How I Met Stanley Yelnats, extended
By Stanley Yelnats IV
So, you've read "How I met Stanley Yelnats", huh? I thought so. That's good. But did you know that there was more to the story? Neither did I. When Deyna showed me the story, I couldn't remember most of it. Later on, after our second set of twins was born, Deyna confessed that the rendition was slightly inaccurate. She had soaped it up a bit to make it more exciting. She meant to write the real story down, but after her left arm was broken, it wasn't possible. So here I am, writing her story for her. You'll notice the narratives switching between her and myself, because I want to be a part of this story as well. After all, I am the star...aren't I? Deyna, quit laughing!
-----
Stanley's POV
The bell rang as I got up from my desk in math class and walked into the hall. My face was still red from the humiliation of the weight ratio that the teacher had done with me and another kid. I stuffed my books inside my locker and slammed it shut. A paper flew from my locker and fluttered to the floor. I picked it up and looked to see what it was. It was a drawing I had done about half a year ago of a pretty girl from school. Her hair was reddish-brown and her grin was teasing. Every time I had seen her in the hallway, she smiled and waved. I had some hope that we would get together, but five months ago, she disappeared. No one really knew what happened to her, except that she went to be with her father. I stroked the pencil drawn face and smiled. The bell rang, announcing the end of school, so I folded the picture up and put it in my notebook, then I headed out the door.
Derrick Dunne, the school bully, walked up to me. While teasing me about my name, he grabbed my notebook and ran down the hall. I chased him to the boy's bathroom where I found my notebook in the toilet. I grimaced, and bent to retrieve it. The drawing of the pretty girl was at the bottom of the bowl, completely soaked with water. I sighed, and flushed it down the toilet. She was gone forever.
I left the bathroom and headed for home.
-----
Deyna's POV
My father had been gone for years. I was born when my parents were still in college, and when my father was kicked out of school for cheating, we went with him. I don't remember much about that time in my life. I remember my grandparents, and a doctor.
When I was two, I remember being told that Mommy wasn't here anymore. My grandparents told me that I started sucking my thumb, and had hugged my father's knee. But I never cried. It wasn't until I was older that I finally realized that she was gone forever. But I never cried. As I grew, I would stub my toe and get bitten by ants. But I never cried. I was a tomboy, and tomboys never cried about anything. I was a tough girl, and proud of it.
When I had just finished elementary school, my father left me. He had gotten a job in west Texas. Where, he would not say. He left me with my grandparents and kissed my forehead before he left. But I never cried. I stood on the front porch and watched him go. He wrote me once. He said that he would send for me when he could make the arrangements. My grandparents didn't believe him, but I had to have something to hope for. Each night, I straightened out the letter's creases and re-read the words.
During my first year of high school, a dusty old bus came to my school and picked me up. After they explained that my father was waiting for me, I ran down the steps shouting "I'm going to see my daddy!" I felt a little silly, but I was never going to see that school again. The bus ride turned out to be 9 hours long. I settled down in my seat and fell asleep.
A rough arm shook me awake. "Get up, girly." I woke up to see the guard standing over me. He held a red knit stretch hat in his hand, and a corset bra in the other. I twisted my medium length hair into a bun and stuffed the hat on. I turned red as I took the second object and waited until he had walked away to put it on. I was already skinny, but the bra flattened my chest out enough for it to look like a boy's chest. I looked around at the place we had stopped at. It was dusty and orange. I was glad I didn't have asthma.
I followed the guard into an office and sat down in a chair. A scary looking man turned around and took a puff of his cigarette. He blew the smoke in my face. I coughed. I was allergic to cigarette smoke.
He cackled a laugh and picked up his hat. "Come on, kid." I followed him to a cabin on the edge of the camp. It had a tree outside of it, and thick bed of grass around it. The man opened the front door and led me inside.
"Dad!" I grabbed the strong figure sitting on the couch and buried my head in his shirt collar. He hugged me back and touched my head, like he used to. I felt like crying, but I didn't. He did, however, and it spilled onto my shirt.
"My beautiful Deyna. You've grown!"
A red-haired woman stood next to the couch. She studied my face. "You look just like her." She shook her head as if she was shaking out an image. After Pendanski and the other man left, she confronted me. "Just because you are Pendanski's daughter, doesn't mean that you will get special treatment. You're my housekeeper now. You will obey my every command without question. Is that understood?" I nodded. "There's dishes in the kitchen that need to be washed. Get to it." I jumped up and started on my task.
Over the next few months, I was the Warden's servant. When I dug my first hole, she laughed at my blisters. But I never cried. When she made me help her make her special nail polish with rattlesnake venom, I got bitten by one. She had the anecdote and I recovered. But I never cried. I had no friends, and didn't even know what the other campers looked like. But I never cried.
I spent my evenings with Pendanski. We played cards in the cafeteria after all of the boys had gone to bed. He always lost on purpose so I would win. Then we would sit on the floor and I would fall asleep in his arms.
But good stories always end. After five months had passed, the Warden became short tempered with me. I hadn't the slightest idea why. I started dusting her make-up cabinet, as I usually did, when I accidentally knocked over her special nail polish. It tumbled to the floor and broke, spilling between the floorboards.
At that precise moment, the Warden and Pendanski walked in. The Warden cursed and told me to get out. I did, but stayed to listen.
"She has to get out, Pendanski."
"Why, Lou? She's done nothing wrong."
"I can't take it anymore. Seeing her face every single day. It's almost as if Alayna was back from the dead."
"Well, what do you propose we do?"
"You couldn't just send her back home?"
Pendanski's voice was firm. "No. Not again."
"Very well. She will disguise as a camper."
And that's just what we did.