...and they will come again

He could've told me,
I didn't have to find out this way,
Was he ever really there for me?

Why me? Why did I have to have this?
This disability.
What did I do to deserve this?

It didn't have to happen.
She didn't have to die.
She was too great for this.

The rains of life came,
And they will come again.

 

6 Word Memoirs

She is purple, love, and happiness.

Fabulous with some glitter on top.

White Diamonds and the Red Door.

My Grandpa CAPTAIN TORY

   He told me that we would go later tonight. He said that he would tell me about her. He said that he would tell me about my grandma. She died a little over a year before I was born, so I never got to meet her. And ever since then he grandpa had lived with us. He said that we would go tonight after everyone else was asleep.

   I tried but I couldn’t sleep. I was too excited for getting to hear grandpa’s stories. I heard someone coming down the hall. Not knowing if it was my mom or dad I turned over in my bed and faced the wall so if it was one of them they would think I was asleep. I heard whoever it was open my door. But it was just my grandpa. He whispered to see if I was awake. I turned over and got out of bed, put on my slippers and grabbed a red, plaid flannel, button-up shirt that used to be my grandpa’s, as a light jacket.

We silently walked down the road, turned and went down an alley and turned again. We walked some more and then got to where we seemed to be going. We stopped at the railed edge of the look-out deck. Grandpa lit the lantern that he had brought. He held it up and started to talk. I started to listen up.

   “Over there was where I first saw her, your grandmother. Over there across the harbor. She was so beautiful, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was in the park on a walk with a friend. There was this little girl who was on a walk with her mother who was pushing a baby in a pram. This little girl ran up to your grandma and started talking to her. I watched how your grandma was so kind and gentle to this little girl. I loved that about her. I think it is safe to say it was love at first sight. I knew I needed to get to know her, but I didn’t know how to go about it.  Now I ran into a problem with trying to figure out how to introduce myself to her. I was super nervous. I knew that I should just go up to her and say hello. So I did. I said ‘Hello miss, I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Captain Tory.’ I was freaking out. I didn’t know if she was going to say anything and if she did what she would say. She said, with the biggest, most beautiful smile, ‘Hello. I’m Hazel Grace. How do you do?’ I think I was in shock. I stumbled over my next words telling her that I was doing fine. I asked if she would like to go on a walk with me. Thinking that she would politely turn down my offer I looked away. But much to my surprise she told her friend that she would meet her later. We walked around the park for a bit. I told her how I was a ship captain and that my crew and I were in town for a little while. We talked some more and then a couple more hours later of more talking, I walked her home. I asked if she was doing anything that Friday night and she wasn’t so I told her that I would pick her up at seven.”

   By this point I was getting really tired. But I didn’t want him stop. I had probably yawned a dozen times already. I think my grandpa caught on to that because he said “OK, sport, let’s get you home and put you to bed.”

  “No, grandpa, keep going.” I said as I yawned, again. I don’t remember much after that. Other than him telling me that he would tell me more later and walking home. 

Other Characters Have Back Stories Too.

   I felt terrible for leading her along. I knew it wasn’t right but I needed to do it to save my family. I hope she notices me soon because I am on a very tight schedule. I feel like there is always a very important date that I will be late for. There I saw her notice me. “Good Alice, yes, follow me, oh dear, please hurry up” I thought to myself. There for a minute I didn’t think it was going to work but it did. She was behind me, on my trail. I ran fast in a beeline because I can’t have anyone else but her see me.  I went down the rabbit hole and hid in an underground tunnel. I heard her asking where I was. I was breathing heavy but I wasn’t about to expose myself to her. I saw her trip and fall into the rabbit hole. This was all part of the plan that I had to help carry out.

   I as well as some others had been drafted to help the red queen. My special assignment was to bring the girl, name of Alice, to our world and to the queen, who wanted to get to know who this girl was and her intent. I knew that this wouldn’t be good. I knew that I was possibly leading this poor girl to her death, but if I didn’t do it my family and I would suffer. How could I do that to them? And if I had refused on the day I was drafted it would’ve been “Off with his head!” in front of my family, so I went. I hope to find some way out of this mess that is safe for everyone but I’m not sure I will be able to in time.

   I was in the forest, on my way to a tea party with the mad hatter to discuss how to figure this all out when I heard her. She was too far away to hear what she was saying but I knew it was Alice. I still couldn't let her see me. I think she was calling out for me, but I’m not sure. I knew I had to get out of there and fast.  I made sure she wasn't in the way I was headed and I bolted out of there. And to make matters worse I was about to be late.

