Should I Go Back?

Authors note: This is a creative ending for the short story Thank You Ma'am 

After he left,  he spent days pondering the visit, wondering whether or not he should go back. He thought about how mean she was at the beginning, but then again how nice she was at the end. He thought about the 10 dollars she gave him, and thought maybe he should show her his new blue suede shoes. After she gave it to him, he wanted to buy food, but no. She had given him the money for shoes, so that’s what he bought. He thought about how understanding she had been, and wondered if he should tell her the truth.

After many hours of going back and forth, he gathered up the courage to return to the precious woman. He walked up the drive, his blue suede shoes shining in the sun. Just as he was ringing the bell, the door opened. Mrs. Jones almost walked right into him. “Oh!” She said surprised.

“Hi. Ma’am.” Roger said. “I wanted to thank you again for helping me. I bought some new shoes.”

“That’s very good.” Said Mrs. Jones. Even though Mrs. Jones looked busy, Roger knew this would be the only time he would gather the courage to say it. It was now or never.

“Ma’am I have to talk to you.” He said

“Okay, how about you come in for some tea.” Said Mrs. Jones. The warm inviting kitchen looked all too familiar to  Roger. All the memories of the night came flooding back and he realized how much he trusted Mrs. Jones.

“Mrs. Jones,” He said ready to come out and say it. She looked at him patiently waiting. “I’m homeless.”

TO BE CONTINUED

Patriot's Pen

Our Founding Fathers of this country deserve great amounts of gratitude and appreciation for starting our country and giving us a clean and clear base to build our nation off of. The constitution is an old baby’s blanket. Tattered and torn from years of use. It has some holes in it that had to be patched up, and it had to be rewashed over and over again, but at least it is still there. Without it, there would be no protection or sense of security for its owner. There would be no calming sensation when it was in your hands. There would be no comfort. So to our Founding Fathers I would like to say thank you, because without them, there would be no America.

The 55 Founding Fathers were very brave, strong people who understood the importance, and the purpose of America. They understood that we wanted freedom, and liberty. Fifty-five people made it their goal to make America the best it could be. That’s why I would like everyone to remember the good of the first laws of our country. Or in other words, security they gave us.  Not the bad laws or decisions they made, or the holes in the blanket. It must have been hard for them, imagine the pressure and the huge burden that was on their shoulders. Fifty-Five people had to work together in order to make laws that all of them, as well as the good portion of our country, had to agree on. Not to mention they had to cover all the bases of anything you could possibly do. They even decided what day the Congress would meet on of each year. The point is, that the Founding Fathers worked really hard to get us to where we are now and we should thank them for that.

The blanket that now covers us might eventually fall apart completely, but for now we still have it. We should respect it, honor it, and embrace it in remembrance of our Founding Fathers.

The Demolition

Authors note: This is a cause and effect piece for the book Uglies.

I am currently reading Uglies, and in this book everyone wants to turn 16 so they can change from an ugly to a pretty by undergoing the operation. Everyone that is, except the runaways.The runaways go live outside of the city in "The Smoke" to stay ugly forever.

The main event in the story happens when the Special Circumstances invades The Smoke. They blow the whole city to pieces and there are few survivors. Luckily, Tally and her friend David make it out together and now it's up to them to rescue other survivors and plot their revenge. The cause of this event is that Tally's friend Shay ran away to The Smoke because she is against being pretty. Special Circumstances found out Shay escaped and forced Tally to go to The Smoke and let the Special's know where it was. The only reason she agreed is because they threatened to not give her the operation she so desperately wanted. During the trip there though, Tally has a change of heart. She realized that she didn't want to be pretty anymore. Instead of activating the communication device when she gets to The Smoke, she destroys it, unknowingly sending out an emergency signal telling the Special's where to find her and the city.

The Specials would have thought twice about attacking The Smoke if they would've known what was going to happen next. The destruction of The Smoke caused the survivors to rebel. They stole back the remaining citizens of The Smoke, thus infiltrating the Special's headquarters and ruining their equipment. Now they have to try and start a new Smoke, with only 7 members and nothing but a few packs of dehydrated food and 4 hoverboards. If the Special's hadn't infiltrated The Smoke, Tally would have lived the rest of her life there wondering and pondering all the ifs. What if the Special's put a tracking device on her? What if someone finds out she's lying? What if she made the wrong decision in coming at all? After The Smoke was destroyed, Tally finally realized she didn't want to be pretty anymore. 

