Story teller

Dear Journal,

Today was like almost great…except for the part that wasn’t so great. Okay, so our day starts out in a big argument- between Micah and me. I’m not saying either of us really had all the right facts, but Micah thought that we needed to go to the time of George Washington. I didn’t want to. I mean, I’m not that picky, but it was two against two. Mercy was on my side (don’t forget Mercy’s hate for violence, along with mine). We decided (along with Bethany’s consideration for young children like Mercy and me) that we would go to Harriet’s time: 1849. The time-machine is always right in it’s proper place. It does the same things every time. We arrived in a forest. A black was sleeping in the bushes. “Harriet,” whispered Mercy. “Hush,” Bethany scolded. “We must be very quiet.” We waited until the sun had gone down. Harriet woke up and rubbed her eyes. Then she saw us. She was up in a flash. She took off into the darkness, we followed. “Stop, Harriet Tubman, we need your help!” I shouted. “Please, Harriet.” She ran further. She tripped, but got up in a second and was running again. “Please, Harriet.” We followed her through the darkness & trees. We followed her through swamps until it became quite light. She turned, we ducked, and she crawled into the bushes & lay down. We snuck up to her. She lay there-sound asleep. “Why is she sleeping?” I asked. Harriet heard me. She was up in a flash, running through the trees. Days later Mercy was out of breath. “Let’s go to where she finishes,” Mercy panted. So, we went to the time machine, typed in “Harriet’s Destination” and we were there. Harriet was a nurse in the Civil War, but later, in the same war, was a spy for the North. We got back in the machine and typed in, “Home”, and raced inside. “That wasn’t as bad as I thought,” Micah confessed. “But, I still think we need to go to…” “We know,” Mercy said. “George Washington!”

Dear Journal,

Today as Micah, Mercy, Bethany, and I sat on the floor in my room; the subject of the time-machine came up. “Where should we go today?” asked Bethany. “Oh, maybe to the time of Gutzon,” I said jokingly. “Oh, Patience, get your mind off that guy,” Bethany said. “I don’t think so,” Mercy said. “No,” Micah said. “I think we should go to the time of Daniel.” “Oh, please not Daniel.” Mercy complained. “I told you when we went to Jesus’ death that I didn’t like violence.” “So?” Micah said. “We could go to where he gets captured. That would be even more violent.” “Okay,” I said. “We could go to where he gets thrown into the lion’s den. It wouldn’t be that bad.” Mercy finally gave in, and we headed to Daniel. The first thing we saw was men running into the palace. We followed to see where they were headed .Right into the king’s court we followed them. “Your majesty, we have come to tell you that your servant, Daniel, prayed-to God.” The one man said. “Yes, he acted if he didn’t care at all.” The other ones said. “Who? Daniel? He prayed?” The king was shocked. “That couldn’t be! But Daniel is a good ser…” “I’m sorry, you majesty. Daniel needs to be thrown into the lions den.” I shook with fear at the two last words the man said: LIONS DEN. I could tell that I wasn’t the only one frightened by those words, for the king was also shaking. “You have sealed it with your ring. He must be thrown in with the lions.” The one man growled. “He goes in tonight.” All of the men shook with laughter as the exited the room. I looked over at Mercy who looked white and had a furious look on her face. Micah dashed after the men shouting, “You can’t do that! You can’t because the king doesn’t want to get rid of Daniel. The king loves Daniel. So there.” “Micah,” I said. “Maybe we should go someplace else, don’t you think?” “Yea, maybe this wasn’t a good idea.” Mercy chimed in. “No! I will stay here until they decide to let good, old Daniel go free. We stayed around until a sad king let poor Daniel get taken away. We followed as quickly as possible, but the soldiers were too far ahead of us, so we couldn’t catch up. Mercy and I walked slowly after the soldiers, but Bethany and Micah ran almost as fast as they could. “Where do you think they’re going?” Mercy asked. “To the lion’s den.” I said. “Why?” Mercy asked. We all knew the answer but it was so hard to accept. Mercy and I ran up to Micah and Bethany. “They can’t do that!” Micah yelled. “Micah,” I said. “You know Daniel will be alright!” “Oh, yeah,” Micah remembered. “I guess those guys made me pretty mad.” We saw the evil men throw Daniel into the lions’ den. The guards left the and we scampered to the den. We stayed there until morning. We saw the king running from the palace. He ran straight for us. He called out to Daniel, “Daniel, Daniel, did your God protect you from the lions?” “Yes, oh, King. God sent an angel to close the mouths of the lions.” Later that day Daniel was taken out of the den and the three men were thrown into the den instead. I couldn’t watch them go in. I noticed that Mercy couldn’t either. Later we watched Daniel meet with the king like he normally did. After that we typed in home, and away we went- to our home!