   I finally got to the mad hatter and sat down. Man, was I out of breath? I needed to lay off the sweet tea and go for unsweetened. I tried to get his attention but he was talking to the mouse too much about unbirthdays and how great they were. Did he know how much time he was wasting? I tried to get his attention and found my efforts to be of no use so I decided I would call it a day and talk to him tomorrow. And so off I went on my way home.

A Once Free Man

     As he heard the ring of steel against steel as the cell door clanged shut he thought about what had happened. He was in denial that he killed her. He never thought that he would do something like that. No one else did either. He wished he hadn’t done it. He wished that he could go back in time and undo what he did. He was under water. Not the kind that only goes down a couple of feet but the deep kind. Why did he do it? Why her? No one will ever know. There are probably a million questions that could be asked, but not a million answers could be given.

    One minute he was holding the gun the next he was being told his Miranda rights while being handcuffed. He was in the kind of shock about what had just happened that he was in a foggy haze, and didn't know what was going on. He tried to figure out what had happened as he passed out. He was out for the rest of the ride to the prison. A couple of days then passed.

   He was awoken that morning and was being told that he was being taken to his preliminary interrogation. The officer who told him this had unlocked the door and escorted him out of his cell and down the very long corridor. The officer swiped his id and punched in a numerical code. The large heavy metal door clicked open. They walked through and turned right and walked down another long empty corridor passing guards on their way. They stopped outside a room with a one-way mirrored window. The officer asked a guard standing nearby to come stand by the handcuffed man while he went in and talked to a couple of men in suits with badges hanging around their necks.

   The handcuffed man wondered what would happen knowing that he would be going in there and was going to be questioned. He wondered how everything would turn out.

   The original officer that had gone in the room came back out. He told the man that they were ready for him to come in and escorted him inside.

Out of respect we go.

They shoot the white girl first. They shot her because she was friends with and illegally helped the blacks. She even helped heal their wounds from where they were beaten by their slave owners. They shot her first to show the other white people how bad it is to be that way, nice and friendly and caring, towards the blacks. They also shot some of the blacks that were wrongly accused of stealing stuff from their slave owners’ homes. It was a sad sight to see, especially when you know that they were innocent. And to see their families so sad, it is hard to see. My momma makes us go to the shootings to pay our respects to the black people. I don’t like seeing it. I wish she wouldn’t make me and my baby brother go.

She says that when she was younger that her family had slaves. One of the lady slaves practically raised her.  This slave later died of old age, but was so good to my momma that she was like a mother to her. This lady, Nina, had a husband and a couple of kids. Her husband was accused of taking something as worthless as a spoon. A week after he was wrongly accused he was shot. Mamma went with Nina to the shooting as a thing of respect for Nina’s husband. Nina often went out of respect to the shootings and often took my momma. As Nina was a mom to my mom, my mom was a daughter to Nina, and that’s how she treated her.

So even though she doesn’t like seeing them die and winces every time the gun goes off, she still has us go. We go out of respect because they are humans too. They don’t deserve the kind of treatment that they get. They deserve better.

They deserve our respect.

Famous First Line and Last Line

The famous first line that I chose is "They shoot the white girl first".
From what I have found this line comes from the book Paradise written by Toni Morrison. This book seems to be about a town that is an all-black town. They are the descendants of slaves and they want to isolate themselves from the world like it rejected them and those before them. But not too far from them is another town. And in this town are these women who have to protect themselves from the men of the all-black town.
I don't think that I would want to read this book. Maybe someday. I think I would just like to have someone who has read it tell me the story with more detail than what the internet may be able to tell me. Because the story itself sounds kind of interesting but not like one that I would want to take time to read.

The famous last line that I chose is "He heard the ring of the steel against steel as a far door clanged shut".
It came from the book Native Son by Richard Wright.  It's set in the 1930s in Chicago and is about being a black in inner cities of America at that time. It follows the story of Bigger Thomas and how he, in moment of panic, kills a younger white women. And eventually ends up in jail.
I don't think that I would want to read this book. It sounds pretty violent and I don't really care to read that kind of thing. And I like more modern books and this is a little too back in the day for me.

Meaningful Quotes

There are probably a bunch of quotes that I like. A bunch of them being by Dr. Seuss. So here are just a few.

