Hey Everyone!
In Literature I'm learning about irony in writing, and they asked my to write a couple of paragraphs of a situation of irony. It got me thinking, and this is where it lead to! It's a very different (and somewhat awkward) writing style for me, but I hope the message comes through.
P.S. Any thoughts on a good title? Let me know!
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She twirled in circles, watching the little sheep fly. Then stopped suddenly to examine the hole in the sheep’s stomach. She frowned. How could she find a sheep nurse like the one on TV? She twirled again, this time closing her eyes to imagine the four sheep swinging in the air, perfect and whole. Mommy said she could watch the
Animal Nurse today with Betsy. She liked the animal nurse because she helped sick animals. She froze, the side of her skirt bunched up in a tiny fist, looking very hard at the wall, thinking of the boy. She told everyone she didn’t like boys, but the truth was she really did like the one in
Animal Nurse. She always remembered when he and the animal nurse kissed...on the lips! Sometimes, she pretended she was kissing him instead.
“Mommy, let’s watch! Let’s watch! But I don’t want to see no yucky boy, nu-uh!”
Mommy looked at Betsy’s mom and laughed,
“See? I’m just glad I don’t have to deal with hormones yet; I dread the day!” And both mommy’s nodded and began talking again in hushed tones. She watched tea dribble down the side of Mommy’s teacup. Like when the rain falls on the window, merging into a murky puddle at the bottom.
“Let’s watch, let’s watch, let’s watch!” She screeched, grabbing Betsy’s hand and jumping up and down. She grabbed Mommy’s arm and screamed again. Betsy jumped a little bit, too. ‘She wants to be funny like I am.’ She thought. ‘But I am funnier!’ She yanked and she pulled, and she screeched and she jumped, happily knowing that the little sheep were silently joining in on her dance.
“Sweety, not now. Let go of my arm please. Please, darling, won’t you let Mommy go?” Mommy was lightly tugging at her arm. ‘Mommy loves playing with me.’ She thought. “No, no! Let’s watch Animal Nurse!” She screeched again. She dug her nails in just a little. It felt kind of good feeling Mommy’s skin under her fingernails, knowing she could scratch her if she wanted to. But she didn’t want to, because she was happy. She was happy because she was going to watch Animal Nurse, and because she was wearing her sheep skirt.
“Let go of my arm, sweety!” Mommy said ‘sweety’ but she didn’t mean it. She could see it in mommy’s eyes that she was getting mad. She let go; very happy because now Betsy’s mom would think she was being a nice girl. Betsy’s mom sometimes gave her ice cream and chocolate. She screamed louder this time, to make up for letting go of Mommy’s arm.
“Darling, not right now. Betsy’s mommy and I are having tea. I’ll put it on later, for you, okay, sweety?” She was not happy. Mommy said she could watch Animal Nurse! She stuck her lip out and hoped her face was turning red. ‘Mommy needs to feel bad for saying no to me!’ she thought.
“NO! I hate you! I hate tea! I hate Betsy’s mommy! I hate you! I hate you-“ She didn’t what else to say, but she wanted mommy to feel bad, like the way she felt bad. “I hate you more then all my pink medicine! Ah!” She screamed and cried and shrieked. One time, she screamed so high that Mommy let her have a skirt. It was the sheep skirt she was wearing now. That’s why she loved it so much, because she was very proud the way she got it. Mommy tried hugging her, but she wasn’t going to let Mommy do that.
“Oh, baby girl, please don’t cry like that. Please, don’t cry in front of Betsy. Can’t you see you’re making Mommy very sad? If you stop now, Mommy will give you a piece of candy, okay? And, Mommy will let you make a puzzle!”
‘I like candy, but I like Animal Doctor better,’ she thought. She threw herself on the floor and kicked and punched. She was so mad she wanted to push the ground out. That way, Mommy could fall and fall and fall.
Finally mommy said, “If you don’t stop now you won’t watch any movie!”
She stopped screaming, but she crossed her arms in front of her and stuck her lip out further, giving a loud ‘hur-rumph’. ‘Like the girl on TV,’ she thought. ‘She always looks so cute when she does this.’
“There now," Her Mommy smiled. "Now go make a puzzle with Betsy, like a good girl.”