 Dear Journal

“Today is Good Friday,” I thought as I woke up. I went and woke Mercy up. I said, “Hey, Mercy, let’s go to the first Good Friday in our time-machine.” “Let’s not,” Mercy whispered back. “Why not?" I asked. “Because I don’t want to watch Jesus die,” she said. So after I convinced her (more like forced her to) we got the rest (Bethany and Patience) and we went. We arrived in servants clothing in a house. “This is John Mark’s mother’s house,” I said. John Mark came around the corner, “Good, you arrived just in time. Here, take these to the upper room.” Fortunately, he showed us the door. We went in and served the food, than we went a short way out. I pushed the girls in to a nearby room. “What?” Bethany asked. “Why are we in here?” Patience asked. “We wait,” I said. “For what?” they asked. “Judas,” I said. “That is when I leave,” Mercy said. (Just in case you didn’t hear about Judas, he delivers Jesus in to the priests). After a while, a man came out. “That must be Judas,” Patience said. “Right,” I said. “We follow.” He walked in the temple. “I’ve got him ready,” Judas said. “The man I kiss is the one, now the money.” “We’ve got to get to the time-machine,” Mercy said. As it turned out, that wasn’t so hard. As we turned around, it was right behind us. I set the time forward slightly and we were to Gethsemane. When we arrived, Jesus was saying to his disciples, “Are you still sleeping and takeing your rest? It is enough; the hour has come the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see my betrayer is at hand.” Than Judas came and there with him was a crowd of guards. Than Judas said, “Rabbi,” and kissed him. Then they seized him and it was Peter who sliced at a servant’s and cut it off, but Jesus said, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.” Than all the disciples fled as they took him than I saw what looked like John Mark following behind I looked at Jesus for a second and when I looked back he was gone. We followed distantly. When we reached the palace, I saw a disciple. "That's Peter," Mercy said. "Right?" "I think so," I said "You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus," a servant said. “No, I am not,” Peter lied. "Let's go in," Bethany said. So that's what we did. Inside, they were making all sorts of false Accusations. (In Jewish culture two must agree for it to count) Although many testified, none agreed. Then some came up and said that he said he would destroy the temple and build it up again in three days, but they did not agree. The priests tried to get Jesus to answer, but he did not say anything. Then they asked him, "Are you the Christ, son of the blessed?" "I am. And you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven,” Jesus said. "What more testimony do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. Then they said he deserved to die. Then they spit on him and slapped him saying, “Prophesy who hit you.” "Let's go!" Mercy said. We all agreed. "Now to Pilates," I said. We went in just as the trial began. "Are you the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked. "You have said so," Jesus answered. Then the priests brought many things against him. “Do you not hear what they bring against you?" Pilate asked. But Jesus didn't say a word. Now the crowd asked Pilate to release a prisoner, and he said, "Whom do you, Barabbas or Jesus, who is called Christ?" and the crowd called for Barabbas "Then what shall I do with Jesus? Shall I whip him and release him?" Pilate asked. “No, crucify him!” they shouted. "I have found nothing deserving of death, so I will whip him and release him," Pilate said. "Crucify him, crucify him," they shouted louder. "Why, what has he done?" Pilate asked. And they shouted even louder. Pilate washed his hands and said, "I have found nothing deserving death. His blood is on your hands." And they replied, "His blood will be on our hands, and on the hands of our descendants." Pilate answered them saying, "Here, do to him as you will," We got in the time-machine and I moved us to the crucifixion of Christ. We arrived as they pounded the nails in Jesus hands. I thought the nail's in his hands are because of my sin he is hanging for me. Then Jesus cried out, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one." someone said "I can't watch anymore!" Mercy said "Mercy remember we win. Jesus lives again," I said. Than we got in the time-machine and sent ourselves to the grave. A woman ran past yelling, "He is risen!" "This, I have to see," I said. I ran into the tomb, the girls at my heels. The tomb was empty, and later Mary came back and was weeping and Jesus appeared and said, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Mary said, "If you have taken him, tell me where you have put him!" "Mary," he said. "Rabboin!" she said. "Don't hold on to me, but tell the disciples," Jesus said. And I said, “Let's tell others to!” And we went home and did just that.

