Then, as usual, she loves to walk and talk, and while reading her book. Newest is from Ted Dekker’s Journey series. LOVE!
And…she added to her “Jade” story. LOVING THIS! …. See the previous day.
This is the next paragraph:
The van jolted to a complete stop. I lunged forward. A stranger named Clyde walked over to my seat. He had a scruffy black beard that was right below the chin. He sat down next to me and pulled out a piece of what looked like candy. He bit off one chunk, chewed, swallowed, then did that over and over as I sat staring at him. When he finished, he swallowed, then took out another piece of candy and slowly handed it to me. I shook my head in disbelief and began to reach out. But Clyde shook his head and swatted my hand away. “Don’t you know not to take food from strangers?” I nodded. His gruff voice sounded very sad sadder than usual. “When I was a boy, one time, a stranger tried to poison me with this ere candy bar. Luckly my ere mama swaed my and away and I was safe.”
That night ,as I lay in bed, I thought about what Clyde had said to me. I really could’ve been poisoned? Could I have? I pondered that if I really had been poisoned, would that be better than my life now? My conclusion was yes being poisoned would be better than this life.
The next morning, I woke up at four in the morning. I climbed out of bed, pulled open my curtains, turned on the shower, brushed my teeth, got into the shower ,which at that time, was freezing cold, got dressed, climbed downstairs, opened the cabinet, got out a bowl and spoon, poured cereal into the bowl, opened the fridge, poured the milk into the bowl filled with cereal, sat down, and ate. As I ate my cereal I noticed the newspaper sitting on the table. I pulled it forward and read the headline, Boy Died From Train, I stopped chewing. Because under the headline was the name, Black Morristine, my dead younger brother.
Here’s our schedule and her quick write. We always warm up with a read aloud and write.
Here is part 1…first draft.
On our break, she popped this out!
Prologue
Vans are disgusting and smelly. They are even more disgusting and smelly when you have four people squished against you. This was my life; a very disgusting and smelly van with four strangers digging their elbows into my rib cage. Strangers who know nothing about me and who could be serial killers, and one wrong move and I could be dead. Strangers who have the smelliest farts in the whole entire world. And if you had to be in my shoes, you would be dead in one millisecond. None of them are black people.
There are usually older people on this van but once in a while, there will be kids my age with parents. Kids who are white. Kids who board onto this van both their mother and father clutching their hands. White kids who stare me down as if I was dead, and sometimes I wish I was dead. Kids who have a thick, bold accents will never speak to me, and will sit five aisles in front of me. No black people. White kids whose shoes are new and clean Jordans and Nikes.
Chapter 1: Black
I’m Black. No,no I’m a White American, my name is Black. Kids at school call me blank, but my name is Black. I had no clue why my mother called me that because I have blue eyes that resemble the ocean, not black eyes and I have brown musty hair, not black hair.
I love to run. I love to smell the dew on the trees, dripping down, while I race across the fields, being careful not to slip down the slippery slope. I love to race across dry open fields going full speed while the dirt clings to the souls of my shoes.
I was born into a small family. My older siblings had to work the crops for food and would come home all sweaty and tired. They would bark at me if I sat down funny.
When I was 12 years old I couldn’t remember my parents. You see I was blind. I wasn’t born blind, in fact I could see up until my tenth birthday. Then I stopped being able to see. It was hard for me to comprehend that I would never be able to see again. By then I was used to it. I knew why I was named Black, because then everyone and everything was black.
About two months before I had had a really bad heart attack which is why I was in the hospital bed lying there my oxygen tank failing.
I gasped for air. My lungs were failing me. I felt dizzy and nauseous. My heartbeat got faster. Then it stopped. I floated up. I could clearly see my body in the hospital bed. I could see!
