Substack
4 weeks ago
Monday, December 8, 2008
Done.
The Clapotis. It's done. Completely and totally. It's blocked, the ends woven in, and it's really pretty. *sigh* Yeah, it's done.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Swimming, with a side of knitting
I'm back! You see, I've been kinda busy for the past couple weeks because of that nasty thing called finals. You see, my school goes by trimesters, so we just had our first set is trimesters. And before that, swim team started, so I've been coming home later than normal, and having even more homework than normal, and being entirely exhausted. However, I finished all my finals!! Yay!!!! I'm so insanely happy, you have no idea. And we have finals like a college, so you just have to show up for the final, and then you can leave. Unfortunately, we still had swim during finals. Actually, I'm kinda glad. It gave me a kinda breathing space. I really love swim team. I'm actually improving some, but I still have to work on my left arm in freestyle. You see, my right arm is perfect, it goes forward and pulls straight back, but my left arm goes off to the side when I swim. Also, I'm working on rotating from side to side, which I do perfectly on my right side but not my left again. I think it might be because I breathe on my right side, so I rotate further to get air. Anyway, this is probably way too much information for anybody who doesn't swim, but yeah. :D Anyway, to knitting! I've been knitting on the clapotis. And ripping. I hate ripping back. You see, I've been not following the pattern, but I finally checked back with it, and I had knit farther than the decrease rows were suppposed to start, so I had to rip back. Ugh. But yeah. I think I won't have to rip back anymore, and I'm on the decrease rows. So the end is in sight! lol
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Irish Hiking Scarf
I really do adore my Irish Hiking Scarf. I'm making it from Elsebeth Lavold Angora in this pretty blu-ish grey-ish color. It's really pretty and soft and I cannot wait to wear it!! And I have my wonderful jaywalker socks thatI'm working on.... it's not coming along very quickly, but it's really pretty.... I'm also working on the summer throw. And the fourth current project is my mom's clapotis. Right now it's at a stand-still because apparently I can't count. You need 8 skeins of noro for a clapotis and I bought..... wait for it...............................4. Four! I know, it's ridiculous. So I need to go back to the yarn store and get some more... oh tragedy, another trip to the yarn store? Please, spare me.... but anyway, this post is short because of that icky thing homework...... I think I'll make a list....
1. Algebra 2 (not too long an assignment, and it's over the quadratic formula and I really like the quadratic formula, as dorky as that sounds)
2. Biology (a short assignment, can be done quickly)
3. French (I'm supposed to make this stupid brochure to promote a gym.... grr, I might put it off until tomorrow)
4. Redo part of my giant history project because I didn't include my paragraph or timline on the poster...... more grr......
I think that's all... Oh wait,
5. History vocab flip chart
And that really is all! I'll post pictures of my progress later!!!
1. Algebra 2 (not too long an assignment, and it's over the quadratic formula and I really like the quadratic formula, as dorky as that sounds)
2. Biology (a short assignment, can be done quickly)
3. French (I'm supposed to make this stupid brochure to promote a gym.... grr, I might put it off until tomorrow)
4. Redo part of my giant history project because I didn't include my paragraph or timline on the poster...... more grr......
I think that's all... Oh wait,
5. History vocab flip chart
And that really is all! I'll post pictures of my progress later!!!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Election!!!
Well, the new president for the United States of America is Barack Obama. I'm not really sure how I feel about this. I mean, I don't think he'll be a bad president and ruin us all, but I don't know if he'll help. The thing is, I don't think anyone can really "save" us from this entire yucky economy thing. What I think is funny though, if Kerry had won four years ago, McCain would be being elected now. It really is just that people want to blame somebody, so they blame a party. Now don't get me wrong, I don't like everything Bush has done, but think about it. What would you have wanted him to do? He couldn't just not do anything, but anything that he would do would make people angry. And that's a tough situation. He could have dealt with it better, I'm not giving him excuses, but I guess I'm trying to understand. What I support is what a Republican should be. I want a smaller government that doesn't control our lives as much. Why should we even have to have laws legalizing gay marriage?? Are there any that legalize straight marriage? Why should we have laws about abortion? Shouldn't a woman who doesn't want to have a baby be able to stop her pregnancy? Do you really think someone who doesn't want that child will provide a good home for the baby? I don't know, I guess I'm just frustrated with people who refuse to think about situations where something could be good. But anyway. Knitting. That is what this blog is about. :D So I started a sock. A jaywalker. I'm really excited. I think I could reall get addicted to socks. They're really fun.... I'm already really excited, and I'm only just now starting the actual pattern..... but I cast it on on Halloween, because i wanted it to be in Socktober, even if I didn't finish it then, just to start it. Another thing. Apparently I messed up the clapotis pattern, so I'll have 18 dropped stitches instead of 12, but that's fine with me. Except for the part where I run out of yarn. Yes, I know. Bad idea. I bought 4 skeins. Surely that's enough I thought. Well, they're rather small skeins (I'm making the clapotis of noro) and so it's only 440 yards. dumbdumbdumbdumbdumbdumbdumb. Did I mention dumb? Okay. Wanted to be sure. Just for the regular clapotis you need 820 yards. And I'm making a slightly larger clapotis. Dumbdumbdumbdumbdumbdumb.......... But yeah, that's all that's exciting for now, I'm going to sleep....
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Halloween!
It has been a while, hasn't it?? I've just been really busy, what with school and stuff... Anyway, it's almost Halloween!!! I can't wait. The weather is perfect. Chilly enough for a sweater, and a jacket in the mornings and evenings, but still enjoyable. I must say, I'm getting really impatient with the clapotis. I'm still working on it, but for goodness sake, am I reallyexpected to do an entire scarf out of stocking stitch without poking out my eyeballs??? But I refuse to give up. It's going to look beautiful, and my mom will loveit, so I'm sticking with it. I kind of abandoned the pattern because I was having problems with the spacing of the dropped stitches, so I'm really glad I used an all wool yarn. A couple of the dropped stitches were in the wrong place, so it would have unraveled all my work if it weren't for the lovely feltable-ness of Noro. I just got it wet and rubbed it back and forth so it wouldn't unravel. But now it's back on the right pattern with the yarnovers, so it should be fine. *crosses fingers* Also, I'm working on the Irish Hiking Scarf, which I loooove!! 'm making it out of an angora blend and it is heavenly...... It's a blue-ish turquoise colour and it's really pretty...... I'm really impatient to get something off the needles so I can start other stuff though. Scarves are just time consuming.....to help, I've been watching soe movies of Agatha Christie books. I found them on Youtube, and they have been a stockinette saver. They take my focus away from the boringness of the clapotis. Instead, I'm thinking about murder! Hmm.... wonder how that's going to affect the knitting..... but I have a buttload of homework, so I'm cutting this entry short. Have a great time enjoying the weather! I'll put up pictures of our jack-o-lanterns once they're done!
Friday, October 3, 2008
Realization
I just had a realization. It's not terribly exciting or important, it's just what I realized. And my realization is that it's Friday. The end of another week.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
October!
It's October! And that means it is well and truly autumn. I get up in the mornings and feel the cool air and am glad for my jacket. It makes me feel like knitting.... :D I have been working on a surprise birthday present for a friend who has been bothering me ever since she heard that I knew how to knit to make her a hat, some legwarmers, and some wristwarmers. Well, she's probably not going to get all three, but wristwarmers will have to do. Theyre really soft..... the yarn is bamboo and acrylic, I'd check what it's called, but then I'd have to move. Ugh. But anyway, the first is finished, the second is well on it's way. I'll post pictures on Flickr when they're finished.
Okay, you know that storyfor English I was talking about in the last post?? Well, it turns out, I'm an overachiever. I know, I know, shocking. But I am. It turned out to be about....... um...... 19 pages long? Single spaced? 12 point font? This may not sound like a huge overachievement (at least it's stopped sounding that crazy to me :D) but the longest other short story in my class was 7 pages. Double spaced. I said I was a bit overachieving. And it's 33 pages long double spaced...... 7504 words.....So here it is! I'm probably going to rewrite some of it later, but this is it for now!
The pleasure of your company is requested at a masque on the evening of
October the 31st
At
The White Feather Ballroom
Repondez s’il-vous plait to the White Feather Ballroom,
1267 Dove Lane
That was the invitation that came in the mail. I could already tell what type of invitation it was before I even got to the snooty “repondez s’il-vous plait” at the bottom of the invitation. I bet that if I bothered to check in Emily Post’s Book of Etiquette, this would be an almost exact copy of her letter format. It’s perfect, except for the part where it never said who was “requesting the pleasure of our company”, which I think Emily Post and all of her successors would find extremely bad form. The invitation lay on the entry table, the rest of the mail forgotten for a moment. I took a moment to examine the envelope. The parchment was heavy in my hand, and a soft cream color. The strangest part was that it was addressed to me, Blake Henley, not my family. I popped the scarlet wax crest off the envelope, already guessing at what was inside. “Mother! Where are you?” I called out, waiting for a response. “I’m in the boudoir dear!” I climbed the stairs, my bare feet making soft sounds against the oriental carpet. I swung open the door to the boudoir, and my mother fluttered over, holding two gowns, the first a gauzy silk number in a pale green, and the second being a deep blue dress that looked beautiful just lying across my mother’s arm. “Darling! How was school today?” my mother questioned as she gathered me in an embrace. I inhaled her scent, a mixture of her perfume, and an unidentifiable, yet distinct, smell of mothers. “It was long. It was very long. Dr. Testa told us that we would be failures at life if we took our goggles off during the prelab while he was talking to us. Turns out that it is a good idea, as he tends to spit when he talks,” I said. “Did you want help deciding on one of those gowns? Where are you planning to go?”
“Gowns? Oh right! I was wondering which I should wear to Abbie’s debutante ball! It’s coming up soon.”
“I had completely forgotten! When is it?”
“It’s the 25th of April. I can’t believe I’ve waited this long!”
I paused for a moment, waiting for my brain to make sense of what I had just heard. The 25th of April was the ball, and today was the 23rd of October. In what world is that late? Then I realized the information I was missing was that this was my mother. She had her outfits planned for each day, depending on where she was going so she wouldn’t clash with the décor. “Well, you’ll have even less time for this,” I said, handing over the invitation. She scanned it quickly, saying “How odd. It doesn’t say who’s hosting, or for what reason. And it’s only addressed to you! Hum, I suppose that means you must attend, if only to find out what this is all about. I should call Aimee! She’s a dear, but a bit of a gossip. She’ll probably know.”
“Oh, and is it okay if I go to Lian’s later?”
“Sure! Go right on ahead! Are you sure you don’t want to invite her over here?”
“It’s fine, we’re probably just going to hang out or something,”
“Well, be careful dear, and take your cell phone! Is it charged?” my mother said, furrowing her brow in worry.
“Yes Mom, of course it is!” I responded, slightly indignantly, holding up my cell phone for inspection. “Alright then, have fun Blakely dear!” my mother said, “And tell Lian’s mother hello for me!”
I walked up the path to Lian’s house, glancing around in a way that I hoped did not look furtive. This place always scared me. I knew I could come here anytime I wanted, but I still wasn’t sure if the guards knew that. I hadn’t been shot yet, so I was hopeful. I was almost at the front door, just 15 more feet, I could make it…. But of course I couldn’t make it all the way, just once. “Excuse me, miss, but I’m going to need an I.D.,” a deep voice rumbled from behind me.
“Hey Brock,” I sighed, pulling out my specially issued “identification badge” that had a wonderfully un-flattering photo of me. “Can’t we skip this part? Just for today? Don’t you think if I was planning to assassinate Lian or her parents I would have done something in the last, I don’t know, eight years?”
“Blakely, rules are rules. Now stop fidgeting, you have to go through the scanner.”
“Brock, please don’t call me Blakely. Only my mother does that. I go by Blake.”
“Well then, Blake, you still need to go through the security check.”
