The walls in my sister’s and my room

Were covered in the most horrible wallpaper imaginable.

We wanted to change the paper

And so our mom started helping us.

Piece by piece,

We tore down the paper,

Leaving parts of the wall bare,

Of the black and white checkered paper--

That could give people headaches if they looked at it too long--

While other spots still held the ghastly paper.

Do not tear down any more. It will make the walls look worse.

Our mother said.

We just looked at her,

Saying we would not, but thinking the opposite.

We sit in our room,

waiting for our mother

To tell us when we could start ripping the paper again.

My sister said It cannot hurt to rip the paper down.

We would just be helping.

So we began the process again.

The tedious and unnecessary task

Took our time.

Soon we realized that our parents

Had no plan on replacing the paper.

They had more important matters on their hands

My parents were more concerned with their divorce.

They completely forgot about our task of changing the wallpaper.