Dear Journal,

I told you yesterday that we would go somewhere else. When I found out what that somewhere was I was shocked. We went to the time of Noah. As you can tell it was not dry at all. God had just closed the door when we showed up. We all became the children of Noah’s sons. Aunt J. is Bethany’s mom and Japheth is her dad. Aunt H. is Mercy’s mom and Ham is her dad. Grandma N. and Grandpa Noah. Also Micah and my mom is Aunt S. for Bethany and Mercy. Shem is our dad. The best part was that we all had different names. Bethany’s name was Lavender, and Mercy’s name was Gloria. Micah’s name was Charlie, and I really like the name Charlie. And last, my name was Flora “I’m scared of what’s going to happen, Mom,” Gloria commented. “It will be fine. If God told us to do this, we need to trust,” Aunt H. replied. “Do you like this place? I feel colder in here than outside the ark,” Lavender wearily said. “C’mon, I don’t think you need to worry about anything. I think you’re making a big deal about nothing. If you want to come down stairs with me, I’ll show you the monkeys.” Charlie happily declared. “I’ll come if Dad comes, but otherwise I’m staying right here, Charlie,” I told him. I don’ think Grandma liked my attitude, “Oh, go with him, Flora, go see the monkeys and while you’re at it you can stop by the hippos if you’d like.” Lavender still sat leaning against the wall mumbling to herself how terribly scary the ark was. “You coming?” I asked as I raced Charlie and Gloria down the steps to the monkeys. “Look, that one is so small. Do you like giraffes? They’re over there, c’mon.” Charlie, Gloria, and I didn’t have time to stop and talk to the animals because we were running all over the place from one animal to the next. Suddenly out of nowhere the rains came. As we raced back up the stairs, Lavender came rushing down. “Hurry up, do you want to see the rain?” she asked in an excited voice. “Sure, we’re coming,” we shouted as we again flew up the stairs to the deck. The time we were gone took over forty days at the time-machine but at home it only took two hours. I think that if I told you everything, it would go through tomorrow and on to the next day. So I will tell you only the last part when we left the ark. “I think God is trying to tell us that the earth is dry, the dove hasn’t come back,” Grandpa said. “Yippy!” I shouted. “Now I don’t have to stay inside with this super annoying brother!” “Oh, forget it, Flora, you outa be the big brother sometime.” Charlie angrily shouted. “Oh, yeah? You should be the little sister sometime then,” I barked back. “Okay, okay, that is quite enough you two,” Mom scolded. “Sorry,” we said at the same time. We looked at each other and grinned. “I’m going upstairs now,” Lavender said. “I’ll come with you.” Charlie added. Charlie said seriously. As Charlie and Lavender made our way up Grandpa said that God had told him to leave the ark. We were so excited! When all of us had piled out along with the animals I knew that we’d better find the time machine. Lavender suggested that we go inside the ark and say good-bye to the pictures we had colored on the ark. Inside on the deck sat our time-machine. We hoped in and typed in, “home.” It was an exciting, yet long adventure

Dear Journal,

The time-machine has totally been used WAY too much; all I think about is our latest adventure. Micah and Bethany come all the time now. The latest adventure was at the time of Lewis and Clark. We went to the White House where Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark across the United States. We asked them if we could go along. Lewis and Clark didn’t mind us coming along, and were pretty nice about the whole thing. “So do your parents know that you’re coming?” asked Clark. “Oh, this would be so nice if our whole family would come, but they couldn’t,” I said in my coolest voice because last time I said anything we were found out and Amelia threatened to turn around. “Alright then, let’s get going.” We got into the boat where many of the scouts were already. “Huh? Who are these? Asked a grumpy scout. “Your friends? Forget it!” He apparently didn’t approve us coming along. “Oh, how nice! Exclaimed Sacajawea. “I love taking care of children.” I really admire her because she is the most collective, calm lady I ever saw. One of the funniest things we did was pick three gallons of berries for Sacajawea. She almost fainted because she didn’t know what to do with them all. After a long time of sitting in the boat and complaining, we got to row a canoe. We didn’t know how to keep it from tipping, and we ended up falling in to the rushing river of rapids. I got soaked to the skin. So did everyone else. We didn’t stay much longer because we were so sea-sick. After the time-machine showed up we went back home. But with swimming with Jonah and now boating with Lewis and Clark I’m a little sea-sick. Maybe we’ll stick to something drier next time. Thankfully we’re going somewhere else tomorrow.

Dear Journal,

I was successfully keeping the time-machine a secret, but not anymore. Today we made history! Like majorly. I’m serious. Almost. Today Mercy and I made our first batch of pumpkin-lemon-apple cookies – without snitching. First, neither of us likes pumpkin-lemon-apple cookies. Second, Bethany and Micah were there helping us by telling us NOT to eat any. And third, they were for our families, not us. Anyway now it’s ruined, I told Mercy that people could travel in our time-machine after we were dead and come see us making the first batch of pumpkin-lemon-apple cookies without snitching. Obviously Micah and Bethany were sitting there and heard me. They asked a ton of questions about it and who can ignore them? After I had a terrible thought that Micah would catapult pumpkin-lemon-apple cookie dough in my face, Mercy and I reluctantly told everything about it. We tried to ignore the questions, honestly. But tomorrow we’re supposed to take them on another adventure, to the time of Jonah.

