Diaries & Destinies
Miss Yonkers addressed her eager
class, “Students, today you will be writing a brief one-page synopsis of
yourself and family. Keep it straight to the point and include anything you
feel may be of interest to another reader.”
Robert and Rebecca’s English
Literature class was an exciting place to be this school year. They are
studying diaries… yes, diaries… three prominent ones written by school-age
children from around the world over the past sixty-five years. One diary is from
a German girl who lived with her family in the Netherlands during World War II.
They were later taken captive. Another diary was written by a young girl from
the city of Sarajevo during the war in that country, known as Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and the third diary is from a group of school kids from southern
California.
Rebecca was deep in contemplation
scribbling out an outline of her thoughts before she actually began her
assignment, but Robert jumped right into the assignment…
“For those readers who do not
know me, I am Robert Dance. I have a twin sister, Rebecca and both of us are
two normal fourteen-year-old teenagers. Of course, having a twin sister is not
all that normal, I guess. We have a little sister, Kelly, who will become a
teenager next year. Our parents call us “Rob”, “Becca” and “Kell”, at least
when we are not in trouble, anyway.
I like running and I hope to be part of the track and field team next
year. I also like to make all different kinds of gadgets. I recently made a
special mobile phone for a science project that is hooked to a small palm sized
GPS, that means ‘Global Position System’, which allows you to press one button
that dials the police, audibly and digitally giving them your location in times
of emergency. It also activates a tracking signal that lasts until the battery
is drained. It has a small solar panel on the back so, if you are lucky, you
can keep it charged for a very long time.
My twin sister is a computer whiz. She loves everything to do with
computers; programming languages, audio and visual applications, networking,
etc. She was also on a gymnastics team for a year when she was younger and is
very good.
Kelly is an amazing kid for being a twelve year old. In third grade she
was advanced one grade up to the fourth. It may happen again, but our parents
feel that she needs to remain with children closer to her own age for her
emotional and psychological development... sounds good to Becca and me. She
could pass us up and that would be embarrassing! She has taken ballet lessons
since she was six and really likes it a lot. Kell is totally immersed in
studying forensics, profiling, criminal psychology, crime scene investigations,
mathematics, music theory, DNA, and you name it. In fact, all three of us have
an avid interest in the investigative techniques used by all types of law
enforcement departments.
My father, Jonothan, has been a homicide inspector in San Francisco for
over nine years. My mother, Felicity, just landed a job in the Alameda County
DA’s office in Oakland near Lake Merritt. She is a prosecuting attorney there
and is quite busy now. She is very excited about her job and fortunately, for
my sisters and me, she brings a lot of study materials home to read.
We live in Berkeley, California, in a very nice older two-story home
with a basement. We have a room in the basement that we use as our library and
homework room. We have a computer, desk and an old whiteboard there to help us
with our studies.
My uncle and aunt, Kevin and Sara Jones, live in Albany on the side of
the hill facing the back of the Albany Bowl, which is just visible out of their
kitchen window. Uncle Kevin is an accomplished locksmith and I have been
working with him on summer vacations since I was twelve. Aunt Sara, our mom’s
sister, is what people call a homemaker, but she is also the Vice-President of
one of the Parent Teacher Associations - “PTA”. She takes care of my sisters
and me some evenings when dad and mom are late due to something work related.
She brings our little cousin, Philip, over with her. He is only nine years old,
but quite inquisitive. Sometimes we even get to order take-out ribs from the
new Bag-of-Bones restaurant in town.
I have another uncle who lives in New York, but I do not see him very
often. Uncle James Darrell Dance is his name. ‘James’ is his formal name, but
sometimes we just call him ‘Uncle Jim’ instead. When I have asked my parents
what he does for a living in New York they always seem to change the subject,
or just talk about him when he was in the military. Becca has searched through
some military related websites, but cannot seem to find any information about
him at all. Last time he visited, we asked him what he did and he said he
worked on some “military stuff” now and then. He said all of his military
friends called him “J. D.”. Kell thinks he is with the CIA or something. For
now, he will just have to stay “Uncle Jim” to my sisters and me. He does seem
to travel a lot though.
My Grandparents, on my father’s side, live in Arizona where the air is
dryer. My mother’s parents passed away when she was in college. They were
fairly old when she and her sister were born.
