The Doctor, The Librarian, and the Babysitter.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! He was a great preacher and civil rights activist, and helped changed the laws of that time by nonviolent measures. He was a wonderful oratorical speaker, and had great theological skills, and there would of been no telling what he could of been. But sadly, because he had done and said some things that offended James Earl Ray, he was killed in Memphis Tennessee on a balcony outside of Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel. A man who worked for equal rights for African-Americans, and for the poor and lowly, was shot for that. That's pitiful. He did great, wonderful things, organizing the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and got the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed. He even marched on Washington. I have stepped on and seen the spot where he said the famous "I have a Dream" speech on the Lincoln Memorial. I have also seen his the newly erected memorial in DC and I have seen his small childhood home in Atlanta, GA. I have seen where he died also, which you can read about in "Lorraine Hotel, Civil Rights Museum, and SUN Records". He was truly a great, great great man. And now we celebrate his day. Today. Now to the blog.

On the Fourth of January, a Wednesday, there were three ladies, two women and one teenager, that made up our day. They helped us, were generous to us, and took care of us, all in the order they are presented. They came in that order, and went in that order, and left one after another, all in one day. It was two people who are tax paid for, and one that was paid by us. I won't tell you who they were right now, but if you read on you will find out soon enough. Sow now, to the blog we go my faithful steed! (Okay, you're not a horse, but it's an expression.)

Rebecca needed a check up appointment before we left, to see if she had a disease or sickness, or a giraffe sticking out of her shoulder. And so we drove over, and I had my bio of B.F. and the National Geographic Almanac. I was ready, and in the morning I also revised and put an introduction to the story I have written, 'A Day He Didn't Expect'. Then I printed it. I was to give it to Dr. Jina, our doctor who is very proud of me losing some weight last year, and knows I have writing and movie making hobbies. We came off the road of Crossville Rd, and came into the long rows of buildings that are dedicated to helping people with their body, no matter if it's dentist, doctor, or chiropractor, the bone guy. We came to a two story building, and parked in front of it, a forest behind us. We went inside, and saw the stairs going up. There were two doors and windows with them, a sign saying The Well Room and Sick Room. Of course, we got in the Well Room, and saw the familiar blue and wooden chairs and Noah's Ark painting on the walls, and the movie Bambi on the T.V. We went up to the counter in the hallway, and I sat down while Mom arranged everything. We all sat down again as I realized that Dad had gone to the Dealership, and that Mom told me that I would say hello to Jina and give her the manuscript, but then after sit in the waiting room, so I'm sorry I will not be able to give the dramatic and interesting details of the doctor's office, where some shocking result happens or there is a sad crying of the shot. Sorry, but I will not be able to tell you all the gruesome details.

A nurse with teddy bears on her rough trademark clothing called Rebecca's name and escorted us down the first hallway, and she was a nurse with blonde/brown hair, and had glasses that balanced slightly on her ears. She made Rebecca go against the wall and do the height thing, and then after that made her weight on the weight thing. After that we went into a room with a painting of a horse in one corner, and another thing. She asked of any sicknesses during the year, allergies, eating habits, emotional stress, daily routine, the usual. While we answered Rebecca was on a table with paper she was on, and Mom in a red metal chair, I in a blue one, across from her. The nurse was punching in on a computer attached to a table with sink and materials all she had heard. I read a little of B.F.'s bio. After she left with the usual nurse checklists (I'm sure you all have been through it, to which you usually answer no to all) and she left. We had told her of the cat allergy, how she had gotten stomach aches, and about the trip, and how she ate. Then I waited. Talked. Waited. Listened to the click-clock of the clock ticking. Mom told Rebecca and I that Mrs. Powell, the media specialist at RNE, had asked if we could have lunch with her. Before this request, on the blog she commented and said she had wanted to stop by when she saw the R.V., but did not. We had a little back to back on Email. Mom was deciding whether to go, to which she wanted to. She called Mrs. Powell back.