Dear Journal,

Today we went to the time of Jonah. We arrived at the dock jut as Jonah was boarding a ship. We had to hurry to get on before the ship left. Just before we took our luggage to the luggage storage, we saw Jonah walk down the stairs of the ship. As soon as we could we stuffed our belonging into the closet and rushed down the stairs. When we got down stairs Jonah was asleep. “Do you always get to things a little late?” Bethany asked. “Well, we don’t always have four people instead of two people going with us,” Mercy said with a mysterious look in her eyes. “I wish we could all go to the time…” I was interrupted by a boom of thunder and the sound of rain on the roof. “Hurry, guys,” Micah said. “Do you want to stay down here or, oh, never mind, I’m going up!” “We’re coming too,” Bethany said. We all scrambled up to the deck where others had already gathered. “What should we do?” said one. “The storm is quite bad,” said another. “Should we go down stairs?” yet another asked. After arguing and rocking back and forth with the ship they decided to throw stuff over board. Some threw heavy barrels in while others tossed boxes and bags over. “It’s no use!” yelled the captain over all the noise. “Someone must have done something to cause this dreadful…” he was knocked over backwards. And together the crowd shouted, “STORM!” “Who did it?” shouted a man from the crowed. After some time Jonah confessed and they threw him over and we immediately were in the water DROWNING! We were all swallowed by a huge fish. While we crawled in to a corner Jonah kneeled down and prayed along with the rest of us. Thankfully we were fast-forwarded to three days later. “Please let us out” and “Here us.” were our prayers. Suddenly we were spit out on shore and Jonah walked away. “There it is!” Micah shouted. “What?” Bethany asked. “Oh yeah, over there!” rejoiced Mercy. “Don’t you see it? The time-machine!” I exclaimed. We all ran over to it and jumped in. we typed in, “Home” and away we went. I asked Micah and Bethany how they liked it and they said they wanted to go with us next time. Mercy and I are both happy they enjoyed it!

Dear Journal,

I have a lot to catch up on for today. Wow. I don’t even know where to begin. Recently my cousin and I have found a time travel machine, and have been going everywhere. Today after lunch we decided to go outside and do some more time travailing. We got in and Patience suddenly stopped right in front of the machine, and asked me were we were going. I didn’t know so I asked her where she wanted to go. This lasted for awhile, but finally she told me that she thought we should go somewhere in Bible times. I said maybe we should go to the time of Moses. I had been reading in Exodus for my morning devotions. Patience agreed, so we typed it in and to my surprise, we found ourselves in a beautiful room before we could look around much, we found ourselves being pulled by a….. Well, you would have to meet him to know exactly what he looks like. All I can tell you is that he looked like an older man. After he had pulled us into different room he sharply told us not to wander of like that, and that the princes had been wanting us for some time and finally he told us to get back to work at least I thought that was what he was saying. I can’t be sure because all that time he had been leading us so fast I felt like we were running a marathon. Finally he stopped in front of a beautiful lady and bowed down Patience tapped me and we curtsied. We fallowed the princess into a different room, and she turned and told us that it was time to go to the river. So we went outside of the palace. I went to the edge of the river and Patience did the same, we slowly put our feet into it. It was very refreshing after following the man a long distance at such a fast pace. Suddenly I spotted a small basket that was floating on top of the water and showed it to the princess. The princess suddenly asked us to bring it to her. I wadded out into the water and brought it back to the princess. The princess told me to hurry up, and I tried to because I was very curious to so what was inside. (I think she was to.) When I brought it to her she practically threw the top of it off and we hurried over and inside were a beautiful baby boy. Just then a young girl stepped out of some reeds. She asked if the princess would like her to find a maid for the baby and the princess told her to find one quickly. Soon the girl came back with her mother. The princess told the mother to take care of the baby. And if anyone questioned her she was to send word to her at once. She told us that she was naming him Moses, because she pulled him out of the water. After the mother took the baby to her home we got into the time machine, and typed home. Patience told me that the boy was brought back to the princess at about age four. And that the young girl that we had met was the baby’s older sister. And that one day he would lead his people out of slavery. Well that’s all I can write for now, because it’s time to wash up for supper. Bye for now journal, and goodnight

Dear Journal,

I guess I kind of feel sad, mostly because of the trip I took with my cousin, Mercy, in our time machine. Ever since she and I found the time machine we have been traveling everywhere! Yesterday Mercy and I played in the time machine all day. Towards the end of the day we had time for one more visit before supper. We both wanted to go visit Amelia Earhart before we needed to go in. And we both wanted to see her when she was thirty-nine years, old. We both agreed on going to see her on June 1st, 1937. We arrived at the place where Amelia was just about to take flight. When she wasn’t looking we both snuck into the plane. As she got in Mercy whispered, “I really do hope she doesn’t find us before she takes-off.” I agreed by nodding my head. To my surprise, she didn’t even turn around to notice us (which I thought was going to happen.) Mercy was thrilled to be in the airplane, but I thought that if we were caught, we would be taken home. After we were farther away than when we started, Mercy tapped my shoulder and raised her eyebrows. I nodded my head as to agree. At the same time we introduced ourselves like she knew we were there the whole time, which we were there the whole time, but she didn’t know that. As her eyes grew big, I thought maybe we should have waited to introduce our selves. Then she began to speak, “Children…” We didn’t let her finish, “I am Mercy and this is my, um… cousin, her name is Patience. I am very sorry for not telling you that we were coming along. “Mercy looked as though she were going to laugh. I grabbed her hand and continued for her. “We have as long as you do. Don’t feel bad, I’m sure our parents wouldn’t mind…” “You mean to say you didn’t ask to come with me?????! Amelia looked terrified and so did Mercy. “I’m sorry girls, you mayn’t come with me. We will have to turn around.” Mercy suddenly burst into tears and I thought that maybe we should have stayed home. “Um, Mercy, right?” I nodded my head and she continued.” I guess you can come, if…” she paused and Mercy looked up and stopped crying. “You need to sit down.” We took our seats, but Mercy still looked horrified. She somehow made us get back into the time-machine, how, I do not know. “Patience, what do you think you are doing?" I’m sure I looked shocked. “I thought you wanted to visit her,” I replied. ”Don’t be crazy, I did not want you to say we have all the time in the world because we don’t!” I finally pushed my way back to the control-panel and typed in, “Amelia’s destination.” The machine jerked, spun and suddenly stopped. We got out to see nothing but an island. We saw a few medal scraps and a shoe. I pointed to them, but Mercy hadn’t even gotten out of the machine! “Come on, Mercy.” I shouted. Slowly Mercy stepped out and looked at the medal scraps. “They are Amelia’s,” I told her. She looked in disbelief. “I don’t believe it!” she wailed. “We made her crash!” “Come on, let’s get home, I’ll tell you what happened there,” I said. As we climbed back in I told her that most people thought that Amelia had crashed because of lack of fuel. She was shocked, but typed in, “Home.” As we walked inside Mercy said, “I thought she crashed because of us. Just stick to Neil Armstrong next time.” I nodded my head as we walked inside just as the rest of the family was washing up for supper. Thankfully no one noticed that we were late! No talks about being late!