The Tragedy

Tragedies, they can happen any day, anyplace, and anytime. But you never think you will get caught in the middle of one. Last weekend, a couple of my family members and I met up at Port Washington so we could have a little fun before school started. And it was fun. At first anyway.

            The excitement of the trip started when we first got there. I didn’t expect our designated meeting place to be a beautiful playground overlooking lake Michigan. With everything from picnic tables to swings this was the best park I had ever been to. It was like a mini castle. Exploring the features of the gigantic play area is what we decided to do until my aunt and cousin arrived. We were busy playing on a simulation wakeboard when they came bounding toward us with excited expressions on their faces. None of us could wait to get on with the fun although our ideas of it were very different. My mom, for example, wanted to lay on her towel and sun bathe. The water was simply screaming my cousin’s name, and I just wanted to get my feet a little wet and play some beach volleyball. Unfortunately I only got to one of those things before it happened.

            Just as my Aunt had challenged me to a game, we heard a voice far off in the distance. We couldn’t tell who, or what, was making this peculiar noise. It sounded like a whisper. After a minute or two of trying to identify it, we shrugged our shoulders and went back to our game. I was winning our game 2-1 when a boy in a blue and black striped swimsuit was spotted frantically swimming to shore. Bounding up onto the sand screaming, “Help! Help! Help! Somebody call 9-1-1!” he looked frazzled and confused. My mom, who had her phone on her, whipped it out and dialed.

            “What!” She said frantically “What’s wrong? What happened?” The boy did his best to explain under the circumstances.

            “Me and my friend, we were just out there, and, and, a wave came, and he said he couldn’t breathe so I tried to save him. But I was getting water in my mouth and I couldn’t breathe either so I had to swim back, He’s out there somewhere. Please help. Please help.” By the time I sorted myself out and comprehended what was happening, my mom had already called and the boy had run off to somewhere.

            We stayed for a little while after that to see if they would find the boy. After about 45 minutes of sitting around waiting, trying to find him, we decided it would be better to let the scene play out and not be involved anymore. Not at all interested in sticking around to see his lifeless body pulled out of the water (at this point there was less than a 1% chance he could possibly still be alive), my aunt suggested we get something to eat. Even though it was only quarter to 4, and we had just witnessed about as close you can get to a death, all of us had skipped lunch so we were starved.

            Now let me tell you, it is just as well as impossible to find a restaurant open at 4 O’clock in the afternoon in Port Washington. Everything, and I mean everything, is open until 2, then closes and reopens at 4:30. We had no choice but to climb the stairs of an outdoor restaurant overlooking the lake right next to the place where the boy had gone missing. That’s why, when the search helicopter started making its rounds we were right there to watch it. Around and around it went, circling farther and farther, covering more and more ground each time. We just couldn’t get the thought of the poor boy out of our heads. It didn’t help that out waitress just happened to be the coast guards wife. She had not yet gotten the “lowdown” from him so she wanted us to repeat the whole story to her. We did unwillingly. All we wanted to do was put it behind us but we couldn’t.

            We must have repeated that story about a hundred times that day. To our family, friends, total strangers who wanted to know what was going on, everybody. And every time we relived the moment. That moment of sadness, sympathy, and understanding. That moment when everything else goes away. That day I got caught in the middle of a tragedy, and I will never forget it.

About the Victim

After this all happened I found out more about him on the news. The boy’s name was Tyler Buczek. He was 14 years old, on the high school football team and valedictorian of his class. Tyler was found dead 3 days after he drowned, 200 yards away from the filtration plant where he first went under.

Brainwashed

Authors Note: This is a piece about the conflict and resolution of The Mysterious Benedict Society.

The main conflict in the Mysterious Benedict Society (or MBS for short) is people vs society because the members in the group are trying to overthrow Mr. Curtain and the rest of the government officials working for him. Mr. Curtain is trying to transmit thoughts into people's minds so the community thinks of him as their leader. He is stealing people and breaking the law but the government can't stop him because half of the people in it are working for him. The other half are receiving his thoughts too, so they don't know something is wrong. Everyone goes along with it except the MBS because he is putting his own thoughts into everyone's minds through TV signals and they don't watch TV. The MBS spends a big part of the book undercover against society.