Mrs. Powell is a cool media specialist. She was a mentor to me while I was at RNE and we have a lot of similar book choices. In the past we've both recommended books to each other, and she has kept up with the trip. She's nice, good to talk to and a nice conversationalist with books. And so now, she wanted to see us before we left. Because, we were about to leave. But back to the doctor's office. I read some interesting things in the Almanac, as I read about B.F. starting Poor Richard's Almanac. It was an weird combination. An almanac in the 1700's is a lot different to an almanac of today, of course. The wording, dialects, organization, and other things are all different. Well, Rebecca was told to dress in a gown, and did so as I had my head in my book. Knock on the door, a quick "Come in" from Mom, and bang! there Doctor Jina appears. "How's the coolest family?" she asked in a cute way as laughing as she saw us. Hugs were exchanged as I got up and said hi. She had a clipboard in her hand. Here now let me describe Dr. Jina. She has black hair, tan, and is nice and probably in her thirties or forties. Kind of Asian but not exactly. She's understanding and cooperative, and funny. We are supposedly one of her favorite families, because of my losing weight and what we've done on our trip. There is suspicion she says that to others, but oh well. The bragging rights stay.

We told her about the trip, and about me writing 'A Day He Didn't Expect', what it was about and stuff. Well, here's what it is about, what I explain to her. A man named Samuel Rivers does his normal routines on the day, and goes into his cabbie unsuspecting he's about to get robbed. As he thinks about new accounts in the bank, it stops and he steps out to see what is the matter, seeing not his regular cabbie Daniel but two thugs, and one knocks him out cold. They take his money and clothing, leaving him only in his underpants. He runs and tries to find his way home, and sees lunatic ladies named He-he and Ha-ha, a man with claws, a creature made out of straw, a giant wolf beast, and learns along the way that in this world you should expect the unexpected, take advantage of and be grateful of your regular great life, and also to not be greedy. It has allegories and metaphors in there too, which I'll leave you to discover on your own if you read it. I might post it on the blog. The foreword is that I found it on the beach in southern England on their coast, and that the person who wrote the actual manuscript is a reporter in 1849, Richard Simmons, who meets and interviews Samuel Rivers in his old age. Rivers only permits Simmons to publish it after his death. Which he did. I like the ending. I told Jena all this and more. The more part I can't tell you because, even though I want to, it seems it's more fun and exciting for the reader if he (or she) discovers the hidden elements on their own, which you will do when you read it. You may be surprised at what you find.

After saying goodbye to the thunderstruck Dr. Jina (I gave her the manuscript by the way), I went outside and read the almanac, doing several brain games and finding missing things. Rebecca and Mom came eventually as I was looking at the ground hog part in Bambi. We went outside, and parked on the right of the school in a parking lot overlooking baseball fields, and bleachers with a forest, stream and walkway, and concrete around us, as well as the long carpool lines for the cars to come in and pick up the kids, who were standing under with teachers with a long courtyard and stairs going to another floor, plus doors to the gym. We emptied out the front seat as we were thinking to be respectful and nice to Mrs. Powell, she was coming out to lunch with us somewhere. I wanted to get my A.M.E. book because she had talked of being interested with it, thinking it would be good for the school, and so we went quickly home and got the book, running to my room and taking it out of it's snug little corner of the closet, turning on the light and running back out. Then we drove back to the school, in the front parking lot. We went in quietly, seeing nobody in the office and a sign saying there was a breakfast thing going on, and a party because it was the last free day for the poor teachers until Spring Break, the kids were coming tomorrow, January 5th. Oh how they cherished this last moment of freedom, in the teacher's lounge, talking and partying. We hoped we weren't keeping Mrs. Powell from all the fun. We walked down the hall by the cafeteria, walking along the white walls with green and while tile, looking through to see the cafeteria employees watching T.V. while cleaning the tables, with all the tables and the stage. We then turned to a room and walked in.

The media center has computers to the left when you walk in, and a lounge area for reading with a couch and magazines on the right. Further up is Mrs. Meyer's office, who is a counselor. To the right by other computers is Mrs. Barker's office, who is also a counselor. And she's an interesting one. Even further up is where they do News Team, which has cameras, computers, a green screen, and other stuff. You must be thinking of course Andrew was on News Team, right! Well no. I wanted to be helpful and nice, and so did Peer Helpers, because Mr. Matthews (who used to run News Team) said you could do both. I signed up, and when I went to do News Team, I was told I could not. And don't take this out Mom if you think it'll offend somebody. I want the truth to be known. Anyway, I did Peer Helpers. And I had a great year nevertheless. Further on to the right is a counter with computer and place where you put books in the slot, also a little glassed area in the back where people hang out and relax, with fridge, table, and coffee stuff. I meant the teachers when I said that. As we walked in, I saw all the bookshelves, like in a regular library, and posters and tables. Then we saw Mrs. Powell walking in with a pile of papers. She said "HIIIII!" in a voice you would say if you hadn't seen people in six months, and were delighted to see them. We walked over.