(Author unknown)

(Author Unknown)

Memorable Passage

I don't really have that many memorable passages. One from UnEnchanted would have to be: “Not every tale has a happy ending. In fact, many of them are grim.” I feel like this is a very influential quote. I feel like it kind of kills the idea that every fairy tale ends "Happily ever after". I feel like we get in this way of thinking that all stories end that way. There is more about this quote that stands out to me but to explain it would give away a big part of the story. 

Writers as Readers

2.) My favorite genre would probably be realistic fiction. Sometimes I like books that are part realistic fiction part fantasy/fairy tale. I think what interests me most about this type of writing is how it could actually happen in today's world. And I can more easily relate to this type of story which helps draw me to stories like this.

8.) My favorite book would probably be Scat  by Carl Hiaasen. It is probably my favorite for a few reasons. First, is because it is realistic fiction which I already said that I like. Second, I like the story in general, and how there are parts that help you piece together what is really going on. So it's like a puzzle you have to put together. And a third reason is because when I read this book it was actually one I shared with my aunt one summer. I would go over to her house and we would take turns reading it out loud to each other. And then every so often I would take it home and read some of it and then give it to her and she would read some and then when we were back together at her house we would go back to taking turns reading it out loud. We even have inside jokes now about some parts of the book. I love how when I think of this book I get reminded about that summer and sharing it with my aunt and the memories we have from it.

9.) "When I finished reading UnEnchanted: An Unfortunate Fairy Tale, I was upset, not sure if I was more mad/angry or if I was more sad, because of where it ended. Because I didn't realize that it was the first book of a three book, later to be a four book, series. Before I found that out I couldn't figure out why it would end in such a spot. But I felt better once I started reading the second book. And since I knew that there was supposed to be another book after that one I was in a much better mood when it too ended in an undesirable cliff hanger.

12.) I feel like someone who reads more than someone who doesn't could definitely be a stronger writer. Probably because we can "pick up vocabulary" and ways of writing that might not be thought about otherwise. I feel like that some of the ways of writing can come out somewhat directly in our writing. I feel like it just kind of depends on how much you have read and understand about writing.

Dream Threads Story

After hearing the splash I knew I was done for. I knew that I wouldn't make the team that I so desperately wanted to be a part of.  I know this because one second I saw black and the next I was trying to swim as fast as I could but I didn't feel like I was going anywhere. I think the idea of me actually being here and being in the water this close to my goal shocked me and I couldn't seem to control myself in a way to make myself go. And I knew that as soon as I got to the other side of the pool to turn around and come back that the other two girls I was competing against would already be done. Why did I even try out for the team? I knew that it would be a long shot of me actually getting on the team. Maybe I was trying to prove something to others. Maybe I was trying to prove something to myself.

The South Georgia High School girls swim team was the best in the district. It was also the hardest to get on. Why did I want to be on? I'm not sure. I think it started with my love of swimming. I have always loved swimming.  If I saw water that I could swim in I would dive right in. There was no stopping me. My friends and family always tried to support me. They are also the reason I finally tried out for my high school team. I went my first two years of high school thinking I wouldn't be good enough. But they talked me into giving it a try this year.

I somehow made it to the other end of the pool and back. I got out of the water and went over to my gym bag. As I was getting out my towel to dry my eyes, I heard one of the other girls congratulating me and saying that she thought I definitely made it on the team. As I turned around to see who was talking to me I wondered who had lost their mind to think such a thing. It was Carol. She was probably one of the nicest but most popular people that would ever actually talk to me. I reassured her that I probably didn't make the team. Did she see how slow I was? What could she possibly be thinking? She started talking about how even though I was slower than the other two girls, I had the best form. And how it is easier to work with someone who had perfect form than to work with someone who didn't. That made me feel a lot better. I wondered if I really did have a shot at this or if she was just trying to be nice. I decided to be optimistic and go with the idea that I might have a shot.

The last few girls went for their test laps and then we all gathered around where we could hear the coach.  He said the whole "You all are very talented but sadly we can't take everyone" speech. He also told us that the roster of this year's swimmers would be posted outside the locker room at 4:05 later today.

It was 4:04 I could hardly wait to get around the corner to the bulletin board that would be holding the list that would change the rest of my school year. If my name was on it I would have swim practice and swim meets to go to, I might actually feel pretty good about myself. If my name wasn't on the list I would have to find something to do with my time and I would have even lower self-esteem than I already do. I got to the board I saw the paper. I was scared to look at it. I looked. I saw June Harper. I could not believe it. I had made the team.    

Right before I fell asleep I thought about everything going on in my life. I thought about how great my life is and was going to be.