Circus House

Circus in Winter Reflection:

This story relects the hidden parts of marriage. It's an insight into yet another marriage in the circus. We looked at Wallace Porter's first, this one is not much happier. The viewpoint is mainly that of Mrs. Ford and it is because of that that we feel for her and see Colonel Ford as only a bitter old man. It's interesting how similiar the paintings are to their real lives. Both of them are reaching outside their house for something that they should be able to find within it. They reach for eachother in the bedroom much like Jennie seems to reach for the other gymnast on the east wall.
In the end Cathy Day describes how they come back together not truly seeing one another, just as Jennie and Wallace did earlier in the book.

English bloggin

Our internet is still down at home (which means I get to run around in circles on the phone trying to figure out who can fix it...)

So this is my latest blog update....

We're reading "The Circus in Winter" in English right now. It's fairly interesting. I like it better than Rick Bass at least. The author still has a choppy storyline but I can track with it better and I feel like there's a plot going through it. I don't really like the characters but they're at least believable people.

We're also working on our historical fiction pieces. They're due next week. Mine's still floundering around somewhere trying to decide how to gain some momentum and go somewhere. I can't seem to manage to get my characters up off the couch (which may reflect on the fact that I myself can't see to do that lately either).

Emotional and physical drainage have left me wishing I had grabbed some coffee before I left to be at work at 7:30 this morning. Especially when I walked outside and there was frost on the ground. It's getting colder....bah. (Sounding like Fred is not helping my mood in the slightest either...take a break my ass....we're either together or we're not and I'm tired of hearing I don't know....)

Ah well, back to hiding somehwere in the lab I go.........

Jennie Dixianna and The Last Member of the Boela Tribe

Circus in Winter Reflection:

In the story Jennie Dixianna we learn about the character who performs the "spin of death." This act is one which leaves it's performer with a blood bracelet. The descriptions of Jennie throughout this story lead you to feel both pity and disgust.
She had a rough childhood growing up, which makes you feel sorry for her. But she buried her past and moved on....somewhat. She still uses people just like her father did. And in that sense it's hard to find any pity for her. She only wants what Wallace can do for her and nothing more. What she doesn't realize is that Wallace is the same way. He has as many ghosts which haunt him as she does.

The last member of the Boela Tribe goes through the family history of the Bowles family. Starting with Bascomb and ending with Chicky. This family is amazing in the fact that is mere happenstance that everything happens to them. Cathy Day does a brilliant job seemlessly joining the stories flowing from one generation to the next and making connections between them. This story is one of the "happier" Cathy Day stories that we've read so far, if there is such a thing...

Grocery List

Main character: Kasey

Chicken
Bbq sauce
Bacardi
Orange juice
Potatoes
French fries
Lettuce
Bud Light
Onion
Bread
Corn
Cat food
Schweppes Vodka

Vidio for Carrie



Sub Character: Jen

¼ lb. broccoli ($1.28/lb)
2 bananas ($.99/each)
1 12 oz. pkg. frozen peas.
1 package white Wonder bread
2 gallons AE skim milk
5 lbs. sugar
1 16 oz. jar Welch’s grape jelly
4 (12 pk.) Lipton Iced Tea
2 32 oz. bottles of Cascade dish detergent
1 64 oz. bottle of Joy dish soap
1 box of Bounce dryer sheets
2 boxes (24 ea.) of Hefty tall kitchen bags
1 (24 ct.) package of stamps
1 package (12 tablets) of Alka-Seltzer

