"What goes down, must come up"

“What goes down, must come up”

She sat at the desk staring off into space. There was a notebook in front of her full of sentences. An open book lay next to the notebook, and she held a pen in her right hand. She had straight blonde hair, which fell to her shoulders in waves. Her blue eyes weren’t focused and appeared to be off in another world. She was sitting in English class at her local suburban high school. As she stared into space, a man stood at the front of the room lecturing to a class of students who were not paying attention at all. There were boys flicking spitballs at each other and girls doing their make-up. No one seemed to be paying attention to the man in the front of the room.

Ring! Ring! The bell rang signaling the end of the period.

The blonde girl’s eyes blinked, and she quickly gathered her books and stood up. She walked out of the classroom and into a sea of students. The hallways were so crowded, she could barely move without bumping into someone. Lost in her own world of thoughts, she glided along towards her next class.

“Gaby! Gaby!” a boy shouted across the hall. He was 5’8’’, just two inches taller then her. He had olive skin and dark hair that would have been an afro if he didn’t keep it shaved so close to his scalp. His father was Egyptian, and you could see the heritage in the boy.

She slowed down and wound through a maze of students to where the boy was shouting from. “Hey, Brian. What’s up?” the girl asked.

“Not much. Just on my way to trig.”

“Yeah. I’m on my way to Algebra. Ugh. I hate having math at the end of the day,” she whined rolling her eyes at the ceiling.

“Definitely. It sucks! Hey, are we still going out after school?”

“I guess so. We chillin’ at your place, or are we going out?”

“I don’t know. I guess—”

Ring! Ring! The bell interrupted him.

Giving him a quick hug, Gaby shouted, “We’ll figure it out later. I’ll meet you at your car.” She quickly ran across the hall and ducked into a classroom as he ran off in the opposite direction.

* * * * *

She walked across the school’s parking lot and down the street. She went down behind the shopping center to the parking lot that was behind the stores. Throwing her book bag onto the trunk of Brian’s car, she hopped up onto the trunk and sat down to wait for him. Tucking her legs up to her chest, her mind began to wander off to what she had been thinking about all day. It was what she thought about everyday.

I’m never going to be thin enough. I can’t believe I ate so much for lunch, and I’m hungry again. Ugh, I don’t know how anyone can stand to look at me. I need to work out extra hard at practice tonight. I hope coach assigns us hundreds of crunches. Wait, that’s crazy why would I want to do hundreds of crunches. Oh, yea, cause I’m a fat cow. Duh! I better not eat anything else today. Ugh! I hate the way I look.

Meanwhile, as Gaby was slowly sinking into her usual depressed state, Brian was walking across the parking lot staring at her. His mind was wandering as well—only it was on her. I wish we were more then just friends. How am I going to get her to understand that I like her? She knows, but I don’t think she really gets it. I would do anything for her. We’ve been best friends forever, but I wish we were more. He looked at her sitting on his car. She was wearing blue jeans and her favorite tight purple t-shirt. Her blonde hair was blowing in the wind, but she wasn’t paying attention. He could see that her knees were drawn up to her chest and she was lost in thought. Her gaze was fixed on something far in the distance that he knew only she could see. She’s so beautiful, he thought to himself. I wish she thought so. He knew that his friend had issues with her appearance and her weight, and he always tried to convince her she was perfect. However, like most teenage girls, she argued with him and said she was fat.

He knew her problems went deeper then the average female, because she was always so unhappy. He wanted to help her feel better about herself, but he didn’t know how. The two of them were like two peas in a pod. They were so close that if one was in pain then so was the other. Sometimes they joked that they were soul mates or two halves of a whole. He wished she wasn’t kidding around when they talked about it, but what he didn’t know was that she did truly feel that way. She just had so much going on she didn’t want to risk losing him on top of it. He was her everything.

“Hey, Gaby. Whatcha doing?” Brian asked as he hopped up onto the back of the car with her.

