Sunday, July 17, 2004

I've just found this book. It was in the attic, in a box. I was so bored I had to resort to that. I must be bored. Isn't summer supposed to be fun?

Anyway, I found this book full of empty pages, and it just... I don't know, called to me? Well, it would be something to do anyway. So here I am.

Where should I start? Okay, here it goes. My name is Adrienne Vintandi. I will be thirteen in one month, 2 weeks, and one day, on August 31.My family consists of my mum, dad, and my ten-year-old brother Scott, and me (of course).We all moved to Heshnai at the beginning of the summer, because my dad's mum is ill and needs care. Dad was born here, and speaks Heshnaien fluently. As for me, I could never speak it for the world!

We still have boxes all over the house, even though we moved in a whole month ago. It's driving me nuts, having a box for a dresser. I really need to get organized.

I refuse to go to school in the fall. Here are three very good reasons why:

I don NOT speak Heshnaien.

It'll be dead cold by the end of September, since Heshnai is so, stupidly far north in Europe.

And to top it off, I know a total of... hmm... four people in this country- my mum, my dad, Scott, and my Grandmother. I am doomed for sure.

I miss Florida. I had friends, everyone spoke English, and it was warm. It's only 63 degrees here, and it's summer! The only good thing to say about Heshnai is that is never gets dark. Oh, but then in the winter, it'll hardly get light, so I take that back. This sucks.

Drats! I have to go have a grand dinner of macaroni and cheese! (For the fourth night in a row) Wahoo!

-Adrienne, who loves Florida and hates Heshnai

Monday, July 18, 2004

Today was actually fun! (Fun compared to the usual boring nothing) In the morning, my family walked to Grandmother's old bungalow. She had a nurse watching over her. When we go there, Grandmother said something in Heshnaien and my dad translated, blushing, "I hat that bloody nurse you sent! You came here to take care of me, so do it!

Grandmother is now moving to our house, and is sleeping in our spare room down stairs. (Wheel Chair Accessible)

One big, gigantic, hubungus bonus of her moving in; Grandmother is the best cook! Bye, bye, cheap macaroni! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Everyone spent the next few hours packing and moving Grandmother's things in. Not that she has much: a suitcase of clothing, a box of cooking equipment, and a total of four pieces of furniture- a lamp, a chair, a dresser, and a tiny, crinkly bed with a supper old quilt on it.

After Grandmother was settled, I slipped away to take a quiet walk, away from Grandmother's complaining and yelling words I couldn't understand.

I'll add another thing to my small list of good Heshnaien qualities. Everything is clean, and there are a lot of plants everywhere. Our street is lined with gorgeous oaks that I don't know the name of, and almost every house has a garden that gives off amazing fragrances. I was walking with my nose in the air when I ran into something. It turned out to be a girl. The first thing I noticed about her was that she was at least five inches taller than me. Then I noticed that she had super blond hair (compared to my flaming red), soft dreamy blue eyes (as opposed to my intense hazel ones), and a very smooth complexion (completely unlike my freckle-covered face). And guess what! She said sorry. IN ENGLISH!!!

The first words out of my obnoxious mouth were, "Oh my gosh! Is is so nice to hear someone say something in English!"

The girl giggled and said, "My name is Brooke. I moved here two weeks ago from Iowa.

"Oh! M family moved here about a month ago!" Then I added, "Oh, yeah, and my name is Adrienne."

I am so happy to have met her! Brooke and I are so similar (except for our looks and height of course)! We are both 12, and her birthday is only two days before mine! We both love to play soccer, or as they call it in Heshnai, football, and we both are total bookworms who love fantasy novels. She has a little brother, but he probably isn't nearly as annoying as Scott is. Brooke showed me where her house is, and it's only a block down our street! For the first time, I am actually happy since we've moved here.

I will go to bed now. I'm all worn out with Grandmother's constant Heshnaien jabbering.

-Adrienne, who doesn't hate Heshnai as much .

Tuesday, July 19, 2004

I woke up this morning to the smell of spice rolls. I was dead hungry! I hurried down stairs and saw Grandmother wheeling around the kitchen, serving my sleepy parents (Scott was still in bed. Nothing can wake his before 10:30). Aren't my parents supposed to be taking care of her? It looked the opposite way around to me. When Grandmother saw me coming, she said something in Heshnaien, and grabbed another plate.

I really do not believe that Grandmother is sick. She is in a wheel chair, but other wise she seems just fine. I think she just wanted my dad to come home, really.

