Milly's Journal - Chapter 3 - "The Neighborhood of the Weird and Unnatural"

Milly meets another neighbor - little brother Louis has trouble with bullies.

Milly's Journal

 

Chapter 3

"The Neighborhood of the Weird and Unnatural"

 

(Please remember to read the footnotes at the end of the chapter)

Dear Dad,  

It's a little after 9:00 PM now. We just got through eating a quick dinner. I know it was later than the usual time we eat, but with a late lunch and almost constantly moving things into the house for hours, it was easy for time to slip away from us.

 

Mom is still upstairs working but she said Louis and I could relax for the rest of the night. So right now Louis is trying to get the TV set up so he can play his video games, and I decided to stop work awhile and write you. After this I'm going to go and help Mom out some more before bedtime. But several pretty crazy things happened not long after I wrote my last letter to you this afternoon that I just can't go without telling you about.

 

First, remember how I was just telling you how I was hoping we'd meet our new neighbors and make some new friends soon? Well...it happened. Both Louis and I met a few more of our neighbors today. And um...as of right now Dad, I'm beginning to think this neighborhood is really the "Neighborhood of the Weird and Unnatural." I don't know, maybe there was a warning sign about this place that we missed when we drove in or something. But I'm hoping and praying that not all of our neighbors are like this. Surely they're not!

 

Anyway, earlier this afternoon Mom continued carrying in boxes and things, Louis decided to take Max and ride around the block for awhile on his big wheel, and I was in the kitchen putting stuff into the refridgerator. Everything was going ok. The kitchen was calm and quiet until out of the blue I hear a voice, a girl's voice right beside me say, "Excuse me!"

 

Yes Dad, she startled me pretty bad! So bad that I jumped! I looked over and here was this girl standing by me at the counter looking into our box of groceries. Dad I have absolutely NO IDEA where she even came from! I didn't hear her walk in or anything. Mom was working upstairs so I don't think she invited her in. It really freaked me out!

 

When I looked at her, she smiled, pointed to the box and asked me if these were my groceries.

 

What a stupid question!! I mean, who else's groceries would they be?? Why would she even want to know that anyway? I was so dumbfounded at her question I wanted to give her a sarcastic response, but I controlled myself and gave her a polite, "Yeah."

 

Then she grabbed my hand and started shaking it with such force I was afraid she'd sprain my wrist!

 

She introduced herself but continued talking nonstop without hardly even taking a breath between sentences! She was telling me what school she went to and what school I might be going to, all while still shaking my hand like crazy. I didn't even get a chance to tell her my name or anything.

 

I was holding a Coke in my other hand as this was happening, and get this Dad, she said to me, "I suppose this is your Coke too!"..and just reached over, yanked it out of my hand and opened it as if she's going to drink it! I was speechless Dad!! This girl was totally unbelievable!!!

 

I found out she lives down the street a little ways from us. Her name is Geneva Goodman. (1) She looks to be about my age, but she won't be going to my school though. (And yes I think I'm thankful for that...at least right now I am.) She's going to a Catholic school and I'm going to the one in town, Taft High. When I told her that  I was going to Taft, she made sure to mention how crappy the cafeteria there is. Once again I felt like being sarcastic with her and telling her thank you so much for letting me know that, but I controlled myself once again and didn't say anything.

 

But she even told me she thinks she and I are going to be great friends.

 

Um..."great friends??" Yeah Dad, I know, it's too early to judge her to know if we really are going to be good friends or not, but it was a bit creepy the way she just walked into our house like that and then grabbed the Coke right out of my hand. I mean I don't know too many people who do things like that when they first introduce themselves.

 

But I'm not sure I'm going to like this neighborhood very much. Because first it was the overly weird, creepy, arms out to the side, staring, windowsill boy that won't say a word, and now it's this crazy girl who acts so completely stupid and yes I have to say it...rude! At least she can talk! But this girl talks a bit TOO much!

 

It looked like she was wanting to stay awhile, so I closed the refridgerator door, (after she helped herself with one of our yogurt cups) and she and I stood in the kitchen for a few minutes and talked. Well as you should know by now she did most of the talking. Although she did let me finally get to tell her my name, where we're from, and a bit about our family. However I avoided telling her about you...I just didn't feel right telling her what happened when I barely even know her. I've only known her for just a few short minutes.

 

But Dad, do know I will try to give her a chance to be my friend. Maybe once I get to know her a little better and learn more about her life, maybe she and I will be able to be good friends...as long as she lets me get a few words in from time to time.