“Just thinking, Bri. You know me. I think too much.”

“So, where are we going?” he asked.

“Whatever. Why don’t we just go back to your place till we decide?”

“Ok. Let’s get out of this place,” he said, jumping off the car and offering her a hand down.

She took his hand and hopped off the car. Grabbing her bag and opening the car door, she threw her backpack onto the back seat. She sank into the passenger seat and looked over at her best friend. “Bri-bri,” she said fluttering her eyelashes at him, “can we pppllleeease put the top down.”

He rolled his eyes, “A’ight, but if you whine about your hair getting messed up, I so do not want to hear it.”

“Thank you, love. I just feel like having the wind on my face today,” she said reaching up to unhook the clasp on her side of the car.

The roof was fastened to the car by a metal clasp on both sides. Once both of them had unhooked each side of the roof, Brian pressed a button and the roof slid off and into the trunk. He had a silver Chrysler Lebaron with a convertible top and black leather seats. It was ten years old, a 1990, but that just gave it character.

Gaby leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. “It’s been such a long day. I can’t wait to just relax.”

Brian put the car in gear and sped out of the parking lot and down the street. “Yea, I know I thought today was never gonna end.”

“Hey, Gaby, I’m starving you want to go grab something to eat?” he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, as he asked.

“Sure, why not,” she responded in a normal voice, but her mind filled with dread and she kept her eyes closed trying not to think of what lay ahead.

“Let’s go to Wendy’s,” Brian said. They were right across the street from one, so he slowed down and turned into the parking lot. He shut the engine off and opened his door.

“I don’t feel like putting the top up so just grab your bag, k-ay?”

“Bri, I don’t feel like carrying my books, I just lugged them around all day,” she whined.

“Fine,” he rolled his eyes, “as usual I’ll do it for you.” He went to reach for her bag, as they got out of the car.

“No, whatever, I’ll do it,” she grabbed her bag.

They walked across the black top and towards Wendy’s. As they reached the door he held it open for her saying, “After you sweetheart,” in a fake gentleman’s tone.

She laughed, “Why thank you kind ser,” she rolled her eyes at him, and walked into the store.

They walked up to the line and leaned against the metal railings, while deciding what to have.

“Can I help you?” a young man asked, from behind the cash register.

“Yeah, I’ll have a junior bacon cheeseburger meal, with a large cherry coke,” Brian said. “What do you want Gaby?” he turned to look at her.

“Umm, I guess I’ll just get my usual,” she told Brian.

Then she turned to the young kid at the register and said, “I’ll have a small diet coke with no ice and a taco salad.” She went to reach for her wallet, but was stopped by Brian’s voice.

“Don’t worry about it, Gaby, like I ever let you pay, anyway,” he rolled his eyes at her and handed the boy a twenty.

“I’ll take our bags to a booth. You grab the food. Ok?” Gaby told Brian.

“A’ight, grab napkins and straws on your way,” Brian said, handing her his school bag.

She wandered over to a booth and dumped their things on the seats. Then she walked over to the condiments bar and grabbed ketchup, napkins, and straws. She walked back to the booth and sat down to wait for Brian.

He appeared a minute later and put the tray of food down in front of her. “Dig in!”

She smiled and reached for her soda and salad. She put her salad, chips, chili, and soda in front of herself, and then pushed the tray back over towards him.

Ok, she thought to herself, its just food. It’s not even that fattening. I can do this. I should eat something. It’s only food. She had a pattern for how she ate. It was like a little game she played with herself, whenever she ate. The soda went in the top right corner. She placed the salad in the middle with the lid taken off and slightly to the right. She opened the chili and dumped it into the lid of the salad, and she started picking all the beans out of the chili and putting them in a napkin.

Brian rolled his eyes at her, “Gaby, you are so crazy. The beans are the best part of chili.”

“Well, I think they’re gross,” she responded without taking her eyes from the task she was completing.