Dear Journal,

Today I have a lot of things to catch up on. My cousin & I have been very busy over the last couple of days. We recently found a time machine with a control panel that we could type in where we wanted to go & the machine would take us there. We climbed in and typed a couple of different things. Finally we agreed on going to the time of Laura Ingalls Wilder when she was about 7 years old. Then we pressed the enter button. We waited for a second & then suddenly it reared up & then it was suddenly still.

We climbed out of the machine & saw that we seemed to be in the middle of a prairie. Suddenly Patience tapped me on the shoulder. She showed me a pair of faded tracks. The tracks seemed to suddenly stop. Then a thought popped into my mind. Where was Laura’s house? I thought for a minute & then I had the realization that it was under us. I remembered reading a book about Laura & the dug out that she had lived in for a short time when winter was approaching. Patience pointed towards a small path that leads down. That was it! We followed it down & we saw a small creek. The earth seemed to rise above us as we went down. I looked up & all I could see was blue sky above me. Then we saw the dugout. There was one white window that was made out of paper that was oiled down.

We saw a girl come out. She said “hi”. We asked her “Would you like to play?” She said “sure”. We went back up the path & showed her inside of the machine. Her eyes grew very large & we showed her how it worked. I typed in HOME into the machine & then pressed enter. Suddenly we started to spin, and then everything was still. I got out and looked back into the machine. Patience’s eyes were big. I followed her eyes and my jaw dropped. If you are wondering what we saw …….. You won’t have to wonder for long because standing in the back of the machine was none other than Laura!!!!!!!!!!

I for one could not believe it. This machine could actually bring people back from history!!!!!! I didn’t know what to show her first. We went inside and I introduced her to everyone and showed her around our house. She was so funny to watch as we showed her the computer. It seemed as if even the smallest things, like the electric pencil sharpener, lights & electric piano amazed her. Everything she saw seemed to astonish her.

By the end of the day Lara was speechless. And after devotions, I showed her the Little House on the Prairie books. She was awestruck. When we went to bed I looked down and Laura said “I…don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to go to sleep after seeing all this. It’s amazing!” I laid my head back down on the pillow & the next thing I knew, it was morning. I took a deep breath of the smell of waffles. After breakfast, Patience, Laura & I went outside. We went into the machine and took her home. After we had taken her back, we thought about all the fun we had had with her. I went to my bed & that’s where I am now

I watched as she marched down the hallway, her curly yellow hair bobbing. “Good bye, Maggie!” she called. I managed a weak ‘bye’, but I didn’t feel like leaving now. Julia May, my best friend since I was eight years old, leaving me. Moving, far away from me with a terrible heart disease. I felt like bricks had been piled on my back. As I watched her turn to wave, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I ran with all my might straight towards her and flung my arms around her. She hugged me and asked me, “Maggie, why don’t you want me to move?”

Tears stung my eyes. “I couldn’t stand loosing you,” I sobbed.

“What do you mean?”

I looked at Julia’s happy face and asked, “Why, Julia? Why are you happy about moving? Don’t you want to stay here- with me?”

“Maggie,” Julia said as she held me arm’s length apart from her. “I want you to understand something: I am and will forever be you bestie. Forever, Maggie. That’s not just when I see you. Got that?”

I nodded. “But, why are you happy about moving?”

“Don’t you understand, Maggie? This is my opportunity.” Julia said.

“What do you mean?” I replied.

“I don’t know. Hey, you don’t need to worry. I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”

“But…” Julia held up her hand.

“No, don’t tell me. Please, Maggie, trust. That’s what I’m doing. I honestly don’t want to move, but my parents think that I should go live with Grandma May, just for a while.” The next week pasted in a flurry. I hardly had time to think. Two months after Julie had left, her mother caught up to me at church.

“Julia is coming home, and she wants you to be at our house to welcome her home!”

