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 inthe 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
Chapter Five: Eighth Grade
June 9, 2006
Dear Collin,
You are the only boy I know that admits that you cry. My mom says that boys who know how to show their emotions are the best kind.
Did you go bowling with Melissa? Do you think she likes you? I’ve only been bowling two times, and the last time was really terrible because my dad got upset about not doing very well and made a big scene. It was so embarrassing.
I feel a little bad about being so mean to Michael Dunford, but I just wanted to be clear that I’m not interested in him. On the last day of school he gave me a heart necklace. I didn’t throw it away, but I didn’t say thank you either.
You’re right, I would rather be able to travel to the future because I think it would be so exciting to see the new inventions and advances we’ve made, like self-driving cars and synthetic organs and interpreters that can let animals talk to humans.
It would be so cool to be a bird because I have all these amazing dreams about flying, but I think I would rather be a fish. There is so much to see and explore in the ocean, and I could swim with dolphins and whales and turtles. Plus, there’s something so magical about being underwater and seeing a whole different world. It’s like being on another planet.
Would you rather be super strong or super fast?
Sincerely,
Glory
July 26, 2006
Dear Glory,
I did go bowling with Melissa a couple weeks ago. It was kind of awkward. We did fine talking and stuff for the first 10 minutes, but then there was nothing left to talk about. And she kept giving me the stink eye every time I got a strike. I don’t think I like her anymore.
I liked the way you talked about being underwater. Have you been scuba diving or something? The only thing I feel when I’m underwater is burning in my nose.
I would love to be super strong, because then I could beat my brothers every time they wrestled with me, but I think I would rather be super fast. That way I could run around the world and see all these cool places in a day, like the Eiffel Tower or the Great Wall of China or the pyramids. I could also rob banks and not get caught, but that would make my mom cry, and she already cries enough about my brother. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