When it came to food, everything had to be perfect. She finished picking out all of the beans and carefully poured the chili back into its cup. Then she got up and took the salad lid and the napkin of beans to the trash. Sitting back down she opened the bag of tortilla chips and put it to the left of the salad bowl, and the chili went to the right of the salad bowl.

By this time Brian was already done half his burger, but he knew she was obsessed when it came to how she ate. “I love you even though your nuts,” he told her smiling.

“I’m not nuts, Bri. I’m OCD. Duh there’s a difference.”

“Yea, whatever, I still say your nuts.”

She rolled her eyes and finally started to eat.

* * * * *

They were both finished eating, but still had no plans on what to do later. “Want me to get us some chocolate milkshakes,” Gaby asked.

“Dude,” he said smiling at her.

She rolled her eyes, knowing that meant yes, and got up to go buy them. She felt guilty about it, but knew it would be easier if she had ice cream.

After buying them she went back to the table and started drinking. Ok, it’s not terrible. I just ate too much. I can’t not do it. Thank God for the ice cream. At least it won’t hurt as much this time, she thought to herself.

“Earth to Gaby, come in Gaby,” Brian waved his hand in her face. “You’re like lost in another world. Whatcha’ thinking about?”

“Oh, nothing, just about how much work we have to do at practice tonight to get ready for nationals. I can’t believe they’re only 3 weeks away.” She felt guilty about lying to him, but technically she was worried about nationals, that just wasn’t what she was currently thinking about.

“Gaby, you guys are awesome. You’ll kick ass in Texas. I’m still taking you tonight right?” he asked her.

“Yea, if you can. Are you going to stay and watch?”

“If you want me to, than of course. I’m always up for watching girls in tight shorts do flips and splits,” he laughed.

She was an all-star cheerleader, and her squad was going to nationals in Dallas, Texas, that year.

“Hey, Bri, I’ll be right back. I’m just gonna run to the bathroom before we go.” She opened her backpack and grabbed her black purse as she stood up. She felt guilty as she walked to the bathroom but couldn’t stop herself. It was as if she was compelled by some force that would not let her stop. What goes down, must come up, she thought to herself. At least it will be easier because of the ice cream.

She walked down the little hallway that led to the bathroom, opened the door and began what had become a frighteningly familiar process. She closed the large gray door and locked it. Her purse was thrown onto the floor next to the door. She flipped her head upside down and taking the black hair band off her wrist she put her hair into a quick messy bun on top of her head. She always had the hair band for when she needed it. Using the toe of her left shoe, she kicked up the toilet seat. Leaning over the bowl she stuck her pointer and middle finger of her right hand down her throat. What goes down, must come up, she thought to herself again.

* * * * *

She was finished. She used her foot to the flush the toilet and kick the seat down. Calmly she walked over to the mirror and turning on the faucet she rinsed off her hands and then splashed cold water on her face. She glanced at her hand, Next time I’m going to have to switch fingers or I’m going to get a mark on my knuckles from the acid. She was meticulous about making sure nothing appeared out of the ordinary. The steps she went through to clean up were like second nature to her now.

She gargled with cold water twice and then took a paper towel to dry off her face. She reached over to her purse and picked it up from the floor. She took out eye drops, a hairbrush, a pack of gum, and lip gloss, and laid them out on the sink. First, she popped a piece of gum into her mouth. Then she took the hair tie out and brushed her hair out, so it was shiny and flowing down to her shoulders again. Then she picked up the eye drops, and leaned her head back, putting one drop in each eye. She blinked, and her eyes were clear again. Unruffled from what she had just done, she glossed her lips and smiled into the mirror, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. Just like new, he’ll never notice. Picking up her purse from the counter she put everything back in and opened the bathroom door.

As she was walking back to Brian, she thought, Ok it’s just this once. I won’t do it again. I’ll eat healthier and just work out extra hard. I can do this. I could stop if I wanted to. She slapped a smile into place, and saw Brian see her, and a smile light up his face. A little voice in the back of her head said, Yea right, you won’t do it again, until next time.