I sighed, knowing that whining would get me nowhere. Lian’s father was an ambassador for the Japanese embassy, so security was tight. If someone came onto the Song property, the head of security, Brock, would know. Brock was like an uncle to me. Well, better than an uncle, because all of my uncles really don’t like me and enjoy giving me some of the itchiest clothing known to mankind. Scratch that, the itchiest clothing known to mankind. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s illegal in every state but Arkansas, and is counted as a weapon of mass destruction in most countries. Thankfully, airport security was kind enough to take most of it off my hands. Anyway, Brock was like “Uncle Version 6.0” except for the part where he makes you go through about 50 different security tests every time you visit. But he does it in a nice, caring, “I want to make sure you’re not trying to kill anybody” way. “You of all people should know the rules,” he continued, hand on my shoulder as he led me to the gatehouse. After being thoroughly secured, I finally entered through the massive oak doors. I took off my shoes and put them in a rack by the door before stepping onto the expanse of marble tiles. I had barely turned around when Lian gracefully descended the stairs, her feet barely brushing the thick rug that graced their foyer. “Blake! What took you so long? I thought we said 3:30? It’s almost 4!”
“Sorry, fencing ran late, and I decided you would prefer a nice clean friend instead of finding out exactly how much I sweat under all the equipment. And, on top of that, Brock decided I look especially dangerous when I’m clean.” I responded as we walked towards Lian’s room. “What’s so mysterious and important that had you to text me in the middle of fencing? I almost got stabbed by that jumpy new kid when my cell phone started playing the William Tell Overture!”
“Well, something came in the mail,” Lian said, grinning with excitement. She loved a good mystery.
“Don’t say anything, let me guess. It’s an invitation to a ball at the White Feather Ballroom on Halloween, but it doesn’t give an occasion or a host. Am I right?” I said, grinning. I enjoyed surprising Lian by knowing exactly what she was going to say even before she did.
“How did you know?” Lian gasped.
“I know because I got one too. Did you just get yours this afternoon?”
“Yeah! It’s a bit strange how late they sent out the invitations. And mine was addressed to me, not to the Song family! And it’s going to be in 8 days! What shall we wear?”
“Clothing, most likely of the gown variety.”
Lian rolled her eyes at me, and dragged me into her massive closet.
“Lian, are you sure it hasn’t grown since the last time I saw it?” I questioned with a straight face.
She rolled her eyes at me for the second time in as many minutes. “Come on! We have to pick what we’re wearing!”
“You could have just said you wanted to play dress-up when you texted me,” I continued, trailing after her.
“This isn’t just ‘playing dress-up’! We are deciding what to wear to a ball that could change our lives! Each and every social event is an opportunity to impress society or ruin your future! Everything from running into someone at the market to the most formal ball! It can make you or it can break you!”
“Okay, okay, it’s important, I understand,” I said calmly, “Now let’s play a very important game of dress-up.”
Lian finally gave in and started laughing. “You win, you win! But we are going to try on dresses!”
Lian and I had known each other for the past eight years, ever since her family had moved from Japan. They had placed Lian in the private school that I attended. She was almost always the first person to hear any news, but I would often find out about it as it was happening because of all the time I spent in the back of the library, actually reading, while other people used the seating areas and relative privacy to catch up on gossip. Lian ended up choosing a deep red dress that complemented her black hair and medium complexion. She decided that I needed to wear something emerald green, to “bring out my eyes”, so we headed over to my house, Brock chauffeuring, as per the norm. I raced up the stairs to my room, while Lian followed at a more dignified pace. We went to my closet, which was considerably smaller than Lian’s. I ventured towards the back, where all my nice clothing went and also where I almost never visited. Lian sat down on a stool, waiting for the fashion show to begin.
“Uh, Lian?”
“Yes Blake?”
“How would you define ‘emerald green’?”
“Oh, hold on, I’ll show you!”
“Thank you Lian! You know I would never have made it through the past eight years of my life without disgracing my family if you hadn’t arrived.”
“Yes, I know, you can thank me later,” she grinned, knowing she was just as indebted to me as I was to her. “How about this dress?”
“It’s too short. I outgrew it during the last spurt,”
“Then why is it still in your closet?”
“Because I never venture back here unless you’re with me?”
“Blake, I know you won’t like this, but it’s time.”
“Oh no. Please no, I’m begging you!”
“I have no choice. You have nothing suitable for the ball. We have to go shopping.” Lian pronounced, looking triumphant.
I groaned.
“Okay, I’m here. I’m here, in the clothing store, in the section with all the fluffy dresses. What more do you want from me?” I said, knowing full well what came next. Lian often had to drag me shopping for ball gowns, as I rarely went unless forced.
“Well, a good start would be if you stopped staring longingly at the exit, and concentrated on what you are going to wear,” Lian said, already grabbing dresses off the racks at whirlwind speed.
“Fine. But after we’re done here we’re going to Barnes & Noble. I am in desperate need of new books. I’m not even joking, I think I’ve read every single book in the upstairs library, and most of the classics in the downstairs,” I decreed, knowing she would agree to go, if only to get me to look at the dresses.
We went in search of a dressing room, or rather, I carried a massive amount of dresses and tried to see Lian’s feet around them. Finally we got one and I put down my load and heaved a sigh of relief, quickly followed by a gasp of panic. “Oh. My. Gosh. Look. Over. There. It’s Her,” I breathed at Lian, turning my head and looking down.
“Where?” she asked, looking around.
“Over there, berating that poor sales lady for not having a dress in her size,”
“Oh. There. Do you think she’s seen us?”
“Well, have you heard any screams of, ‘what are these filthy people doing occupying the same space as me?’ coming from that direction? If not, I think we have remained undetected,” I said sarcastically, but not untruthfully. “She” was Camilla, a rather vile and loathsome girl who was our arch-nemesis at school.
“Listen to what she’s saying!”
The conversation was mostly one sided and screechy.
“I need this dress right now! How dare you tell me that you don’t have it in my size! You have it in every other size, why not mine? Don’t give me that, somebody already bought it! I’ll have you know, my daddy owns this company, and I’ll be sure to let him know just how things work here apparently! I have to have this dress by the 31st! I have a very important event! I need this dress!” Camilla screeched then stormed out.
“Good riddance to her!” I muttered, glancing at the still swinging door. “Okay, are we going to try on or not? If not, I’m out of here,” I said to Lian, who was still staring at the door.
“No, of course we’re trying on! But did you hear? She said she had a very important event on the 31st!”
“No way. Not possible. There is no way on this planet that she is going to this ball,” I said, my voice low and annoyed.
“I wonder who all got an invitation….” Lian thought aloud.
“If you, me, and Camilla all got one, whoever it was probably invited just about everybody,”
“Maybe we should tell her we’re going. That would probably be a guarantee to keep her away,”
“Yes, but then we’d have to get within shouting distance of her,”
Lian nodded at this. I begin to walk toward the door, and she followed, deep in thought. As I pushed open the door, she grabbed my elbow and said, “Hey, wait a second, where do you think you’re going? We’re getting you a dress!”
After closing down the store, we walked out, a study in contrasts. Lian’s hair was still perfectly smooth and shiny, she looked the epitome of cool and put together. I, on the other hand, looked a bit like a train had hit me. After the second dress, my already curly hair began to frizz out of control, until it looked like the 80’s had chewed on my hair for a while then decided to give it back. There was good news, however. I had bought a dress! Finally, I could go home and sleep off the shopping binge.
“Hey Lian, can we have a rain check on that Barnes & Noble visit? I think my brain fell out my ear at the twelfth dress, and I’m not sure if I can still read,” I groaned in my exhausted state.
“Sure, sure! Go home and relax! You deserve a reward for shopping for a dress for that long. So go home, eat some chocolate, and take a nap!” Lian ordered.
“Ma’am yes ma’am!” I said as we pulled up to the front gate. We hugged and I walked up the path to my door holding the dress. I opened it, went inside and called for my mom. “Mom? Where are you?”
“I’m in the kitchen!” she called out, her voice getting nearer. “Oh sweetheart I see you have a dress! I suppose Lian had to force you to go shopping again? Anyway, you look tired. Good thing I decided to make some soup! Here, have a bowl, and then it’s straight to bed with you!”
I nodded gratefully. Grabbing a spoon from the drawer, I pulled a stool up to the counter as my mom passed over a steaming bowl of vegetable beef soup and a tall glass of milk. “So had Aimee heard anything about the ball next Saturday?”
“Not much, but she said her daughter, you know, Alissa, from your History class? She received an invitation too, just this afternoon. This is rather late, for a formal ball invitation, isn’t it?”
I nodded, pondering. “Oh, and guess who we ran into at the store! Camilla. Thankfully, she didn’t see us, or our ear drums might’ve burst. She was talking about how she needed a dress for next Saturday, so I’m guessing whoever it was invited just about everybody,”
“Oh well dear, you can find out more tomorrow. Now you need some sleep!”
I trudged up the stairs, walked down the hallway, entered my room and plopped down on my bed. I loved my room. Decorated in shades of blue and green, it was perfectly relaxing. I groaned as I sat up, took out my contacts, got ready for bed, and curled up with my iPod, already half asleep.
The next morning, I woke up to Lian peering at my face, as if wondering whether to wake me up or not. I groaned, saying, “It’s Saturday morning. Do you ever sleep in?” as I glanced at my watch, which told me it was seven o’clock.
“I did sleep in!” she explained as I stumbled out of bed, grabbing the first pair of jeans to come to my fingers and the first shirt that looked reasonable with them. “Usually, I would come by at six! Remember when I did that?”
“Yes, unfortunately, though I’ve tried to block the memories. Six o’clock on a Saturday morning? I thought you knew me better than that,” I said, grinning as I decided what color of Converse I wanted to wear today. “Okay, so what’s on the agenda for today?” I held up the blue plaid pair and the black and red plaid pair, and decided on blue.
“Well, since you seemed so disappointed about not going to Barnes & Noble last night, I decided you could use some quality time with books and coffee! I came right over so we can get an early start!”
“Lian, Barnes & Noble doesn’t open until 9,” I said, jotting down a note to my mom that Lian and I were going out and not to worry.
“Who said we were going to Barnes & Noble?” she said, smiling mischievously.
“My curiosity is piqued! Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise! Now put this on!”
I groaned and blindfolded myself.
“Here we are!” Lian announced excitedly.
“Where is here?”
“Oh, just take off your blindfold!”
I carefully unknotted the fabric strip around my eyes. We had been in the car for an eternity, or about 30 minutes. I stepped out of the car, my knees popping loudly after the long ride, and looked around.
“Lian, you are the best friend in the entire world. Just to let you know,” I said, staring in amazement at my favorite book store, Bats in the Belfry. As the name suggests, this isn’t your average bookstore. First of all, it has an amazing selection, and not one book by Nora Roberts or Danielle Steel. Second, it was a tree house. It was beautiful, sophisticated, weatherproofed, but a tree house nonetheless. A tree house that just happened to sell some of the most amazing coffee and muffins I had ever tasted.
“Lian, once more, you are the best friend a girl could have,”
“Come on, don’t just stand there gawking! We have breakfast to eat, books to read!” Lian said, pulling me through the arbor towards the winding staircase that took you up to the first level, where the coffee shop was.
“Sheba! What are you doing here?” I exclaimed, running over to hug my other friend.
“Blake! It’s so good to see you! Hey Lian!” she said, carefully putting down her latte before jumping up to greet us. “What brings you here so early on this fine morning?”
“Lian woke me up and dragged me here. Well, she didn’t drag me, but she blindfolded me,” I said, laughing. “By the way, how did you get in?”
“You’re mom let me in,” she explained. “I told her that I was kidnapping you and taking you to a bookstore as a reward for all that shopping that you did,”
“Lian made me buy a dress yesterday. Unfortunately, it took several hours,” I explained to Sheba.
“What’s the occasion for dress buying?” Sheba asked.
“Well, we both got these mysterious invitations in the mail that asked us to attend a ball at the-”
“At the White Feather Ballroom, right?” Sheba said, finishing Lian’s sentence.
“Don’t tell me you got one too!” I exclaimed. “It would be easier to find out who isn’t invited! Who do you think they’re from?”
“Well, you should probably keep this on the down low, but you know that boy’s academy down the street?”
We all took a moment to recall how much the scenery improved since they opened.