Stacie Review

Stacie,

Your title is extremely interesting. Especially since the lede is so opposite to what you expect based on the title. Your lede is also well done; it pulls the reader into the story and sets up tension for the rest of the plot.
Starting out at the end is perfect because even though we know what’s coming, we don’t know how and it’s the guessing that draws your reader along into the story.
The stark contrast of the descriptions in the first paragraph provide and interesting set-up for the context of the narrator and her lover.
The characters are well developed. They are round and full of description despite their lack of names until the very end. You did a good enough job describing them that it wasn’t until my second read through that I realized the narrator didn’t have a name until the very last scene.
Keep it first-person as well, it’s part of what hold the story together so well. Because you become engrossed in the events, you don’t even realize that you’re being drawn in. You feel as though the actions taking place are happening to you personally.
The setting could be expanded further to give a better perspective on the action. Try to develop the setting as you would a character. Right now who is clear but when and where are a little blurry. It’s a good contrast with your characters so don’t over describe where the events are taking place. But try to give us a better feel of where we are so that the action becomes even more believable.
Your dialogue is also a bit sparse. Your characters are full, but adding more of a voice will help to further define them for your reader.
Keep the voice and the language that you created in the original draft. They work well with the story. Especially the descriptions you use on the important scenes. Your adjectives and metaphors are vivid and based upon things that most of your audience would have had experience with; which helps to create a more realistic feel to the action.
The pace you have in your story is also wonderful. It’s slow enough to create tension and allow for the reader to experience the flow of the story (rising action, climax, conclusion) but fast enough so that we don’t feel like the action drags on.
Keep the tone as well. The story goes against most of our expectations in reading, which is why we keep reading. The tone is part of that. It stays so light that sometimes you have to go back and re-read a part that you didn’t expect to happen because the narrator just nonchalantly brings it up and it is there and gone without a big to-do about it.

Great job for a first draft this story should be outstanding by the time you finish your final draft.

~Suzy

Nick Review

Nick,

Your title is interesting, but the subject from your e-mail when you sent it to me was better. “Someday you will die in your dreams” seems to capture more of the story and leave you wondering. Not that butterfly with broken wings doesn’t capture the story, the other title just leaves more for intrigue.
Your lede needs a little vamping as well (as does mine, don’t worry). Try to draw your audience in farther. Create a little more tension possibly using some of the tension that already exists between Dasia and her lover. The topic of the opening paragraph is great; just stretch it a little more to draw the reader into the story.
The plot line of your story is wonderful; it moves at exactly the right pace to keep your reader interested without getting bored. Try adding more details expecially in the beginning to draw out your characters and make them more 3-D. Right now they stay bound within their story and don’t develop and grow like real people would. You have a passion and desire for each of them; now expand on it and on how they are getting from one place to another.
This might be obtained from expanding your omniscient narrator right now it sounds as if he’s sort of viewing the scenes on a screen. Which leaves us listening to the narration of a film rather than current events. Draw upon more emotion and details, especially in the scene with Dasia’s murder.
Your setting starts out well in the beginning, the crypt is defined in every detail. Try to keep that level of description as you move throughout the story. You might find you’ll end up with too much detail but it’s easier to trim down unnecessary parts than it is to have to add a bunch of adjectives later on.
Metaphors are also a good way to add detail without cluttering your story. They help your reader to identify with what you’re attempting to describe and provide more concrete images than simple descriptions. They’ll help you to expand both the setting and the characters.
The passage of time in your story flows well. You lead from start to finish without skipping major time plots and you do a nice job of representing flashbacks without losing your reader. Try to draw out the details without losing this flow.
I like the ending of your story; it comes to a definite conclusion, which is nice. But in order to get rid of the almost fairytale ending where everything works out (since it doesn’t follow the tone of the rest of the story) you might try having them figure out their conflict in a different way. They need to realize why Dasia is alive again without just BAM realizing it and saying it. Perhaps developing his new fiancée’s character will help because she can provide that link that you need.
You did a good job getting away from the obvious folk tale feel. But try to retain the sense that this story has a purpose and it was written for a reason. Or as professor Billman puts it, try to pass the “who the hell cares” test.
Good job on keeping your audience entertained. I read start to finish not because I had to for this assignment but because I was honestly curious as to what the conclusion of the story would be.
Great story overall!

~Suzy

Guardian Dreamer

This is a first draft:

Guardian Dreamer

" C'mon little bitch! Fight back!"

Jay was shoved viscously against a wall by a bully a few inches taller and at least fifty pounds heavier than him. The bully's eyes were a light blue color, but when he punched Jay in the gut, they seemed to contain a blazing fire, as if blue flames might leap out and envelop anyone foolish enough to anger him. After holding Jay against the wall and punching him a few times in the stomach, the bully let Jay fall to the floor.

" Little punk! Get your ass up and fight!"