© copyright Nicole Schiavoni 2008

Just Another Day

So I wrote this short story last semester in my creative writing class. I was trying to think of what to write and I began by describing a typical saturday morning at my house then the story spiraled out of control:) The story is loosely based on reality, soif you know me remember it is not my life, but a story! Hope you enjoy!

Just Another Day

The house was immaculate. Everything had its own little place. You could not find a stray crumb on the floor or on any of the counters. All the toys were in labeled boxes, the clothes had been put away, and the tiny shoes and jackets were lined up by the door. Then suddenly it happened.

“Mommy! I need you!” A small voice came out from a little room at the end of the hall.

“I’m coming sweetie,” yelled a tired looking woman, pushing the hair out of her eyes, as she dragged herself down the hall. “What’s the matter, munchkin?” she asked, as she went through the door.

“Mommy, lay with me,” the boy responded.

“Joey, it’s five in the morning. It’s time to go back to sleep.”

“Mommy, lay with me, pppllleeasee,” the boy asked again, dragging out the syllables.

“Ok, but just for a couple of minutes,” she said, getting into bed with him. She closed her eyes for a minute.

“Mommy, what you doing?” the boy asked.

“Trying to sleep, you silly goose. You should join me.”

“Mommy, you’re silly.”

“No, you’re silly. I’m sleepy,” she said as she snuggled him closer. They lay together for a few more minutes, and the boy finally went back to sleep. Slowly the woman untangled her arms from him. Inching away from the tangled mass of arms and blankets that was her son, she carefully put one foot on the floor and then the next, and silently walked backwards out of the room. “Time to start another day,” she whispered to herself.

An hour and a half later, after a long shower, Anne was dressed. While making breakfast she started to hear voices in the other room.

“Daddy, it’s wake up time! Daddy, wake up, wake up, wake up ins.”

“Hey, goose. I was sleeping and you woke me up, silly head,” the man said as he sat up in bed. “Where is your mommy at?”

“She’s making breakfast,” Joey responded. “Come on Daddy I’m hungry,” the little boy said tugging on the man’s hand. “Let’s go!”

“Boys, it’s pancake time,” Anne yelled.

“I want pancakes, and syrup, and butter, and syrup, and pancakes, and bacon!” the boy exclaimed excitedly.

“Well, someone is hungry,” Anne said. To her husband she said, “Good Morning, Lee. Sleeping in a bit late, aren’t you?”

“Come on, honey,” he said kissing her cheek. “It’s Saturday, and besides it’s only 8am!”

“Well I’ve been up for two hours,” she replied.

“Yes, but your crazy,” he said with a smile.

“Joey, let Mommy cut your pancakes up”

“I want too much syrup, Mommy,” Joey said. “No, no, Mommy that’s not enough. I want too much,” he said again as Anne poured syrup on his plate.

“Wow, buddy, that’s way too much syrup,” Lee exclaimed, winking at his wife

“Yes, it is!” Joey declared, with a smirking little smile. Then he dug into his breakfast.

“We need to go to Home Depot today,” Lee said.

“Oh, joy, yet another exciting hour spent pointing out the same stuff I already told you I like the last fifty times we went there,” Anne sighed. She hated going to Home Depot to pick out things for their house. Every time they went, Lee asked her to look at the same cabinets, the same carpeting, and the same tiles, she thought to herself.

“We need to decide on what tile you want for the bathroom, and we don’t look at the same stuff every time we go,” he said, reading her thoughts.

“Yes, we do,” she said.

“No, we don’t. If I picked out all this stuff, I would install it, and you would get mad saying that you hated everything, and I am not dealing with that, so we are going.”

“Fine, but this is the last time!” she exclaimed. She said that every time they went.
Meanwhile, Joey had finished his breakfast and decided it was time to play. This, of course, meant that he got down from his chair and went over to the neatly labeled toy boxes and geared up to destroy the clean order of the house.

