Typically, the hashtag #tbt would live in my Twitter and Instagram feeds, but I'm spinning it a little differently this week.
As some of you may now, I'm participating in
NaNoWriMo 2013. If you don't know what that means (or Google it before reading further) it's
National Novel Writing Month, and it's an annual online event that I'm partaking in for the first time this year.
Normally, I hear about it well into November, but when I caught wind of it in the Twittersphere mid-October, I knew I had to sign up. I had no idea what I was going to write about, I just knew that I did.
So, I've been cranking away at the keyboard most nights, and by the time my birthday and Turkey weekend rolls around, I should have what resembles a 50,000 novel.
But going back, for Throwback Thursday, I'm sharing an old essay. One from 2006, the first time I took Freshman English in college. Yes, I said the first time, because I took it again to receive credit for it so that I could transfer to a university. The first time I took Freshman English, I earned a solid "D" grade.
Yup. Me. Who loves writing, editing, and storytelling, nearly failed Freshman English at a community college. And now I'll be sharing with you an essay I wrote for that class.
Tonight, I give you, (unedited)...
Marlon Deleon
English 122-2000
Mckenzie
February 1, 2006
Mrs. Potato Head
Not too long ago, not so far away was a town by
the name of Walnut Grove, affectionately, “The Grove.” The Grove is not so
different from your average city. There were schools, paved roads, traffic
lights, shopping malls, supermarkets, and the like. The McElroys were a young
successful couple residing in the heart of this town. They weren’t
millionaires, but they were in good standing, and quite comfortable in their
five-bedroom, ranch style home. Julian is a lawyer, and is on his way to
becoming head of the firm he works at. He has a commanding look about him, some
compare him to Denzel Washington, only taller, standing at 6’4.” Nothing about
his Black-Irish form would hurt a fly, he’s a big teddy bear. Mariela is his
lovely wife, born to a kind Irish-Mexican couple not too far away. With curly
red hair and crystal blue eyes, her father’s Irish genes are inarguable, but
she is built like her mother, five and a half feet tall, built like a gentle
mother hen, arms open to welcome you into her embrace. She is the senior
underwriter at her branch of the national insurance company she works for, and
her iron-clad work ethic has her on a path for promotional greatness. They are
proud parents of twin boys, Jamal and Seamus, and they undoubtedly take after
their father. They are only five years old, but are almost at Julian’s
waistline. These two boys are one and the same, as they redefine the connection
that identical twins often have, communicating almost through telepathy. This
tag-team of fast growing McElroys has their pee-wee football team in stitches,
and all the parents talk of them becoming superstars of the WFL, the World
Football League. This family of four is as happy as happy can be, without a
care in the world. However, this is all about to change.
Mariela and Julian are expecting their third
child, and to add to the excitement of having another McElroy enter the world,
they have decided to leave the gender of this new addition a surprise. The day
approaches quickly, and tonight, as they are all having dinner in their quaint
little home, Mariela speaks up,
“Now listen here boys, your father and I don’t
know if you’re going to have a little sister or a little brother...”
“I want a brother!” exclaims Jamal.
“I want a sister! Jamal smells!” adds young
Seamus.
“But, no matter what, you two are the older
siblings, and you will always protect the baby, however old you are, wherever
you may be.”
The boys reply in unison, “Yes, mother, we will
always look out for the baby.”
Julian leans over Mariela in the hospital,
holding her hand, helping her focus on breathing techniques they learned in
class together. After a while, the doctor stands up beaming, and says to the
panting parents, “It’s a girl!” The nurse brings the crying bundle to the
parents, and looks down at the baby and up at the parents, a puzzled look on
his face. Mariela looks at the little girl, and then up at Julian, noticing the
look of shock in his face is similar to the look on her own.
“Those are the biggest eyes I’ve ever seen on a
baby,” Julian utters, “and they’re really far apart. What color are they?” His
wife simply stares at the child, and they exchange glances again, seemingly
disappointed. Composing himself, he says, “she’s still our daughter, and we
will love her no matter how she looks.”
Later on that evening, Seamus and Jamal are
ushered in to the recovery room and they come up to their mother on opposite
sides of her bed, sizing up their newborn sister.
“She has green eyes,” notices Seamus.
“No stupid, she has brown eyes,” Jamal states
victoriously.
Their tired mother looks up at them both and
sets them straight, “He’s not stupid, you’re both right. Her left eye is green
and her right is brown.”
“No matter what color they are, they’re still
huge,” mutters Julian, chin still in his chest, as if he cannot bear to look at
his new daughter.
Almost on cue, the twins yell, “They are huge!
Freak!”
“Stop that! Both of you. Remember what we
talked about at dinner that night?”
“Yes, mother. We’re sorry. What’s her name?”
“Your father hasn’t brought up any names at
all, but I’m fond of Daisy.”
“Like the duck?” inquires young Seamus as he
starts quacking at the baby. “Daisy the little duckling.”
“Yeah, the little ugly duckling,” snaps Jamal.
Julian picks his head up in disgust, “You boys
stop that right now. Daisy’s your sister and you will always look out for her.