FYI,
Robert Dance”
Once the class bell rang indicating
the period’s end, the students handed in their papers and were dismissed. In
the hallway, Robert caught up to his sister, Rebecca, for a quick chat.
“I heard Billy Masters was
questioned today about the computer theft.”
“Do they think he did it?” pondered
Rebecca. “It seems too complex for him to have done that. Did they question
anyone else?”
“No. I think they just took him to
the Administration section. He seems to get into trouble a lot.”
“That doesn’t seem fair to me. He
hasn’t done anything that bad ever,” asserted Rebecca.
“Not that I know of.”
“He just needs some good friends.”
Robert replied, “I’ll talk to him
during third period when I see him, maybe he will come to lunch with us today.”
Rebecca added, “If you don’t see him
then, I may see him after lunch in sixth period.”
The twins have their science class
with a teacher named Mr. Howard Huebert. Robert has a third period class and
Rebecca has the class for sixth period. Billy takes science in both third and
sixth periods in an effort to raise his grades. He gave up one of his elective
classes to do that.
Before the two started for their
classes, Rebecca reminded Robert, “Don’t forget that Aunt Sara is picking us up
after school to take us shopping at the El Cerrito Plaza.”
“OK, we meet by the flagpole,
right?”
“Correct, sir,” replied Rebecca.
“See ya.”
“B. B. F. N. – Bye, Bye for
now.”
As lunchtime neared each day,
students all over campus got pretty restless. The eagerness to get outside on a
bright sunny day could be overwhelming, especially for those with little
patience and starving stomachs.
“Hey, Robert, we are over here,”
Caroline shouted to Robert from across the school lawn.
Robert made his way over to where
Caroline, Rebecca and Phil were sitting on the grass.
“Too bad Gerry is sick today, we
needed him in basketball this morning in P. E.,” complained Phil.
“That’s for sure,” Robert agreed.
“At least it was just practice and not a real game.”
“Becca,” Robert addressed his
sister. “I talked to Billy Masters earlier and told him how unfair we felt it
was for him to be bothered about the computers and all.”
“What did he say?”
“He sort of expected it. He said he
always gets blamed for things, even at home.”
“I wonder why Principal Sanchez
wanted to talk to him,” questioned Caroline.
Robert replied, “It wasn’t Mr.
Sanchez, Caroline, it was that temporary vice-principal, Ms. Logan. She leaves
next week, so maybe she felt it was her duty to check Billy out.”
“That’s too bad it wasn’t the
Principal,” Caroline sighed, “He is such an understanding man and a good
disciplinarian when it is really needed.”
“He sure is,” said Phil, remembering
when he got into a bit of trouble throwing water balloons during a high school
rally.
“I bet you do,” said Robert. “If I
remember correctly, you had to sweep up the whole Rally Bowl area.
Everyone laughed.
“Do you think Billy will come to
join us for lunch?” questioned Rebecca.
“Not sure, but I sort of doubt it,
sis.”
“If Billy always gets accused of
things like this, he may grow up to think that it doesn’t matter what he does
because he will get blamed anyway,” commented Rebecca.
“That’s why we need to be friendly
with him, but not fake friendly, if you know what I mean,” Robert asserted.
“Absolutely,” agreed Rebecca. “And,
possibly, complain when we think he is being treated unfairly.”
Phil asked, “Anyone heard if they
found the computers yet, or the thief?”
Rebecca responded, “No, just that
the police had a lead in the case. I guess it takes time to investigate their
leads and question people.”
“Our little sister talked to that
nice police cadet, Jim Connors, last night at her ballet practice and he seemed
to indicate that there was a suspect.”
“Ooh... Jim Connors,” Caroline said
to Rebecca.
“Ooh,” the others joined in.
Rebecca responded defensively, “Oh,
come on guys. He is just a nice guy.”
“He sure is,” replied Robert.
With the lunch period drawing to its
close, the group was off once again to their lockers to retrieve their books
and homework assignments for their afternoon classes. Occasionally some of the
teachers let their students sit outside during class if the weather is as nice
as it was today, but nobody ever really gets their hopes too high for that
pleasure.
Next Chapter
Chapter Four: Paper or Plastic?
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