“Well, I’ve heard they’re hosting it as an opportunity for ‘young gentlemen and ladies of breeding’ to meet and greet!” Sheba said excitedly.
“Oh please say it’s not so!” I groaned. “I don’t know if I can stand another evening of guys ogling at you and Lian, then cozying up to me, not even asking my name, and telling me to introduce them,” I said, recounting what had happened at every ball Lian, Sheba, and I had attended together.
“Hey, be fair to yourself, Blake! That one guy who spilled the punch all over you last time seemed pretty in to you!” Lian said.
“If by “in to me”, you mean his nose was “in to” my cleavage, then yes, he was in to me. He didn’t glance above my chin the entire time. I knew I shouldn’t have let you talk me into that dress,” I said, shuddering at the recollection.
“Okay, well what about Blake?” said Sheba.
“Admittedly, he was hot, but I think he was just fascinated at the thought of a girl having his name,”
“Fine then, what about Kelly?”
“Sheba, darling, he was gay. He told me my dress was fabulous, and that Kate was a cute little munchkin,”
“The point is, guys do come over and talk to you, and not just because you’re gorgeous,” Lian said reassuringly.
I had a sudden coughing fit that sounded a lot like “cleavage guy”.
“Anyway, I don’t think that it’s them. Remember, they had that ball room annex built on, and so they would probably use that instead of The White Feather,” I continued, musing over the subject of the ball.
“Good point. I’ve seen it, the room was really nice,” Sheba said.
“Maybe it’s not the school itself that’s throwing it, but the families,” Lian continued.
“But why not say who’s hosting it? If people don’t know, they might not want their daughters to go to a ball alone,” I said, bemused.
“Oh well, plenty of time to ponder later! Right now we need some muffins and coffee!” Lian said, heading towards the counter. “Do you want a cinnamon apple or banana nut muffin, Blake?”
“Surprise me!”
We spent a pleasant morning at the book store, sitting in the coffee shop, nibbling on muffins and scones, and chatting. At 10, Sheba bid us adieu as she left for a dress fitting. Lian and I ascended the stairs to the next level where all of our favorite books were kept. Lian looked through vintage fashion magazines from the 50’s as I curled up with a new Agatha Christie mystery. I threw down my book, growling as I did so. “Ugh! This is bugging me so much! Who is hosting this ball? I won’t be able to concentrate until I know something!”
“Well then, buy your book! We don’t have to spend the entire day here if you don’t want to!” Lian said, smiling. “I knew you wouldn’t last long with such a mystery hanging above your head. Why don’t we stop by the White Feather Ballroom?”
“Lian, you’re a genius,” I said as I skipped down the stairs.
After another half hour in the car, this time minus the blindfold, we had arrived. “Finally finally finally!” I sang as I skipped up to the door.
I stood by the door, bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet. “Hurry up!” I growled at Lian as she walked calmly up the path.
“I’m coming, be patient!”
Lian finally made it to the door, and I rushed in. The door was open, but all the lights were off. I went through the hallway and walked down the grand staircase which led to the main dancing floor. It was completely empty. I descended the stairs quickly, and began waltzing with myself while humming “The Blue Danube” and twirling around. As Lian came to the foot of the stairs, I bowed to her, and said, grinning, “May I have this dance?” She curtsied in response, and we began to waltz all over the room. After a few bars, we fell to the floor, laughing. We stood, and then walked over to what looked like a sample table. It had silver charger plates and cream colored napkins, and several different sets of silverware, as if someone was trying to decide which one to use. We examined them all, and decided to cast our votes in favor of choice number two, which had birds engraved on the handles. We picked up a note on the table, which was handwritten in hurried but elegant script. It read,
“The silverware and place settings have to be done by Thursday; I would like to look it over before Saturday night. Use the bird silverware,”
“Ohmigosh,” Lian breathed suddenly.
“What is it?”
“I know that handwriting,” she said, her face pale.
Suddenly a strong hand grabbed me from behind and placed a cloth over my face. I struggled, but it was no use. I could see that Lian was already fading into unconsciousness beside me. I needed to ask her, whose handwriting was it? Who wrote that note? Who? The question spun around and around as everything faded to black.
I slowly regained consciousness, my head still spinning. I had a feeling of urgency. I needed to ask somebody something before it was too late. What was the question? Who did I need to ask? And what would happen if I didn’t? I drifted off to sleep with the steady sound of the engine comforting me.
I awoke. Where was I? Why was I tied up? Where was Lian? I struggled to remember, and suddenly it came to me. We were in the ball room, Lian was telling me about the handwriting on a note we had find. Where was Lian? And then we blacked out. I remembered seeing Lian struggling. Who had kidnapped us? Where was I? Where was Lian? And where were we going? I tried to move, but it made me dizzy. Oh no, here we go again I thought as I drifted away.
A sudden stop jerked me from my half sleeping and half drugged state. We had stopped. That meant that we were there, wherever there was. I had finally worked the drugs through my system enough to think clearly again. I took a moment to take in my surroundings. I was in the trunk of a car, but the back row was folded down, so I was half in the trunk and half in the seat. I was facing the wall mostly, so I rolled over, only to find that I was alone. Where was Lian? Did they take her in another car? My thoughts whirled around. I stretched my neck, trying to make out a driver or other occupant of the car. I was alone. I could hear a conversation outside the car. I strained to quiet my breathing so I could hear.
“You idiot, what happened to the plan for Saturday night, at the ball?”
“But she was right there! She saw the note! She said she recognized the handwriting!”
“Alright then, but why did you take both girls?”
“We couldn’t let her friend sound the alarm before we had a chance to get away!”
“You bloody imbecile! The friend would have slowed them down! Eventually, Brock would’ve gone in to investigate instead of immediately sending a team to tail us when he saw you race out of the parking lot! If you had just drugged them both, put the Song girl in your truck and driven off at a reasonable speed, it would’ve taken them forever to figure out what happened!” I let out a silent cheer that Brock knew what was happening, and was probably already figuring out a way to get us out of here.
“Alright, alright, I’m sorry!”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it! Now since the other girl is here, we might as well keep her in the safe room,”
“Okay boss” said my kidnapper as he opened the trunk. I closed my eyes and let my body go limp as he slung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Ugh!” he grunted. “This one needs to lose a few pounds!” My eyes popped open, and from what I could see, my kidnapper had no room to talk. It was all I could do to not let out an involuntary “humph!” of annoyance. I took this opportunity to look around. We were in the middle of nowhere, except for what looked like an old abandoned diner, and I was taken to a back room and tossed on the floor. I lay still after the key clicked in the lock until the footsteps faded away completely, then sat up, and looked around the room. There was Lian! I scrambled over as quickly as I could, and rolled her over. “Lian!” I whispered. “Lian! Are you alright?” She groaned and sat up. “Where are we?” she muttered. “And how did we get here?”
“Well, we’re in a back room in the middle of nowhere, and we were kidnapped at the White Feather Ball Room,” I summarized. Lian rubbed her eyes, trying to remember, or trying to believe what her memory was telling her. “The note!” she exclaimed suddenly. “The handwriting, I recognized it…” her voice trailed off.
“Whose was it?” I exclaimed.
“It was… it was the handwriting of my father’s secretary. But that doesn’t make any sense,”
We stayed still for a moment, thinking.
“Hey, wasn’t there a deal last year about his sister being arrested for something or other? You couldn’t get to school on time because the press was stalking you!”
“Yes, his sister was arrested for arson. She set several government buildings on fire, and there was a scandal about her brother working very closely with the U.S. ambassador. You think it’s for that? He always said he was so ashamed of what his sister did, and he basically disowned her. So why is he doing this? Is it really him behind this? Just because it was his writing….” Lian’s voice faded as she tried to find a way around this.
“So, what happens next?”
My question hung in the air as we sat together in the dark, waiting to find out. We sat and waited, not saying a word. Suddenly, Lian broke the silence. “Blake, I am so sorry. All of this is my fault,”
“No it’s not. It’s not like you asked to be kidnapped. It’s not like you wanted this to happen,” I responded quickly.
“I’m glad you’re here. I mean, I wish you were safe, but I’m glad I’m not alone,”
“Me too, Lian. Me too.” I muttered, half to myself.
I jerked awake at the sound of a gunshot. Lian sat next to me, her eyes wide and frightened. There was nothing we could do. We couldn’t move, we couldn’t speak. Another shot rang out. Then another, and another. We huddled together in the corner, sitting, waiting, wishing as our tears dripped onto the floor.
We sat there for I don’t know how long, not daring to move, not daring to think, barely able to breathe. What had happened? Where were our kidnappers? Where were our rescuers? How long would we stay here, in the dark?
A sliver of light pierced through the darkness, stabbing our eyes. We shrank back, away from the light under the door.
“Hey, I think I found something!” A male voice called out. Another pair of boots walked up to the door, and the light grew stronger. Were we going to be rescued? I reached for Lian’s hand and squeezed it for reassurance. Someone tried the door and realized it was locked. “It’s a simple enough lock, Captain. I can get it open once I grab my kit,” The Captain grunted, not waiting for a kit and gave the door a kick. We both jumped at the sound, even though we knew this was a rescue mission. Another kick and the door was swinging open, a section of the frame lying on the floor. Two flashlights began a methodical sweeping of the large store room. They began to head in our direction. A beam swept right up to our feet, and the next pass uncovered us from the darkness. “Here we are” he muttered to himself. I guessed it was the Captain. “Lieutenant! Get over here!” he barked. “Hello, my name’s Captain White. It’s alright; your kidnappers are under arrest. We’re here to take you back home,” he said in a calming, gravelly voice. “It’s alright. We’re taking you back home,”
We had never heard such beautiful words.
It was night outside. Other than that, I don’t remember much of the ride back. We got into a silver sedan of some sort, and Captain White was driving. “It’s going to be fine. We’re taking you home,” he kept repeating. Neither Lian nor I could summon up a response, so we just sat there, still gripping each other as if our lives depended on it.
We arrived at the police station half an hour later. Captain White parked the car, then came around to open the door for us. It was as much a reminder to get out of the car as a polite gesture. We got out, mechanically following Captain White. We walked up the steps, went through the double doors, and followed him to an office. “You girls wait here. I’ll get some food. You must be hungry by now,” Captain White said, pulling chairs up to a table for us. We nodded our thanks, but remained standing. He soon came back with two sandwiches. He handed them over, saying, “I hope you like turkey and rye with lots of mustard. That’s the one failing of the sandwiches here, always too much mustard,” he continued, seeming totally at ease with this one sided conversation. We unwrapped the sandwiches and began eating automatically. “Your families will be here soon,” he said casually, watching our expressions carefully. We both immediately looked up from our sandwiches, our faces hopeful. “They should be here by the time you’re done eating,” We resumed munching on the sandwiches, this time with a little more attention to what we were eating. Captain White was right. The sandwiches were slathered thickly with mustard, but I liked them that way. When we finished, we threw away the wrappers and looked expectantly at Captain White. He chuckled. “Come on. Your families just arrived,” he said as he led the way out. We walked along, slightly tentatively, still huddling together. We emerged in a waiting room, our families sitting there looking anxious. Most of my memory from then is a blur, but I remember that my mother was sitting in a corner, quietly crying, Lian’s mother sitting next to her, the tears falling fast and thick. My father sat in a chair by Lian’s father, the occasional tear dripping from their eyes too. My brother Kaleb paced the floor, and was the first to see us. He seemed to leap across the space between us and gathered me and Lian up in a hug. There was much crying and hugging, among both families. Afterwards we went into the parking lot. I checked my watch. It was 10:30. The families separated, each going to their respective houses. After saying good night to my family, I went up into my room. The calm blues and greens welcomed me back. I sat down on my bed, knowing I wasn’t going to be doing much sleeping tonight. I took a deep breath and flopped backwards. I grabbed my iPod and started listening. I lay there in my bed with the lights on, trying to escape my dreams.
