2/19 Dialogue pp. 115 Ex 6

How am I going to tell my mother? What will she think? How do I even start this conversation? I need to figure it out before I get there and I only have a few minutes. How should I bring it up? How about the direct approach?

Mom, I’m pregnant.

Her: Oh my goodness, I didn’t even know you were dating. When is the wedding? We’ll have to do it before you start to show. Who is he? When can we meet him?

Um, I am not getting married and the father will not be involved.

Her: I can’t believe this, are you kidding me? How irresponsible can you be? Didn’t I talk about protection enough? I told you that you can’t rely on the man to take care of it.

Okay, that is not where I want to go with it. Let’s try another way.

Mom, remember how you always told us that you wanted us to wait longer than you did to have children and not to get married unless you are in love? Well, I waited until I was older than you to get pregnant and I am not in love so I am not getting married.

Her: What?

I am going to have a baby, on my own. The father will not be involved.

Her: Didn’t I talk about protection enough? I told you that you can’t rely on the man to take care of it. How are you going to afford a baby on your own?

Mom, I have a good job and I make good money. We’ll be fine.

Her: Are you sure about this? It is not easy raising a child on your own. It should not be decided lightly.

I’m sure, you know I always wanted to be a mom, and I am in a good place financially and career wise. It was not a plan to do this alone right now, but I think I can handle it, I hope that I will have your support on this.

Her: Of course you do, I am just concerned. And what about the father? Have you talked to him about it? Are you sure that he does not want to be involved? It will be harder if he comes back later and wants to be a part of the child’s life. Have you thought about getting a lawyer and getting him to terminate his rights?

Mom, I have thought about all of that, and I am working on it. I only found out a few weeks ago, I haven’t had time to do all of the leg work yet. I am working on it. I have talked to the father and he is adamant that he is not ready to parent. I will work on what that means legally and otherwise. Knowing that you will support me will help. A lot. Thank you.

Her: Honey I love you so much and I will love my grandchild too. It is hard for me to think of you as an adult and not my little girl, but you seem to have thought this through and I am proud of you.

Well that is best case scenario, but probably not completely realistic. I don’t have time to figure out a different way to do this. I have just parked in front of her house. Time to take a deep breath and jump in.

2/15 Choosing a subject: pp 19-20 Ex 3

Have you ever unloaded a delivery truck full of flowers and other plants? It is not as easy as it seems. The good part is the smell. All of those flowers and herbs. Who can resist it? You are immediately transported to a beautiful, peaceful garden. When you have help it is even better. There is the comradery and fun of working together. This is a very good way to get to know your co-workers.

I worked in retail for a few years and the best part of it was the summer that I worked in the Lawn and Garden department. I started slow, just ringing up purchases and clipping the ‘deadheads’ off of plants. Eventually I was trusted enough to do the watering and determining which plants should be clearanced before they completely died. Finally, I was trusted enough to help unload the truck and put up the displays. I was very excited about it, but it might not have been the best idea on the supervisor’s part.

I am incredibly accident prone. I am the only person that I know that can trip over dust. This particular day was sunny but not too hot. It was the perfect day for being outside. Me, my supervisor and three coworkers were unloading the truck. Thankfully they did not allow me to use the forklift. I would wait for one of the racks to come off of the truck then move it to the proper staging area and unload it. There was a lot of chatter about how pretty the plants were and how good they smelled mingled with stories of childhood and joking with each other. Everyone else had done this before but it was my first time. That is why I made the mistake. I was pulling a cart, about six feet tall, two feet deep and four feet wide. I was laughing but paying attention to the ground so I didn’t trip. As I approached the display I heard my supervisor tell me to push the cart, not pull it next time. It was easier to control that way. Her saying this must have been some kind of cosmic signal. At that moment the back wheel hit a dip in the parking lot and the cart sped up. The front wheel hit the back of my ankle and I fell forward landing flat on my stomach. The cart tipped sideways causing petunias to go flying.

I immediately began to laugh. Laughter has always been my way of avoiding crying. In this case crying tears both of pain and of embarrassment. I knew that I had cut up my hands a bit and my ankle hurt, but I was basically okay. The supervisor and my coworkers came over to check on me, they must have thought I was insane sitting on the ground covered in dirt and flowers, laughing like a lunatic. I kept assuring them that I was okay, but the supervisor went in the store to fill out an incident report. We all began to clean up the mess, fortunately most of the trays of petunias were salvageable. All in all, I think we only lost three flats.

By the time we were finished I was starting to realize there was a squishy feeling in my shoes with each step I took and I was starting to hurt. The adrenaline had kept me pain free for a while, but it was wearing off. I told everyone I was going to go in and sit down for a bit while I waited for the paperwork to sign. I got to the office and sat in the chair. I took off my shoe and realized what that feeling had been. My socks were drenched in blood and there was a fairly large cut on the back of my ankle. Needless to say, I did not work anymore that day. I did not need stitches, but I did need to rest and bandage it. The worst part about it was that I was not allowed to work in Lawn and Garden for ten days after that. I had to work the register until the wound healed completely.

I wound up with a scar on that ankle. Being me, I decided to make it a more prominent reminder of the incident, paired with other things. I had a tattoo put on the side of my leg. It is a bouquet of flowers. 