In the kitchen there was another form of chaos brewing. Anne was rinsing the dishes and putting them into the dishwasher. She had an order for the way everything was done. With the dishes, it was rinse under scalding hot water and scrub with the scrubbing brush for at least thirty seconds. Followed by rinse again, and place into the dishwasher. Plates went on the right side, ranging from large to small, then bowls on the left in the same order. Knives, forks, and spoons all had their own compartments in the silverware rack as well. Anne was particular about the way things were put away. She had a slight case of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
As she was methodically washing and rinsing, Lee rambled on about what they would need at Home Depot.

“We need to look at cabinets for the kitchen and for the bathroom. I still want to put tile on the floor in the bathroom and then up the wall around the tub. Maybe brown tiles with streaks in them for the color. And then—”

Anne interrupted him, “No, Lee, we talked about this. No more brown. You know I hate brown, it just looks like mud.”

“Honey, it does not look like mud, and I like browns and earth tones.”

“Yes, but I don’t. Plus, since I’m the one who will be cleaning it, I get the final say.”

“They don’t call it the throne, because it’s a girly room,” Lee exclaimed. “Besides, we talked about this. It is the one room in the house that is mine. You can pick whatever colors you want, I don’t even care if our bedroom is purple, but the bathroom is mine!” he said, in an exasperated tone, as they had been having this fight for days.

“Sweetie, I love you, but Joey and I will be using the bathroom as well, so it should be something we can all live with.”

“Oh, like Joey really cares what the bathroom looks like.”

“Well, maybe not, but I do. Come on! Can’t we compromise? How about a dark gray with streaks or a marble pattern?”

Lee looked thoughtful for a minute, “All right, maybe gray, we’ll see what they have.”

Crash! they both looked at each other.

“Joey!” Anne yelled, running into the other room. “What are you doing?”

“Mommy, I’m just booming my castle,” he said in a patronizing tone of voice, as if she should have known.

“Buddy you can’t just crash everything,” Lee told him, “You scared Mommy and me.” Then he looked over at his wife. She looked dazed, “What’s wrong, Anne?”

She looked around the room at the toy cars strewn across the carpet, and the train tracks half pulled out of their box. She glanced over at the huge pile of blocks surrounding her son. Then looking at her husband she said sarcastically, “Gee, honey, I don’t know maybe it’s the huge mess in the living room!” She ran into the other room with tears streaming down her face.

“Daddy, why Mommy crying?” Joey asked, in a little voice.

“I’m not sure, but you start picking up your cars and I’ll go find out. I’m sure she’s fine.”

Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Anne sat on the bed with a bunch of tissues, whispering to herself,

“Stupid, stupid, uuuggghh, I’ve got to stop these crying jags or he’s going to find out.” She wiped at her eyes and took a deep breath just as Lee walked into the room.

“Hun, what’s the matter? It’s just a bunch of toys. Joey is out there right now picking them up,” Lee said.

“It’s nothing. I’m fine,” Anne replied. “I just hate when things get messy, and I’m tired. I’ve just been working too much lately.” Suddenly inspired, she said, “Can you and Joey go to Home Depot and the playground? I really need to go grocery shopping, and we can go look at cabinets and tiles tomorrow. You can just pick up the dry wall and two-by-fours you needed today.”

“I guess we could do that, but are you sure you’re all right?” he asked her.

“I’m fine. I just want to get some food in the house for dinner and be alone for a little while.”

“Ok, we’ll go to the playground or something first, then to Home Depot. I guess we’ll be back around 4:30 or five o’clock,” he told her looking a little worried still, but he knew she would be fine.

Walking back out to the living room, Anne said, “Joey, do you want to go to the playground and then go to Daddy’s store?”

“We going to the playground now!” Joey exclaimed, dropping his toys and running for the door.

