When my grandchildren came to visit me, they showed me love and affection because they knew that that was maybe the last time they would see me. My mind kept going back to that frightning night. The pizza man knocked on my door because I ordered pizza. When I opened the door, the pizza man was standing looking very scared with a man standing on each side of him holding him at gun pint. I tried to shut the door, but they overpowered me because of my old age. They let the pizza man go after they took robbed him. They went through my house finding things that they liked or thought was valuable. I tried to call the police, but they beat me until I became unconscious. When I awoke, I was at the hospital surrounded by my family. The doctor walded in and said, "Mrs. Jones, we had quite a scare. If your neighborwouldn't have called the police, you would have died." My daughters were sobbing silentlywhile their husband tried to comfort them. My grandchildren didn't really know what was going on because they were so young. The doctor turned to my daughters and said, "You two are very lucky because your mother had a heart attack after the beating. I don't think that she should stay in a place by herself anymore. Have you all thought about maybe putting her in a nursing home?" My girls looked at me, then him, my oldest daughter said, "My mom will not be going to a nursing home. She can stay with either me or my sister, but she will not stay in a nursing home." The doctor said, "That's fine, I know how people don't want their loved ones in a nursing home, but..." I drifted of to sleep. I awoke to the nurse sticking a needle in my arm. She looked at me and smiled. She said pleasantly, "Good morning Mrs. Jones, It's nice to see you up. I'm just taking some blood for some tests. Just relax, now you're going to feel a pinch, there. Dr. Reynolds will be in to check on you in a little." I nodded my head and thanked the kind woman even though my arm was now stinging in pain. Not long after, a talll man that looked to be in his mid 40's, brown hair with strands of gray showing his aging, glasses, and a mole right on the bottom of his chin introduced himseslf as Dr. Reynolds, we talked about the incident and he told me that I will be living with my oldest daughter, Lachel and her family. I felt sad because I didn't want to be a burden. After a few weeks, he told me because my body was in good shape when I had the heart attack, I could go home. I just had to heal from the surgery. My daughter Lachel came to pick me up from the hospital when I was released. I stayed there until I got better and convinced my daughter to let me rent an apartment a block away. She told me that the only way that I could go was if I got one of those necklaces with a button I could push to alert the police. I moved in not long after getting the necklace. I lived on my retirement fund so I didn't need money from anyone. My daughters and grandchildren calls me everyday now just to check on me. I'm still precaucious and I don't order pizza anymore.

Friends in the Midst!!!

We sat and watched in disgust as Barry ate his lunch. He had two big slices of pepperoni pizza, a side of french fries, and fruit, along with warm chocolate milk. Barry was an awful, unmannerable eater. While he ate french, french fries were flown behind him, and he stuffed the slices of pizza in his mouth. Once he was finished, he began to devour his fruit. Fruit flew from Barry's mouth while he chewed. One piece of fruit even landed on my tray of food. When Barry finished, he had a big pepperoni under hi botom lip, ketchup was diverged all over his hands and face, and he had a slice of pineapple smushed oon his cheek. He ate like he didn't have any home training. I didn't understand because he seemed to be a nice guy, but all of a sudden when lunch time came, he ate like he was a hog. No one wanted to be around him because of his disgusting eating habit. He had somewhat good grades in school and he seened to be nice. I thought, since he didn't have any friends, I would try to be his friend, so I tapped him on his shoulder and when he turned around to look at me, with his white t-shirt, now covered with chocolate milk, I asked him what class did he have next, just trying to start conversation. He seemed happy that finally, someone wanted to talk to him. As we began to talk more, we found out that we had the same classes, we liked to read books, talk on the phone a lot, and we loved to write poems. We found out that we had a lot in common. That's when I found out that Barry had three younger sibling and his mom was a single mother working and trying ot pay the rent for their two bedroom apartment, while trying to scrammble up enough money to buy food. His mom couldn't really afford to buy different things at certain time, like food, so all he had to eat was school breakfast and lunch. That was why he ate like that. I felt so sorry for him.

Looking for a Friend

The old house had been empty for as long as he could remember, but it seemed to have a light on this time he strolled pass. As he passed by the old, gray, vacant house, he heard somebody calling his name. He stopped to listen for it again to be sure he was hearing correctly. Once he heard it again, he knew that it had to be coming frome the old house, but "How could this be?" he thought. He crept closer to the house taking caution. He walked to the door, turned the knob, and that's when the door opened by itself. As the door creaked, he heard someone scream. He jumped at the sound. He yelled, "Is there anybody here?" No one answered. He repeated himself, still no answer. He began to walk up the stairs, then he heard the scream again. Every other step would make a soft, yet loud creak. He looked up and saw the huge cobwebs that lurked the ceilings. Charlie thought about his mom and knew that she was expecting him home soon and he didn't want to get in trouble, so he turned around and walked back down the stairs. As he walked to the door, he heard a girl calling his name again, "Charlie, Charlie." He asked, "Who's there?" The girl beagan to laugh. He looked down the dark hallway and saw a figure. It came closer, and closer. harlie began to walk backwards towards the door in fear. As the figure came closer to the light, Charlie could make out that it was a girl with long, black hair. She had on a pink nightgown with red hearts all over it. She was holding a teddybear. She told him that she watches him when he passes the house and wanted to be his friend. He asked her how many friends did she have and she told him, with her head down, that she didn't have any friends. He told her that he had to get home before he got in trouble, but he promised to come tomorrow and play with her. She smiled and wished him a good night. Charlie stayed true to his word and came back the next day, and from then on, they became the best of friends.