2/1 Point of View P 315 Ex 5

I work in a carnival. Traveling all year long is wonderful, moving from state to state as the weather changes. I also get the chance to work all of the games and the rides. I have always loved studying human nature and at the carnival you see it all. Everything from the suit wearing business man talking on his phone instead of waving to his kid on the carousel to the man in a matching outfit doing his very best to knock over three milk bottles to win his son a stuffed lion  to the family running around together obviously having more fun than everyone else.

Everyone in the carnival bands together to help each other. If they didn’t set up and take down would take days instead of hours. I got to learn how to put together and take apart each of the attractions and help out with the acts when needed. My favorite thing to do is assist the magician. The wonder on the faces of the children helps me believe in the good in the world. 

1/29 Characterization P 154 Ex. 2

Tom is a regular guy. There is nothing extraordinary about his short brown hair or his average build. His tan did not set him apart, everyone had a tan in Texas. His less than stellar grades made getting in to a large college impossible, which is why he is studying business at a community college outside of Austin. The only good thing about the school was the debate team, he loved to argue, and being able to research and argue both sides of an issue was exhilarating. At least here the debates did not turn physical, everyone had to be civil, something they weren’t in his hometown. He had never won a fight, but he did manage to avoid most of them with reasoned arguments.

That cookie cutter brown skinned Neanderthal, Tom, was going up against me in the debate. It is a good thing we were not going head to head in an all-out fight, he would lose all of that mud brown mop he called hair. The judges always favor him because they needed to keep the enrollment numbers up at the ridiculously tiny college of his. He must have chosen the small school so he could be the big man on campus, if he went to a real school he wouldn’t even make the team. 

1/13 Significant detail Pg 66 Ex 4

What in the world have I gotten into? These people are crazy! 

What is that? 

Her nine year old mind wouldn't stop. Ari had spent the last year moving from foster parent to foster parent, but none of them had prepared her for this. Standing at the top of the driveway looking across the lawn, everything was unfamiliar. The peals of laughter coming from the contraption on the hill by the water caught her attention. All of a sudden water started shooting out of it onto the ground and there was more laughter. Littler kids wearing life jackets started running to the top of the hill, but a tall, exotic dark skinned woman beat them to it. She ran and jumped on a tube and cheered all the way down the hill. As Ari inched forward to see what had happened to her, a couple of gangley blond teen-aged boys grabbed the rope and pulled the tube back up the hill. The little ones climbed in and were pushed down the hill and were caught at the bottom by the woman. 

"Come on. Do you want a turn?"

She looked up at her new foster mother, Jenna, with wide eyed apprehension and excitement. 

"Let's go find you a life vest and change into our suits. You can decide if you want to go down after we get changed." Her smile was reassuring.

They walked down a hill along the opposite side of the house, and were greeted by several dogs of varying sizes and breeds running towards them. Jenna said "Down!" with such authority that the dogs stopped and wagged their tails and shook with excitement. "They won't hurt you on purpose, but they do jump when they get excited. You should let them smell you, so they know who you are. It's ok, like this." She extended her hand to each of the dogs and let them sniff her. Most just smelled her fingers and waited for a pat on the head, but a couple put their paws on her hand for a handshake, making Ari giggle and try it herself. The largest of the dogs, a big black pit mix, seemed to have the kindest eyes she had ever seen, but you could see the scars on her face. "What happened to her?" she whispered. 

"She was rescued from some very bad people who used her to train other dogs to fight. She got taken to a foster home until my brother met her and took her to her forever home. She is very loving, but you need to tell her to stay down, or she might jump up and knock you down. She is still learning and doesn't know how strong she is."

"Oh, ok." They continued into the house, but Ari's thoughts were on what Jenna had said. When they walked in there were more people and they were right in front of the pair, there would be no way to avoid talking to them. It would be the start of a myriad of introductions. 

"Hey everyone! This is Ari, my new foster daughter. Ari, this is my mom, Ann, my aunt Kate and my cousin Bree. And this little cutie is Jay." Jenna introduced everyone while bending down to scoop up the toddler running around the table, trying to escape his mother and the diaper she carried. 

There were so many other kids here, of all different ages. It didn't seem to matter who belonged to whom, everyone was connected. Ari was out of her element.

"I'm going to put on my suit. Where can I change?" Ari really wanted to escape and collect her thoughts.

Jenna pointed her to a door in the corner and handed her the bag. "Let me know if you need help." Ari just nodded.

How many new people am I going to meet? What will they expect of me? How could I ever fit in with these people? I'm too shy to yell and cheer like them. 

After getting changed and sprayed with sunblock, Ari and Jenna went outside. The large black dog followed them up the hill. Ari stopped suddenly before they reached all the people. "I am going to sit here for a bit. You go down the hill." She said to Jenna.

"Are you sure? You could come with me." The concern in her voice was somewhat comforting, but not enough. Ari sat down and began to pet the dog that had laid her head on Ari's leg.

"Okay, I will be back in a minute." Jenna raced towards the tube yelling "My turn!" Everyone turned and looked and one of the boys held the tube steady as she jumped on and flew down the hill. Ari smiled as she watched. 

When Jenna came back up, she grabbed a towel and walked back to Ari, stopping to hug the children that ran to her. The children came with her. 

Ari was a bit nervous, more people to meet.