“Hang on, buddy, you need your hat and your coat on first,” Anne said, as she grabbed him up into a hug and placed his hat on his head. “I love you monkey.”

“I love you, too, Mommy.”

“What about me, no love for me?” Lee asked, jokingly.

“I love you, too, Daddy,” Anne said, rolling her eyes and giving him a kiss goodbye.

The boys walked out the door and Anne fell back on the couch, “Phew, peace,” she told herself quietly. “Now I just have to get this place cleaned up, go grocery shopping, and get ready for the surprise.”

* * * * *

Six hours later Anne was almost ready for the boys to come home. Dinner was cooking in the oven, and Anne was walking around making sure everything was perfect. She went through a mental checklist as she walked. In the living room, “Ok, I vacuumed. Toys are in their boxes. Books are on the bookshelf.” Walking into the dining room, she looked at the table. “Plates, silverware, cups, and napkins are set out,” she said to herself. The table had a light blue tablecloth with tiny yellow flowers stitched around the edges. The silverware gleamed on the white napkins she had folded into perfect triangles. Joey’s highchair had been scrubbed free of all crumbs, and was in its place at the right corner of the table.

Moving into the bedroom, Anne quietly spoke to herself, “Alright, the bed is made, laundry is put away, and I just vacuumed. So all that’s left is to lay out Joey’s shirt and get dressed.”

Carefully she pulled a light blue t-shirt out of the back of the closet. “He probably won’t even notice,” she mumbled, looking at the letters she had embroidered on her sewing machine the day before. She put the shirt on the bed, then got changed. She put on a summer dress. It was yellow with a long flowing skirt and thin straps going over her shoulders. She had bought the dress on her honeymoon and always felt special when she wore it. She didn’t bother with shoes, as she never wore any when they were in the house.

Walking out to the kitchen to check on dinner, she suddenly heard footsteps and a little voice coming to the door.

“Daddy, Daddy, I beat you! I won! I got to the door first!” Joey exclaimed.

“You beat me again,” Lee said in a playfully sad tone. Then grabbing the boy up in his arms, “I’m going to get you next time. In fact I bet you I can run and give Mommy a hug faster then you can.” He put Joey down and reached for his keys. “Is that a deal?” he asked Joey.

“That’s a deal,” the boy responded.

Lee opened the door and they both ran through it, straight at Anne. Lee was pretending to run fast, while Joey ran across the living room into his mother’s waiting arms.

“I got you Mommy.”

“No silly, I’ve got you,” she said twirling him around.

“I’ve got you both,” said Lee hugging them both in big bear hug.

“I won again, Daddy!”

“You did? You’re so much faster than me,” Lee said smiling down at him.

Anne took Joey’s jacket off and said, “Joe, your shirt is all dirty we better go put a new one on and wash your hands before dinner.”

Then to her husband, “You go unload whatever you bought at the store and then go wash up as well.”

He rolled his eyes, saying, “I don’t need to be reminded to wash my hands.” Then he walked outside to unload the truck.

Anne and Joey went back to the bedroom, and she put his new shirt on him. Then they went into the bathroom, and he said, “No, no, Mommy. I can do it myself.” He pulled his little stool over to the sink, stepped up on to it, and turned on the faucet. Then he pushed down on the soap bottle, and his little hands filled with foamy soap.

“You’re right, Joey. I guess you’re a big boy now, huh?”

“Yup, I’m a big boy,” Joey responded, turning off the faucet and jumping down from the stool.

They went out into the living room, and Anne said, “Ok, you play with your toys while Mommy finishes dinner, but don’t make a big mess. Just play with one thing, like your cars.”

“Ok, Mommy,” Joey said, wandering over to his box of cars that he called his car garage.

Anne went in the kitchen and started putting their dinner on to serving dishes. She put the corn into one bowl, followed by the sweet potatoes into another. Then she placed the ribs onto a large oval shaped platter. She went into the fridge and grabbed the bottle of barbeque sauce, and dumped it into a little bowl. She microwaved it for thirty seconds and then put a pastry brush in the bowl.