I woke up at noon on Monday, still wearing the clothing I had put on Saturday morning. I stretched, yawning, and shambled towards the door. I began walking down the stairs when I remembered. I stopped dead in my tracks, swaying for a moment. I resumed walking down the stairs, feeling very tired despite all the sleep. I got a bowl of cereal when my mom came down the stairs. “Oh, good morning! I didn’t think you would be awake yet!” she said, looking a little anxiously at me. I finished my cereal wordlessly, then wandered off to the library, my favorite room in the house. I spent the entire day just sitting around, not really doing anything. I knew that all my friends from school would be worried, but I couldn’t truly bring myself to talk to anybody yet. The phone was ringing off the wall from family friends and school friends, but I didn’t want to hear the awkward pauses and awkward questions from my anxious friends. I turned my cell phone off and sat in the library nook, listening to music. I felt like I should be doing something, but I knew there wasn’t anything else I could do. I tried to read, but found I could only read the books that I already knew by heart. I picked up Black Beauty and opened the worn cover again. I stayed in the library, preferring the light and warmth and the smell of old books to going back to my room, where I would have no choice but to remember.
The next morning I woke up, my pillow wet with tears. Kaleb must have carried me to my room. I had dreamt of being locked in the store room, except Captain White never came. We were stuck there, forever. I went into the bathroom, wiping the sleep from my eyes, wondering how long this would haunt me. I shook my head, hoping my thoughts would fall back into their normal position. I glanced at my blurry reflection in the mirror and washed my face. The water woke me up and the rough surface of the towel brought me back o earth. I walked down the stairs with my head held high, to find my mother in the kitchen, watching me anxiously. She gave me a bowl of cereal, and I began munching.
“Blakely, it’s perfectly fine if you aren’t ready, but the police want to ask you some questions if you feel up to it,”
I nodded, swallowed my bite of cereal, and responded, “Sure. Just let me change clothes, and we can go.”
My mother nodded her eyes misty. She hugged me tightly again. “You’re brother is upstairs. You can wake him up; he wants to see you,”
“Wow, you mean he won’t bite my head off if I wake him up?”
My mother laughed, smiling a little sadly. “You’re so brave Blakely. You know it’s alright. You don’t always have to be cheerful,”
“I know Mom. It’s just…I don’t want them to win by making us afraid. What they did was to scare us, and I don’t want them to succeed. If I can do that by laughing and smiling, then so be it.”
She smiled fondly. “You have such fight in you. I’m glad Lian had you.”
I smiled as I went upstairs to wake my brother. “Kaleb!” I called as I bounced onto his bed. “It’s morning, the sun is shining!”
“Ugh, go back to bed, you goofball. You’re supposed to be quiet and timid after a traumatic experience.”
“Yes, but since when have I followed the norm, dear brother?”
“Good point. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Well, maybe an hour more sleep.”
“Come on! Are you going to come with me or not?” I said, bouncing up and down.
“Fine, I’m coming, I’m coming.”
“Yay!” I said and skipped out. I went to my room and put on my favorite pair of jeans and a hoodie, and grabbed my converse with the Sudoku pattern. I walked out the door, and almost collided with my brother. I was about to back up when he hugged me and said, “I’m glad you’re not quiet and timid. That would just be weird. And I’m very glad you’re still my goofy little sister.”
“Me too. And I’m glad you came. How did you get off duty so fast?” My brother worked for the coast guard and it always took forever for him to get off duty and rearrange the schedules.
“Well, I told my commanding officer that I was going home because my baby sister got kidnapped, and he could either give me leave or not, but either way I was going. He decided to give me some leave, and he told me to tell you to plan your kidnappings in advance,”
“Well, I try, but you know how I am with schedules,” we laughed as we descended the stairs. We met Mom there and went over to the police station. “Hello Captain White!” I called out, seeing him scaling the steps in front of us. “I see you’re a bit chattier this time!” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “Yes, I am. I hear you had some questions?”
“Yes, we just want you to tell us a bit about what happened when you were kidnapped. It won’t take long.”
“Am I allowed to ask questions?”
“Well, depends. What’s the question?”
“I heard the kidnappers talking about the original plan for Saturday night. What were they planning?” By this time, we had reached the interview room, so I walked in.
“Your family can come in or stay outside, your choice,” Captain White answered to my unspoken question.
“We’ll wait out here for you, okay?” my mother said quickly, giving me squeeze around the shoulders.
“Don’t mess this up, goofball!”
I walked in and sat down at the table. He asked a lot of questions about the kidnapping and when I woke up, and about whether I could identify the man in the car with me. I said I thought I could, so we went into another room where there was a lineup. “Him. That’s him. Number 7.”
“Thank you very much, Blakely! You’ve been a great help. Now to explain what’s going on. Well, the secretary’s original plan with the ball was to wait until everybody was inside, kidnap Lian, and burn the place to the ground, similar to what his sister did,”
“So it was the secretary?”
“Yes, he said it was vengeance for his sister. But now Blakely, you need to go home and rest. You’ve been very brave about this, and you’re doing very well, but you can’t avoid the effects forever.”
I nodded as we went back to the room with my family. “We can leave now! Oh, and Captain White! Is Lian coming in for questioning today too?”
“Yes, she’s coming in later,”
“Okay. Thank you!”
I spent the rest of the day not doing much of anything. I tried to read, but even my favorite books held no interest for me today. I tried to watch TV, but there wasn’t anything on that I wanted to watch. I ended up just listening to music and waiting for nightfall.
The night came, and I got ready for bed, as usual. I sat down on my bed and turned off my lamp. I sat there for a moment in the dark. I quickly reached out and turned on my lamp. I couldn’t turn out my lights. When I was young, I was scared of the dark, and most nights I would end up going into my brother’s room, and he would tell me stories. Sometimes he would read from a book, and other times he would make them up. He often would take on the father role because Dad was away so often. He would tell me story after story until I finally fell asleep, then he would carry me back to my bed and tuck me in. I ghosted along the hallway, trying to walk quietly. Kaleb was already sitting there with a book. I smiled. Kaleb whispered, “Okay, one change. I don’t think I can carry you back to bed anymore.” I laughed, and sat down on the edge of his bed. He started the story. “Okay, once upon a time, there was a girl. Her name was Blakely…”
If you're reading this, you have a great deal of patience. Thank you for reading my story! And please, don't steal it and say it's yours. It's mine, I wrote it, I thought it up, I typed it, go make your own story. Thank you!!!!
Okay, you know that storyfor English I was talking about in the last post?? Well, it turns out, I'm an overachiever. I know, I know, shocking. But I am. It turned out to be about....... um...... 19 pages long? Single spaced? 12 point font? This may not sound like a huge overachievement (at least it's stopped sounding that crazy to me :D) but the longest other short story in my class was 7 pages. Double spaced. I said I was a bit overachieving. And it's 33 pages long double spaced...... 7504 words.....So here it is! I'm probably going to rewrite some of it later, but this is it for now!
The pleasure of your company is requested at a masque on the evening of
October the 31st
At
The White Feather Ballroom
Repondez s’il-vous plait to the White Feather Ballroom,
1267 Dove Lane
That was the invitation that came in the mail. I could already tell what type of invitation it was before I even got to the snooty “repondez s’il-vous plait” at the bottom of the invitation. I bet that if I bothered to check in Emily Post’s Book of Etiquette, this would be an almost exact copy of her letter format. It’s perfect, except for the part where it never said who was “requesting the pleasure of our company”, which I think Emily Post and all of her successors would find extremely bad form. The invitation lay on the entry table, the rest of the mail forgotten for a moment. I took a moment to examine the envelope. The parchment was heavy in my hand, and a soft cream color. The strangest part was that it was addressed to me, Blake Henley, not my family. I popped the scarlet wax crest off the envelope, already guessing at what was inside. “Mother! Where are you?” I called out, waiting for a response. “I’m in the boudoir dear!” I climbed the stairs, my bare feet making soft sounds against the oriental carpet. I swung open the door to the boudoir, and my mother fluttered over, holding two gowns, the first a gauzy silk number in a pale green, and the second being a deep blue dress that looked beautiful just lying across my mother’s arm. “Darling! How was school today?” my mother questioned as she gathered me in an embrace. I inhaled her scent, a mixture of her perfume, and an unidentifiable, yet distinct, smell of mothers. “It was long. It was very long. Dr. Testa told us that we would be failures at life if we took our goggles off during the prelab while he was talking to us. Turns out that it is a good idea, as he tends to spit when he talks,” I said. “Did you want help deciding on one of those gowns? Where are you planning to go?”
“Gowns? Oh right! I was wondering which I should wear to Abbie’s debutante ball! It’s coming up soon.”
“I had completely forgotten! When is it?”
“It’s the 25th of April. I can’t believe I’ve waited this long!”
I paused for a moment, waiting for my brain to make sense of what I had just heard. The 25th of April was the ball, and today was the 23rd of October. In what world is that late? Then I realized the information I was missing was that this was my mother. She had her outfits planned for each day, depending on where she was going so she wouldn’t clash with the décor. “Well, you’ll have even less time for this,” I said, handing over the invitation. She scanned it quickly, saying “How odd. It doesn’t say who’s hosting, or for what reason. And it’s only addressed to you! Hum, I suppose that means you must attend, if only to find out what this is all about. I should call Aimee! She’s a dear, but a bit of a gossip. She’ll probably know.”
“Oh, and is it okay if I go to Lian’s later?”
“Sure! Go right on ahead! Are you sure you don’t want to invite her over here?”
“It’s fine, we’re probably just going to hang out or something,”
“Well, be careful dear, and take your cell phone! Is it charged?” my mother said, furrowing her brow in worry.
“Yes Mom, of course it is!” I responded, slightly indignantly, holding up my cell phone for inspection. “Alright then, have fun Blakely dear!” my mother said, “And tell Lian’s mother hello for me!”
I walked up the path to Lian’s house, glancing around in a way that I hoped did not look furtive. This place always scared me. I knew I could come here anytime I wanted, but I still wasn’t sure if the guards knew that. I hadn’t been shot yet, so I was hopeful. I was almost at the front door, just 15 more feet, I could make it…. But of course I couldn’t make it all the way, just once. “Excuse me, miss, but I’m going to need an I.D.,” a deep voice rumbled from behind me.
“Hey Brock,” I sighed, pulling out my specially issued “identification badge” that had a wonderfully un-flattering photo of me. “Can’t we skip this part? Just for today? Don’t you think if I was planning to assassinate Lian or her parents I would have done something in the last, I don’t know, eight years?”
“Blakely, rules are rules. Now stop fidgeting, you have to go through the scanner.”
“Brock, please don’t call me Blakely. Only my mother does that. I go by Blake.”
“Well then, Blake, you still need to go through the security check.”
I sighed, knowing that whining would get me nowhere. Lian’s father was an ambassador for the Japanese embassy, so security was tight. If someone came onto the Song property, the head of security, Brock, would know. Brock was like an uncle to me. Well, better than an uncle, because all of my uncles really don’t like me and enjoy giving me some of the itchiest clothing known to mankind. Scratch that, the itchiest clothing known to mankind. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s illegal in every state but Arkansas, and is counted as a weapon of mass destruction in most countries. Thankfully, airport security was kind enough to take most of it off my hands. Anyway, Brock was like “Uncle Version 6.0” except for the part where he makes you go through about 50 different security tests every time you visit. But he does it in a nice, caring, “I want to make sure you’re not trying to kill anybody” way. “You of all people should know the rules,” he continued, hand on my shoulder as he led me to the gatehouse. After being thoroughly secured, I finally entered through the massive oak doors. I took off my shoes and put them in a rack by the door before stepping onto the expanse of marble tiles. I had barely turned around when Lian gracefully descended the stairs, her feet barely brushing the thick rug that graced their foyer. “Blake! What took you so long? I thought we said 3:30? It’s almost 4!”
“Sorry, fencing ran late, and I decided you would prefer a nice clean friend instead of finding out exactly how much I sweat under all the equipment. And, on top of that, Brock decided I look especially dangerous when I’m clean.” I responded as we walked towards Lian’s room. “What’s so mysterious and important that had you to text me in the middle of fencing? I almost got stabbed by that jumpy new kid when my cell phone started playing the William Tell Overture!”
“Well, something came in the mail,” Lian said, grinning with excitement. She loved a good mystery.