The gloom of the day faded in an instant. “I can’t wait!” I cried. I was so excited that Julia was coming home! The next two days pasted so slowly, that I couldn’t even stand the excitement.

“Maggie Sue, slow down. You’re driving us nuts the way you run around,” Mom scolded, but she smiled. “I know you’re excited to see her. Just remember, she’ll probably be tired when she gets home.”

“I know, Mom,” I replied. “I’m just too excited to stay still.” Finally Wednesday arrived. I waited all through the school day. At five I rode my bike to her house. I wrecked twice. Finally I arrived at their home. I raced inside, forgetting to knock. In my rush, I ran into Nate.

“Woah, watch it, man!” Nate yelped.

“Nate, when’s she coming?” I demanded. Nate turned to face me.

“They are coming home in fifteen minutes,” he said with a smile.

“I’ve never been so excited,” I said. “Just wait until you see Mom. She just about blew up from excitement. Julia has something to tell you too,” Nate laughed.

“What?” I asked.

“Um, I don’t think I, um, should tell you. I mean, um, that, um, she wants to tell you.”

“Nate, invite Maggie in!” Mrs. Jones yelled.

“Yes, ma’am!” he replied. “Miss Maggie,” Nate said turning to me. “Please enter.”

I laughed. Nate always was a polite boy, but this was too much. “Miss?” I asked. “Excuse me? I don’t think so. I’m just Maggie.”

“Alright, Just Maggie, please enter.” I ignored the ‘Smart Alek’ looks that Nate shot towards me. I entered. The rooms’ lights were so bright and cheery. Then I saw Mrs. Jones.

“Hi, Maggie,” she ran over to hug me. “I’m so happy could make it!” just then Mr. Jones walked in.

“Did I miss it?” he asked. “Where’s my baby?”

“She hasn’t arrived,” Mrs. Jones answered. We waited around for five minutes. We heard the car drive up. Two doors slammed. I held my breath. Nate flung the door open. In walked an older lady with Julia’s bags. Then walked in Julia!

“Tell her, tell her…” Mike and Tom shouted. “Tell her what happened.”

“Maggie!” Julia ran over to give me a hug. Then she gave Mr. and Mrs. Jones a hug. Nate, Mike, and Tom all got hugs too. “I didn’t tell you this when I left, but I had an operation while I was away.” I looked at her with wide eyes. “I don’t have heart problems anymore,” she finished. I was so happy that they all started laughing. “I wanted to tell you, Maggie, but you were so terribly sad and we wanted it to be a surprise.” I wiped tears from my eyes.

“Julia!” I sobbed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She just smiled. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

I smiled. “It was definitely one of the greatest surprises.”

The plane suddenly slowed and tilted forward. The plane’s intercom sounded and the flight attendant said, “Please remove the life jacket from under your seat and move to the nearest exit. From there someone will give you insertions.” I grabbed my life jacket and put it on. As it started inflating, I looked the life jacket over. It was equipped with a whistle, flashlight, and spare battery. I grabbed my carry on, which contained my survival kit, and moved to the nearest exit. Our plane had landed; or rather hit the water and people started boarding life rafts. I entered a life raft. Once full, the flight attendant jumped in and another started moving people to another exit. The next morning the plane was gone and there were 7 other rafts tied together with ours. “So what happened? Why did we crash?” I asked a man next to me. “I heard the pilot had a heart attack and the first officer couldn’t control because of turbulence,” he said. “Why didn’t he put it on auto-pilot?” I asked. “I think because how the pilot was siting or something,” he said. “Look, land,” I said. “Flight attendant, there is land!” We started going towards land and landed on the shore. By this time many were hungry. I went over to the co-pilot and said, “I have some food if you know who needs it.” “We have food and water. I’m just waiting till later to hand it out,” he said.“Good idea, but we need to make a shelter,” I said.“How do you know?” he asked.“I’m a survivalist,” I said.“Go,” he said.I had split the people in to labor crews. The first to build shelters, the second to look for food and water, and the third to cut and gather wood (To build shelters and make fires). I went with them. In my survival kit there was a wire saw and from the plane there was a small ax. We went out to the trees. Some chopped the small branches, others picked up branches that were on the ground, and still others brought them to camp. I saw a mostly straight tree. I went over to it and called, “Hey want to help me bring this to shore?” Someone came over and we started hulling it to camp. I decided to stay and help build the shelters as I knew some good plans. As we finished the tent- like structures the second group came back. They had a horticulturist was with them so I figured they would have some good food. I instructed some men to start building a fire and we started making some supper. Then the third group came in and we ate super and went to bed. I woke up again normally. It was nothing, but I heard a sound. Could it be? Yes, it was. I looked up in the sky and it was a plane I got some people up we stoked the fire and sent up 3 flairs then put green branches on the fire to make a very Smokey fire soon we had signaled the pilot to send us a radio we told him to bring help he circled the island and brought bad news there was nowhere to land we would need to clear a landing pad for a helicopter he would return later to see how far we had gotten we ate breakfast. We still would need food so again I sent out people out to gather food the rest of us started chopping trees and burning stumps by noon we had mostly cleared a pad we returned with everyone and then saw a helicopter it landed and we were going home.

