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Forget and forgive

As I satperched（栖息）in the second-floor window of our brick schoolhouse that afternoon, my heart began to sink further with each passing car. This was a day I'd looked forward to for weeks: Miss Pace's fourth-grade, end-of-the-year party. Miss Pace had kept a running countdown on the blackboard all that week, and our class of nine-year-olds had bordered oninsurrection（暴动，叛乱）by the time the much-anticipated（预料，盼望）"party Friday" had arrived.

I had happily volunteered my mother when Miss Pace requested cookie volunteers. Mom's chocolate chips reignedsupreme（主宰，称雄）on our block, and I knew they'd be a hit with my classmates. But two o'clock passed, and there was no sign of her. Most of the other mothers had already come and gone, dropping off their offerings ofpunch（冲压机，钻孔机）, crackers, cupcakes andbrownies（棕斑，巧克力糕饼）. My mother was missing in action.

"Don't worry, Robbie, she'll be along soon," Miss Pace said as I gazedforlornly（可怜地，孤苦伶仃地）down at the street. I looked at the wall clock just in time to see its black minute hand shift to half-past.

Around me, the noisy party raged on, but I wouldn't leave my window watch post. Miss Pace did her best to coax me away, but I just stayed there, holding out hope that the familiar family car would round the corner, carrying my rightfully embarrassed mother with a tin of her famous cookies tucked under her arm.