But she didn’t want to be a good girl. She wanted to be a bad girl. She wanted to be mad forever and ever so that mommy would always be sad. Bitsy looked kind of like a bug watching her tantrum. Her arms were sticking out at the side and a glob of saliva was slowly oozing out of the corner of her mouth. In fact, Betsy looked so funny, she would’ve almost laughed if she was not so mad at her mommy. She grabbed Betsy’s hand roughly and pulled her toward the door.
“Come on, Betsy. Let’s leave them bullies!”
She and Betsy sat under the playroom table. She was still very, very mad.
“I want to watch the Animal Nurse,” she whispered to the sheep with the hole. ‘I want to watch it so I can help you get better!’ She pressed the cloth together, hoping to fix the hole. When she pulled her hand away, the hole was only bigger now.
“I hate you, too!” She sobbed and ripped the sheep completely apart. “I hate everyone.” She said sullenly. “I only love the animal nurse…and the boy!” She felt funny saying that about the boy out loud. Would Mommy come and scold her? She looked around the room, and when nothing happened, she giggled.
“I love the boy!” she tested the words out again, this time a little louder.
“I want to kiss him. Right on his lips!” She instantly blushed, but when again no one responded, she laughed harder. She was so funny! She rolled under the table and laughed and laughed.
Betsy had pulled out a princess puzzle and brought it to her. She smiled happily. Even if Mommy wouldn’t let her watch the movie, Mommy couldn’t stop that she loved the boy and that she was thinking about him. She had won again!
She dumped the puzzle pieces on the floor and spread them all out. She picked up a flower part and looked for another like it. “Aha!” She stated, very pleased to be the first to find two matching pieces. Just when she was about to put them together, the door opened. Her mommy was smiling really big.
“Sweety, Mommy put on Animal Nurse for you. Come watch now, my Darling!”
She stuck out her lip and hoped her face was turning red.
“But I want to build a puzzle!”
We
got off the airplane at 7 a.m. 7 a.m. Paris time that is. Yes, that’s right, we’re in Paris. To be honest, I can’t remember much of what happened that
morning, except for thinking how odd it was to find pigeons in an airport! Once
we found our baggage we set down trying to figure out our next move. Finally, we got on a mini-bus and set out, ready to enjoy the sights and sounds of Paris!
Er- well, someone of us actually just slept for the two-hour car ride. But I’m sure that person was at least dreaming of the sight and sounds
of Paris. Anywaaays, I do remember being slapped in the face. What a way to wake
someone up from a peaceful dream, right? I could barely open my eyes (who knew that eyelids could be so heavy!) but I rolled
them open long enough to see…the Statue of Liberty?? Wait- what is THAT doing here? How long have I been
asleep for?! ‘Gracie, there's the Eiffel!!’ I looked a little to the left and then there it was: the famous
tower right before us! I remember thinking it looked smaller then what I
expected, but, hey! an Eiffel’s an Eiffel is an eyeful, and I’m not going to complain! 
Shortly
after we started our tour we found ourselves walking along a huge building that
seemed to go on for miles- yes, we had reached the great Louvre! We found the
bridge 'Nuef', taking in the beautiful sights and sound around us, crossed over,
and passed by the grand Notre Dame. We looked into a couple souvenir shops,
admired the delicious looking sandwiches, covered in fried cheese, and slowly made our
way back home. The bridge we crossed over this time had hundreds and hundreds of locks- big and small- with names and hearts scratched
into them, covering the chain-link wall. This was for sure the City of Love.
My dad loves Yosemite and took us all on a six day backpacking trip from the valley floor to Tuolumne meadows. It is about a 35 mile hike, the days weren't strenuous, but I had my doubts coming in. This would be the first back packing adventure I've ever been on. And it being just me, my brothers and dad, it wasn't hard to figure out who the 'weakest member' would be. But, gung ho! We must do what we must do! So, come with me to Yosemite; hike the trails, feel the pain, experience the beauty, join in the victory..stay tuned. All this, and more, coming up!