“Don’t say anything, let me guess. It’s an invitation to a ball at the White Feather Ballroom on Halloween, but it doesn’t give an occasion or a host. Am I right?” I said, grinning. I enjoyed surprising Lian by knowing exactly what she was going to say even before she did.
“How did you know?” Lian gasped.
“I know because I got one too. Did you just get yours this afternoon?”
“Yeah! It’s a bit strange how late they sent out the invitations. And mine was addressed to me, not to the Song family! And it’s going to be in 8 days! What shall we wear?”
“Clothing, most likely of the gown variety.”
Lian rolled her eyes at me, and dragged me into her massive closet.
“Lian, are you sure it hasn’t grown since the last time I saw it?” I questioned with a straight face.
She rolled her eyes at me for the second time in as many minutes. “Come on! We have to pick what we’re wearing!”
“You could have just said you wanted to play dress-up when you texted me,” I continued, trailing after her.
“This isn’t just ‘playing dress-up’! We are deciding what to wear to a ball that could change our lives! Each and every social event is an opportunity to impress society or ruin your future! Everything from running into someone at the market to the most formal ball! It can make you or it can break you!”
“Okay, okay, it’s important, I understand,” I said calmly, “Now let’s play a very important game of dress-up.”
Lian finally gave in and started laughing. “You win, you win! But we are going to try on dresses!”
Lian and I had known each other for the past eight years, ever since her family had moved from Japan. They had placed Lian in the private school that I attended. She was almost always the first person to hear any news, but I would often find out about it as it was happening because of all the time I spent in the back of the library, actually reading, while other people used the seating areas and relative privacy to catch up on gossip. Lian ended up choosing a deep red dress that complemented her black hair and medium complexion. She decided that I needed to wear something emerald green, to “bring out my eyes”, so we headed over to my house, Brock chauffeuring, as per the norm. I raced up the stairs to my room, while Lian followed at a more dignified pace. We went to my closet, which was considerably smaller than Lian’s. I ventured towards the back, where all my nice clothing went and also where I almost never visited. Lian sat down on a stool, waiting for the fashion show to begin.
“Uh, Lian?”
“Yes Blake?”
“How would you define ‘emerald green’?”
“Oh, hold on, I’ll show you!”
“Thank you Lian! You know I would never have made it through the past eight years of my life without disgracing my family if you hadn’t arrived.”
“Yes, I know, you can thank me later,” she grinned, knowing she was just as indebted to me as I was to her. “How about this dress?”
“It’s too short. I outgrew it during the last spurt,”
“Then why is it still in your closet?”
“Because I never venture back here unless you’re with me?”
“Blake, I know you won’t like this, but it’s time.”
“Oh no. Please no, I’m begging you!”
“I have no choice. You have nothing suitable for the ball. We have to go shopping.” Lian pronounced, looking triumphant.
I groaned.
“Okay, I’m here. I’m here, in the clothing store, in the section with all the fluffy dresses. What more do you want from me?” I said, knowing full well what came next. Lian often had to drag me shopping for ball gowns, as I rarely went unless forced.
“Well, a good start would be if you stopped staring longingly at the exit, and concentrated on what you are going to wear,” Lian said, already grabbing dresses off the racks at whirlwind speed.
“Fine. But after we’re done here we’re going to Barnes & Noble. I am in desperate need of new books. I’m not even joking, I think I’ve read every single book in the upstairs library, and most of the classics in the downstairs,” I decreed, knowing she would agree to go, if only to get me to look at the dresses.
We went in search of a dressing room, or rather, I carried a massive amount of dresses and tried to see Lian’s feet around them. Finally we got one and I put down my load and heaved a sigh of relief, quickly followed by a gasp of panic. “Oh. My. Gosh. Look. Over. There. It’s Her,” I breathed at Lian, turning my head and looking down.
“Where?” she asked, looking around.
“Over there, berating that poor sales lady for not having a dress in her size,”
“Oh. There. Do you think she’s seen us?”
“Well, have you heard any screams of, ‘what are these filthy people doing occupying the same space as me?’ coming from that direction? If not, I think we have remained undetected,” I said sarcastically, but not untruthfully. “She” was Camilla, a rather vile and loathsome girl who was our arch-nemesis at school.
“Listen to what she’s saying!”
The conversation was mostly one sided and screechy.
“I need this dress right now! How dare you tell me that you don’t have it in my size! You have it in every other size, why not mine? Don’t give me that, somebody already bought it! I’ll have you know, my daddy owns this company, and I’ll be sure to let him know just how things work here apparently! I have to have this dress by the 31st! I have a very important event! I need this dress!” Camilla screeched then stormed out.
“Good riddance to her!” I muttered, glancing at the still swinging door. “Okay, are we going to try on or not? If not, I’m out of here,” I said to Lian, who was still staring at the door.
“No, of course we’re trying on! But did you hear? She said she had a very important event on the 31st!”
“No way. Not possible. There is no way on this planet that she is going to this ball,” I said, my voice low and annoyed.
“I wonder who all got an invitation….” Lian thought aloud.
“If you, me, and Camilla all got one, whoever it was probably invited just about everybody,”
“Maybe we should tell her we’re going. That would probably be a guarantee to keep her away,”
“Yes, but then we’d have to get within shouting distance of her,”
Lian nodded at this. I begin to walk toward the door, and she followed, deep in thought. As I pushed open the door, she grabbed my elbow and said, “Hey, wait a second, where do you think you’re going? We’re getting you a dress!”
After closing down the store, we walked out, a study in contrasts. Lian’s hair was still perfectly smooth and shiny, she looked the epitome of cool and put together. I, on the other hand, looked a bit like a train had hit me. After the second dress, my already curly hair began to frizz out of control, until it looked like the 80’s had chewed on my hair for a while then decided to give it back. There was good news, however. I had bought a dress! Finally, I could go home and sleep off the shopping binge.
“Hey Lian, can we have a rain check on that Barnes & Noble visit? I think my brain fell out my ear at the twelfth dress, and I’m not sure if I can still read,” I groaned in my exhausted state.
“Sure, sure! Go home and relax! You deserve a reward for shopping for a dress for that long. So go home, eat some chocolate, and take a nap!” Lian ordered.
“Ma’am yes ma’am!” I said as we pulled up to the front gate. We hugged and I walked up the path to my door holding the dress. I opened it, went inside and called for my mom. “Mom? Where are you?”
“I’m in the kitchen!” she called out, her voice getting nearer. “Oh sweetheart I see you have a dress! I suppose Lian had to force you to go shopping again? Anyway, you look tired. Good thing I decided to make some soup! Here, have a bowl, and then it’s straight to bed with you!”
I nodded gratefully. Grabbing a spoon from the drawer, I pulled a stool up to the counter as my mom passed over a steaming bowl of vegetable beef soup and a tall glass of milk. “So had Aimee heard anything about the ball next Saturday?”
“Not much, but she said her daughter, you know, Alissa, from your History class? She received an invitation too, just this afternoon. This is rather late, for a formal ball invitation, isn’t it?”
I nodded, pondering. “Oh, and guess who we ran into at the store! Camilla. Thankfully, she didn’t see us, or our ear drums might’ve burst. She was talking about how she needed a dress for next Saturday, so I’m guessing whoever it was invited just about everybody,”
“Oh well dear, you can find out more tomorrow. Now you need some sleep!”
I trudged up the stairs, walked down the hallway, entered my room and plopped down on my bed. I loved my room. Decorated in shades of blue and green, it was perfectly relaxing. I groaned as I sat up, took out my contacts, got ready for bed, and curled up with my iPod, already half asleep.
The next morning, I woke up to Lian peering at my face, as if wondering whether to wake me up or not. I groaned, saying, “It’s Saturday morning. Do you ever sleep in?” as I glanced at my watch, which told me it was seven o’clock.
“I did sleep in!” she explained as I stumbled out of bed, grabbing the first pair of jeans to come to my fingers and the first shirt that looked reasonable with them. “Usually, I would come by at six! Remember when I did that?”
“Yes, unfortunately, though I’ve tried to block the memories. Six o’clock on a Saturday morning? I thought you knew me better than that,” I said, grinning as I decided what color of Converse I wanted to wear today. “Okay, so what’s on the agenda for today?” I held up the blue plaid pair and the black and red plaid pair, and decided on blue.
“Well, since you seemed so disappointed about not going to Barnes & Noble last night, I decided you could use some quality time with books and coffee! I came right over so we can get an early start!”
“Lian, Barnes & Noble doesn’t open until 9,” I said, jotting down a note to my mom that Lian and I were going out and not to worry.
“Who said we were going to Barnes & Noble?” she said, smiling mischievously.
“My curiosity is piqued! Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise! Now put this on!”
I groaned and blindfolded myself.
“Here we are!” Lian announced excitedly.
“Where is here?”
“Oh, just take off your blindfold!”
I carefully unknotted the fabric strip around my eyes. We had been in the car for an eternity, or about 30 minutes. I stepped out of the car, my knees popping loudly after the long ride, and looked around.
“Lian, you are the best friend in the entire world. Just to let you know,” I said, staring in amazement at my favorite book store, Bats in the Belfry. As the name suggests, this isn’t your average bookstore. First of all, it has an amazing selection, and not one book by Nora Roberts or Danielle Steel. Second, it was a tree house. It was beautiful, sophisticated, weatherproofed, but a tree house nonetheless. A tree house that just happened to sell some of the most amazing coffee and muffins I had ever tasted.
“Lian, once more, you are the best friend a girl could have,”
“Come on, don’t just stand there gawking! We have breakfast to eat, books to read!” Lian said, pulling me through the arbor towards the winding staircase that took you up to the first level, where the coffee shop was.
“Sheba! What are you doing here?” I exclaimed, running over to hug my other friend.
“Blake! It’s so good to see you! Hey Lian!” she said, carefully putting down her latte before jumping up to greet us. “What brings you here so early on this fine morning?”
“Lian woke me up and dragged me here. Well, she didn’t drag me, but she blindfolded me,” I said, laughing. “By the way, how did you get in?”
“You’re mom let me in,” she explained. “I told her that I was kidnapping you and taking you to a bookstore as a reward for all that shopping that you did,”
“Lian made me buy a dress yesterday. Unfortunately, it took several hours,” I explained to Sheba.
“What’s the occasion for dress buying?” Sheba asked.
“Well, we both got these mysterious invitations in the mail that asked us to attend a ball at the-”
“At the White Feather Ballroom, right?” Sheba said, finishing Lian’s sentence.
“Don’t tell me you got one too!” I exclaimed. “It would be easier to find out who isn’t invited! Who do you think they’re from?”
“Well, you should probably keep this on the down low, but you know that boy’s academy down the street?”
We all took a moment to recall how much the scenery improved since they opened.
“Well, I’ve heard they’re hosting it as an opportunity for ‘young gentlemen and ladies of breeding’ to meet and greet!” Sheba said excitedly.
“Oh please say it’s not so!” I groaned. “I don’t know if I can stand another evening of guys ogling at you and Lian, then cozying up to me, not even asking my name, and telling me to introduce them,” I said, recounting what had happened at every ball Lian, Sheba, and I had attended together.
“Hey, be fair to yourself, Blake! That one guy who spilled the punch all over you last time seemed pretty in to you!” Lian said.
“If by “in to me”, you mean his nose was “in to” my cleavage, then yes, he was in to me. He didn’t glance above my chin the entire time. I knew I shouldn’t have let you talk me into that dress,” I said, shuddering at the recollection.
“Okay, well what about Blake?” said Sheba.
“Admittedly, he was hot, but I think he was just fascinated at the thought of a girl having his name,”
“Fine then, what about Kelly?”
“Sheba, darling, he was gay. He told me my dress was fabulous, and that Kate was a cute little munchkin,”
“The point is, guys do come over and talk to you, and not just because you’re gorgeous,” Lian said reassuringly.
I had a sudden coughing fit that sounded a lot like “cleavage guy”.
“Anyway, I don’t think that it’s them. Remember, they had that ball room annex built on, and so they would probably use that instead of The White Feather,” I continued, musing over the subject of the ball.
“Good point. I’ve seen it, the room was really nice,” Sheba said.