Slowly, Jay picked himself up off" the ground, stood straight up, and looked straight into the eyes of his oppressor. Jay's eyes were shining with an ethereal inner fire, as if someone had lit a match that caused his soul to burning uncontrollably. "Umph," the bully wheezed out as Jay kneed him in the abdomen, and then Jay grabbed the bully's face and shoved it back against the wall. He brought it back and slammed it again, and again, and again. After a moment Jay let the bully fall to the floor, unconscious. Suddenly the fire died out, and Jay realized what he had done. Looking at the bully's crumpled form on the floor, Jay was horrified at what he had just done without any conscious thought on his part. He slowly slid his left foot away from the bully, his eyes never leaving the bully's unconscious body. Suddenly the bully awoke and stared at Jay. The bully's eyes where now entirely black, like twin marbles. Jay was frozen in place by fear. The bully then spoke.

'We are coming. You are the one who helped pave the way. He will choose you, the one who changed his path. Now walk the path we have shown you and create another."

As the bully spoke these words, Jay vaguely heard a strange beeping sound. Then Jay woke up.

"BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!"

Jay rolled over in his bed and smacked the off button on his alarm clock. He slowly rose out of bed and got ready for school. Thirty minutes later Jay stepped into Downhills High School. Jay managed to make it to his first period class and slunk into his chair just before the bell rang.

"Yo playa, you look a little worn out there. Been doing a little midnight 'extra­curricular activities?'" asked Joe, a notorious ladies man and horny bastard with an obnoxious chuckle. Jay was so tired he simply declined to answer. He instead rested his head against his desk. To Jay's sleep deprived body, the hard wooden desk was arguably just as comfortable as a bed, and Jay was soon dozing off to the drone of his teacher's lecture.

"Jay... Jay... Jay! Mr. Aurora, if you don't wake up this instant I will send you to the office with a referral!"

Jay's head slowly rose from the desk, and for the rest of the period he struggled to stay awake, even to the point were it hurt to fight back the waves of fatigue assaulting his body. Jay's next three classes passed in a similar manner until Jay had gained enough sleep in class to function normally. Jay couldn't understand why he had such trouble getting sleep at night. Even when he went to bed early he had trouble feeling rested.

On the way to his dreaded math class Jay conversed with his friend, Ryan. who was Grace's boyfriend. Jay talked jokingly about the possibility of playing sick so he didn't have to take a quiz. Ryan, with his eyes downcast the entire time, stayed quiet.

"Hey, man, what's buggin ya?" Jay asked Ryan, genuinely concerned, "You are always more talkative than this."

" Eh.. .1 think Grace might be cheating on me. Last night I went over to her house to surprise her, and she had some other guy over. I flipped and she was like, ^;we are just studying!' And I told her that she was full of it. 1 punched the guy and then he left."

Jay was cautious in his reply, knowing that Ryan was an extremely possessive boyfriend. "C'mon, now, maybe they really were studying."

At lunch. Jay sat with his usual friends in the not-quite-popular-but-not-geeks-crowd. As Jay sat, eating a delicious pepperoni pizza that was oozing with warm tomato sauce and cheese, he noticed that Grace, who usually sat with him at lunch, was sitting alone on the other side of the cafeteria. Jay excused himself and walked over to her,

"Hey Grace, we miss ya. You aren't avoiding us now are ya? 'Cause if you are, then I take back all the nice things I said about you being a loyal friend," Jay joked. The bell rang. Grace made no expression.

"I'm sorry. I just needed some time alone." With that Grace got out of her seat and left. Jay stared at her retreating form with a somber expression, because he knew why-she was sad. Her blond hair swished from side to side by her shoulders, which seemed slightly hunched. As she slowly blended into the crowd of kids heading to their next class, she turned her head from side to side. In Jay's mind he could picture her green eyes shifting constantly, scanning the crowd for someone Jay wondered what had scared her so much. Was she afraid that now Ryan would hit any guy that talked to her?

