Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Guest Blogger: "The Case of the Missing Hair"

The following is another guest post, this one written by 11 year-old "Princess"
(It is also posted on her blog, which is closed. I chose to publish it just as she sent it to me--no Mommy editing.)  I thought it was remarkable writing. Also it's very interesting to peek into her mind.


October 30, 2014

 The Case of the Missing Hair

 “Ok, I need a panda on each of my thumbs.” a blonde woman at a nail
 salon says to the man doing her nails. He carefully draws pandas on each
 thumb with stencils and nail polish. The lady nods approval, then
 requests,”Now a dolphin on each pinky.” The man musters a trained fake
 smile.
 The man stencils out dolphins on the small nails. “Ok, Lindsay, is that
 all?” he asks professionally. “Yes, thanks. Wait, no. some designs on
 the rest of the fingers.” Lindsay says, flipping her golden hair. “Ok.”
 the man sighs, keeping his false smile on.
 The scissors sound on the twelve year old boy was reassuring. “snip  snip” went the scissors, in perfect time with the clock. Together, they
 made a beat. Never did one lose count. The blonde hair releases from the
 scissors grasp. “I want to be bald.” the boy says casually. “Ok Lock.”
 the barber says, giving up from arguing with the boy.
 An old man walks into a produce aisle of a supermarket. He picks up an
 apple from a stand and mutters,”Not fresh” as he puts the apple down.
 “‘Ello, Deev! Want some ‘elp pickin’ fresh fruit?” shouts one of the old
 man’s friends. “Its Dev. Not Deev. Its pronounced Dev.” Dev says,
 smiling.
 “Sure, Dev.” the friend says sarcastically,”do you need ‘elp?” Dev
 gratefully responds,”Thanks. i need a dozen apples, a pomegranate, some
 oranges, and bananas. I’m off to get some turkey.” Dev walks off while
 his friend picks the fruit from the stands. As Dev waits in line, his
 eyes wander to a newsstand. He Inserts a quarter and withdraws a paper.
 He retrieves his turkey, and strolls back to his friend. He pays for the
 fruit, and drives home. When he reaches the door to his house, he walks
 in and lounges on his recliner to read the paper.
 “People all around Lushville are losing hair!” the front page on the
 paper Dev was reading boomed. He sighs and touches his head. “still
 there.” he mutters. He stands up and walks to the kitchen to get a cup
 of cocoa. then he sits back in his chair. “Ring, ring, ring!” goes Devs
 old receiver. He picks up the ancient telephone, and answers it.
 “Hello, Dev! This is Lindsay. I’m at the nail salon right now, and Lock,
 my child, is down at the barber shop. What are you doing?” Lindsay asks
 Dev. “Oh, just reading the paper. People around Lushville are losing
 hair.” Dev replies tiredly.
 Lock had been catching falling hair into a cardboard shoebox. He had all
 of the cut hair of his families in his box. “i want to be bald!” he
 repeats. Lately his box had more hair, and odd enough, different colors.
 His whole family was blonde, and in his box there were browns and
 blacks. “Thats strange. Its fuller than it was when we last had our hair
 cut.” Lock ponders. “all done, kid.” the barber says.
 Lock hops off his chair and wanders into the kitchen. He feels his head
 and comments,”Wow! smooth as a pebble.” Lindsay drives home, and
 screams, dropping her groceries. “YOU ARE BALD!” “Ya, its cool, mom.”
 Lock replies, smoothly. “Get in the car NOW!” Lindsay screeches,”We’re
 going to get you a wig!” Lock runs into his room and slams the door.
 “But mom! Bald is the new ‘thing’!” Lock insists. Lindsay gives up and
 mutters,”I give up, you win.”
 Lock peeks out of his room and then says,”All clear. The Mominator is
 gone to shower.” He sneaks out with a folder and onto his bike. He
 cycles to Dev’s house, and knocks on the door. “Knock knock!” Dev opens
 his ancient door. “Why, hello Lock! what a pleasant surprise!” Dev
 exclaims. “Hi, im doing a fundraiser, and i was wondering if you would
 sponsor me.” Lock says.
 Dev nods and thinks. He runs inside and grabs his wallet. Then Dev gives
 Lock one hundred dollars. “Thanks, Dev! My mom says hi!” Says Lock,
 cycling away. “‘Have fun!’ She says. ‘Earn money for your school’ she
 says. Hmph. This is all nothing but hooey balooey.” Lock snorts. “The
 school can rob a bank, as far as i'm concerned.” Lock grumbles. “knock,
 knock!” Lock pounds on the door of a neighbor’s house. A bald sobbing
 woman appears.
 “Did it happen to you, too?” the lady asks through tears. “What? Oh the
 head? No, i got it cut today.” Lock says, shrugging. The lady hands Lock
 fifty dollars. Lock stuffs the money in his folder and pedals home. He
 climbs up the stairs to his room and looks at his box. He carefully
 takes the lid off, then drops it and screams. “MOM, COME QUICK!”
 “I can’t now, honey!” Lindsay shouts. Then she whispers under her
 breath, “Its probably something dumb.” Then she strolls into the kitchen
 and grabs a glass of water. “Might as well make dinner.” she mutters.
 She walks to the fridge and pulls out a salad. She chops up some
 tomatoes and puts them in with the leafy greens. Then, a big, grizzly
 spider appears in front of Lindsay. “AHH! I HATE SPIDERS!” She
 screeches. She feels her head and then screams louder. her head was as
 smooth as a pebble.
 Dev sits in his chair, still reading. He spots a lump under the rug and
 ponders, “Hmm. thats odd.” Suddenly, Dev’s head felt cold. He touches it
 and nearly has a heart attack. His head was just like Lock’s head. Bald.
 A “knock knock” comes from the door. He numbly walks over to answer it.
 “My family lost their hair!” A bald neighbor wails. Dev was shocked. Why
 had it happened to him, Lushville?
 Dev called the police. “911, what is your emergency?” the grouchy lady
 on the other end of the phone asks. “My-my hair is gone!” Dev replies
 shakily. “Dev, sir, you're the grand 100th caller of today. Join the
 club, of BALDNESS!” with that, the lady hangs up.
 Dev goes to his bed and closes his eyes. He dreams about everyone with
 hair smiling. Dev was in the middle of the smiling crowd, his hair
 slicked back. Then he woke up. Two weeks had passed, and it happened
 again. The hat shop had run out of hats. Dev was in his chair, watching
 television on his black and white tv. Dev reclines in his chair, but
 half way down, the chair stops. It was jammed.
 He looks under his chair and gasps. A monstrous ball was the source of
 the jam. He leaps out of his chair, and the ball scoots away, knocking
 over a lamp. Dev reaches for a wooden chair, and chases the lump.
 Eventually he gives up. “augh!” Dev shouts, a war cry. As Dev tries
 again, his eyebrows come out of his head and slice through the air.
 Then, they disappear. He turns red with rage and throws the chair at the
 ball, killing it.
 He takes the carpet, and expecting a rat, finds...
 Everyones hair! Dev gasps again. He calls Lindsay,”I found your hair.
 and everyone elses hair.” Dev whispers into the telephone. Dev hops into
 his old station wagon. Then he has an idea. He pushes down on the gas
 pedal, and clunks down to the department store. He struggles out of the
 car, and goes inside the store.
 He browses until he finds what he’s looking for. He waits in line, as a
 customer says,”Your bald too, eh?” as Dev puts his item on the conveyor
 belt, he nods. “What’s with the superglue?” asks the man. “Oh, you’ll
 find out.” Dev replies. He drives home ecstatically.
 Dev goes to sleep, then wakes up. He calls the mayor to call a meeting
 with all the bald people. “Who wants their hair back?” Dev shouts into
 the microphone. The whole crowd produces a shockingly loud,”WE DO!!”
 Lock went to the meeting too, after he uncovered a secret he needed to
 tell the bald people of Lushville. “Dev, may I come up to talk to the
 people?” Lock asks. “Sure, i guess.” Dev says unsurly, while helping the
 teenager up. Lock stands up steadily, and rushes to the microphone.
 “I did my research, and used the scientific method, to find out that
 the hairus lumpus, also known as the hair thief, or lump, was magic.
 Long ago, in a place where people loved their hair more than their
 children, it took shape. The lump was created by the greed produced by
 the people. The people soon began losing their treasured hair, and soon,
 all of the people of that island were bald.”
 The crowd stays stunned. Lock continued,”As time passed by, the
 people’s hair never grew back. They all soon passed away, with nothing
 more to live for. The lump grew on, gaining power. Then, one day, a man
 called Jones burned all the hair, except for one strand. That strand
 lived on, with dark magic, seeking revenge and power. It found its way
 into my box of hair, and corrupted it. The lump was going to take over
 Lushville. When Dev killed it, he saved peoples hair in the future.
 Three cheers for Dev!” The crowd gasps at the news, then cheers. Dev
 then says,”Thank you, lock.” A line forms around the stage, as Dev glues
 everyone’s hair back on.
 It turns out that the people of Lushville wouldn’t have their hair grow
 back again. Lindsay was In her chair, reading “The Book To Success When
 Cooking Dinner” When suddenly, she groaned. She looks at her legs, and
 her attitude changes. She remembers that her legs were bare, and always
 would be. She jumps out of her chair and shouts for joy,”Yahoo! Now we
 don’t have to shave our legs anymore!” Life went back to its old self
 for Lushville.


