Miss Webb said we had to write a story about a family.
'Any family,' she said. 'Just make it real, that's all.'
'I can't do it,' I told her.
'But why not, Marilyn?' she asked. 'You're the best writer in the class.'
'I can't do it, Miss Webb, because I have the most boring family in the world. Even our canary yawns instead of whistling. If I tried to write a story about them, I'd fall asleep.'
'Did I ask you to write about your own family?' Miss Webb says. 'Did I? No, I did not. I asked you to write a story about A family, not YOUR family.'
She looked down at me.
'You can do it,' she says, and walks off.

A story from Gwen Grant, author of "Private Keep Out!", available now as a Penguin Classic.
A very funny story about a strange and unusual family.