Jay thought about Grace and Ryan on the way to his next class. Throughout the halls he could hear the insistent buzz of conversation all around him. Jay moved through the mass of bodies, not paying close attention to where he was going, and let his subconscious guide him to his next class. However, as Jay neared the door, he noticed a heated exchange going on nearby. Phil, a conceited popular kid. had Jack backed up against a wall. There were also five or six of Phil's groupies behind him. Jack was what kids in school called a Goth. He dressed in all black, had multiple piercings, and enjoyed hard rock. He was also a loner and a notorious badass. Jay watched as Phil's friends surrounded Jack in order to intimidate him. Jack, however, was abnormally tali and thickly built, not one to be intimidated. Jack calmly kicked one guy in the groin and watched with a twisted grin as that kid dropped to the floor screaming in agony. Phil and the remaining groupies all closed in on Jack. Soon teachers and school resource officers came running from all directions to break up the massacre, which left Jack with a bloody nose and no doubt several bruises. Jay turned away from the spectacle and walked to class. It was not his style to get involved in other people's vendettas. Finally, after just a few more agonizing hours, Jay was free of school.

Jay left the school building and began walking to his house, which was only two miles away. The forest by the school looked unusually gloomy. Shortly after he began walking, Jay caught up to Marissa, who used to hang out with him all the time. Jay used to converse with Marissa on the way home from school, but for a few months now they had drifted apart, and conversation had been sporadic at best.

"Hey Marissa! How ya been?" Marissa turned to look at Jay. Her eyes seemed cloudy and faraway, as if she were present in body but not in spirit.

" I'm alright, now that school is over."

"That's cool. You haven't been sitting with us at lunch lately? We do something to offend?" Jay remembered that ever since Marissa had broken up with Joe, she had stopped hanging out with her old friends.

Nah. I just made some new friends is all," Marissa responded nonchalantly. Her words seemed forced, as if talking took a great deal of effort. Jay suddenly understood why she had "new friends."

''' So, what have you been doing on the weekends⁰"

"' Ya know, hang out with friends, smoke weed, whatever we want."

"Oh," was Jay's only reply. He used to be close to Marissa and couldn't believe that his once angelic and overachieving friend would do drugs. "So, maybe you could hang out with me and all your old friends on Saturday, ya know, and have some good clean fun."

"No thanks," Marissa increased her walking pace so that she could lose Jay, so he let her go. Jay remembered when Joe had dumped Marissa.

"Marissa, why are you crying'.' What happened!?"

"Shut up! It's your fault. Yon told me I should date him, then he fucks me and leaves. Why don 't you just leave'.'¹1 don 't need your sympathy or advice. Advice especially, after the great help you gcrce me with him! Oh fuck, or maybe you were in on it, helping Joe get a little pooty-tang so he could use rue and drop me!"

Jay had trouble sleeping that night, rolling around in bed. He constantly thought about his friends and all their pain. He lost Marissa. Now it seemed he would" lose Grace. Ryan was acting crazy. Joe was still a man-whore. What happened? Why did all his friends change?

Throughout school the next day, Jay spaced out in class and while walking through the hallways. He couldn't get his mind off his friends' problems. Jay's inattentiveness caused him to bump shoulders with someone walking in the opposite direction. The kid immediately shoved Jay from behind before Jay could apologize. Jay turned around and saw that the kid he bumped was Jack.

"Hey man, sorry about that.. .whumph!" Jack sucker punched Jay in the stomach.

" C'mon little bitch! Fight back!" Jack's light blue eyes blazed as he hit Jay a second time in the stomach. Jack continued to ram his fist into Jay's stomach until he finally let Jay slide down to the floor. Jay's mind was frozen. It was just like in the dream he had the night before. The cheap tile felt cold against Jay's cheek. His stomach ached from the beating it took, but Jay could feel the anger building within. The memory of the dream faded as Jay's anger grew.

" Little punk! Get your ass up and fight!" Jay lifted himself off the ground, ignoring the pain radiating from his abdomen, and looked Jake in the eye. Jake's form was enormous. He had at least fifty pounds on Jay and stood about three inches taller with a body that was constructed with natural power and strength. Jay suddenly lurched forward and drove his knee into Jake's midsection. "Umph," Jake wheezed as he doubled over from the blow. Then Jay grabbed Jake's head in his palm and proceeded to shove it into the wall. Again. Again. Again. Finally, Jake's unconscious body fell to the floor like

a bag of garbage. Jay stared at what he had just done, horrified. Then Jack's eyes opened, and he got up. Jay, now unable to deal with the meshing of dream and reality, ran

Everyone was wearing black and crying. The women wore black veils. Even Jay 's father was hem'ling, which scared Jay, because he had never seen his father cry. Jay was silent throughout the preacher's speech. When it came time to pay respects Jay stepped fonvard to the casket. He looked into the eyes of his dead little sister. Six years old. Her face was delicate as a dump of sugar. Her skin was pale now; all the color was drained from her form. Jay began screaming.