“Maybe it’s not the school itself that’s throwing it, but the families,” Lian continued.
“But why not say who’s hosting it? If people don’t know, they might not want their daughters to go to a ball alone,” I said, bemused.
“Oh well, plenty of time to ponder later! Right now we need some muffins and coffee!” Lian said, heading towards the counter. “Do you want a cinnamon apple or banana nut muffin, Blake?”
“Surprise me!”
We spent a pleasant morning at the book store, sitting in the coffee shop, nibbling on muffins and scones, and chatting. At 10, Sheba bid us adieu as she left for a dress fitting. Lian and I ascended the stairs to the next level where all of our favorite books were kept. Lian looked through vintage fashion magazines from the 50’s as I curled up with a new Agatha Christie mystery. I threw down my book, growling as I did so. “Ugh! This is bugging me so much! Who is hosting this ball? I won’t be able to concentrate until I know something!”
“Well then, buy your book! We don’t have to spend the entire day here if you don’t want to!” Lian said, smiling. “I knew you wouldn’t last long with such a mystery hanging above your head. Why don’t we stop by the White Feather Ballroom?”
“Lian, you’re a genius,” I said as I skipped down the stairs.
After another half hour in the car, this time minus the blindfold, we had arrived. “Finally finally finally!” I sang as I skipped up to the door.
I stood by the door, bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet. “Hurry up!” I growled at Lian as she walked calmly up the path.
“I’m coming, be patient!”
Lian finally made it to the door, and I rushed in. The door was open, but all the lights were off. I went through the hallway and walked down the grand staircase which led to the main dancing floor. It was completely empty. I descended the stairs quickly, and began waltzing with myself while humming “The Blue Danube” and twirling around. As Lian came to the foot of the stairs, I bowed to her, and said, grinning, “May I have this dance?” She curtsied in response, and we began to waltz all over the room. After a few bars, we fell to the floor, laughing. We stood, and then walked over to what looked like a sample table. It had silver charger plates and cream colored napkins, and several different sets of silverware, as if someone was trying to decide which one to use. We examined them all, and decided to cast our votes in favor of choice number two, which had birds engraved on the handles. We picked up a note on the table, which was handwritten in hurried but elegant script. It read,
“The silverware and place settings have to be done by Thursday; I would like to look it over before Saturday night. Use the bird silverware,”
“Ohmigosh,” Lian breathed suddenly.
“What is it?”
“I know that handwriting,” she said, her face pale.
Suddenly a strong hand grabbed me from behind and placed a cloth over my face. I struggled, but it was no use. I could see that Lian was already fading into unconsciousness beside me. I needed to ask her, whose handwriting was it? Who wrote that note? Who? The question spun around and around as everything faded to black.
I slowly regained consciousness, my head still spinning. I had a feeling of urgency. I needed to ask somebody something before it was too late. What was the question? Who did I need to ask? And what would happen if I didn’t? I drifted off to sleep with the steady sound of the engine comforting me.
I awoke. Where was I? Why was I tied up? Where was Lian? I struggled to remember, and suddenly it came to me. We were in the ball room, Lian was telling me about the handwriting on a note we had find. Where was Lian? And then we blacked out. I remembered seeing Lian struggling. Who had kidnapped us? Where was I? Where was Lian? And where were we going? I tried to move, but it made me dizzy. Oh no, here we go again I thought as I drifted away.
A sudden stop jerked me from my half sleeping and half drugged state. We had stopped. That meant that we were there, wherever there was. I had finally worked the drugs through my system enough to think clearly again. I took a moment to take in my surroundings. I was in the trunk of a car, but the back row was folded down, so I was half in the trunk and half in the seat. I was facing the wall mostly, so I rolled over, only to find that I was alone. Where was Lian? Did they take her in another car? My thoughts whirled around. I stretched my neck, trying to make out a driver or other occupant of the car. I was alone. I could hear a conversation outside the car. I strained to quiet my breathing so I could hear.
“You idiot, what happened to the plan for Saturday night, at the ball?”
“But she was right there! She saw the note! She said she recognized the handwriting!”
“Alright then, but why did you take both girls?”
“We couldn’t let her friend sound the alarm before we had a chance to get away!”
“You bloody imbecile! The friend would have slowed them down! Eventually, Brock would’ve gone in to investigate instead of immediately sending a team to tail us when he saw you race out of the parking lot! If you had just drugged them both, put the Song girl in your truck and driven off at a reasonable speed, it would’ve taken them forever to figure out what happened!” I let out a silent cheer that Brock knew what was happening, and was probably already figuring out a way to get us out of here.
“Alright, alright, I’m sorry!”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it! Now since the other girl is here, we might as well keep her in the safe room,”
“Okay boss” said my kidnapper as he opened the trunk. I closed my eyes and let my body go limp as he slung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Ugh!” he grunted. “This one needs to lose a few pounds!” My eyes popped open, and from what I could see, my kidnapper had no room to talk. It was all I could do to not let out an involuntary “humph!” of annoyance. I took this opportunity to look around. We were in the middle of nowhere, except for what looked like an old abandoned diner, and I was taken to a back room and tossed on the floor. I lay still after the key clicked in the lock until the footsteps faded away completely, then sat up, and looked around the room. There was Lian! I scrambled over as quickly as I could, and rolled her over. “Lian!” I whispered. “Lian! Are you alright?” She groaned and sat up. “Where are we?” she muttered. “And how did we get here?”
“Well, we’re in a back room in the middle of nowhere, and we were kidnapped at the White Feather Ball Room,” I summarized. Lian rubbed her eyes, trying to remember, or trying to believe what her memory was telling her. “The note!” she exclaimed suddenly. “The handwriting, I recognized it…” her voice trailed off.
“Whose was it?” I exclaimed.
“It was… it was the handwriting of my father’s secretary. But that doesn’t make any sense,”
We stayed still for a moment, thinking.
“Hey, wasn’t there a deal last year about his sister being arrested for something or other? You couldn’t get to school on time because the press was stalking you!”
“Yes, his sister was arrested for arson. She set several government buildings on fire, and there was a scandal about her brother working very closely with the U.S. ambassador. You think it’s for that? He always said he was so ashamed of what his sister did, and he basically disowned her. So why is he doing this? Is it really him behind this? Just because it was his writing….” Lian’s voice faded as she tried to find a way around this.
“So, what happens next?”
My question hung in the air as we sat together in the dark, waiting to find out. We sat and waited, not saying a word. Suddenly, Lian broke the silence. “Blake, I am so sorry. All of this is my fault,”
“No it’s not. It’s not like you asked to be kidnapped. It’s not like you wanted this to happen,” I responded quickly.
“I’m glad you’re here. I mean, I wish you were safe, but I’m glad I’m not alone,”
“Me too, Lian. Me too.” I muttered, half to myself.
I jerked awake at the sound of a gunshot. Lian sat next to me, her eyes wide and frightened. There was nothing we could do. We couldn’t move, we couldn’t speak. Another shot rang out. Then another, and another. We huddled together in the corner, sitting, waiting, wishing as our tears dripped onto the floor.
We sat there for I don’t know how long, not daring to move, not daring to think, barely able to breathe. What had happened? Where were our kidnappers? Where were our rescuers? How long would we stay here, in the dark?
A sliver of light pierced through the darkness, stabbing our eyes. We shrank back, away from the light under the door.
“Hey, I think I found something!” A male voice called out. Another pair of boots walked up to the door, and the light grew stronger. Were we going to be rescued? I reached for Lian’s hand and squeezed it for reassurance. Someone tried the door and realized it was locked. “It’s a simple enough lock, Captain. I can get it open once I grab my kit,” The Captain grunted, not waiting for a kit and gave the door a kick. We both jumped at the sound, even though we knew this was a rescue mission. Another kick and the door was swinging open, a section of the frame lying on the floor. Two flashlights began a methodical sweeping of the large store room. They began to head in our direction. A beam swept right up to our feet, and the next pass uncovered us from the darkness. “Here we are” he muttered to himself. I guessed it was the Captain. “Lieutenant! Get over here!” he barked. “Hello, my name’s Captain White. It’s alright; your kidnappers are under arrest. We’re here to take you back home,” he said in a calming, gravelly voice. “It’s alright. We’re taking you back home,”
We had never heard such beautiful words.
It was night outside. Other than that, I don’t remember much of the ride back. We got into a silver sedan of some sort, and Captain White was driving. “It’s going to be fine. We’re taking you home,” he kept repeating. Neither Lian nor I could summon up a response, so we just sat there, still gripping each other as if our lives depended on it.
We arrived at the police station half an hour later. Captain White parked the car, then came around to open the door for us. It was as much a reminder to get out of the car as a polite gesture. We got out, mechanically following Captain White. We walked up the steps, went through the double doors, and followed him to an office. “You girls wait here. I’ll get some food. You must be hungry by now,” Captain White said, pulling chairs up to a table for us. We nodded our thanks, but remained standing. He soon came back with two sandwiches. He handed them over, saying, “I hope you like turkey and rye with lots of mustard. That’s the one failing of the sandwiches here, always too much mustard,” he continued, seeming totally at ease with this one sided conversation. We unwrapped the sandwiches and began eating automatically. “Your families will be here soon,” he said casually, watching our expressions carefully. We both immediately looked up from our sandwiches, our faces hopeful. “They should be here by the time you’re done eating,” We resumed munching on the sandwiches, this time with a little more attention to what we were eating. Captain White was right. The sandwiches were slathered thickly with mustard, but I liked them that way. When we finished, we threw away the wrappers and looked expectantly at Captain White. He chuckled. “Come on. Your families just arrived,” he said as he led the way out. We walked along, slightly tentatively, still huddling together. We emerged in a waiting room, our families sitting there looking anxious. Most of my memory from then is a blur, but I remember that my mother was sitting in a corner, quietly crying, Lian’s mother sitting next to her, the tears falling fast and thick. My father sat in a chair by Lian’s father, the occasional tear dripping from their eyes too. My brother Kaleb paced the floor, and was the first to see us. He seemed to leap across the space between us and gathered me and Lian up in a hug. There was much crying and hugging, among both families. Afterwards we went into the parking lot. I checked my watch. It was 10:30. The families separated, each going to their respective houses. After saying good night to my family, I went up into my room. The calm blues and greens welcomed me back. I sat down on my bed, knowing I wasn’t going to be doing much sleeping tonight. I took a deep breath and flopped backwards. I grabbed my iPod and started listening. I lay there in my bed with the lights on, trying to escape my dreams.
I woke up at noon on Monday, still wearing the clothing I had put on Saturday morning. I stretched, yawning, and shambled towards the door. I began walking down the stairs when I remembered. I stopped dead in my tracks, swaying for a moment. I resumed walking down the stairs, feeling very tired despite all the sleep. I got a bowl of cereal when my mom came down the stairs. “Oh, good morning! I didn’t think you would be awake yet!” she said, looking a little anxiously at me. I finished my cereal wordlessly, then wandered off to the library, my favorite room in the house. I spent the entire day just sitting around, not really doing anything. I knew that all my friends from school would be worried, but I couldn’t truly bring myself to talk to anybody yet. The phone was ringing off the wall from family friends and school friends, but I didn’t want to hear the awkward pauses and awkward questions from my anxious friends. I turned my cell phone off and sat in the library nook, listening to music. I felt like I should be doing something, but I knew there wasn’t anything else I could do. I tried to read, but found I could only read the books that I already knew by heart. I picked up Black Beauty and opened the worn cover again. I stayed in the library, preferring the light and warmth and the smell of old books to going back to my room, where I would have no choice but to remember.
The next morning I woke up, my pillow wet with tears. Kaleb must have carried me to my room. I had dreamt of being locked in the store room, except Captain White never came. We were stuck there, forever. I went into the bathroom, wiping the sleep from my eyes, wondering how long this would haunt me. I shook my head, hoping my thoughts would fall back into their normal position. I glanced at my blurry reflection in the mirror and washed my face. The water woke me up and the rough surface of the towel brought me back o earth. I walked down the stairs with my head held high, to find my mother in the kitchen, watching me anxiously. She gave me a bowl of cereal, and I began munching.