“Time for dinner, guys,” Anne shouted, carrying the dishes out to the table. “It’s all your favorites.”

“Mmmm, smells good, “Lee said.

“Yummy ribs,” Joey exclaimed, climbing up into his chair.

“Yup, we’re having baby back ribs, baby sweet corn, and mashed sweet potatoes,” Anne told them. “Plus I have baby crescent rolls in the oven.”

“You sure went all out for dinner, Anne,” Lee said. “Are we celebrating something special and I forgot?”

Anne rolled her eyes, “It’s just a special night, Lee.”

Ugh he can be so dense sometimes, she thought to herself, as she walked into the kitchen to see if the rolls were done.

Bringing the rolls back out to the table in a lined basket, Anne sat down saying, “Time to say grace.”

“God is good. God is great. God we thank thee for this food. By his hands we are fed, thank you, Lord for our daily bread. Amen.”

“Ok. Let’s eat,” Lee said, rubbing his hands together.

* * * * *

“Ok, who wants to help Mommy clear the dishes?” Anne asked, picking up her plate and two serving bowls on her way to the kitchen.

“I help you, Mommy,” Joey said climbing down from his chair and carefully picking up his plate.

They went into the kitchen and Anne set her dishes on the counter. Joey put down his plate and then ran into the living room to play. Lee waked into the kitchen carrying his plate.

“Hun, that was delicious, but you didn’t have to go through so much trouble. It isn’t like we’re celebrating or anything.”

“You’re right, Lee. Of course, we’re not celebrating anything. Why on earth would we do that!” she said throwing her hands up in exasperation and going back out to the dining room for the remaining dishes.

“What? What did I say?”

“Nothing. You didn’t say anything. Or notice anything. Just like always.”

“I don’t know what I did, honey.”

“Just go play with Joey. Maybe then you’ll figure it out.”

Lee walked into the living room and sat down on the floor with Joey and the cars. “Sometimes I think Mommy is just being silly,” he told Joey.

“Yea. Mommy’s silly.”

Lee looked at Joey, “Hey, buddy, what does your shirt say?”

“I don’t know,” Joey responded. “What does it say?”

Lee pulled Joey up to his feet and read the shirt, just as Anne walked into the room. He looked at the shirt, and then he looked at Anne with wonder in his eyes and asked, “Does this mean what I think it does?”

She nodded, too choked up to speak.

He got up and started to cross the room to her. “You mean we’re going to…? I’m going to have another…?”

“Yes,” she responded quietly.

He hugged her to him and spun her around the room whooping and hollering.

“What? What’s so exciting about my shirt?” Joey asked looking down at it trying to figure out what could be so interesting about some words.

I’m the big brother.

© copyright Nicole Schiavoni 2008

My First Blog!!

Yea! My First Blog! Oh the excitement!

So I've been reading my cousins blogs for a long long time and now my uncle has one to and I decided I might as well join in the excitement. So why blog...hmmm and what to blog... I've decide to blog about what I am currently reading and what I have written, hence "my literary ramblings" :) Yes I know oh so original.

Why literary ramblings? I LOVE to READ!! It's truly an obsession. One that I recommend everyone to have! I'm in school at Holy Family University as a secondary education English major. Yes, I know what you are thinking, "Teaching High school English, what are you nuts?" And in response, "Yes, I am totally, happily, unequivocally nuts! But hey aren't we all?" So back to my point, ( I tend to get distracted and go off on tangents:)) I LOVE to READ and that is why I choose to teach English in the first place. I also discovered, once I started college, that I love to write! So, I will be posting my stories and such here as well. For those who read, and it will probably only be AJ and Uncle Tom :) Be nice and honest :)