I went to Brooke's house after breakfast. Her mother invited me in, and the first thing I noticed was that I saw no boxes at all. None is the whole house! My family has been here a full two weeks longer, yet Brooke's family has gotten everything unpacked. Incredible!

Brooke and I then explored our town. Which, I forgot to mention is called Jolus Omena. (The J sounds like a Y, and the U sounds like the OU in you)

We found a really neat library. A man named Mr. Linden runs it. Brooke and I walked in and looked around. When we saw the heading on a shelf labeled 'Fantasy,' we immediately headed toward that book case.

We spent at least an hour kneeling among the rows of books, looking at book titles and reading the summaries on the backs of them. When I was searching, Brooke tapped my shoulder and pointed to a book that had the most incredible cover I've ever seen. It was a deep, deep forest green, and had silver-vine looking lines twisted over the cover, but had no words. Brooke opened the book. The pages looked ancient, but the cover looked brand new. I glanced at Brooke and saw something very odd in her eyes. It was as if she was looking at the book... what's the word I'm looking for... err, hungrily? Brooke added the strange book to her pile of check-out books, but couldn't stop staring at it now and then.

A while later, we walked out of the fantasy section with big towering piles of books, Brooke's odd green book sticking out prominently. Neither of us had a library card so we both had to pay 30 marks for one. (I think 30 marks is about $3) While Mr. Linden was checking out Brooke's books, he noticed the green one and opened his eyes wide. He said something in Heshnaien, which both Broke and I responded with a "WHAT?"

He then said in a heavily accented English, "Go put zis book in my office in the back, please. You should not check it out."

"Why?" questioned Brooke.

"Strange things happen..."

"What? What happens?" she asked eagerly.

But Mr. Linden refused to tell her, and yet she kept on pleading. I still didn't see what was so important about that book. Brooke pleaded some more, but we ended taking the book back to his office. When we were inside and out of Mr. Linden's view, Brooke slipped the book into the pack she carried.

"What are you doing?" I hissed, but she didn't answer. Once again I saw that same look of hunger. We returned to the register and Mr. Linden finished checking out Brooke's books.

Both Brooke and Mr. Linden's behavior was very odd. Why did Brooke wasn't the book so much? Why didn't Mr. Linden want her to take it?

I hate mysteries...

Grandmother cooked all the meals today. I am so relieved. I was really tired of my parent's lousy cooking.

I am super tired. Good night, book.

-Adrienne, who doesn't know what to think anymore.

Wednesday, July 20, 2004

I am practiacally to shocked and scared to write. I went to Brooke's house again afterbreakfast and knocked on the door. Her dad answered the door. I asked I Brooke was home.

He replied, "Umm, yes. But, I must warn you. She is acting very strange this morning.

I walked upstairs to her room and knocked on the door.

"Go away! I'm not coming out!" she yelled from inside.

"It's me Adrienne!" I yelled back.

I heard footsteps coming to the door. Brooke opened it slowly and what I saw inside her room shocked me.

I id NOT expect to see her room, covered in silver vines. I did NOT expect the source to the that green library book. Brooke walked feebly to her vine-covered bed and sat down, trembling. I quickly shut the door, walked over and asked in my barely audible voice,

"What's happened to your room?" I was too astonished to believe what I was seeing.

"The book..." Brooke said, her voice quivering. "I woke up and..." She started to shake violently.

"That's impossible..." I said in an awed voice. I thought I must have been dreaming, except when I pinched myself, it just hurt.

Mr. Linden had warned her. It was too late now.

I walked to the book where it was lying open on Brooke's bed stand, the vines coming out of it. I quickly stuck out my hand and with a great amount of force, slammed the book shut.

A big silver flash blinded me. When I could finally see, the book was closed, and all the vines were gone as if they had never been there. I felt myself starting to tremble uncontrollably. and then I felt hands on my shoulders and heard a voice saying my name...

I woke up. The whole thing had been a dream! Mum had been shaking me awake! The dream had been so real... I had even pinched myself, and yet I didn't wake.

I quickly dressed and began to walk over to Brooke's house, just as in the dream. But half way down the block I saw Brooke. Somewhere in me, I gave a mental sigh of relief, that this wasn't turning out like my dream. Brooke saw me and smiled. She was holding the book. I asked her where she was going, and she replied that she was taking the book back to the library. I decided to go with her, and while we walked, I told her about my absurd dream. She stopped dead in her tracks, her mouth hanging open.

"No way!" she whispered.

"What?" I demanded.

"I ha- had the sa- same dream. The same exact dream" Brooke stuttered.

Spooky... Really spooky...

Great minds dream alike?

-Adrienne