 

But hey, I did get to introduce her to Mom instead of the other way around like she did with me. We decided to walk around outside, with her still talking my ear off about things like movie theaters, the Mall, clothes, etc. I was really wanting her to shut up for awhile. (Of course!)

 

So thankfully we ran into Mom who was now working in the front yard and I introduced them to each other. Mom actually seemed rather pleased to see I had met a girl my own age. But if she only knew what this girl is really like, she may think otherwise.

 

I was hoping Geneva would start her endless, boring conversations with Mom so I could give my ears a little break. But we got interrupted when several younger boys came running up the sidewalk and came very close to running right into us. They looked like they had been chasing something and they all looked pretty angry.

 

They stopped in front of us to catch their breath. There were four of them and they looked about eleven or twelve years old.

Suddenly Geneva steps forward a little towards the meanest looking boy and introduced us to him as her brother "Sonny."

 

Though this kid looked pretty irritated with a big frown on his face, I smiled at him and said, "Hi."

 

I wasn't too surprised for some reason when the boy didn't respond, but seemed to divert his attention to something behind us.

 

Geneva broke the silence by letting her brother know he was an idiot for not answering, and demanded him to say "Hello" to us. I could tell he totally did not care at all to say "hello," but finally, and with slight effort he told us it was nice to meet us.

 

Still he and his friends kept looking at something in the yard behind us for almost the whole time they were standing there. None of them had any interest in getting to know us, that's for sure!

 

Geneva then told us she'd see us later, and she and the boys started walking away. A few times the boys would keep looking back, but they continued walking away from us.

 

As I was watching them disappear down the sidewalk, I hadn't even realized that Louis had walked up and was standing right beside me. I noticed his eyes were looking directly at the boys the whole time, watching them walk away. But Dad, his eyes had nothing but worry and fear in them.

 

Without saying a word, he reached up to me, while still keeping his eyes focused on the boys as they disappeared down the sidewalk. I could feel his hand on my side, holding me as tight as he could and looking so frightened.

I put my arm around him and held him close to me. I saw how angry and mean those boys looked. And I suddenly started to wonder if it was Louis they had their eyes on when they kept looking behind us. Were they chasing him?

 

He finally looked up at me with a pleading look on his face as if he was asking me to please help him and keep him safe. What did those boys do to him?

 

Mom seemed to not have any idea on how Louis and I were feeling at that moment. She continued working and picked up more boxes to carry inside. But as she walked by us, she smiled and reminded us how we thought we weren't going to get any new friends. Louis and I looked at each other again as if we were letting each other know that Mom has absolutely no idea what she's talking about. Had she seen what just happened? Guess not.

 

But Dad I knew that something bad had happened with Louis and those boys. There was no doubt about it. He was scared and that bothered me. I just had to find out what happened.

 

(2) Louis turned to walk back to the house, but I reached out and pulled him back. I got down on my knees and put my hands on his shoulders so I could look him straight in the eyes.

 

When I knew I had his attention, I demanded him to tell me what those boys did to him. I told him to tell me everything. And Dad, what he told me made me sad, but so very angry that he was treated this way.

 

He started by explaining how he got his big wheel out of the moving van so he could take a ride on it and go around the block a little ways to see what some of the rest of the neighborhood looked like. He said when he turned the corner, he saw ahead of him down the sidewalk, a bicycle go flying through the air and crash onto the ground. A kid came running, grabbed the bike and ran off. He told me as this was happening he heard some boys laughing as the kid ran away.

 

I asked him why he didn't turn back and come back home after seeing a kid have that happen to him.

 

He said he didn't really know why, but he just felt like going on. He mentioned that Max was with him for most of the time but got scared and backed off when he saw the kid run off and heard the boys mocking him.

 

Dad I tried to explain to Louis that it was important, especially when Max got scared, that it was best that he should've turned around and came home.

 

I think he understood because for a few seconds he stopped looking at me and hung his head down in shame.

 

I felt so bad for him! But even though I told him he should've come back home, I made sure to explain to him that what he did really wasn't wrong.

 

I put my hand on his chin and gently raised his head to get him to look directly into my eyes again.

 

Oh Dad I wish you could've seen him. He looked so cute in his little army uniform and hat...he wore that suit so often. I know it's his favorite outfit when he's playing. But also, if you saw his precious little face right now, your heart would just break into a million pieces for him.

 

I smiled at him and let him know it was ok. I asked him to please tell me what happened next.

 

(3) He told me he continued to ride down the sidewalk. But it really scared me when he said a big Doberman Pinscher dog jumped out at him from behind some bushes and barked angerly in his face. And those kinds of dogs are big scary looking dogs!