Somehow, by some miracle, the administration didn't find out about the fight, and even the student body didn't talk too much about it, which was unusual. Phil found out however, and went to Jay's locker after school to congratulate him.

"Hey kid, good job layin' the smackdown on that freak show. That should teach him his place. Depressed moron." Sickened by Phil's comment, Jay turned and started to walk away. "Hey asswipe! You don't just turn and walk away from me like that. I own this fucking school. Little punks like you should learn some respect..." Jay turned around and cut Phil off.

*'No! You listen, you arrogant jerk! I took no pleasure in fighting Jack, and unlike some kids in this school, I don't give a damn whether you like me or not, because I don't wanna be popular like you. Frankly, I don't even want to be seen with scum of your caliber, so shove off:" Jay turned to walk away despite the barrage of vulgarities Phil spat at him. After Jay got home that afternoon, he went to a local gym and lifted weights for two hours trying to burn off the anger, fear, confusion, and frustration seething within his heart. He tried to clear his mind of the events that had occurred in the last twenty-four hours, but it was difficult to do so.

Jay and six other classmates sat quietly in the classroom, all working studiously on some assignment or another. Then it happened. Seven things entered the classroom by ignoring the laws of physics and going through the walls. Jay could not fully describe the things except to say that they were almost like clouds of electricity, each cloud a different color. One by one, the clouds drifted to a different person and seemed to soak into that person, somehow entering into that person's body. The blue cloud took Phil, the black cloud took Jack, the orange cloud took Grace, the red cloud took Ryan, the purple cloud took Marissa, and the Gold cloud took Joe. Every time a cloud entered someone, that person began to convulse and shake violently, all the while screaming curses and vulgarities. Finally, the last cloud, which appeared colorless to Jay. entered him. Jay could not move or fight against the cloud as it seeped into his body like a poison. Jay could feel himself losing control of his body. Every limb refused to move on command. It was like being trapped in a box. Jay's mind reeled in fear. Fight or flight responses were set off. Jay fought and fought to move his body, to regain some semblance of control. Jay felt a pressure build up inside of him similar to the anger he felt when fighting Jack. The pressure grew until Jay could stand it no more. "AHHHHHHHHHITHHHHHHH," Jay screamed, somehow regaining control of his mouth.

"BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP"

Jay's alarm clock was going off again. What a screwed up dream! Jay was drenched in sweat, his covers sticking to him. "Ugh. Best go take a shower," Jay thought to himself as he drowsily got up. "Eight hours of friggin' sleep and I still feel like a fresh

pile of crap." Jay's shower water was cold no matter how hot he put the faucet. The damn water heater was probably broken again. Half an hour later. Jay was at school

Your /itt/f sister loved yon, Jay. I should have saved her!

...nothing you could do...jml a kid... she loved you.

The first thing Jay saw when he walked through the doors of the school was the same six people who were in his dream last night, all waiting for him. They all spoke in unison. "We will get you. You escaped him, but you cannot escape us. He is still inside you, trapped. We will have to kill you to free him." Their voices were low, in a whisper, and while they spoke their eyes seemed to flash, each with a different color: red, black, orange, blue, purple, and gold. Jay was nonplussed. His mind once again struggled to grasp what was happening and arrived at no rational answer. Everyone walked away. Jay mechanically headed to class.

"What could this mean? Were the dreams some kind of reflection on reality? Am I insane?" Jay quite seriously wondered if perhaps his insomnia and inability to feel rested after a night of sleep had begun to affect his mental health.

"Jay... Jay... Jay... Mr. Aurora, what am I going to do with you? You need to get more sleep." Jay painfully lifted his head off of his desk. Stupid teachers. He had gotten nine hours of sleep the night before, but it felt more like nine minutes. Then, inevitably, Joe had to make a comment.