So to begin I will say I am currently reading three books at once, two of which are for school and one I am re-reading for fun. Actually the two for school I have to be done by 8am tomorrow so I should really get on that. But to finish blogging first, here goes:

Book 1: Sister of my Heart By: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (what a mouthful)

This book is about two girls raised as cousins in India and America. So far I have only read the beginning, but it is actually really good. It is told from the two girls points of view. Anju and Sudha. From my very early impressions it is called Sister of my Heart because the girls are raised as if they were sisters and they feel like each other's half, hence sister of my "heart." Also, there is a cute story of how Anju "called" Sudha into life by being placed on Sudha's mother's stomach and crying and Sudha suddenly appearing. And of course the girls were born on the same day within hours of each other. Both of their mothers went into early labor because they received news of their husband’s deaths. All very sad and with an interesting twist on the story. But enough of that for now.

Book 2: The Death of the Heart By: Elizabeth Bowen
Yes, I am reading two books about "the heart" though both in different ways:) Ok this book I don't have as much to say about it yet. I have barely gotten into it. It is about a sixteen-year-old girl named Portia who moves to London with her half brother and his wife. The wife is very un-motherly and kind of superficial. The brother does not know how to act. The girl falls for some young "Cad" (the books words, not mine). So far it's interesting. There was a funny part in the short bit I have read. The older brother's mother was a very strange character. Her husband had been having an affair and told her that he had gotten the other woman pregnant. He just thought she should know. He is actually a rather likeable gentleman, even though I usually hate people that cheat. But the funny part is the wife basically tells him "Oh well dear we must get a divorce and you must marry her then" Then she packs his bags and sends him on his way. She is very odd and seems happy to have him go. Never sad about it or angry, just nonchalant. Very odd! Then when the baby, Portia, is born she tells her son, the brother, in a happy tone and says "oh we must celebrate." (Not exact quotes, just the basic gist). I mean really my husband cheats on me, and their would be some serious kick ass going on in my house but here oh no she's all latti-dah! *rolling eyes* Very strange.

Book 3: Twilight By: Stephenie Meyer (my re-read)
Ok so first I have to say that I LOVE these books. They are great. they are meant as a like young adult high school fantasy type novel, but I think they are awesome. My cooperating teachers, from students teaching, also loved them, and so did the students. I would have to say that if you liked the Harry Potter books and you are female, you will most likely enjoy these books. So far there are only 3 of them :(, but one more comes out this summer! YEA! I read all 3 of them in four days. My co-op had been bugging me to read them and so had my students so the day before thanksgiving I went and I bought the first one. Well I stayed up all night reading it and thanksgiving morning I drove around searching for a store that was open to but the other two :( Sadly I could not find one. However, the following day I bought them and read them in oh two days. Now don't get me wrong they are rather long, but they are an easy read and I personally cannot put down a book once I am really into it. So, why am I re-reading? I was at Barnes and Nobles the other day and I just picked it up to leaf through it since it was on the table. I of course got re-sucked in and kept reading. Now, I have to read the first two books for school so I have a dilemma. My Twilight book is luckily in storage, so I can’t read it, but am forced to read the others. But, in the back of my mind I keep wanting to drive over to storage and get the books and I know that as soon as class is over tomorrow that is exactly what I will do. (See I really do have an obsession with reading) :) So what are these enthralling books about? Well it's about a girl name Bella, and a boy named Edward. The twist, Edward is a vampire...but a good one. He and his family do not kill humans. They also are not burned by sunlight and do not die by a steak through the heart. They do not sleep in coffins and basically break all "rules" thought about vampires. She weaves the story in a complete new fantasy way. It's great, in my opinion. When Edward goes out into the sunlight, instead of burning to ash, his skin glistens as if it were covered in diamonds. He can't sleep ever and he has this cool power of being able to read minds. However, he cannot read Bella's mind. Ok before I go on for way to long I must stop because I really do need to read the other books :)

Until next time! AJ and Uncle Tom I fully expect comments:)
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