The conflict only gets resolved at the end of the third book, because the machine that transmits the signals gets intercepted by the MBS and they reverse it to get Mr. Curtains thoughts out of people's heads. After everyone's mind is reversed back, They go to Mr Curtain himself and destroy everything he has until he is forced to flee.

LIVE Backwards Spells EVIL

Authors Note: This piece is a retell of my favorite book The Mysterious Benedict Society. 

The Mysterious Benedict Society is a must read action packed novel with an inspiring story. Reynie Muldoon, and his friends Kate, Sticky, and Constance, must embark on an impossible journey to a school for the Very Enlightened or L.I.V.E. in order to overthrow their beloved guardian Mr. Benedict's evil twin and his vicious army. Though along the way there are some bumps in the road, such as Sticky getting sent to the dreaded waiting room, or Reynie getting caught spying, the adventure bonds their friendship not only with each other, but with the world.

Man In Love - Age 56

I thought I could never love anyone ever again after Karla died in that car crash. The stupid drunk driver never saw me coming after that happened. He was about to speed off after the hit, but before he could, I had punched through the window and knocked out a couple of the guys teeth. Those were the good old days, when I could still make a man cry. But that was 25 years ago and now I am sitting in Le Me Rouse with the prettiest woman I ever thought possible. I am not the type to care about that though. I am over the days when a girl only got a second glance if she had a figure. What I really love is that she gets the thought of Karla out of my head when I am with her. Sure if there is 3 ice cubes in the cup, I immediately think of how that was her favorite number, or if we pass a guy wearing a Polo shirt I remember how she loved when I wore those. But when I look up into Elizabeth's eyes, it all melts away, and when she touches me, I fall in love all over again. I do wish that Karla was still alive, but these past few months have been the happiest I've had in years.

Edgar Allan Poe's Journal

Authors Note: This is Edgar Allan Poe's journal from when his wife was dying of tuberculosis. Most of it is real but some of it is made up.

May 16, 1836

Virginia and I got married today. We decided on a fine man to marry us, Amasa Converse is his name. Both a reverend, and the editor of the Southern Religious Telegraph, we considered him the perfect choice. He met us at the Yarrington Boardinghouse for a small wedding- Family and friends only. I would write more, but Virginia is calling me, I don't blame her though. After all, we just declared one another's love.

January 10, 1842

Although I am going through a rough time, I always find peace in my beautiful wife Virginia. Just today I had a terrible time working on my newest article for Alexander's Weekly. I just couldn't get a good thought going. She comforted me, gave me ideas, and told me I would get it right. I liked that. It was nice. Hardly anybody treated me like that anymore.

January 20, 1842

My dear Virginia is coming down with Tuberculosis, the same dreaded disease that killed my brother, and both my mother and foster mother, is now burdened upon my beautiful wife. It happened so suddenly too. I was watching her play the piano while singing, and all of a sudden she coughed. It wasn't a normal cough though. There was blood that splashed out of her mouth when she did. This just might be the worst day of my entire life.

January 30, 1847

I lied. Today is the worst day of my life. Virginia died today. After battling the disease for over 5 years, Tuberculosis finally put her to sleep. It drove me mad, watching her go before my eyes like that. I am telling you now that I can hardly write for I am so sad. I did nothing the time she was sick unless it had anything to do with her. I stayed by her side and comforted her until death, for I would not and could not do anything else. I am depressed, I am heartbroken, and I am lonely.

Mother to Son

Mother to Son by Langston Hughes, is an inspirational poem about a mother talking to her son about the ups and downs of life. The author uses the metaphor of life is a "crystal stair" to express  his thoughts about a hard life. He tells us that his life "ain't no crystal stair" and is more like wooden stairs with tacks and cracks that represent the hardships in his life. He also writes it with a southern twang so we can capture the right image of the character. Obviously this character was not all prim and proper, and if Langston would have written it like that, we wouldn't have been able to see him as the poor boy who has not had many opportunities in life. This poem made me feel happier about my life and it also gave me a sense of security.

Survival is Key

Survival: The hard, terrible road to staying alive, protecting yourself and the others around you to avoid death. Everyone has to do it. Or everyone has to try. Thomas, in The Maze Runner series, and Katniss in The Hunger Games Series probably know a thing or two more about survival than us. They have to endure people controlling their minds, people controlling their actions, and people controlling their hearts. Not to mention being in some unthinkable situations such as fighting a griever or killing a friend.