" Haha, What's wrong Playa⁰ You not get enough sleep cause you too busy knockin' boots with Marissa⁹ Let me tell you though, she's a good lay. Thanks for hookin' us up before. My suggestion, though: nail her an' bail She likes that commitment stuff too much. Although, with the drugs and all, she might like a little no strings attached sex..." Joe's eyes shone pure gold as he made these comments. Meanwhile, Jay was becoming incensed by the slanders Joe spoke. He suddenly stood up in the middle of his teacher's lecture.

"Shut up!" The entire class jumped in their desks, startled by Jay's sudden outburst. The teacher whipped her head around, and seeing that Jay had caused the disturbance, took the offensive.

"Mr. Aurora, is it not enough that you sleep through my class constantly⁹ Now you are having outbursts in the middle of my lectures? I think this merits not one, but three detentions. I will be seeing you after school."

Jay stayed after school for his detention and then headed home The bed beckoned: Jay was quite fatigued. However, there was homework to be finished, and Jay had to stay up for the next three hours working on it. Thoughts on recent events plagued Jay's concentration like a disease decimating a population.

"What's going on with me⁹ Why do I have dreams that show me these things? Did I just imagine the things that happened today, the message that Joe, Grace, Marissa, Phil Jack, and Ryan gave me? It's as if the strange clouds in the dream possessed them. What about the one that entered me? It was only a dream, though, but what about the fight with Jack? Why did Joe's eyes turn gold colored today when he talked to me? What about Grace.,. she would never threaten me. Damn it..." Jay fell asleep while attempting to complete his homework.

Flashes. Places constantly flowing like a movie skipping back and forth between different scenes. Grace and Ryan are sitting in a room talking, no, arguing. He stands up and brings his arm around, smacking her with the backside of his hand. Grace's head

snaps to the side and a small line of blood flows down from her nose. Flashes. Joe is in a small room, crying. Flashes. Marissa is crying and screaming at Joe. Flashes. Phil is picking on a small kid. The kid practically whimpers in fear and Phil smiles. Flashes. Jack, sitting at a lunch table, all alone. He looks casually over at the kids around him, all chatting with friends, then gets up and walks away. Flashes. Ryan is talking to a man with a bottle in his hand. The man suddenly becomes incensed with fury and beats Ryan. Ryan crawls into a fetal position. Flashes. Jay fighting Jack, except this time a small black cloud enters Jack at the end of the fight, and then he gets up. Flashes. Marissa is cutting her wrist with a small kitchen knife. Flashes. Marissa yelling at Jay for hooking her and Joe up. Flashes. Phil surrounded by three beautiful girls during a gym class. He picks up a baseball that rolls near him and hits Jack in the head with it. Laughter. Flashes. Jay is crying by a tombstone.

Sweating to the point where his bead was damp, Jay woke from his dream. He tried to get out of bed and ended up falling limp onto the tan carpeting. "Aw! Crap! Feels like I just ran a marathon. Why am I so tired?" Jay could only ponder these thoughts as he slowly gathered the strength to remove his face from the floor.

Jayyyyyl Come play dolls with me! Yon can be Ken...

Jay was an hour late to school. It had taken him forty-five minutes to get off the floor and finally prepare for school, and then the dizzy spells started. If Jay turned his head too quickly, he was prone to get a dizzy spell. "Ugh, what the hell happened last night...was I drinking and didn't know it⁰" Jay managed to make it through his first class, feeling like someone put his head through a grinder. Walking through the halls was like wading through a raging river with a massive current. Jay knew that he couldn't continue functioning like that for a full day. so he decided to do something about it. Three Coke's later, Jay was feeling almost normal, his level of alertness allowed him to respond to greetings about three seconds after they were given. Then lunch came around.

Jay arrived at the lunchroom and breathed a sigh of relief. At least if he fell asleep there he wouldn't have some teacher yelling at him. Jay arrived at an empty table and sat down, not caring whether or not his friends found him. He was too tired to care. Slowly Jay began to eat away at his sandwich. People mulled about the lunchroom: talking, laughing, eating, running, walking, crying, singing. Grace sat down.