Sunday, November 2, 2014

Playing on a Rug

Today's Blog was written by a guest author, my 18 year old son, Andrew.  (AKA Mr. Cool)

I can't stop thinking about this essay, and with his permission, would like to share it.

I'm proud of the man that he has become.  The world needs more like him.

Andrew Keeley

Playing on a Rug

Since beginning math in first grade, I have loved and excelled at math; but I recently developed a new perspective and greater love for it. During my last semester of school I was in a Math 1050 class, and I had an A. Not a high A, but an acceptable 94.5% A. Not because I was lazy and didn't really know the material, but because I was fine with an A. I knew I could be one of the very best in my class if I tried, but I felt like it wasn't worth the time. 

Then one day the teacher brought in a rug. A rug like the kind that I had as a little kid and drove toy cars on; a rug with roads, trees and houses. What could my teacher have been up to? My teacher, who was my favorite, announced that this is a "perfect score" rug. He told us that one of his old students, a friend of mine, had given it to him and that if we got a perfect score on a test, then we could sit on the rug and play. 
He said that this was a strategy that had been tested with preschoolers, and that it seemed to work. For some reason, this was something that I decided to embrace, I wanted to sit on that rug. There was now a reason and a reward for achieving a perfect score.
I changed three things directly because of that rug. First, I started to spend more time doing the homework problems outside of school and taking notes of what the teacher was saying, instead of just doing the homework during class. The second change I made probably made the biggest impact, I took the time to check over each question on the test and prove to myself that my answer was right. The third change I made was that I carried a hot wheels car around in my backpack, just in case.
The test day came and I did all the things I had planned on. A few days later we got our tests back. I had gotten 100%. I got up out of my seat and sat down on the carpet, with my car. I felt great, but embarrassed because I was the only one who sat on the rug, so then I went back to my desk.

This happened last year, and at the end of the year, Andrew was awarded Student of the Year by this teacher.