“Blakely, it’s perfectly fine if you aren’t ready, but the police want to ask you some questions if you feel up to it,”
I nodded, swallowed my bite of cereal, and responded, “Sure. Just let me change clothes, and we can go.”
My mother nodded her eyes misty. She hugged me tightly again. “You’re brother is upstairs. You can wake him up; he wants to see you,”
“Wow, you mean he won’t bite my head off if I wake him up?”
My mother laughed, smiling a little sadly. “You’re so brave Blakely. You know it’s alright. You don’t always have to be cheerful,”
“I know Mom. It’s just…I don’t want them to win by making us afraid. What they did was to scare us, and I don’t want them to succeed. If I can do that by laughing and smiling, then so be it.”
She smiled fondly. “You have such fight in you. I’m glad Lian had you.”
I smiled as I went upstairs to wake my brother. “Kaleb!” I called as I bounced onto his bed. “It’s morning, the sun is shining!”
“Ugh, go back to bed, you goofball. You’re supposed to be quiet and timid after a traumatic experience.”
“Yes, but since when have I followed the norm, dear brother?”
“Good point. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Well, maybe an hour more sleep.”
“Come on! Are you going to come with me or not?” I said, bouncing up and down.
“Fine, I’m coming, I’m coming.”
“Yay!” I said and skipped out. I went to my room and put on my favorite pair of jeans and a hoodie, and grabbed my converse with the Sudoku pattern. I walked out the door, and almost collided with my brother. I was about to back up when he hugged me and said, “I’m glad you’re not quiet and timid. That would just be weird. And I’m very glad you’re still my goofy little sister.”
“Me too. And I’m glad you came. How did you get off duty so fast?” My brother worked for the coast guard and it always took forever for him to get off duty and rearrange the schedules.
“Well, I told my commanding officer that I was going home because my baby sister got kidnapped, and he could either give me leave or not, but either way I was going. He decided to give me some leave, and he told me to tell you to plan your kidnappings in advance,”
“Well, I try, but you know how I am with schedules,” we laughed as we descended the stairs. We met Mom there and went over to the police station. “Hello Captain White!” I called out, seeing him scaling the steps in front of us. “I see you’re a bit chattier this time!” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “Yes, I am. I hear you had some questions?”
“Yes, we just want you to tell us a bit about what happened when you were kidnapped. It won’t take long.”
“Am I allowed to ask questions?”
“Well, depends. What’s the question?”
“I heard the kidnappers talking about the original plan for Saturday night. What were they planning?” By this time, we had reached the interview room, so I walked in.
“Your family can come in or stay outside, your choice,” Captain White answered to my unspoken question.
“We’ll wait out here for you, okay?” my mother said quickly, giving me squeeze around the shoulders.
“Don’t mess this up, goofball!”
I walked in and sat down at the table. He asked a lot of questions about the kidnapping and when I woke up, and about whether I could identify the man in the car with me. I said I thought I could, so we went into another room where there was a lineup. “Him. That’s him. Number 7.”
“Thank you very much, Blakely! You’ve been a great help. Now to explain what’s going on. Well, the secretary’s original plan with the ball was to wait until everybody was inside, kidnap Lian, and burn the place to the ground, similar to what his sister did,”
“So it was the secretary?”
“Yes, he said it was vengeance for his sister. But now Blakely, you need to go home and rest. You’ve been very brave about this, and you’re doing very well, but you can’t avoid the effects forever.”
I nodded as we went back to the room with my family. “We can leave now! Oh, and Captain White! Is Lian coming in for questioning today too?”
“Yes, she’s coming in later,”
“Okay. Thank you!”
I spent the rest of the day not doing much of anything. I tried to read, but even my favorite books held no interest for me today. I tried to watch TV, but there wasn’t anything on that I wanted to watch. I ended up just listening to music and waiting for nightfall.
The night came, and I got ready for bed, as usual. I sat down on my bed and turned off my lamp. I sat there for a moment in the dark. I quickly reached out and turned on my lamp. I couldn’t turn out my lights. When I was young, I was scared of the dark, and most nights I would end up going into my brother’s room, and he would tell me stories. Sometimes he would read from a book, and other times he would make them up. He often would take on the father role because Dad was away so often. He would tell me story after story until I finally fell asleep, then he would carry me back to my bed and tuck me in. I ghosted along the hallway, trying to walk quietly. Kaleb was already sitting there with a book. I smiled. Kaleb whispered, “Okay, one change. I don’t think I can carry you back to bed anymore.” I laughed, and sat down on the edge of his bed. He started the story. “Okay, once upon a time, there was a girl. Her name was Blakely…”
If you're reading this, you have a great deal of patience. Thank you for reading my story! And please, don't steal it and say it's yours. It's mine, I wrote it, I thought it up, I typed it, go make your own story. Thank you!!!!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Saturday Morning
Saturday mornings. My favorite time. Well, maybe not always, but this was a beautiful morning. It's kinda cloudy outside, but inside it's warm and cosy. I woke up at 10, lazed around, wrote a little bit on my short story. It's called "The White Feather". (See Mr. Johnson! I did pay atention when you told us how to denote a short story's title!) I'll publish it on here when I'm done. I've been doing some knitting on the clapotis. We have reached a better understanding since the last post, and it's going well. I've dropped the 4th stitch and am well on my way to the 5th! Check out my flickr for pretty pictures. http://www.flickr.com/photos/27742454@N02/
Wheeee!!!!!!!! I love the clapotis it really is a lot of fun to knit!!!!! AN di played my flute today! I've missed it so much! Now I need to play the piano some more.... I want to take dance..... Irish dance! I'm irish, and apparently I look the part, or at the very least I look Scottish, especially when I have my hair in braids. I have long brown curly hair and pale skin and a round face, so I'm just your typical irish/scottish girl. I really want to visit Ireland, it's gorgeous there...... I'm sorry, I'm really hyper, so this post is probably a bit disjointed. I'll try to fix all the typos, but I can't type al that well on a good day, so there's not much hope....... lol but yeah! Happy knitting to one and all!
Wheeee!!!!!!!! I love the clapotis it really is a lot of fun to knit!!!!! AN di played my flute today! I've missed it so much! Now I need to play the piano some more.... I want to take dance..... Irish dance! I'm irish, and apparently I look the part, or at the very least I look Scottish, especially when I have my hair in braids. I have long brown curly hair and pale skin and a round face, so I'm just your typical irish/scottish girl. I really want to visit Ireland, it's gorgeous there...... I'm sorry, I'm really hyper, so this post is probably a bit disjointed. I'll try to fix all the typos, but I can't type al that well on a good day, so there's not much hope....... lol but yeah! Happy knitting to one and all!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The Never Ending Scarf.....
I might go crazy soon. You see, I'm knitting the Clapotis from knitty.com and while it's a beautiful pattern, it isn't one of the most fascinating knits. I mean, I guess I'm kinda glad that it's not that complicated, but I dunno...... but I really do love that pattern and I know Mom will love it! And, shockingly enough, I have pretty pretty pictures that are actually really bad quality because I took them with my phone! (My English teacher would kill me for that sentence.)(Mr.Johnson if you're reading this I am definitely not one of your students) :D
Snap. My computer has decided that I am the source of all evil and wants to punish me.......... they were really cool pictures! I'm doing my clapotis in Noro color 220! It's really pretty....... And! Song alert! I love adore, am amazed by, and worship the song "One Last Drink" by Enter The Haggis!! It's happy and cheerful!! But I venerate this song and might someday end up building a shrine to it. It makes me :D.
Snap. My computer has decided that I am the source of all evil and wants to punish me.......... they were really cool pictures! I'm doing my clapotis in Noro color 220! It's really pretty....... And! Song alert! I love adore, am amazed by, and worship the song "One Last Drink" by Enter The Haggis!! It's happy and cheerful!! But I venerate this song and might someday end up building a shrine to it. It makes me :D.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
73 days......
I know it's September 13th. I know this. I know that Christmas is in 73 days. All of this I know. So why am I listening to Christmas music?? Admittedly, in my opinion, Christmas music is appropriate at any time of year, and it's one of my favorite types of music, but get real now. 73 days. Maybe I'm sending myself a subliminal message to hurry up with the Christmas knitting...... hm..... Ohh!!!!! Guess what!!!! I got yarn!!!!It's beautiful..... it's the Elsebeth Lavold stuff, five skeins of each of her Angora and Cashsilk in Turquoise and Night Sky. It makes me so happy..... it's all nice and soft and snuggly...... and it was dirt cheap! I got all of it for $45! That's 10 skeins of cashmere and sik and angora yumminess.........but this is a short post because one of my friends is having a surprise birthday party so laters!!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Autumn!!!
I love autumn! It makes me so happy.... I love how it's nice and chilly, and you get to wear sweaters, and warm coats, and wonderfulness! And it means that it's almost snowy cold time!!! I love love love love love love love LOVE!!!!!! autumn! It's so crispy and cold and snappy and crucnchy and it means it's almost Christmas and Thanksgiving and the times when people give me yarn. :D As sad as it is, I'm already listening to Christmas music and the old Christmas episodes of Cast On and Lime n Violet and I'm planning Christmas knitting. The Clapotis for my mom is beautiful. It's in Noro and it. Is. Amazing. It's like it's not really me knitting it, it's like the knitting is flowing through me. I know, I'm a dork. Oh, and by the way, I am so sorry about getting all pissy on you yesterday. I was just kinda mad and annoyed and didn't want to deal with it but I am better now. So I apologize for rawrring at you. I feel better now. And! I have decided. I really want to make a sweater........ really really bad........ and socks..... I think it's because of the cold weather. But I shall satisfy myself by knitting socks for my dad and mittens for my mom and maybe, just maybe, once I'm done with all else or am about to tear out my hair, I'll find a sweater pattern..... and maybe make a little "swatch" that has oh, about the number of stitches as are in the back of the sweater..... but that's just an idea...... :D
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Apologies, apologies...
My computer hates me. It really really does. But that isn't what stopped me from putting up my drawings. It's because I'm a lazy bum. Well, technically, no, I have been busy. As in, my schedule goes something like this.
6:00 A.M. Wake up for choir practice (Tuesdays and Thursdays)
7:00 A.M. Get to school and sing for an hour.
2:45 P.M. School is over if we don't have a science lab or my teacher doesn't want us to stay late
3:30 P.M. Head on over to the athletic center for fencing
4:45 P.M. Get out of fencing
5:00 P.M. Get home and start homework
6:00 or 7:00 P.M. Eat dinner
7:30 or 8:00 P.M. Do more homework
10:00 or so Fall into bed, not even bothering to change into pj's.
You'll notice, nowhere in there is there knitting time. Occasionally, if the fates smile upon me, I can knit some after homework is done and before I fall asleep, but by then, I'm too tired to even do my clapotis, which takes energy and brain power. But I'm really sorry about not posting in awhileand not putting up my drawings, I even have a pretty cool one of a panda, but I will do that. Anyway, onto more cheerful topics! I am going to blather on and on about fencing for most of the rest of this post, so if that doesn't interest you, go look at the pretty yarn at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5083940
Are they gone now you think??
I hope so.....