Ahh! It's the beginning!! The hardest day, in terms of heaviest packs and steepest climb, but spirits are high! I can't tell you how many times I've prayed for protection along this path. So far, not lagging behind. Actually, *smug smile* I came in right behind dad today. We wake up around 6 get everything ready and set and hit the John Muir trail up nevada falls by 9. It is just a beautiful hike! We reach the top by noon, set up camp and now for the dreaded, the awesome, Half Dome! I have heard so many horror stories about this place. Looking back, I think to myself, 'Oh, it wasn't so bad!' but I have a little theory that your brain blocks out the most miserable times of your life, leaving with a warm, triumphant feeling when I look back on that afternoon. but I am sure i remember myself panting 'Oh please, kill me now!' as we ascended the sub dome. Dad says 'the cables are easy.' Let me tell you now; they're not. But we make it to the top, and I am so glad I did. Got to stand and the renowned surf board and join the rest of the people that can now proudly say 'I made it to the top!' by the time we get back down to camp, it's hitting 6 o'clock and we start on dinner before it get's dark. Hotdogs. Nothing like good ol' hotdogs grilled over a fire! Afterwards we jump in the ice- er- river and then shiver our way back. Wherein I try to make pudding and spill the pot so that 3/4 of it lands on Benaiah's clean set of clothes for the week. We give up. Hot chocolate anyone??
After getting a late start, hiking forty minutes up a certain trail, realizing we were on the wrong one, walking thirty minuets back, we finally were on the right trail. 'We have our heading!' I think what made this day hard, was the fact that we were expecting it to be easy. remember what i said earlier about forgetting about all the hard parts? Yeah, I think that's what happened to my dad. About halfway through the hike we found a glorious cascade and charged into the water. Oh boy, was it refreshing! We had lunch along the way, crossed a few bridges (the campsite is right after a bridge...is it this one?!) and then reached my dad's hidden camp ground. It was the perfect place! It was right by a cascade pool and hidden by rocks so we were quite tucked away. We had a group discussion and decided that we would stay here and enjoy the peaceful surroundings for the next day, which was so nice! The sunset was goregous that night. We sat around our fire, singing praises to the awesome Creator!
Relax day! Pretty much this day was awesome. Just hanging out at the river, my dad taught us some knots, singing and reading the Bible together, learning how to make fires. And, we totally roasted Bagels on sticks. After dinner, sitting around the campfire, feeling the slight chill, knowing that we're miles and miles away from any civilization we told, can you guess it? Yes, scare stories. I started off with one I made up along the trail. It was a really great way to keep my mind occupied on other things instead of my slowly and tortuously dying body. Anyways, the story was about a little boy named E.E Kampton. You wanna hear the rest of it? Ask me. Then my dad told a creepy haunting story with a shocking ending that left me screaming bloody murder and the boys cracking up. You wanna know the rest of it? Ask me. It was a really great day...Even if the sloppy joe manwhiches we got for dinner didn't really have meat in it after all!
Wednesday was a pretty easy day. It wasn't a long hike, but we did climb about 1200 feet or so. And we got to see Merced lake. So stunning! We set up camp, some little area for off in the woods, and washed our clothes in the river. Brrrr, this water is freezing! For dinner we had the best mac n cheese ever! Meanwhile, we developed this game. We each had whistles so we would take turns trying to blow a beat and have the others guess. It was fun coming up with songs to beep out to the others but a sense of dread filled you when you heard the words, 'My turn!' Whereupon loud, monotonic, beats would scream out in the air, as the 'musician' gestured widly with his arms, baffled by the fact that we could not clearly perceive this masterpiece he was performing before us. Needless to say, it kept us entertained. As the sun was setting we took jump-in-the-air-while-trying-to-look-cool' pictures. One word: Epic.
We made it to camp Curry! From here it's all downhill. but to get there we had to hike through this gorgeous snowy pass. I think this was the most beautiful hike we had taken. The view was spectacular! And when we set up camp, we all washed up in the river again, and today I got the nerve to do more then just dunk twice, but actually swam around. It was so fun! That night we sang and finished up a lot of the food in our bear canisters. The packs were pretty light by then. A along the trail I kept singing You Bring Time of Refreshing. How great is our God, to bring us those times of refreshing. No matter how hard the fight, the reward is so much better!
We made it!! We're here!! We get to Tuolumne meadows and have to wait two hours for the bus to come and carry us back to the valley floor. Man, it feels good to back. 'Yo, see might?' I'm feeling victorious. I'm feeling strong. I'm feeling exhausted. I'm feeling thankful. Most of all thankful to God for giving us these opportunities to catch a glimpse of His beauty. This is what life is all about. My dad, bless his heart, get's a burger and fries at the Grill. When we get on the bus, we all try to get comfy, but it doesn;t matter because we're pretty much a sleep before the engine even starts. not that I don't like sleeping bags...they're just not very conducive to, uh, sleep. Dad buys us ice-cream on the way. When we get to the valley floor we drop off the canisters, pick up the rest of our stuff, load it in the car and hit the road!