She wax shot in the park by gang members in a drive-by...

"Hey Jay, you alright? You don't look too hot. What's going on⁹" A chill went down Jay's spine, and he felt as if a chilly wind just blew through the whole lunchroom. Jay spoke with a slight stutter, fatigued and confused.

"Grace...i... i..,is that you?" Grace slightly raised her right eyebrow in confusion.

"What do you mean, Jay? You really should get more sleep. If you continue on like this you might.. .die." Grace enunciated the word "die," as if it held some special significance. "It's okay though, Jay, because Ryan beats me. Not that you would stop him. No Jay, you never bothered to care. You were too busy being buddy-buddy with him. Why else would I stop talking to you? I was afraid you or someone else might find out. I was afraid someone might see this..." Grace pulled up the sleeve of her orange turtleneck sweater to reveal a bruise so enormous that it swallowed half her forearm. Grace's eyes had begun to flash in a strange orange color. Jay was petrified by his astonishment. " You look tired. You know, I can barely sleep at night myself at night. I

have horrible nightmares..." Jay interrupted, snapping out of Grace's spell of bewilderment

'You're not Grace. What are you? What are you doing to her? Is this the same thing that happens to the others?" Jay's vision was hazy. It hurt to try to stay awake. Jay got up from the table, stumbling towards the cafeteria door that led to the back end of the school. He stumbled out and the hallway was empty. He could hear Grace following behind him. Something was wrong. He had to get away. Jay fell to the ground, his head slamming into the concrete.

Jay was in an open area in the trees. Six demons of different colors surrounded Jay. Rotating his head slowly, Jay noticed that the trees surrounded him and the demons resembled those of the forest near Downhills High. Each demon had a human form, but their skin was colored. There were small horns protruding from each of their foreheads and they all wore black cloaks. The orange demon sneered and said, "We cannot destroy you while you dream, for that would leave us vulnerable. Wake up mortal, and be destroyed." Then all the demons attacked. The blue demon, moving faster than any human could imagine, and swept Jay's legs out from under him with a swift kick. Jay hit the ground hard but rolled himself backwards onto his feet and right into the black demon. The black demon grabbed Jay in a full nelson while the purple demon sped forward and kicked Jay's stomach, causing him to vomit. The black demon let Jay fall to the ground. The grass was moist, as if it were weeping with tears of pain. Jay managed to get up on one knee. A punch came from Jay's right side. Pain radiated through his skull, and it seemed as if his body was hurled through the air by the blow Jay's body hit a tree.

Jay woke up from the dream. The dew stained grass kissed his cheek. Upon opening his eyes. Jay saw six people surrounding him. Grace, Marissa, Phil, Ryan, Joe, and Jack were all there. Jay saw that he was in the same open area in the trees, just as in the dream "I must have lost consciousness when I was trying to get away from Grace," Jay thought to himself. Slowly getting to his feet, he addressed Grace. "What the hell is going on here⁹" Grace's eyes were tinged with orange. Jay's mind was dulled. He felt as if standing itself took incredible energy.

" We brought you here to kill you. You have one of our demons inside you. You uere possessed, but somehow you retained control of your body. This is irregular. In order to free him, we must destroy you. This way he can possess someone easier to control. You are stronger than other humans, so we could not kill you while you sleep, for you would have fought back in your dreams. However, the demons that possess us make us stronger than you are in the physical realm. Now mortal, die..." Grace said this with a sneer on her face.

Then the demons attacked. Jay saw Phil come up behind him and sweep his legs out from under him. Jay hit the ground and rolled backwards onto his feet right into Jack. This time, however, Jay threw back his left elbow into Jack's jaw, knowing a full nelson was coming. Jack slammed his jaw on Jay's elbow, and the crunching of teeth grinding into one another could be easily heard. Then Jay stepped aside, knowing a kick would be coming. Marissa's kick came a second too late and Jay grabbed her foot in his right arm, then kicked her knee with his right leg, setting off her balance and throwing her to the floor. Then a punch came from Jay's right side. Pain radiated through his skull, and it seemed as if his body was hurled through the air by the blow. Jay's body hit a tree, and Jay lost consciousness yet again.

