Rita loved to play. She played ball, hopscotch, and video games. She played with cars, boats, and dolls. When the sun shined she played outside. When the rain fell, she played in her room.

Rita played with her friends, Sally, Cameron and Walter. She played with her dogs, Rusty and Snooty. She played with her mother and father and with her baby brother, Gary...sometimes.

The trouble with Rita was that she never wanted to stop playing. She didn’t want to stop long enough to eat. She didn’t want to stop long enough to take a bath or sleep.

Rita never even wanted to take time out from play to go to the bathroom! She knew this was a real problem, but she just could not always remember. She tried. Truly she did.

On thing Rita like to play most of all was "Inventor." For she loved to build things and invent new contraptions. She was very good at this. Everyone said so.

One day Rita decided to invent something new. Something to help her remember things. Mostly something that would remind her when it was time to stop her play and go to the bathroom.

Rita knew it would have to be something that was very big. It must be very loud and it must be very bright. That way she could not ignore it when she was busy playing.

It took a lot of hard work to make this new invention. But Rita did not think of it as work. To her it was playing, and it was fun. All day long she cut and hammered and painted. Finally it was finished.

The invention was as big as the box Mama’s new toaster came in. Rita painted it bright red, her favorite color. It had bright flashing lights and the loudest alarm she could find.

Rita was ready to try her new invention. She turned it on and went to play with the toy horses and stable her grandma had sent for her birthday. Just when she had everything put together and was saddling the horses. . . .

"RINGGG! BLINK! BLINK! RINGGG!" Rita jumped at the loud alarm and closed her eyes against the bright flashing lights. Then she laughed. It was the new invention and it worked! She felt proud as she stopped playing and went to the bathroom.

Rita named her new invention the Red Reminder. She turned it on every day when she started to play. It worked wonderfully. Her mother and father were very proud of her and her new invention.

One day Rita was playing with her favorite doll. "RINGGG! BLINK! BLINK! RINGGG!" Went the Red Reminder. Rita did not want to stop playing. Not right now. She was putting a beautiful wedding dress on her doll, and she did not want to stop.

"RINGGG! BLINK! BLINK! RINGGG!" Went the reminder again, louder and brighter this time. "Okay, Okay." Rita said, putting away her doll and going to the bathroom.

Rita did not always like the Red Reminder. She still loved to play and did not like to stop. But she DID listen to her invention. After all, she was the one who made it, and it worked very well.

One day Rita was playing outside in her tree house with her friends. She had forgotten about the Red Reminder. It was in her room on the book shelf. Suddenly without even thinking, Rita climbed down from the tree house and went into the house. "I’ll be right back." She told her friends.

"Hello," she said to her mother in the kitchen. She kissed her baby brother on top of the head as he bounced up and down in his walker. Then she went to the bathroom. As she was washing her hands she thought, "I did this without the Red Reminder! I did it on my own!" She was surprised and proud.

That evening Rita put the Red Reminder on a shelf in the attic. She did not need it any longer. Maybe in a few years her baby brother would need it, and she would be glad to show him how it worked.

THE END