Stuck in Wal-Mart

As I walked through the aisle with my big sister and her boyfriend, I heard on the intercom,"Attention Wal-Mart customers, Wal-Mart will be closing for the weekend in observance of a work-holiday. We will be locking the door at eleven. Thankyou for shopping at Wal-Mart." I looked at my watch, it was ten minutes till eleven. My big sister wasn't paying attention because she was too busy picking out a bathing suit ad making out with her boyfriend at the same time. "They disgust me," I told the strange, old couple that were staring at them. They didn't say it, but I knew they agreed. I reminded my sister that now, we only had seven minutes until closing. She stated, annoyed, "Okay, okay, okay, I know that we don't have long. I'm going to try this bathing suit on quickly and if it fits, I'm going to buy it, then we leave, happy?" I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Fair enough I guess." When she went to try on the suit, I walked away from the dressing roomto look at a shirt that I liked because Malcom, my big sister's boyfriend, and I arn't close, so we don't usually talk very much to each other. I didn't notice when my sister came out and I didn't see them walk away. When I looked up, they were gone. I ran to the lines hoping that maybe they were still in line waiting to purchase the suit. When I reached the lines, no one seemed to be there. I ran to the parking lot in search of our mom's baby blue 2009 Ford Fusion, but it wasn't at the spot where we parked. I walked back inside of the store and I heard, "Wal-Mart will be closing in five, four, three, two, one." My heart was now pounding fast as the sliding doors closed, and all of the lights turned off, except the front to scare off burglars. I began to panic even more when I remembered that Wal-Mart wasn't going to open until the weekend was over. I tried to open the sliding doors, but it was no use. I finally thought to myself, "As long as I'm here, I might as well find something fun out of it." I ran through the toy aisle. I played with all the toys that I could without opening them becaus I didn't want to have to buy the things, I just wanted to test them put. Suddenly I heard a sound like a bell. It was the alarm going off and I started hearing voices. I ran to go see what was all the racket hoping that it was someone else that was stuck in Wal-Mart with me, but it was even better. A big, round policeman yelled, "Over here, fellows." They asked me my name, my date of birth, and my address. Cooperately I answered their questions. They also asked was I locked in here by accident, and I nodded in fear. They told me that once my sister and her boyfriend got to our house, they noticed that I wasn't there,,they called the police. Our mom was highly upset at my sister and told her that she was grounded for three months and she wasn't allowed to communicate with her boyfriend during that time also. When I got home, I told my family about the short adventure I had, and fell asleep not long after.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is on February 14, 2009!!!

Valentine's Day is a day that is set aside especially for love. On this day, you are supposed to express your love to your mate. Valentine's Day should be a day of happiness and joy shown to one another. Children at school often bring cards and candy for the whole class to show their loyalty. Other people give cards and candy to their husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, or any other you love. I think that Valentine's Day should be not only about people loving other people, but also people that admire other people. V-day has a story behind it about an angel named cupid that goes around with a bow and arrow and shoots people in the rear and makes them fall in love. The story sounds nice and all but lets be realistic. We all know that there isn't really a cupid. The real question is, "How does everyone find true love?" Well, some people believe in love at first site, others believe in meeting someone, getting to know them better, dating, and so forth, and some people believe in friendship first. However you look at it. There is still a way that you must get to know the peson. Some people think about nothing else but love, and some don't. Valentine's Day is usually about a person that knows and love you for who you are and why you love them too. This same feeling could be about a person you admire the most, a loved one perhaps. Maybe if you don't have a valentine this valentine's day, then maybe you should think about a loved one that has passed and visit their grave yard with flowers or at least think about the person. Valentine's Day is a day that all people should love and be loved. I challenge you this Valentine's Day to everyone that you talk too, tell them that you love them. Count how many I Love You's you get back and see just how much you are being loved, and see how good it makes you feel.

Black History Month

As you all know this month is Black History Month. I think that we should all show our dedication some way..... Some how. I think that we should volunteer at different places to show our gratitude to all of the people that helped us make it this far. This month is also great because we finally have an African American president to lead us now for the first time. I have seen commercials about a monument that they would like to build in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. No matter who you are or where you come from, we should all still want to show kindness in some way. There were a lot of African-American people that paved the way to success for us. For example, Rosa Parks helped make it so African-Americans can sit in the front of the bus. Dr. Martin Luther King inspired people with his I Have a Dream speech and his never ending fight for freedom and justice for all. Sojourner Truth helped make it so all woman could have voting rights, along with Susan B. Anthony. Harriet Tubman brought many slaves to freedom. Frederick Douglass helped with getting justice for all Americans also. Booker T. Washington also helped to make learning available for all people. Without these people, we would not be where we are today. Thanks to their never terminating fight, we are here together. Now, more than ever, all people should love one another and stop hating. We should stand proud in what we believe in and never forget where we come from, but always remember where we are going. We as a country should stand together for our justice. We should always remember, "A person's a person, no matter how small," as said in Horton Hears a Who. We should embrace this month as a month for all people to set aside their differences and love one another unconditionally. This month should be special to a lot of people, whether its a birthday, an anniversary, or valentine's day, we should have a special feeling of gratitude for all the African-American people that helped to pave the way to society.