The Antsy Letter G
by Daniel Errico
Illustrated by Michiko Cayce
The Letter G lived in the Land of Words.
She didn’t like waiting for anything.
Even when she was a lowercase g, she was antsy.
When the sun came up in the morning, she was already outside yelling at it for being late.
She couldn’t wait for birthday presents, so she changed all the calendars in her house.
She couldn’t wait for school to end, so she got up in front of the class and started teaching.
She thought she could get the lessons done faster than her teacher could.
By the time she grew up and became a capital G, all the other letters knew she was antsy.
One day she was waiting in line at the Letter C’s Gourmet Bakery.
She huffed and puffed because it was taking too long.
The Letter C heard her and asked what was wrong.
“I like cake, but I don’t like waiting!” she said loudly.
“I see,” said the Letter C, “Well, I have an idea. Would you like to be in a play?”
“A play?” she said.
“Yes, I’m putting on a play, and I need a female to play the lead. It will take a lot of practice and a lot of patience, but after each rehearsal I will give you a big cake!” he said.
The Letter G agreed because she really did like cake.
The first day of rehearsal was a mess.
The Letter G didn’t wait for the other actors to finish their lines.
She wanted to get through it as fast as possible so that she could get her cake.
“You have to wait for your turn to talk,” said the Letter C, “We won’t be finished until you do it correctly.”
The Letter G waited to speak for the rest of the rehearsal. She started to listen to what the other actors were saying and the play made much more sense to her.
At the end the Letter C gave her a big cake with pink icing.
She could hardly wait and ate every bite of it.
The next day went a little better, but the Letter G kept yelling at the other actors when they made mistakes.
“You have to be nice to the other actors,” said the Letter C, “We won’t be finished until you treat them nicely.”
The Letter G was nice to the other letters for the rest of the rehearsal. They did much better knowing that she wouldn’t yell at them. She liked acting with them.
At the end the Letter C gave her a cake with blue frosting.
She was happy to have it and ate half before she got home.
Each day of rehearsal went better than the last.
The Letter G liked acting so much that she didn’t think much about the cakes, and she got sad when rehearsal was over.
On the night of the play, the Letter C was very proud of every one of the actors.
They performed the play perfectly, and the Letter G was the star of the show.
They all took a bow and the crowd roared.
“Time to close the curtain,” said the Letter C as the audience clapped.
“Well, maybe we can wait just one more minute…” said the Letter G.
In the Land of Words, some things are worth waiting for.
