Tag, We’re It

We'll get back to our story tomorrow. We have important business to take care of today!

We were tagged by Lola for a book meme.

Here are the rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people and post a comment to Lola once you have posted it.

The book Deb's been reading is called Rules by Cynthia Lord. It’s a wonderful children’s Newbery Honor Book about a young girl dealing with life and with her younger brother who is autistic. She meets another young man Jason, who is confined to a wheel chair and who talks by pointing to words in his communication book. Here are the 6th, 7th, & 8th sentences from page 123:

“When I straighten up, I see not only is everyone in the waiting room standing at the clinic windows watching us, but a family on the sidewalk is staring, shopping bags in hand. And in several of the restaurant windows surrounding the parking lot, people have stopped eating to watch. Most of them have their mouths dropped open.”


You'll have to read the book to find out what everyone is staring at with such amazement!

Now, I have to find 5 buddies to tag who haven’t already been hit! I tag the following people:

Rachel @ Rachel Writes for Kids

Fluffy @ Bunny Bliss

Bunny, Winnie, Belle, & Pearl @ NC Bunny

Fez @ Some Bunny

Ryan (Illustrator Extraordinaire!)

Reasons Why

Freckles:

The High-Voiced One held me with one paw as it searched the unexplored world. Now, normally, I don’t like to be restrained in such an undignified way, especially by the High-Voiced One. However, there were three reasons why I didn’t try to wiggle free:

1. I had already seen one new world from a great vantage point, and thought I might have the opportunity to see more.


2. The Invaders might not have really left our land. They might be hiding, and the High-Voiced One could help me fight them off.


3. The High-Voiced One seemed to need a friend, and I didn’t have the heart to leave it.

What's Missing???

Deb:

I searched the room for anything else that might be out of place (hard to tell since the contents of the room were spread around the floor.) I realized that it's difficult to recall what you had when it might be missing!

I picked Freckles up and carried her through the house to see what other items might be missing. Some of my costume jewelry was gone from my office. Aha! The burglars weren’t very good judges of quality. The older computer that I use for a lot of my writing was still there. (I write on a computer not hooked up to the Internet, so I’m not tempted to check e-mail or Websites or other blogs!) Again, the television and VCR/DVD recorder were both sitting on their stand undisturbed.

When we reached the living room, I was about to put Freckles on the ground when I suddenly remembered our newer computer and the new television. I stood, clutching her firmly, and rushed to the family room.

The Investigation

Freckles:

The High-Voiced One appeared puzzled by the empty drinking container it had picked up from the ground. It stared at the inside of the container for a long time with a sad look on its face. I began to feel sad, too, and I wondered what could have possibly been inside it that would cause such a reaction.

Eventually, the High-Voiced One set the container down and searched the room again. It must not have found what it was looking for, because it picked me up and left the room abruptly.

We searched my Home Place and the Home Place next to mine which I have not yet explored. I was fascinated by the visit to that world, but could still see the sadness on the High-voiced One’s face. Oh, fie on those Invaders! Why did they have to force their way into our lives and make my friend sad?

State Quarters

Deb:

A few years back the United States began changing how its currency looked. One of the big changes was with our quarters (worth 25 cents). The government decided there would be fifty different quarters. Each of the backs would carry symbols of each of the fifty states. It was determined that the coins would be issued in the order the states entered the Union. Every year they add a couple of new state quarters to our money circulation.

I give you this history lesson because Big Guy found the idea of collecting these coins fascinating. Each night he would check his pockets to see what new quarters he could put into his collection, which he kept in a mug on the dresser. He decided he would collect three coins of each state. In the future, when his collections were complete, he would present one collection to each of our three sons.

Eventually, the coins became too numerous to fit in the mug, and he had added a zippered plastic bag beside it to collect extra coins. The coins weren’t valuable in terms of money. They weren’t worth any more than the original 25 cents each. However, the coins represented a large amount of time, effort, and love that Big Guy had spent pouring over change and checking his list to see if he had enough of a particular state.

I had just found the cracked mug lying empty on the floor where the burglars had carelessly tossed it.

The Search Continues

Freckles:

After looking around for a bit, the High-Voiced One set me down on the large hedge and patted my nose. It reached into one of the bushes and grabbed a small container with papers inside. It set the container down after examining its contents.

I watched it glance around the room and suddenly stop. It made a sound as it leaned over to pick something up from the ground. I strained forward to see what the object was. It appeared to be one of those containers that the High-Voiced One and Big Guy drink from. Now, why would it care about that? The drinking container was obviously empty.

