JULIA: Mommy? You know how at the end of the ride they say "A ghost will follow you home?" Well, that gave me a great idea for a story I wanna write, where there's this family and the ghost actually follows them home and their house becomes haunted!
True to her word, Julia has plunged into the writing of this book, and although she's only into the second chapter, allow me to share with you what she's written so far.
Chapter 1
An Odd Something
My name is Marie Claire. My full name is Marie Claire Glory Mafia. My mother is Gloria and my father is Ferdinand. I am 12 years of age. I've got 4 sisters, 3 older, 1 younger. There's Roselina, who's 18, Genivieve, who's 15, Sally, who's 13, and then there is Pattie, and she is 7. I live in the big black house in Western Massachusetts that folks call Mafia Manor. They say it's haunted. I'm known by a lot of names. Most people call me Marie Claire. My mom calls me Claire, and my dad, Marie. You, dear reader, may call me whatever you'd like. But not exactly everything.
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I gaze out the window. Fields and oceans of big fluffy clouds stretch out before me, just miles and miles of white. My family had gone to Disney World. My favorite ride is The Haunted Mansion. I know Pattie liked Thunder Mountain, and Sally liked Splash Mountain, Genivieve liked Space Mountain, and Roselina liked the 7 Dwarves Mine Train. I must admit, all the "mountains" were pretty fun. Our vacation is over now. So we are taking a plane back home. "Roselina?" Pattie asked. "Yes, Pattie?" Roselina replied. "Where are we?" Roselina played around with the TV on the back of her seat until a map popped up. She answered, "We're flying over New York." Pattie nodded. 5 minutes later Pattie asked Roselina the same question. Should I have sat with Roselina and Genivieve instead? Because Sally would talk about her cell phone, and Pattie always asks the same question every 2 minutes. I opened my cookies that the flight attendants gave me and slurped up my apple juice. "Marie Claire, will you play Crazy 8's with me?" Pattie asked. I guzzled the rest of my apple juice before saying, "Why not?" "I'll play, too," offered Roselina. Pattie pulled down her tray table and got out her Crazy 8 cards from her backpack. I put down the first card. Suddenly the plane started jerking around. "Probably just rough air," Roselina told us. But there wasn't any. "Attention everyone," the pilot said through the intercom. "Something or someone else seems to be driving the plane. There are these gray hands moving the stearing yoke. Now they switched it to Autopilot!" Sally glanced over at us and Genivieve shreaked. Pattie looked at me to Roselina and back again. And as for me, I started playing Jaun's Magic Lab.
*****Okay, HOLD UP. Let's break from the story a moment to discuss a few things. First of all, don't you think it was kinda unprofessional of the pilot to announce the phantom takeover to the whole plane? Why not try to regain control from "these gray hands" before alarming all the passengers? (Or alarming ALMOST all of the passengers. Marie Claire just rolled with it and started playing Jaun's Magic Lab, which I can only imagine is the "Juan's Magic Lab" touch-screen game that the Rowe family had as a complimentary "computer" game on the little personal airplane tv screens.) Okay, back to the story.******
I plopped down on my bed. We had returned home. Sally came in and plopped down on her bed. "Abbie, something really strange happaned on the plane. But never mind that. What do you think of Bruce Tug-" "STOP IT, SALLY!" I screamed. "Nobody cares about Bruce Tugwell! This is my room, too, not just yours! I was here first! God talk in the living room!" Sally looked surprised. So did I. I was even more surprised when Sally got up and left the room. She never listens to anyone! I could hear Genivieve crying through the wall. She doesn't like it when people yell. I don't blame her. Right now, I just felt like curling up in bed and going to sleep.
******Another quick interjection: apparently all "these gray hands" did was fly the plane to the correct airport anyway, seeings as Marie Claire is back home as expected? That's a bit anti-climactic, especially after the pilot went and SCARED (almost) everybody.******
CHAPTER 2
Genivieve's MAKEOVER
I was sitting outside with my best friend, Talia. Talia is tall with long, dark hair. She reminds me of a vampire sometimes. "Do you think a ghost was on the plane, Marie Claire?" Talia asked me when I told her about the plane ride. "Tal, do you really still believe in ghosts?" I asked. "The pilot was probably just joking around." Talia nodded but looked doubtful. "Maybe you were right." Talia's blue eyes sparkled when I said this. "Has anything strange been happening at your house?" Talia questioned me. "Well, Sally actually listened, for once, but, that was a good strange, not a bad strange," I told her. Talia looked thoughtful for a few moments, then said excitedly, "Jason's hair turned the color of cinnamon the other day!" Jason is Talia's twin brother who has hair even darker than Talia's. Now that was odd. "He just woke up one morning, and then - poof! His hair's a different color," continued Talia. I said, "Sometimes people's hair just changes." "From the sun," Talia reminded me. I shrugged and Talia and I walked inside. Genivieve came in 10 minutes after us. She was wearing green fish-net legings, a black leather mini skirt, and a croc top with nothing underneath. "Uh, Genivieve, have you looked in the mirror lately?" Roselina asked. "Did your friend Trisha bribe you into this?" I said. "Or did you decide on a new look?" asked Pattie. Sally came downstairs. "What are you wearing?" she said. Genivieve looked confused. She went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Then she screamed.
****This is where the story leaves off, so we'll have to wait to see whether THE GHOST was responsible for Genivieve's new trampy look.
A few comments...
-Probably the only thing MORE unprofessional than alerting the passengers to the phantom takeover would be a pilot who was just JOKING AROUND with his passengers and telling them there were these gray hands taking over the yoke. Either way, Marie Claire is equally dismissive, I guess.
-Why would the ghost have anything to do with Talia's brother? It hasn't moved into HER house, so why would it turn Jason's hair cinnamon?
-What is a "croc" top? Is it made out of the same material as Crocs? Or is it made from crocodile skin? Maybe a crocodile skin top to go with the leather mini skirt? Or does Julia not realize that a belly shirt is called a "CROP" top??
Well, the ghostly adventures of Marie Claire and the Mafia family are just beginning, but already I can't wait to find out what happens next!!
Her last name is Mafia?!?!?!
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