put on this big act and pretend to be SUPER 
SCARED just to humor her. And of course 
Brianna gets a really big kick out of it.
Personally, I don’t think it’s healthy to 
encourage her like that. What’s going to 
happen when she gets older and starts 
attending middle school?
Hey! I already KNOW what’s going to happen!
Brianna’s going to take that plastic spider to 
school and shake it at people because she 
thinks it’s appropriate behavior.
And everyone at her school will think she’s
KA-RAY-ZEE!
Then I’ll have to go through all the trouble of 
legally changing my last name so no one will 
know she’s MY little sister!
My parents need to realize that raising an 
impressionable child like Brianna is a huge 
responsibility.
Anyway, I was up in my room studying for my 
French test.
I was feeling a little grumpy because I was 
having a hard time remembering which nouns 
in French are masculine versus feminine.
And, sure enough, Brianna showed up just like 
I expected. . . .

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