There once was a girl named Maggie and she did not have any brothers or sisters. Life was quite boring for Maggie. One day when she went out to get the mail there was a letter for her!

This is what it said: "Dear Maggie, I hope that you are fine. Grandpa and I don't like being so far away from you all, and would love to see you. School is over, so if it is fine with your parents, Grandpa and I would love to have you come to the farm to see us. Grandpa would get you, and your cousin Emena on Monday. We would take you, and your cousin home on Sunday night." When Monday arrived Maggie was very excited. Maggie felt like her grandpa would never get there. Finally she saw her grandpa coming up the driveway. Soon she was on her way to the farm with her grandpa, and her cousin.

Once, when Bobby was three, he got a cat. Sadly, the cat died because he was very old. Later he got a dog and that died of the same reason. It kept happening that they would get a dog or cat and it would die. So one day as he talked he said……

“I want an ant farm for my birthday.”

So on his birthday he got an ant farm. Sadly, he fed them cornmeal and they died. So he got a Nanny goat and a Billy goat. Some time went by and the Nanny goat had a kid which Bobby named Tommy.

Bobby was a boy who loved adventure, he liked d fishing to. So one day as he and his friend, Fredrick were pulling up fish after fish they decided to go hiking. So they went along picking up rocks, leaves, and even a couple of bones! Suddenly they stopped in front of some huge tracks.

“Say,’’ said Freddy, ‘’those are huge tracks that look like bear’s tracks.’’

‘’We better get my dad,’’ Bobby said.

“’Okay,’’ Freddy said. They ran to Bobby’s house and got his dad then ran back to the tracks.

“They are bear tracks!” Bobby’s dad exclaimed. “I will get my gun.” He got his 40mag and then started tracking down the bear. They walked until…

‘’Look there it is! Wow it’s big!’’ BANG THUMP, the bear fell to the ground.

‘’Lets haul this big tooting fella home!’’ Bobby cheered. Later that day …

‘’Good that is done. We better give some of this away.’’ Later…

“I hope we don’t have to eat this every day!!!!!! “

On normal summer nights Bobby would go meet his friends at the park. They would play and talk. One day though it happened that they could go camping. So it happened that they were camping when…

“What’s that?” asked John.

“I don’t know.” said Bobby. “I think it’s a skunk.”

“Uwe, it smells,” said David. “I hate the smell”

“I’m scared,” said Freddy.

“Your always scared,” said John.

“Of course,” said Freddy.

“Blaa,” said Bobby.

“Eeek!” cried Freddy.

“Good grief!” said John.

“I thought it was a bear.” said David.

“No, it was a shadow,” said Freddy.

“Arrrrrg,” said David.

“I ought to whack you,” said Bobby.

“Tomorrow I want to sleep in my own bed!” said Freddy.

“Good grief!” cried Bobby, David, and John.

"The television can wait." My mom whispered in my ear.

"Ok I'm going." I said as I stood up. I knew I was supposed to be doing my homework, but I didn't even know how to start. "Okay what do we have here." I mumbled to myself as I sat down at the desk in my room."I think I might just do my writing first." As I did my homework I thought about what my teacher had told our class today at school.

"You know I don't want any late homework so get it done right away."

As I thought about that I felt guilty because of how much I had procrastinated. Lately I'd been telling myself that I was busy and I could get it done later, but now it was piled around me. "I really don't want my dad to know that I didn't have it done I couldn't tell him! But on the other hand I couldn't get all my homework done without help from my mom or dad."Wait!" I thought. "Mom already knows that I don't have it done, so she can help me!" As I bought my homework downstairs I thought about how I could get my dad to help me, because I knew my mom couldn't help with all my homework. "I guess I'll just have to tell him the truth about my homework."

"Is it a girl or a boy?" I asked bubbling with excitement. My dad had brought me to the hospital to see my new little sibling. "I'm so excited because I'm pretty sure I know what it is going to be. Well I guess I don't really know but I am think it should be a boy" I said as we walked toward the room where my mom was staying. As we walked into the room I couldn't help but feel a stab of disappointment. All around me were pink balloons saying, "it's a girl!" I slowly walked up to my little sister's crib. Was I crazy or something, cause I'm pretty sure I just heard a question come out of my mouth that sounded like, "May I hold her?" Maybe I can help name her, I thought as I held her.

She is pretty cute. "How do you like your new baby sister?" my dad said.

"You know what?" I said, with beaming eyes. "I love her."

"This movie is terrible!" My sister wailed.

"Of course, you begged me to play it and naturally you wouldn't like it." I thought as I put in a different movie that both of us would like.

As we watched it I thought about my mom, and what she had told me as she left for the hospital where Dad was. "Rebeca, you're going to have to watch Rachel until Grandma gets here. You and your sister can manage." That's what she had told me, and I honestly hoped Grandma would get to our house soon. Soon the movie was over, and I popped in another movie that I hoped my sister would enjoy. I had to make lunch, and it was pretty easy because I just made pb&j sandwiches. By the time I was done the movie was over and my sister and I ate lunch.

