abel waited by the fire for her grandma to come with her birthday present. She was turning seven years old that day, but she wasn't excited at all because every birthday she had was the same every year. On January 16th every year, Mabel would be waiting by the fire for her grandma to knock on the door. Grandma was always the one to bring her the birthday present, and she kept forgetting that Mabel was growing up. On her sixth birthday, Grandma had brought her a baby rattle and Mabel just threw it on the floor as it bounced along the floor to the wall and gave a face to her grandma. Then Mabel stomped her way to her room.

"Grandma should be coming any moment now, Mabel!" shouted her mama from the kitchen who was baking her birthday cake. Then there was a knock on the door. It was grandma.

"Mabel, dear! My have you grown!" exclaimed grandma as she bursted through the door.

"Excuse me, madam. I think you have shrunk." Said Mabel.

"Mabel! Is that the way to speak to your grandmother?" exclaimed mama.

All Mabel could do was stare hopefully at the large present grandma had brought her.

"Oh, yes, dear! I nearly forgot!" Said grandma as she pushed the box over to Mabel. "Happy Birthday!" She said again.

By then, Mabel was tearing away the wrapping paper. She stopped when she saw the box underneath. "Cool box, grandma! This is the best present you've given me yet!" she exclaimed.

"Dear, why don't you try opening the box?" Asked grandma. "

Huh?-Oh, yeah, I forgot." Said Mabel. She opened the box and inside was a bright red tricycle.

"aren't you going to say thank you?" asked mama.

Mabel pushed the tricycle away and it rolled until it hit the wall with a small crash. Then she said "Thanks for the cool box, grandma!" and she ran off to her room dragging the box behind her.

Mabel's room didn't look like a room at all. Her bed was hidden with clothes and the floor was covered with paper and markers. The wall was a mural that Mabel had made herself and the mural was almost covered with drawings and paintings she made.
But that's not the point. Mabel always wanted a big box, but she never got one. The box, surprisingly wasn't being used for artwork. It would be used for something that would affect her whole life.

Mabel started to write on the box. Something that said: COPIER in big, messy letters. Then she drew a black dot on the inside of the box, the "Button" and under that it said ACTIVATE. But this copier wasn't for copying her drawings or anything. It copied people.

Mabel crouched down and put the box over her head. Trembling with excitement, she pressed the button on the inside of the box that said ACTIVATE. The box started to shake. So did Mabel.

"Mabel, what's going on in there? Would you like some cake?" Asked mama.

But Mabel was too busy to answer. Mabel had her own copy of herself sitting right next to her. "Your name is Mabel #1." Mabel said. Mabel's duplicate, now named Mabel #1 nodded. "You wait here, and I go and eat cake with mama." Said Mabel.

Mabel ran down the hall and into the kitchen, then wolfed down her cake in a jiffy.

Grandma said "If you want, I can take you to the park and you can ride your new bike!"

Mabel Glared at her "You call that a bike?" she said as she pointed to the red tricycle next to the wall which now had a dent in it.

When she got back in her room, she found that Mabel #1 had made six duplicates of herself. "That's enough!" shouted Mabel. "OK. Let's sort this all out. First of all; why I made copies of myself. Well, I'm tired of doing work. I'm not going to do it myself anymore. Now you are all going to do it. Now, you all know your name, right?.........Good. Well, here's how it goes. Mabel #1, you'll do all of my work on Monday. Mabel #2, on Tuesday and Mabel #3 on Wednesday, and so on. Here, I'll make you a schedule." And Mabel Scribbled something that looked rather like this:
Mabel #1: Monday
7:00 Wake up
8:00 go to school
3:00 come home from school and do the homework
4:00 go help mama cook dinner
4:30 I go and eat dinner and you come back in my room and hide while I either go in the playing room or stay in my room drawing

Mabel #2: Tuesday
SAME

Mabel #3: Wednesday
SAME

Mabel #4: Thursday
SAME

Mabel #5: Friday
SAME

Mabel #6: Saturday
4:00 go help mama cook dinner
4:30 come back and hide in my room

Mabel #7: Sunday
8:00 wake up
10:00 go to church
12:00 come in my room and hide

"OK, ok, everyone calm down and take your schedule"- she was interrupted by Mabel #4. "Hey, but Mabel #6 doesn't have to do as much as any of us.. they all kept arguing and arguing, nothing to do, Mabel was a waste in the world and did nothing but argue for the rest of her life.