Hundreds of different colored demons surrounded Jay. Glowing white figures moved through the trees. They had wings, and some were flying. Fighting even where. The a-gel5 used flaming swords. Screaming. The angels made a circle around Jay. The jernon> kept coming. Their numbers seemed endless. One of the angels flying above sv. ooped down and landed softly beside Jay. Its wings were so white that staring at them was like staring at the sun. The apparition did not speak, but Jay heard thoughts in his head, as if the figure was communicating telepathically.

" She is your strength. Your love for her is what saved you. Go now, and love others."

"Glad to see you're with us again." Jay's mother stood over him. He was in his room "Get some sleep. One of the teachers found you collapsed outside the school lunchroom."

"If they found me outside the lunchroom, what happened to the others⁹ Did I dream all that, or did I really fight them⁰" Jay's mom left to go run errands. Jay sat up in his bed. He remembered what the white figure in his dream had said, "She is your strength. Your love for her is what saved you. Go now, and love others."

Everyone was wearing black and crying. The women wore black veils. Even Jay's father was bawling, which scared Jay, because he had never seen his father cry. Jay was silent throughout the preacher's speech. When it came time to pay respects Jay stepped forward to the casket. He looked into the eyes of his dead little sister. Six years old. Her face was delicate as a clump of sugar. Her skin was pale now; all the color was drained from her form. Jay began screaming.

"Why? Why did this happen'.'' She was only six! All she ever wanted to do was play with her toys and eat pancakes. "

Jay's aunt gently led him aw'ayfrom the casket, staring sadly at the confused and angry thirteen-year-old next to her. "People do bad things in life, like join gangs and kill one another because people stop caring about others. Evervone wants to he loved, but no one will give love. Teenagers often do horrible things in order lo feel loved. Some do drugs. Some have sex, Some fight. Some hurt themselves in other ways. All we can do is love them and hope it is enough. "

Jay's eyes swelled, as if a reservoir of tears had been released from deep within. Jay had tried to help his friends. Jay would love his friends as he loved his sister. Jay whispered into the nothingness. "I do not know what I am now, with this thing...this demon inside of me. I do not even know if it is real or if I am insane. I do understand this: every teenager walks with his inner demons. Even day the demons of conceit, depression, anger, jealousy, fear, masochism, and lust live deep within many of us. I have even helped before to feed these demons. I will save my friends from their demons, just as my little sister saved me."

Redfish

This is our last story of Kirby and the narrator. In a way it is sad. It's an almost bittersweet parting because Bass has given us only tiny insights into their lives and they are the types of characters who you could create a novel with. In a sense I think this is Bass' purpose with giving us just a taste of their lives. We're forced to figure out what happens to them next by ourself.
The organization of the stories about Kirby and the narrator in the book is interesting. They start out with them dying, go to them as teenagers, and then end with them somewhere in between. It's not chronological, but in a way makes sense. Because you have to understand where they are, then where they once were and finally how they got there.
"Redfish" focuses on how the narrator fits into the Kirby and Tricia triangle. At this point he's still unsure of where he fits in there and is almost jealous of Kirby's affection for Tricia. This is evidenced by the fact that he keeps trying to distract Kirby from Tricia. In the end he relents and realizes that he really does like Tricia. But there for awhile you begin to wonder how they ended up working it all out.
The lede is a receipe which is an interesting twist. And not an angle you usually see taken by authors. It works for Bass and he runs with where it takes the characters. In a way it's not so unusual for the characters in this story because it seems like they're always drinking.
The best scene in the story is when they bury the car up to the windows in the sand trying to pull over the tower. It gives you insight into just how young, foolish, and rich they are at this point. My guess is they just left the car there too. The contents of Kirby's trunk provide further characterization as well as helping us deterimine where in the timeline we are.
At the end of the story Bass brings us back to the beginning with a fish.......with Kirby and the narrator once again dreaming of catching impossibly large fish.

Giant Squid

I was extremely excited to hear about the footage taken of a live giant squid....that was until I did a little further research and found out that the squid also lost a tentacle in the process...research is fine and I understand that the injury is not life threatening, but we still don't have any right to injure something that's just minding it's own business in nature. We've screwed up the environment enough without damaging it more in the name of research...