Soon after I had convinced my sister to take a nap I heard the phone ring so I answered it, and my mom told me the bad news."Rebeca you're going to have to watch Rachel for the week. Grandma just called me and she told me that she can't come."

"I'm only nine years old, and you're asking me to take care of Rachel who is six, for a whole week?" I asked meekly.

"Yes, I am. I hate to do this, but you know that I have to be with your dad." My mom said.

"Yes I know." After mom told me some more things, she hung up. I decided to go and get some things for Rachel and me to do. After she woke up we made some bracelets, and made a snack. After that, we played together in my room because it was the cleanest. We played for quite a long time, but after that long time my sister's stomach told her that it was time for super. I had made supper with Mom before this so I thought I could do it. Turned out it's a little bit harder than it looks. Let's just say that we had leftovers that night. After we ate, we played a little more and did some devotions and than went to bed. You know what? Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

“Okay, you don’t have to go on about it,” Sabella said. “I get the point. You think I’m a failure.”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying,” Ladonna replied. “I’m just pointing out…”

“My faults,” Sabella finished. “You think that… Oh, never mind.”

“Sabella, I’m not trying to hurt you. I’m trying to help.”

“Trying to help by telling me that I can’t do anything right.” Sabella stormed. “I can’t believe you, Ladonna.” Ladonna didn’t reply. “What makes you think that you’re better than me?” Sabella questioned.

“Oh, Sabella,” Ladonna wailed. “I didn’t mean to say anything bad about you. I was trying to help you know when not to talk and when to talk.”

“And when were you an expert at giving talking lessons? Oh, here comes Arora.”

Arora came running up to them. “Hi, I just wanted to see if you wanted to come to my house because Mom said I could invite three of my friends to my house for a slumber party for my birthday?” Arora boomed. “You can come at six o’clock P.M. if you’re coming. Talk to your moms. Have any questions?” “Yes,” Ladonna answered. “Who else is going to be there?”

“Oh, maybe Nora, why?”

“Because her mom doesn’t want her to stay with someone she doesn’t like,” Sabella said for her. “She doesn’t like Nora so she won’t be going, and neither will I be.” Sabella stuck her nose in the air.

Arora hung her head, “I understand.” They approached Sabella’s home. “Alright, I guess I’ll be seeing you on Monday at school.” Sabella waved as she walked into her driveway. ”Bye-bye!”

“Alright, see ya!” Ladonna waved. Arora was already walking ahead. Ladonna ran up to her. “Arora?” She asked

“Yea?”

“It’s not true that my mom wants me to hang out with girls I like- I mean she does, but I like Nora.”

“So?” Arora asked.

“So, I thought that if you still had the invitation open, I’d like to come.” “Really? You mean it?” Arora exclaimed, her face brightening up. “I’d love for you to come!”

“Alright. I have to ask Mom but I’ll be there unless I call you.”

“Okay, but why did Sabella tell me that your mom doesn’t like you hanging out with girls you don’t like and that you don’t like Nora?”

Ladonna swallowed, “I guess because she’s mad… at me.”

“Why is she mad at you? Did you say something?” Arora asked.

“I told her…. You know how she was saying stuff while Miss Franklin was talking?”

“Yea, I remember,” Arora said.

“Well,” Ladonna continued. “I told her that it was really annoying when she was talking over Miss Franklin. I told her that she could talk when we were at recess or lunch.”

“So she got mad?” Arora asked.

“Yea, I guess I made her pretty mad. Here’s your house. I’ll be seeing you later.”

“Bye!” Arora waved.

Ladonna walked faster. “Why did I say anything at all?” Ladonna thought. “Why can’t I just keep my mouth closed? Why am I always saying something I shouldn’t? Why is everyone good except for me?” Ladonna started to run. When she got home, she placed her stuff on her desk. Then she sat on her bed. She plopped onto her back, and opened her Bible that was lying there. She opened up to Isaiah 40, verse 27. She began to read the 28th verse. It said: Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. Ladonna stared at the first part: ‘Hast thou not known?’ “She ‘knows’ that she shouldn’t talk over people.” Ladonna thought. ‘Hast thou not known’: “Maybe it’s talking about Sabella not knowing that I do care about her? Maybe I should tell her I’m sorry. That’s what I’ll do.” Ladonna thought. Ladonna knew that wasn’t what it was talking about, but it seemed to work.

That evening Ladonna went to Arora’s home. She enjoyed every moment of it. The next Monday Sabella walked up to Ladonna as if nothing had happened. “I’m sorry about saying the things I said on Friday,” Ladonna said. “I want you to know that it was wrong of me. I know you weren’t trying to do anything bad.”

“It’s okay,” Sabella said. “I forgive you. To tell you the truth, I was the one in the wrong. I shouldn’t have been talking. You’re a good friend to be concerned about me. Thank you!”

“No problem.” Ladonna said as she hugged Sabella. Everything would turn out okay.