                In The Maze Runner series, Thomas’s brain is being controlled by WICKED. They have thrown him in the maze with a bunch of others, and they have to fend for themselves to stay alive. No grownups, no civilization, no nothing. One example of a terrifying moment for him is when he arrives in the glade. He comes in the big metal box, and when he gets out he sees hundreds of faces staring at him. He has no memory of his past and knows nothing of where he is now.  A million thoughts are running through his mind, but it is in his nature to put survival first. The first thing he does is pop out of the box and start asking questions. He makes sure he is in a safe place and with people he can trust. It is in Thomas’s blood to survive and he will do anything to do it.

                Another book that has a survival theme is The Hunger Games. Katniss must survive the games if she ever wants to see her sister or her friend Gale again…and since she has to endure psychos with knives and the Capitol’s little tricks, it’s not that easy. Katniss is a fighter but she has a lot to learn. One time her natural instincts kick in is when Rue gets killed by someone. Rue is like a sister to her, and Katniss is devastated when she dies. For the next few days, she is on the alert for the person who did it. She finally finds him, and kills him.  She didn’t want to though; it was not her goal to kill anybody. It was her goal to survive.

                In both of these books, some things happen for a reason. For example, in the beginning of the book, Katniss hunts a lot. Ever since her dad died, it was her responsibility to find the food. While she is hunting, you are wondering why it is relevant to the story. Later in the book, you learn that her hunting helped her with her archery skills. She killed Rue’s murderer this way, so you learn that it really is important for her survival abilities. In The Maze Runner Thomas can speak telepathically with a girl named Teresa. Much like in The Hunger Games, It does not appear to have a reason but you learn that it is really very important. Later it the book, Teresa uses their telepathy to give him a warning about Wicked. That information helped him survive because he could prepare for Wicked’s evil plans.

Survival: it might seem hard, but Thomas and Katniss did it. They survived when the unimaginable happened. They survived when friends did not. They survived when the whole world thought they couldn’t.  And they will continue to fight for their survival as long as they live.  

Don't Be a Heather

          Are you the person who tries really hard to fit in? Are you the person who leaves friends when someone better comes along? Are you the person who then goes crawling back to them when someone better comes along? If you answered yes to any of these questions then you are a Heather, a character from the novel Speak, a no good, superficial meanie who cares about popularity more than anything else.

Heather bases her friendships on her own ulterior motives. At first she is worried about not fitting in and goes to Melinda for help. In the beginning she seems very nice and friendly (All smiles and rainbows if you know what I mean) always wanting to hang out with Melinda and trying to help her have fun and live life. But as the story progresses she gives up and starts talking to another group of girls named the Marthas. She starts talking to Melinda less and less unless she needs to ask for a favor. (The Marthas always put her up to an impossible task and she had no one else to turn to for help) Finally, Heather decides to stop all communication with Melinda. She states then she doesn’t want to be friends with someone like her that always wants to sit around and do nothing. Heather stops being Melinda’s friend just when she needs one the most. But sure enough, Heather can’t live up to the Martha’s expectations and they kick her out. With no one else to turn to, she crawls back to Melinda like nothing ever happened between them. Heather treated Melinda terribly, and hoped she would forget all about her wrongdoings when she wanted to be her friend again. Heather's ulterior motive is to make sure that she has at least one person at her side. 

If you are just like Heather, then you could also be classified as a Quinn. Quinn is from the TV musical series Glee and she is also all about fitting in. Even though she likes Glee Club the best, she usually chooses cheerleading over it to be popular. She is worried that she will get treated badly because she enjoys Glee Club. Quinn is, like Heather, a meanie. She pretends to hate her Glee Club friends in order to keep up with the social status of their school. Then, after the rest of the students are gone and it is just her and the others in the club, she is friends with them much like Heather with Melinda.

Whether you want to be called a Heather or a Quinn, it doesn’t really matter because they are the same. No good, superficial meanies that strive to be popular more than anything else. They manipulate people into thinking they are their friend, then turn around and push them away when somebody better comes along.
 Don’t be a Heather.