We said hello as Rebecca dropped her doughnuts on the table and Mom showed Mrs. Powell the gift we got her, a lot of author cards and some other things. She enjoyed it, and I then showed her the A.M.E., explaining that we got it in St. Louis, it probably wasn't anywhere in GA but maybe online it would be available. We talked about being home, what we've been doing, the trip, and how life at RNE is. Mrs. Powell says she wasn't planning on going to the lunch thing anyway, as Rebecca went downstairs to say hello to some of her teachers, as I said hello to mine earlier in the month of December. As she was gone Mom explained the reasons she didn't read as much, and Mrs. Powell showed us a few books she thought she would like. We took pictures of one called PUNished (like puns) and one about a kid who can go back in time to a baseball player's life if he touches the card. Those were thought for me. For Rebecca was one about a dog named Bear who gets lost, and a detective series for kids. It took capital cites and made a story out of them. I also struck a JackPot there, not just a recommendation, but real books. You remember the RedWall series? Well she found out on the Blog I liked them and so she said her son liked it too, that they met the author, Brian Jasques, in Roswell. Well Brian is dead. They continued the series a little though, with different authors. They're probably not as good and just want to make money. 

Mrs. Powell had a lot of old ones, ones that were yellow and had curled up pages, parts of pages missing and were stiff. Well, she knew they were going to a great home, and because I liked the first book, she said she was willing to loan them to me, all the old ones they have. She got all of them and took them over to the table, the nice lady. While Rebecca came back and was speaking to her favorite counselor Mrs. Meyer and some other assistant teachers we knew, Mrs. Powell went through the whole process and stuck them in a grocery bag, all of them in. I said hello to her handyman husband who was fixing a frame. Thank you so much for those books Mrs. Powell. I really appreciate it. Those will be read, to the first and last pages, and then will be loved and cherished. I just hope Tress and The Legend of Luke don't fight over me. That would be bad. Mattimo will keep them in line. I don't really know anything about Mossflower and Marlfox though. Those are a little sneaky. Just so you know I'm talking about different books in the series. Only those who have read it know what I'm talking about.

We left after that, and said goodbye to the nice and awesome Mrs. Powell.

People Person

Open Minded

Wonderful

Eccentric

Loving

Legend of Luke Reader

Thanks again Mrs. Powell. We then got in the car, and were glad, because we had gained physically and mentally a lot from that visit. We drove home, and I took off the plates for the dining room and put all my books on there. I later when all were laid down asked on Google for Redwall's publication order, and then took a pencil and numbered them all. The stories in publication order aren't in CHRONOLOGICAL order, but a guy on the net said if you read it the publication way, you get surprised a lot and have a lot of those "Oh, now I understand!" moments. So I left them there as Mom said that she was going to see a movie called "The Descendants" with Brenda. So we were to get a babysitter, a girl named Savannah Finley who goes to RHS (Roswell High School) and was picked up by us for a year to go to where her mom works as a chef, at RUMC. She has three brothers, Aiden (who I knew and played with, one year older than me) and two others. She's a nice girl. For an hour or so we waited and did some other things like watching T.V. and eating dinner, and then we went to her house in Wave Tree (neighborhood where we have like four rental houses), by way of car, of course.

We picked her up at her house, which is white with brick. I was going to run to the door but immediately she came out with her purse and jacket. We talked to her as we drove back to our house. Mom told her the usuals, what was in the fridge that she could give to eat us, and stuff like that. She then left. We said goodbye to them. So then Savannah, who has brown hair and is nice, talked to us with the pups on our laps in the living room. We ate a lot of chocolates as we told about the trip, and talked to Savannah about books she had read in class for required reading (1984, Catcher and the Rye, other things). Most of them she said were bad. Which is weird. Why hand a teenager a book you think they'd like (but they seldom do) and then make them do a report on it? I don't know why, but if you do please tell me why. We then went outside, to do some exercise. We saw that the pond by our garden was frozen; it had ice on it. Because of our boredom we quickly got some of my silver cylinder poles from my table and whacked the pond multiple times, breaking the ice and separating it. It was actually pretty fun, although it was destructive. After knocking it senseless into next week, I heard laughter and kid's voices out of our yard, by the forest with the green fence where Mrs. Noethling's house is.