I heard one of the nurses cry out “the boy is dead.” Was she talking about me? Was I really dead? I could clearly see my body laying there, not moving. I kept lying there, well, not really me more my body kept lying there. I saw my mother. Her face was as red as a cherry from crying. I saw my older brother grasping her arm probably coaxing her. And I saw my sister red-faced her head buried in her hands. Then I saw my adopted sister, Jade, who was black, and who nobody paid attention to. But I didn’t see my dad. My family was all there except my dad.
Chapter 2
Life continued on. Being black was hard. Especially, here in Applo, Dracton. School was especially hard. My name is Jade. I’m 14 years old. I’m adopted. Losing my little brother was very hard, but I moved on since I had only known him for four weeks. Then I started getting tempted to do wrong things. But there was always one car that I was always in, a smelly and disgusting van.
I always had to be in it, picking and dropping off strangers. Being squished in the middle next to total complete strangers who could be serial killers. I got made fun of on that van. I got bullied on that van. I got squished and hurt on that van. And let me tell you something being black is the worst on that van.
The only wrong things that I could do on that van was try to pickpocket somebody. But my “father” would scold me every single time. One time I actually got away with it but what I got was only some lint. That’s why I think my “father “ didn’t scold me, because he probably couldn’t care less about me stealing lint.
My favorite show growing up was Thomas the train. I used to watch it for three hours a day. But my favorite character was Percy. I used to chant, “Percy marry Thomas”, four times a day. But a black three year old wearing a Thomas the train shirt was probably really embarrassing for my mother and father, so at four I stopped watching it.
Hand in hand, the HAYS are growing closer every year. My HHH gave me this lovely card early in the day. It would be a day he would stay home from work and just hang with us.
Tatum and I took a nice stroll down to our ocean.
They were so delightful to watch. Just as I’m sure our family looks. Serene on the outside, but underneath that water we are swimming like crazy…keeping afloat. Yes, we have worked so hard these last years and it’s been really challenging with my health and some other bonding times. BUT, with that, we now can see we are OVERCOMERS and IN LOVE.
Yes, they had a playdate today, President’s Day, and to celebrate Tatum would interview him on her new recorder.
HERE WE GO!
Interview with Hayden
First question : when you wake up on Saturdays what is the first thing you do?
Hayden’s answer
Second question: If you like to read then what is your favorite book? If you don’t like to read what is your favorite video game? And if you like both what is your favorite book and what is your favorite video game?
Hayden’s answer
Hayden asks me a question
I answer
Third question: Do you like to use your imagination to play? (If he says yes, great. If he says no ask what is your favorite Bible story?)
Hayden’s answer
(For the third question if Hayden says yes to the imagination to play. Ask about the Bible story.) ( if he said no, ask about his favorite food)
Hayden’s answer
True or false: I am an only child. (False, I have a big brother who is 26 years old)
True or false: my favorite sport is basketball. (True, I love to play with my dad and my best friends)
True or false: I do not have a favorite food? ( True, I really like all food.)
True or false: I have a pet who is named Amarillo and a pet who is named Cooper (True, Amarillo is my pet bird, and Cooper is my pet dog)
True or false: my favorite thing in the whole entire world is to read. (True, I have about 1,000 books.)
True or false: my favorite holiday is Valentine’s Day.(false, my favorite holiday is Christmas because Jesus was born on that day.)
Truth or trivia : (if it’s false, it’ll be trivia. If it’s true, it’ll be truth. )
Truth or trivia : Dutch hounds originated from Germany. (Truth, yes, the Dutch hounds originated from Germany)
Truth or trivia : my pet dog Cooper is a bichon. (Trivia my pet dog Cooper is a Coton)
If you were to write a letter about our friendship, what would you write about?
To grow our friendship, what would you like to do?
What’s your favorite stuffy if you have one?
Who’s your favorite character from Star Wars?
(Now Hayden, you can ask me a question if you wish, about whatever topic you would like to.)
Do you remember anything about kindergarten when we first became friends?
What are your pets names again and are they male or female?
What is your favorite movie?
Have you ever been interviewed before?
Who’s your best friend in the whole entire world?
(You can ask me a question now Hayden if you wish or I can keep asking you questions)