I asked if Max was anywhere around when the dog showed up. He said he looked for him but couldn't see him anywhere. But compared to the size of this Doberman, I don't think Max could've done very much if he were close by.

 

Louis then told me he tried to get off his big wheel so he could run, but he got his foot caught on one of the pedals and the big wheel tipped over onto him. So there he was, laying on the ground with a huge mean dog barking ferociously while standing over him.

 

I wish to everything I was there with him when all this was happening. Thinking about Louis all by himself with no one to help him made me feel just awful! He's so small Dad! That dog could've really hurt him!

 

Louis went on to tell me how those four boys we just saw and talked to earlier came walking from behind the same bush the dog had come from.

 

I asked him if they said anything to him. He told me they did, and they asked him in a mean way where he was going. He said they made fun of him the whole time, calling him "soldier boy."

 

Louis said he knew he should answer them nicely, so he explained to them that he was just going around the block.

 

But then I got extremely angry when he told me they gave him orders that nobody was allowed to go around the block unless they got their ok. And they strongly let Louis know that he did NOT get their ok.

 

WHAT????

 

Dad this is crazy!!! Since when do eleven and twelve year old boys get to be the head bosses of this neighborhood? That is just so wrong!! Believe me Dad, I was so upset I almost felt like going and finding those boys and giving them a piece of my mind! But thankfully I made myself stay calm.

 

I asked Louis if he tried saying anything else to them. He said, "yes," that he again nicely tried to explain how he was new, and that he had just moved in down the street. So he didn't know that he had to ask them their permission to go around the block.

 

I asked him if they responded to him since he explained to them nicely that he was new here. Even though I know he doesn't even need to explain anything to those bullies! All of this was just insane!!!

 

Louis, still looking right into my eyes nodded his head 'yes' and with such a sadness in his voice, he told me that they very angerly told him to "shut up!"

 

Dad that made me SO mad, I had to stand up, walk around a little bit and take some deep breaths before I was about to take off, find those boys and do something I know I shouldn't even think about doing! but I know fighting them back is NOT the answer. It would just make things worse, if anything.

 

After a few seconds, I calmed down and went back over to Louis. I got down on my knees again in front of him.

 

I urged him to let me know if anything else happened after that.

 

He hung his head down once again and told me how they gave him a ten second start to run away.

 

Dad his foot was still caught on the pedal of his big wheel, so he struggled a bit to get up. He said he tried to get the boys to wait a few seconds so he could get back up on his feet again, but they had already started counting. They weren't even fair to him to let him get up off the ground and get his big wheel upright first. But of course the way they were treating him, the last thing these boys would do would to be fair.

 

Louis' voice started sounding like it was breaking up a little as he explained how he was finally able to get his big wheel back up and turned around. He saw Max had come running out from hiding and was running way ahead of him. Even our own dog was terrified of these kids Dad!

 

Louis said he pedaled as fast as he could till his legs even started to hurt trying to get away from those stupid, mean boys who were running not far along behind him.

 

So that really was the reason those boys almost ran into Geneva and me like that! They really were after Louis!

 

Louis then pointed over to where he had crashed his big wheel into some of our empty boxes in the front yard. Somehow while Geneva was talking to me earlier, I missed him riding past me. I didn't even hear him crash into the boxes. I feel so bad I didn't notice all of this until now.

 

Louis was still looking at me, his big brown eyes were no longer showing fear, but now showing a deep sadness. I could tell he felt like he had failed - that he wished he had tried harder to not let those boys treat him that way.

 

I was so upset that my little brother went through something like this, my eyes started to fill with tears. My heart went out to him and I just put my arms around him, pulled him close to me and hugged him tight.

 

Dad, I know growing up, I never did hug Louis much, but today I saw how much he was hurting and I couldn't help but feel like holding him close.

 

After a few seconds, I felt Louis wrapping his little arms around me, leaning in close to me and hugging me back.

 

Dad this is the first time he has let me hug him in a very long time. After you died, I really would want to give him a hug at times, but he would always push me away. This time he let me hug him...and he actually hugged me back.

 

I think he even started to cry a little. When I heard him making a whimpering noise and sniffing softly, I knew without a doubt he was crying. So I hugged him even tighter. I told him I understood and said to him again that everything was going to be all right.

 

And I'll never forget the sadness in his voice and how his voice shook a little when he said the next few words to me and how he said them. He said..."I miss Daddy."

 

I continued hugging him and let him know that I miss you too, Dad! So much! I told him we all miss you...even Max.

 

Then I heard Louis, still crying say how much he hated it here, and that he wanted to go home. I knew he didn't mean this new home, but our home we just moved from.

