Chapter Four Seventh Grade
Dear Glory,
How has your summer been? It’s really hot here, but I always think about how it’s probably hotter where you are.
I’ve been jamming with Shawn in his garage a lot.
He’s not very good at the drums, but he’s getting better.
Maybe we could start a band. We’d have to find a bass guitar player, or maybe someone who plays the keyboard, because I don’t know anyone who plays the bass, except for Julie Fisher, and she’s weird.
My brother and I have been selling bottled water at Navy Pier again, but sometimes I go there by myself because Alex has been spending a lot of time with a new group of friends that my parents are worried about.
They all mostly just hang out at a park down the street, but one time they spray painted a building a few blocks over and stole some traffic cones.
A few days ago, for the Fourth of July, we all spent the whole day at the lake and watched fireworks. It was amazing. I love being with my family sometimes.
Bye,
Collin
September 2, 2005
Dear Collin,
My summer was really great. I took a trip just with my mom to San Diego.
We spent most of the time on the beach or shopping in cute little stores, and it was so awesome, even though it was weird because I’ve never been on a trip without my dad before.
He had to work. And space camp with Allie was tons of fun.
I’ve never met anyone who knows more about asteroids than me. It’s kind of annoying, actually.
So is your brother in a gang or something? I’ve heard there are a lot of gangs in Chicago. If I were you parents, I would be worried too. He might end up in prison, or get killed over drugs or something.
How is school going for you? I already like seventh grade a whole lot better than sixth grade.
I’m taking photography for one of my electives, and we get to develop our own photos in the lab in class, it’s so cool!
And I’m old enough to be in science club now, so I have something to look forward to every Wednesday.
Sincerely,
Glory
November 4, 2005
Dear Glory,
The White Sox won the World Series a couple weeks ago!
Everyone here got way into it. We didn’t go to the games, but we sat outside of a restaurant near the stadium and listened to it.
When they won the final game, everyone went crazy, and they were yelling and screaming and singing in the streets, and they kept going until after midnight.
We could hear it from our apartment. Now I think I might want to play baseball when I grow up, even though I’m better at soccer.
My brother is not in a gang, we don’t have those in our neighborhood. You’d have to go at least 12 streets down to find gangs.
Seventh grade is alright. My brother Patrick and his friends are all in high school now, so they’re not bothering me anymore and that’s nice. Your photography class sounds cool. We don’t get to do electives until eighth grade.
Would you rather be a burrito or a hamburger?
Bye,
Collin
December 28, 2005
Dear Collin,
I think I would rather be a burrito, because you can put lots of different stuff in a burrito and that makes it more interesting than a hamburger.
But lots of people like hamburgers, and I guess it would be nice to have a lot of people like me.
But then if I were a hamburger I’d be really greasy all the time, so I would rather be a burrito.
I had another lame Christmas here. My parents went on a trip by themselves to the mountains and I stayed with my Aunt Sara, which was fun, but most of the time I just missed my mom and dad.
I don’t know why they didn’t let me come with them.
They said they needed some time alone, but it’s not like I’m some whining toddler that demands their attention all the time.
And why did they have to do it for Christmas?
Christmas is the time when families are supposed to be together, not apart.
Anyway, they got back last night and gave me a cell phone, which I guess is supposed to make up for them going on a trip without me, and it is pretty cool to have my own phone, but I really wish I could have just gone to the mountains with them.
Don’t tell me about your Christmas, it’ll probably make me jealous.
Would you rather be a firework or a sparkler?
Sincerely,
Glory
February 4, 2006
Dear Glory,
My Christmas wasn’t anything special either, but I won’t tell you about it. But speaking of being jealous, I can’t believe you got your own cell phone! My parents always tell us we can’t have a cell phone until we go to college, even though my sister Brittany has been begging them for years.
Firework or sparkler? That’s a tough one. It would be awesome to be a firework because I’d be so big and I would impress so many people, but my life would be over in a few seconds. A sparkler lasts longer and makes one person really happy, so I’d probably be a sparkler.
Valentine’s Day is coming up. Have you ever gotten something from a boy on Valentine’s Day?
Maybe Michael Dunford will give you something.
So, there’s this girl in my English class, her name is Melissa Fox, and whenever she smiles at me I feel kind of funny inside.
I think I like her, so I was going to give her something like candy or a stuffed bear.
What would you want to get from a boy? You probably won’t write me back until after Valentine’s Day, but maybe you could let me know just in case I still like Melissa next year.
Anyway, would you rather burp bubbles or fart rainbows?
Bye,
Collin
March 11, 2006
Dear Collin,
Did you give that Melissa girl something for Valentine’s Day?
What does she look like? Why do you like her?
You should write her a song. That’s something I’d like to get from a boy.
Michael Dunford gave me flowers and I threw them in the trash right in front of him.
I think that hurt his feelings. He hasn’t talked to me for a few weeks.
I think I would rather burp bubbles. It would be annoying to have bubbles come out of my mouth all the time, but it also might be kind of fun to chase them around and play games with them with my friends.
If I farted rainbows, then everybody would know when I farted, which would be so embarrassing.
There would be rainbows bouncing around the school and people would be like, “Oh look, Glory farted again.” Not that it happens all that often, but still, it would be awful.
Would you rather be able to travel to the past or to the future?
Sincerely,
Glory
April 27, 2006
Dear Glory,
You are the only girl I know that actually admits that you fart. Not even my mom will confess to that. So I think that makes you pretty awesome.
It would be cool to be able to travel to the future so I could know about everything that’s going to happen, but then if something horrible was going to happen I would feel like I’d be responsible to fix everything and get all depressed if I couldn’t do it.
So I’d probably travel to the past, because I’d love to be able to go back to medieval times when there were knights and kings and queens and jousting.
Or, it would be awesome to take some money back to when everything was really cheap and buy a bunch of stuff.
You would probably want to be able to travel to the future so you could see people living on Mars and the moon.
I got a little stuffed dog to give to Melissa for Valentine’s Day, but I got too nervous to give it to her and ended up just giving it to my sister Erin.
But if I had given it to Melissa and she had thrown it in the trash, I would have gone in the bathroom and cried.
Quietly. So that no one would hear me. I like Melissa because she tells really funny stories and she’s really good at playing soccer.
She has long black hair and brown eyes, and really white teeth.
I’ve been talking to her a lot, and maybe I’ll ask her to go bowling with me sometime.
Would you rather be a fish or a bird?
Bye,
Collin