Anyway! Fencing! I love it, adore it, worship it, live it, breathe it, eat it, want to have babies with it. Well, maybe that's going a little too far. But I still idolize, revere, and venerate it. Okay, so there are three types of swords in fencing. The foil, the saber, and the epee. (pronounced ep as in schlepp and ay as in hay. Put it together and you have schlepphay! I mean epee.....) We started off with the foil, and learned some basic footwork and parries and such. Now, in our last fencing lesson, we got to choose whether we wanted to work with epee, foil, or saber! The day before, coach had been watching me fence, and she was talking with one of the older students about how I scored like an epee. So when I walked up, coach looked at me and just told me epee, which was pretty cool. And with epee, you can score a point on any part of the body, even the ungloved hand, but your main target is your opponent's sword arm. And so, we all split up into our groups and we had Scotty, who is really good at fencing, and has been to real fencing competitions and has his own equipment, uses the epee, so coach put him in charge of our group. Also, Scotty, whom I enjoy calling leprechaun man because he's short and has red hair, is really funny,and he was explaining that with the epee, you don't have as many rules, and all, and about beats, which are, and I quote, "man parries", which I thought rather humorous, and it was just alot of fun. And apparently I don't bruise because a couple other girls on my fencing class were talking about how they had all these bruises from fencing, and I had none..... but, while we're on the subject of injuries, let's have an injury update! I have two current bruises, and both are rather nasty. One is on my upper arm because I tried to slam a car door on my arm. Not a good idea..... kinda painful..... and the other is on my foot, where I dropped my freakin' HUGE history book. And I managed to drop it so that the corners would hit my foot, so although most of the bruise has faded, there are two little dark spots where the corners hit. Yes, I do posess mad skillz. But that's really all my current injuries...... but now I have more excitingness! I was bored this afternoon, so I decided to make some lip balm, the Soft Honey Lip Balm from CraftBits.com because I always have really bad chapped lips in the winter and I was feeling independent and creative..... oh well, it wasn't that messy, and it turned out pretty well! But I'm going to go eat now so I don't faint on the keyboard and accidentally delete this entire post and then cry..... lol so I'm Chandler, signing off!
6:00 A.M. Wake up for choir practice (Tuesdays and Thursdays)
7:00 A.M. Get to school and sing for an hour.
2:45 P.M. School is over if we don't have a science lab or my teacher doesn't want us to stay late
3:30 P.M. Head on over to the athletic center for fencing
4:45 P.M. Get out of fencing
5:00 P.M. Get home and start homework
6:00 or 7:00 P.M. Eat dinner
7:30 or 8:00 P.M. Do more homework
10:00 or so Fall into bed, not even bothering to change into pj's.
You'll notice, nowhere in there is there knitting time. Occasionally, if the fates smile upon me, I can knit some after homework is done and before I fall asleep, but by then, I'm too tired to even do my clapotis, which takes energy and brain power. But I'm really sorry about not posting in awhileand not putting up my drawings, I even have a pretty cool one of a panda, but I will do that. Anyway, onto more cheerful topics! I am going to blather on and on about fencing for most of the rest of this post, so if that doesn't interest you, go look at the pretty yarn at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5083940
Are they gone now you think??
I hope so.....
Anyway! Fencing! I love it, adore it, worship it, live it, breathe it, eat it, want to have babies with it. Well, maybe that's going a little too far. But I still idolize, revere, and venerate it. Okay, so there are three types of swords in fencing. The foil, the saber, and the epee. (pronounced ep as in schlepp and ay as in hay. Put it together and you have schlepphay! I mean epee.....) We started off with the foil, and learned some basic footwork and parries and such. Now, in our last fencing lesson, we got to choose whether we wanted to work with epee, foil, or saber! The day before, coach had been watching me fence, and she was talking with one of the older students about how I scored like an epee. So when I walked up, coach looked at me and just told me epee, which was pretty cool. And with epee, you can score a point on any part of the body, even the ungloved hand, but your main target is your opponent's sword arm. And so, we all split up into our groups and we had Scotty, who is really good at fencing, and has been to real fencing competitions and has his own equipment, uses the epee, so coach put him in charge of our group. Also, Scotty, whom I enjoy calling leprechaun man because he's short and has red hair, is really funny,and he was explaining that with the epee, you don't have as many rules, and all, and about beats, which are, and I quote, "man parries", which I thought rather humorous, and it was just alot of fun. And apparently I don't bruise because a couple other girls on my fencing class were talking about how they had all these bruises from fencing, and I had none..... but, while we're on the subject of injuries, let's have an injury update! I have two current bruises, and both are rather nasty. One is on my upper arm because I tried to slam a car door on my arm. Not a good idea..... kinda painful..... and the other is on my foot, where I dropped my freakin' HUGE history book. And I managed to drop it so that the corners would hit my foot, so although most of the bruise has faded, there are two little dark spots where the corners hit. Yes, I do posess mad skillz. But that's really all my current injuries...... but now I have more excitingness! I was bored this afternoon, so I decided to make some lip balm, the Soft Honey Lip Balm from CraftBits.com because I always have really bad chapped lips in the winter and I was feeling independent and creative..... oh well, it wasn't that messy, and it turned out pretty well! But I'm going to go eat now so I don't faint on the keyboard and accidentally delete this entire post and then cry..... lol so I'm Chandler, signing off!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Exciting!
Okay, I realized that I wasn't really doing anyhting on here and I was kinda bored with it. I mean, I didn't really have any inspiration to write, so I had a random and awesome idea. Instead of just writing, I can put up some random doodles that I've done! I don't really draw, but I love copying pictures or ideas that I see. So I'll try to put up a doodle everyday, but if that doesn't happen, I'll just put them out as often as I can. They're probably not going to be that great, but oh well. It's fun! Some of them are going to be really random, and I'll probably put up a story with each about how I came up with it or something about it. I really like frogs and animals, so that's probably the subject of most of the drawings. I'll put up one of my drawings later today as soon as I figure out my computer. Which could take a while.
Okay, I just realized, I forgot to update about everything else since I was so excited about the drawing thing. Several exciting things have happened. First, I bought one of the more sngularly beautiful books I have ever seen. It's called Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby, and I love it. Not only is it a wealth of knowlege about lace, it also speaks of the designers and the era and what influenced the designs. which I adore. I really do love that when I knit, I'm doing something people have been doing for thousands and thousands of years to keep the people they love warm. Right now I'm knitting a pair of mittens for my mother, and it makes me think of the Norwegian girls who would start knitting mittens for their dowries, and the ones they didn't use then would be given to people at their funeral, and they made hundreds of mittens, all in amazingly complex colorwork. It just amazes me. Oh snap, I did it again. Major tangent wandering there. Anyway, that book is amazing, and now I have a sudden urge to knit lace except for one small thing. My lace weight yarn (Baruffa Fa Re) looks like this.
Okay, I just realized, I forgot to update about everything else since I was so excited about the drawing thing. Several exciting things have happened. First, I bought one of the more sngularly beautiful books I have ever seen. It's called Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby, and I love it. Not only is it a wealth of knowlege about lace, it also speaks of the designers and the era and what influenced the designs. which I adore. I really do love that when I knit, I'm doing something people have been doing for thousands and thousands of years to keep the people they love warm. Right now I'm knitting a pair of mittens for my mother, and it makes me think of the Norwegian girls who would start knitting mittens for their dowries, and the ones they didn't use then would be given to people at their funeral, and they made hundreds of mittens, all in amazingly complex colorwork. It just amazes me. Oh snap, I did it again. Major tangent wandering there. Anyway, that book is amazing, and now I have a sudden urge to knit lace except for one small thing. My lace weight yarn (Baruffa Fa Re) looks like this.
Yes. A big, giant, tangly mess. Admittedly, it's not as bad as it looks, but it takes some doing to get it untangled. So that project will be postponed for a while....... So I'm knitting my mom a Clapotis a a pair of mittens, some legwarmers for my sister, and a pair of socks for my dad. And yes, I know my mom has two gifts, it's because her birthday is December 11th, so it counts as Christmas knitting. I'm on the very last bit of the thumb on the first mitten, and I just got to the straight rows in the Clapotis, so they're progressing nicely. Admittedly, I haven't even started my dad's socks or my sister's legwarmers, but that's just because I don't have the yarn yet, and neither will take too long. Hopefully. Oh no now the angst cometh...... it's only just now September, you have plenty of time. Take a deep breath.... I'm fine..... lol Hahaha yes! i just finished the first mitten for my mom and it fits perfectly!! *heaves sigh of relief* Now for the second...... Oh right I have other news! I really really REALLY want the book Handknit Holidays..... and specifically, I want the pattern for the stockings. I have this outfit picked out already, where the stockings are natural colored, with my brown skirt, and probably my green minty colored shirt..... I'm such a dork.. :D
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
I'm back......
I'm back!! Finally finally FINALLY!!!!! I spent 16 entire days in the car with my family. It was so much fun. I took TONS of pictures! Unfortunateley for you, I haven't downloaded them yet, so someday I'll put them here..... maybe..... if I'm not lazy. hee hee which I probably will be.... wait! I could be smart and just give you the link to my flickr and I put some pictures on there! GENIUS! Anyway, guess what!!!!!!! I finished a project!!! La la la LA la la! It was the Anthropologie inspired capelet except I knit it in cotton. It's white! And it makes me so happy! The only problem is I'm having problems keeping the button band from curling under. Grrrr......... but that was the only knitting project I brought, but I still had most of the cone of white cotton, so I knit a clutch on garter stitch. It's really stretchy, so I'm going to line it with some cute green or blue fabric and put in some pockets. I'm probably going to sell it or gift it to some random person *insert random fantasy where I walk up to some random person on the street who looks in need of a purse and hand it to them* that would be really funny. Oh, but something else. I am in yarn hell. I have this beautiful amazing laceweight cashmerino that I bought forever ago but didn't have it skeined or balled so now it is a MESS. meh..... I am untangling very fragile and slightly fluffy laceweight yarn. It's like going through every single piece of hay in a haystack to find a needle and then you realize that your hay is tangled together and will not give up the needle without a HUGE fight. But now I'm done complaining about that. Anyway. Umm.... I say anyway alot, don't I?? Hmm..... Sudden peanut butter craving...... sorry, TMI lol Yeah, I got nothing. That's all for now!
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27742454@N02/sets/72157606662588762/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27742454@N02/sets/72157606662588762/
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Birthday!
Okay, okay, I admit. Today isn't my birthday. But it's close! In 4 days! I decided to do my birthday post now instead of after I get back because my birthday's a lot closer now. But I'm going to do another one when I get back about what happened on my birthday. But, I have big exciting news!! Okay, maybe not really big, but exciting nonetheless! Yesterday, I was sitting in the kitchen, and I saw a familiar looking bag. And then, within the clear plastic bag, I glimpsed something blue. lol Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. :D But anyway, it was dome beautiul blue yarn, and the bag it was in was from one of my darling LYS's (Local Yarn Shop) called The Gourmet Yarn Co. Ah such excitement and anticipation! This isn't a very long post because we just finished packing and I am exhausted and want to SLEEP...... but I have yet more packing.... seriously, does it ever end??
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Firsties!
So, this is my first blog post, and I managed to plan it so that I'll be leaving in a few days. *sigh* but right now, I'm swatching for the Anthropologie Inspired Capeplet, except I'm making it in cotton so it will be more summery. Summery? That doesn't look like a word....... I might just be crazy...... there's summary, but I don't know about summery.... wait, it is a word. I checked on dictionary.com which is one os my favorite sites because it makes me feel smart. lol but yeah, the capelet. I adore it, and so I searched on Ravelry to see if there was a cotton version, and happily enough there was! I'm making it out of a cone of white Peaches & Creme cotton. That and Sugar & Cream cotton are my two favorite cotton yarns. My favorite current yarn however is not cotton. it is a lovely alpacca worsted weight that makes me weep tears of joy. Well, not quite, but still. And the worst part is, I don't know the brand. It's the most beautiful yarn. Well, that and my amazing Twinkle Handknits super bulky pure wool that makes me swoon. I knit a delectable hat from the Twinkle Handknits and some delicious wristwarmers from my alpacca. It makes me really sad that I can't figure out what it is, but oh well. I still adore it and it makes me happy. And I had an amazing discovery about my wristwarmers. I was washing my hands and accidentally splashed some water on them, and the water just sat there! I then proceeded to dip them in and out of the water while wearing them and my hands didn't even get a little wet!!! This was very exciting for me, but I suppose it's pretty commonplace that yarns with haloes shed water, but it was exciting to see it in action. :D another thing that I enjoy is definitely making amigurumi. Right now I'm orking on two dolls, a ninja and a muse. I'm constructing them in entire opposites, but it's okay. We appreciate their diversity. Other crocheted items include a tree stump pin cushion, a cat, an elephant, and various and sundry UFO's. Yes, I would like to say I'm perfect and have no unfinished objects, but alas, then I would be lying my guts out. Well, I'm going to leave you all now and try to decide what projects to pack with me. Decisions, decisions.........
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