Checking for Loss

Deb:

I headed for the bedroom with Freckles resting tightly in my arms. The drawers of the dresser, chest of drawers, and night stands all stood wide open. The contents of one of the drawers had been dumped on the floor. It was going to be difficult to recall what might have been taken. I guessed that they were probably looking for money and drugs. We had neither in our house. What might they have taken instead? I glanced quickly around. The television was sitting on top of the chest and the digital camera was resting on top of the dresser, untouched. Hmmm.

I remembered the extra checks we kept in the drawer. I set Freckles on the bed with a rub to her nose and I searched for them. I found the box; it looked undisturbed. I remembered hearing that you should check all of the numbers to see if one of the later checks had been ripped out. You wouldn’t realize that one was missing until months later. Flipping through the checks, however, revealed that all of them were there.

Suddenly, I spied something on the floor that made me stop in my tracks. “Oh, oh, Freckles,” I said. “I know something that the robbers took."

Searching the Home World

Freckles:

The High-Voiced One and I headed down the tunnel. I was pretty sure that the Invaders had left, but the One seemed to want to seek them out – perhaps for revenge. When we entered its Home World I saw the same mess on the floor that was in the Other World. The Invaders had shaken the bushes and dumped assorted objects all over the ground.

From my perch in its arms, I watched the High-Voiced One peer inside the bushes. It seemed to be searching for something.

Expert Advice -- Get Out of the House!

Deb:

As Freckles clutched me, I wandered through the house looking over the damage.

Now, let me add here that I have read the magazine articles and seen the daytime talk shows on safety where they warn you about just such moments. If you walk into your home and suspect that someone might have broken in, the first thing you should do is GET OUT OF THE HOUSE! After all, the burglars might still be around. They could be hiding in a closet, ready to jump out and grab you. Or they might not have heard you enter and might hurt you when you surprise them.

Yes, all the safety experts say to get out, run to a neighbor's house, and call the police.

However, when my moment arrived, is this what I did? No, it is not. I don't think my mind fully comprehended what had happened and was searching for some other explanation.

Surveying the Destruction

Freckles:

When I took my daring leap over the rubble, I landed at the High-Voiced One’s feet. It stared down at me, eyes wide open in surprise. It dropped the objects in its arms onto the big bush and reached down to me. I allowed it to pick me up and I held it tightly, trying to calm it down. I knew it would be a great shock to discover such disarray in its home. I had been here during the whole ordeal, and I still couldn’t quite believe that the Invaders had been so bold as to attack our homeland.

The High-Voiced One held me for quite awhile as it wandered through the lands, surveying the damage. From my higher viewpoint in its arms, the destruction looked much worse than I had expected. Items were strewn all over the ground. I wondered what the Invaders had been looking for and what they might have taken.

Connection

Deb:

Suddenly, through the debris of my living room, hopped a small white and black figure. She bravely skirted the objects that littered the floor and came straight for me, landing at my feet with a long jump. She looked up at me with her huge pleading eyes. I dropped my grocery sacks on the chair beside me and reached down. I lifted Freckles, holding her tightly to my chest. Her little heart beat rapidly as she clutched my blouse.

Reunion

Freckles:

I jumped to my feet and hopped as fast as I could through the rubble littering the ground. I had to dodge a few magazines and hop really high over a lamp, but I managed to leap and land directly in front of the High-Voiced One. I rose up and stared directly into its eyes. It probably shocked me as much as it shocked the High-Voiced One, but I was actually happy to see it!

What about Freckles?

Deb:

The room was a wreck! At first by brain didn’t register exactly what had happened. I saw magazines, and pictures, and plants strewn across the floor. My first thought was how in the world did Freckles make such a mess? It didn’t take me long to realize that she couldn’t have made this mess, Someone had been in my house! Someone had been going through my stuff.

Then, I panicked -- what about Freckles? Where was she? Was she all right?

Freckles Reveals Herself

Freckles:

I stayed under the bush where I'd taken refuge as long as I could. Suddenly, I heard the High-Voiced One call out as it always did when it returned home through that portal. Was it a trick? Could the Invaders imitate the High-Voiced One? Were they trying to lure me out from my hiding place? I didn’t care anymore. Something inside forced me to jump to my feet.

Freckles, I'm Home

Deb:

Balancing my grocery sacks on my hip, I unlocked the door and entered the living room. “Freckles,” I called, “I’m home.”

For some reason I always expected Freckles to come running to the door to greet me. Our dogs had always done that, and I missed that expression of love (and hunger) that had always filled my heart with warmth. Freckles had never once run to greet me when I came home in the evening, so I certainly didn’t expect her to now.

The vision that greeted me upon walking into the room was a huge surprise.