Predicton for The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles

In The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, it is fairly obvious that the Prock will not stop the group from succeeding on their journey to meet the Whangdoodle. I am certain that this is the case for many different reasons.

One reason is because it follows the plotline of a romance. This story is certainly a romance. It is in the unrealistic world of Whangdoodleland and the evil is laughable. The “evil” Prock’s way of arousing a conflict is sending a nice cat to lure them into his home so they can’t go any further on their journey. A romance has to end in a life affirming event. It wouldn’t be very life affirming if the Prock stopped them from meeting the Whangdoodle and sent them all home.

Another reason that I think the book is going to have a happy ending is because that is how other similar books end.  This book reminds me of Dr. Seuss’s book, The Lorax. In that book, people want to cut down the beautiful trees. One boy wants to keep them and fights for their survival. In the end, after all the trees get cut down, the boy is given one seed so he can plant another tree. In The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, the Prock has already tried to get rid of the children. Much like the Lorax, I think the Prock will end up changing his mind about not letting them stay.

Another reason that I think they will make it is the group’s desire not to give up. All throughout the book they keep saying, things like: “No, I want to go on!” or “Come on Professor, we have to keep going.” The children refuse to give up and so does the professor. Their perseverance to keep going will stay with them and help them  through until the very end.

Impoverished Childhood

           

             

 Have you ever been sent to your room? If you have, chances are you didn’t like it. Being locked up in that room all by yourself, for hours on end, without food, water, and hardly any entertainment can be grueling. Imagine this scene on a much bigger scale: 400,000 people sharing only 27,000 rooms, one slice of bread and butter to eat, and only each other to entertain themselves. And forget hours -- people lived like this for years. This is how Misha in Milkweed and Sarah in Sarah’s Key had to live for quite a big chunk of their lifetime.

  Misha and Sarah face a bigger problem than others living in poverty. They are orphans. Misha has no memory of his parents ever existing and Sarah remembers hers very vividly. I think that the authors chose to make them both orphaned because it makes the stories more interesting. If they had parents, they wouldn’t have done some of the things they did. Every night Misha sneakily snuck out of the ghetto to find food for his friends. His parents probably wouldn’t have let him do that even if they were starving to death. Sarah snuck out of the Concentration Camps through a little hole in the buzzing electric fence. If she had her mom or dad with her she might not have ever left for fear she would miss them. They were already gone so she didn’t care. Though not having parents was really hard on the both of them, it did make for two really great stories.

Kids had to deal with a lot of things during both the stories’ time periods. With Sarah and Misha being Jew children, it was a lot harder for them. They were terribly hungry, painfully hurt, really sick, and totally lonely. In the ghetto and Concentration Camps the people starved the Jews because people thought they didn’t deserve to live. Lots of people died from that. All they were served was a rock hard piece of stale bread and a slap of butter. In addition from being starved, lots of people were getting sick and dying from disease. And since so many people were together is such small quarters, the diseases spread very quickly; Almost like when a pen gets into the washer. It gets on all your clothes even though it was only in one pocket. Also, the Nazis were really mean to the Jews and hurt them just for kicks. As you can see, that was a terrible time for Sarah and Misha.

One big difference between Misha and Sarah is the location of their stories. Misha was sent to the Ghetto, and Sarah was sent to the Concentration Camp. The Ghetto is a nasty place where they sent all the Jews to fend for themselves with no food. The Concentration Camps were places they sent Jews so the people could kill them. One place was not worse than the other. They were equally terrible.  

If you still think being sent to your room is bad, then you have no heart. Misha and Sarah would think your room is heaven. There might not be anything to do, but at least there is no one in there trying to kill you because you are being who you were meant to be.

Bowling

Authors Note: My purpose for this piece is to tell how bowling is only part skill and the rest is luck.

I carefully picked my polished red ball from the return. Waiting patiently for the pin set-up to cycle through, I took the time to gather myself. I needed this strike. I needed it. The bar rose revealing the 10 pins, mocking me, daring me to miss. No, not this time. I started the approach, my footing exquisite. As the foul line came near, my arm reached back, and as my foot pushed up against it, I released the ball. My arm landed perfectly, right in line with the strike zone. I followed through just as I was taught. This was it. I had it in the bag. I watched the ball roll right down the lane and then, FLOP! Right into the gutter. That's just my rotten luck.