I wanted to talk to Mrs. Noethling before we left to go on our trip again, to tell her we had been there, even though we didn't talk to her a whole lot while we had been home prior the trip. I knew her grand kids had been over. So we walked over the small hill with all the forest stuff on the ground, and passed through the gate, leaving the dogs even though they barked and tried to get through. They heard the dog, their golden retriever, and barked the whole time we went over. Funny dogs. We walked over and said hello to Mrs. Noethling (in fifty's brown haired usually wearing a sweater) and her blonde haired 30 year old daughter and two toddler kids, ranging from four to six in age. One had on a Lego t shirt. To the left was trees, some hay stacks, and a white farm building which had a metal staircase leading to a second floor. For a while we told where we had been and some of our past experiences (0n the trip) to Mrs. Noethling, as we talked of what we had done since we had been home. Mammoth Cave was among the things we talked about. We later left. They went back to playing boche ball as we left. Then for a while we played Ground, in which one person is it and has their eyes closed, and tries to tag other people. You can run around on the ground all you want, but if the person says "GROUND!" while you're on the ground you are it.

We played this, the first time as Savannah was it I just stayed by a tree on a picnic table, loving life and the open air and outdoors as I cuddled with my dog Rocky. I thought I had it in when he clumsily made noises while coming toward me, and I also sat on a wooden little footstep to the zip line. Rebecca was on the window sill between the lower part of the treehouse and the slide & and ladder. Savannah passed by unsuspecting as Rebecca hang there, untouched. It was laugh out loud comedy although I did not laugh out loud, less I be caught. We played on the wooden frames, and got up into the higher part, then back on the frame again, avoiding Rebecca later. That was Savannah and I doing that. Later I stayed on a wooden block that was horizontally between two others, in a triangle position supporting the beam that held up the swings. I was caught by Savannah that time. We played this until we all got bored and tired.

We went inside thinking of going downstairs and playing wii, or to watch T.V., but ended up in the basement playing Apples to Apples. That game is F-U-N Fun! If you haven't heard of it, you have 3 or more members, who each have 7 red cards with some kind of thing, whether it be a term, noun, or animal, person or whatever. Going to school is even one of them. Anyway, you go around in a circle and each round a person is a judge, and selected a green card and shows it. That card is an adjective. The others have to find one of their cards that best describes that adjective, even if it's not even that good. The judge determines which one is better, more like the adjective.

Say the adjective is stinky. If a person has the choice of hats and dogs which one will the person probably chose? Dogs. The person who wins gets the green card, and whoever gets ten cards wins. We played that game, and had a funny time with words, and laughed a lot during the time. Savannah is great, although she is getting a lot more crime these days. There is a little bit of a depressed economy there. Wait, what do you mean you don't understand? Oh, no I was talking about the city in Georgia, silly! Oh but the girl is great too. More than that. No crime at all. Happiest girl you could meet. No, I do not need a doctor.

Rebecca wanted to play outside and did ball with Savannah while I sat on the porch and went inside and watched an episode on T.V. and ate some yogurt. At about that time Mom came back and handed Savannah the money, as we said goodbye. She had seen a great movie. But she didn't tell me anything about it, she said it was too inappropriate and stuff. So if you want a summary, call her or something, she has the answers. We both (Rebecca and I) went and dropped off Savannah at her house, and then came back. We kind of relaxed for the rest of the evening, and Dad wasn't there until way later. I didn't see him before I went to sleep, which I did at about 9. It was a good day. We handed a story away, got some stories back, and had a fun story to tell all in one day. And there's no need for me to say something you already know, like that it was a pretty fun day and we saw a Doctor, Librarian, and Babysitter, all in a day. But I've said it now. Oh well. Anyway, Goodbye for Now.

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase"- Martin Luther King Jr. ,

Andrew.