 

I let go of him and looked directly into his eyes once again. I reached over and took both his little hands in mine, smiled and told him that I too, more than anything wanted to go back home. I told him I knew exactly how he was feeling, exactly how scared he was.

 

He looked at me, his eyes sparkling with tears.

 

Believe me, I wanted so badly to know the right words to say to him, to help him feel better. But right now there really wasn't much I could say that would make everything all right again.

 

I gently put my hand on the side of his cheek, smiled and reminded him that no matter what, I will always...always be here for him. And Mom too...and of course even Max. And I promised him that we would never leave him...ever. That we would always be together. And most of all, I reminded him we have a God (4) who will never leave us or forsake us either, and when we trust Him, He will help us. And He will keep us happy and keep us safe. I also reminded Louis that (5) we have something greater inside of us that is so much greater than anything and anyone here in this world. And because of this, we can overcome anything!

 

I think that helped Louis feel a little bit better because he gave me a small but weak smile. I smiled at him again and gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

 

I then stood up, put my arm around him and led him back into the house.

 

Dad, I love Louis so much! I just hate what happened to him. And now he's so scared of those stupid boys! But I'm going to try my hardest to not let this happen to him ever again! Because if those boys ever scare or even hurt him...I don't know what I'm going to do because it makes me feel I want to hurt them back! And like I said before, that would not be the answer!

 

But Dad, talking to Louis today let me know that we overcame a small obstacle by actually being a real brother and sister to each other. The way God meant us to be. Because lately we've both been kind of closed off from each other these last few months. It's like the love we have for each other finally came back up to the surface after being "buried" for so long! I think this is a really good thing!

 

Well Louis is still over here struggling with getting the TV to work. He got it plugged in and the cable wire plugged in, but the TV is all snow. So I think I'll go now and see if I can go help him figure out what's wrong. And I want to also go help Mom a little while longer before I go to bed.

 

If I'm not too tired, I might write you a quick note before I go to sleep. But for now, I'm going to get back to work and help Louis get this TV going. Surely it's simple to fix. Hopefully.

 

So until later,

Love you Daddy!

-Milly

 

FOOTNOTES: By Lynn McFall

 

(1) In the movie, Geneva is played by "Facts of Life's" Mindy Cohn. For fun I considered having Milly write that the girl she just met reminded her a lot like the girl who played Natalie on the Facts of Life. (I just looked her up and if the date is right, Mindy is actually older than Jay Underwood (who played Eric.) Milly is really younger than Eric so if Geneva and Milly did go to the same school, they wouldn't be in the same grade (as I first thought.) In fact, Geneva might even be collage age if they used her real age in the movie..Hmm..interesting. LOL! I'll just leave my story as is, having Geneva being about the same age as Milly. It'll be fine! LOL!  But anyway, I decided to not be funny and have Milly mention The Facts of Life. But I thought I could just share my idea as a footnote instead.

 

(2) In the original movie, Milly is not shown talking to Louis after he encountered the bullies. In the movie after the scene where Geneva takes the Coke out of Milly's hand, it shows Louis going down the sidewalk and you see everything that in my story he tells Milly. Writing this movie in letter form, there will be times where I may have to change things around a little. In this case, since in the movie Milly wasn't in the scene where Louis met the bully boys, I had to write it as Louis tells Milly what happened after it actually really happened. I have to write some scenes this way sometimes to make this story work.

 

(3) One reason I love this movie is because I can relate to it in many ways. And in this part of the movie, I actually experienced this when I was a little girl. Like Louis, I too faced a huge mean Doberman Pinscher dog. I was probably  about 9 or 10 years old and I was riding my bike one day in my neighborhood. Up the street a ways, one of my neighbors used to have a big Doberman Pinscher dog. (I'd rather not say it's name.) That day it came running out and stopped right in front of my bike and barked loudly and angerly at me. I tell you I was so scared I froze! I could not move at all! The dog's owner was there and he told me to go on, that it was ok and it wouldn't hurt me. But I was so scared that if I moved to ride off, it would attack me. So I sat there on my bike, just frozen in fear as the same kind of dog as in the movie barked at me as if it wanted to jump on me and hurt me. Somehow I finally got brave enough to move and I rode away unharmed. But when I see that scene in the movie with Louis, I always remember how that very thing happened to me!

 

(4) Bible verse - Deuteronomy 31:6 - "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord  your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you."

 

(5) Bible verse - 1 John 4:4 - "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you, is greater than the one who is in the world."

Author's Note

To anyone who is reading this, thank you. And sorry some of my chapters are extra long. Reviews are welcome! Good or bad, but if they are bad, don't hurt me too much. Ha ha ha! :0)