Got it?”
“Yeah we will,” they say together.
The boys never spoke of their sister at school,
or at football, or anywhere else for that matter, because whenever anyone did
ask them about the baby, someone would ask what color her eyes were. And when
they would answer, that one was green and the other brown, the response they
got was never good. “That’s weird,” was the popular response amongst the other
schoolchildren.
As the days went by, more and more people would
talk of her mismatched eyes, and the boys could do nothing but defend
themselves and their little sister. It didn’t stop there, sad to say. Young
Daisy McElroy was destined to be different, and grew herself a full head of
blonde hair. Not dirty blonde, nor strawberry blonde, but bright, bleached,
platinum blonde hair, like no one has ever seen. Her parents were so shocked as
this came about, and were utterly disgusted with it. They covered her in little
caps and pulled them down low so that her humongous eyes were hidden from
ridicule.
Daisy grew up, but she was often quiet, playing
in a corner, or far off in the schoolyard, apart from the other children. She
had no friends, and being her older brothers were on the road to athletic
stardom, everyone knew the McElroy ugly duckling, since they always walked to
and from school together. The other schoolchildren gave her nicknames,
ridiculing her hair or her eyes, sometimes even both. Some would call her
“flashlight” because her head was so bright, others, “Mrs. Potato Head,”
inferring that her she was thrown together like a little toy. One green eye,
one brown eye, ultra-blonde hair, all painted on a skinny, lanky, olive-tanned
body.
Throughout gradeschool, Daisy tried to find her
niche, soccer, softball, painting, band, all in vain. Her mother suggested
acting, but the soft-spoken, almost mute, Daisy would never think of getting up
in front of hundreds of people at a time. She was deathly afraid of crowds, and
would barely speak loud enough for waitresses to hear on the rare occasion the
family would go out, since they didn’t enjoy the attention of gawkers. High
school came about and these young boys and girls were becoming adults. Jamal
and Seamus had graduated high school and had both received full football
scholarships to La Salle University, six hours south of Walnut Grove.
And so, Daisy was alone, a freshman, ready to
start high school, what her brothers called, “the best years of their lives.”
As we all know, at this point in our lives, we start to change, physically,
emotionally, and everything is a blur. Little boys and girls don’t have
“cooties” anymore, and all of a sudden, “popularity” becomes a four-letter
word. Daisy was still quiet, and still possessed her “Mrs. Potato Head” look,
but the boys started to notice her more, because she was developing into quite
the beautiful young lady. Almost as tall as her father at the end of her sophomore
year, she was turning heads left and right, and she started to talk more, being
more guys were approaching her.
One weekend towards the end of the summer she
went for a run down at the beach. Shorts and a sports top were all that clung
to her olive colored body, blonde hair in a tight pony tail, sunglasses
protecting her captivating eyes from the midday sun. She noticed a large group
of students in the distance, and as she approached she discovered they were all
from La Salle University, the same school her brothers were attending. As she
ran closer, their conversations started to fade, and the guys turned to see
this attractive young lady running down the beach. They called for her to stop,
and as she slowed to talk to them, she removed her sunglasses.
“Wait a minute, you’re the McElroy twins’
sister, right?” one of the boys inquired, the others in silence, still in awe
of the amazing sight in front of them.
“My name’s Daisy, and yes, they are my
brothers,” she said, almost insulted.
One of the other college boys piped in, “I knew
it!” After what seemed to be an eternity of silence, that same stunned student
said, “What happened to you?”
“I got older and grew up, like we all do. I’m
still the same person,” and with that she was off.
A yell came from the crowd, “Wait up! There’s a
party tonight at the golf course club uptown. It’s my sister’s birthday, you
should come.” She thought nothing of it and continued down the beach.
Later that night she was driving around town
and noticed a large traffic flow going uptown. Intrigued, she followed, and
ended up at that same party that she was half-way invited to. As she walked in,
there were greetings from every direction. Word had quickly spread that Daisy
McElroy might possibly arrive, and there were high school students and alumni
spread about the club. It was a birthday party, and everyone was having a grand
time, but it came time to sing “Happy Birthday.” The crowd was eventually
hushed, and they all started to sing. After the first “Happy birthday to you,”
almost everyone stopped singing. Almost. As soon as Daisy opened her mouth to
sing, those around her noticed her amazingly soulful voice, more powerful than
anyone could ever imagine coming out of her soft-spoken self. Daisy sang with
her eyes closed, and didn’t notice everyone staring at her until she was done
singing, as she slowly reopened her eyes to look at everyone else.
“Daisy...that was...amazing,” said a young girl next to her,
and the entire club burst into wild applause.
“I had no idea you could sing
like that.”
“Neither did I,” she said shakily. “I usually
only sing in my car, and in the shower, but I’ve been having such a good time
here, that I just let it all out.”
As junior year started, she changed her
schedule, auditioned and was welcomed into the concert choir and the locally
known traveling performance group that the choir teacher also taught. She
finally found her niche, and went on to become an infamous singer/songwriter
and a model, performing all over the globe. She was never called Daisy the ugly
duckling ever again.
