I Found this in the Bathroom

Which is not unusual--there are Mary's poems, parts of short stories, drawings, and chapters of several novels scattered throughout the house.

I've not wanted to share any of her novels in such a public forum because I don't want anyone to take her work and call it their own. Seriously, they're that good. But here's an excerpt from a little short story (fiction!) I found this morning that I thought was amusing (if not a little disturbing). By the way, there were several tic-tac-toe games doodled in the margins and I remembered her telling me, "It's really hard to outsmart yourself when you're playing both sides."

******

"Please, Tyce!" I begged. "Just one little piece? I'll leave you alone if you just give me a piece!"


I don't know why I expected anything more than the door which was slammed in my face. I pounded on my brother's door and shouted several words I'd heard my dad say. 


"Go away, Mare!" Tyce's voice was muffled by the door. I only wanted one little stick of gum, just one stick and he wouldn't give me it. Usually I would have just let the matter go but I was angry.


"Rachel, why you strangling my bear?" I turned away from Tyce's door to see my twin little brothers Cameron and Harrison. I looked down at my hands which were clenched in a fist around Cameron's bear. I'd thrown it at Tyce earlier. "Rachel?" Cameron persisted. I sighed.


"Stop calling me that. Here's your stupid bear," I said grumpily. 


"Do you want to take us to the park?" Harrison asked hopefully.


"Hesin, Cam, please leave me alone," I sighed.


Harrison frowned. "Why were you screaming?" I noticed he was talking funny and opened his mouth.


"He gave YOU gum!" I was furious. I grabbed a penny and jammed it in the lock to Tyce's room. 


I burst in and he yelled at me, "Get out!" I yelled back.

My mom came running up the stairs (she probably thought we were murdering each other) to find Cameron and Harrison sitting in Tyce's doorway grinning as they watched the two of us roll around on the floor. Tyce might have been stronger but I was like a cat. I didn't just use arms, legs, hand, and feet but also my nails and teeth. 

Mom yanked us apart right as I bit Tyce's arm. "Mare, let him go now!" my mom yelled.I growled at her around my mouthful of brother. She smacked my head. I didn't open my mouth. She pinched my nose. I stubbornly breathed through the gaps in my teeth. Finally Tyce, whose face had been squinched up in pain, said, "Okay, I'll give you gum!"

As soon as he gave me the gum I grabbed it and tried to run but Mom snatched me. She held me by my arm and shouted for a long time. I considered biting her but I figured if I did that I soon wouldn't have any teeth. And then how would I get my gum from Tyce?


******

On a different note, Mary found herself in a pickle regarding her grade in English. I emailed the teacher about make-up work and this was part of her response. You can tell she really knows our girl.

Hi, Mrs. Jones,

Your daughter is creative, and marvelous and scattered and brilliant and has more ideas and enthusiasm in her thumb than most of us do in our entire body.

In a global sense, she is one of my best and brightest. She WILL do great things. In the meantime, she reminds me of Belle, with her nose in a book or writing.  Her ideas are spectacular. Her spelling is not always the same but I have begged her to hire ME someday to edit for her as editing requires a technician and she is definitely going to be the professional. Her ideas and sentence structure are far beyond that of the average sixth grade student.  Harnessing her energies for mundane tasks such as spelling and grammar is my challenge, without discouraging her talent.


Ms. Jennings


*******

That's how I feel as well. You can't use a steel trap to catch a butterfly, you know? And yet she has to function in the real world with normal people. I hope this summer she can write and write and spread her wings without anything to get in the way.

Creative, marvelous, scattered, and brilliant girl.