by Eden Romberg
One
May 5,
I got this new journal for my birthday which
was five days ago, it was horrible! I had to go to school and wait through it.
Then I came home to an empty house. I knew they were doing last minute shopping
but still. I had to wait for 30 minutes for them to come home and when they did
we had proper birthday celebrations. We had a cake that had a big 10 on it. Well
I guess that isn’t horrible. Mom is calling, I need to go.
May
6,
I am going to write in this every day because someday it might be a
valuable piece of history, maybe in a hundred years or so. It would be called
THE DAIRY OF RUBY SMITH.
Later
Ivy, my big sister just came home from school
with bad news (for her at least, I thought it sounded cool) Everyone in 7th grade had to get a pen pal and write to them every
week “ I don’t have time!” Ivy had whined “Well make time.” Mom said. I can’t
wait for tomorrow when Ivy finds out who she gets!
May 7,
I was waiting in the living room for Ivy to
come home from school. When
she did she had tears in her eyes “He is ten! Ten!” My first question was
: “Were does he live?” I was interested because he was my age. “In Kenya” said
dad, reading the information sheet “His name is Abasi”
Two
Dear
ivy,
My name is abasI. I am a ten year old
Kenyan boy. I live on a farm. we plant potatoes, beans and peas. we also have
chickens. But one day I would love to see a lion. I have three sisters and two
brothers. Now I have to go get water.
Love, Abasi
He
put down his letter and stood up, grasped his water jugs and set off. Once he
came back he was too tired to mail it. The next morning he ate his breakfast of
potatoes and tea and then went to mail his first letter. He was proud of it and
almost hated to part with it, but he had to. He put it gently in the mail box
and went home to feed the chickens.
Three
May 8,
My sister
has gone crazy. No one can make her write the letter. Mom says she’s going
through a stage, but I don’t know. She is looking sort of pale and she threw up
at the dinner table. I’m worried that she’s sick.
May 10,
My sister
is in the hospital. She has pneumonia. She has always had weak lungs and she
gotten this before, but now, she can’t breathe without help. I cry myself to
sleep every night.
May 11,
Today is
Saturday but I’m not glad. I wish I could go to school and escape my sadness .
May 15,
I could not
write these past days because I was visiting Ivy. She is getting worse. She has
to have a breathing mask on all the time.
May 17,
I just
remembered Abasi. I will write to him about Ivy right now.
Dear Abasi,
My sister
is sick, very sick. She will not be able to write to you. So I will.
Please tell me about your life in Kenya. We got your letter last week. How far
do you have to walk to get water? Do you go to school?
How old are
your siblings? I want to know everything!
Sincerely, Ruby
Four
Abasi headed to the
mail box to see if he had gotten a reply. He had checked every day but nothing
came. He opened it slowly, expecting it to be empty. But instead he found a
white envelope. He would have read it right there, but his family told him to
wait so he could read it to them.
He ran home as fast as
he could.
* * *
* *
“Sincerely, Ruby” The room was quiet as he finished reading
the letter. “Poor Ivy!” said Goma, the
youngest of his sisters. She started to cry and Elea picked her up and took her
to the bedroom. Abasi started a reply immediately.
Dear Ruby, What kind of sickness does she have?
I’m worried about her. Please write to me as soon as you get this letter.to
answer your questions it is three miles away from the nearest water. I go to
school twice a week. My siblings are: GOMA 5 years, HABIB 7, Chane, 11, Baraka,
14, and Elea 17. How old are you Ruby? I’m ten. Love, Abasi
Five
May 20,
Now Ivy not getting worse but she’s not getting better
either. Yesterday I found two letters in the mail box. One was from Abasi and
one from his little sister:
Dear ruby,
I
am Goma I am 5. What is IT like in NEW YORK I want to go THERE soon is IVY
good? I hope SO.
I replied:
Dear
Goma,
Ivy is ok. New York is very big there are busses and
lots of people. How are you doing? Love, Ruby
Dear
Ruby,
Thank you for writing to Goma. It
made her so happy, she was jumping up and down when she got it. Is ivy really
ok? I am reading chapter books now. Do you like to read?
Love, Abasi
Dear Abasi,
No, Ivy is not fine. They’re giving her tons of medicine and
we barely ever see her. But I LOVE TO READ that is one of my favorite things to
do! AND I’m ten!
Love, Ruby
MAY 29, Ivy is out of the hospital. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She has been moved to a doctor’s house in the country .I got a letter from
Abasi yesterday:
Dear
ruby,
Our
grandmother died on Wednesday. Her
name was Kanisa. She was 71. I am so sad. I probably will not send you more
letters for a while.
Love, Abasi
May 31,
I got a new letter from Goma today:
Dear
Ruby,
Hello I GOT a new
BOOK today IT IS called the CAT in THE HAT it is FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOMA
Six
Abasi stood, waiting for the mailman. His life was now going to school, farming and
waiting for letters. Every Monday, when new letters came, he felt like he was
right there in New York. He was in a good mood because his birthday was tomorrow.
He would be turning eleven. He saw the
mailman coming his way and ran toward him. “Is there one for me?” he asked. The
man handed him one. Abasi opened it:
Dear Abasi,
Ivy is almost better now. She doesn’t have to wear a mask anymore. Did you
know we have been sending letters to each other for three months? Because it
was august 17th when I wrote
this.
Love,
Ruby
August 20,
Mom’s
birthday is today. I got her a little box with a dolphin on it.
August 23,
I got a
letter from Abasi today:
Dear
Ruby,
I am 11. On my birthday I got a new book
called Because of Winn-Dixie I love it.
When is your birthday?
Love, Abasi
Dear Abasi,
My birthday
is on May 1. I LOVE Because of Winn-Dixie! It is my favorite book!
Love, Ruby
Seven
Dear Abasi,
I am sorry
this is the first letter I have sent to you. I had pneumonia and could not
write to you. At first I did not write because I thought it was a waste of time.
But now I see how ridiculous that was. Please forgive me.
Love, Ivy
Dear
Ivy,
I
forgive you.
That
doesn’t mean I understand why you did not write,
But I forgive you.
Abasi
Eight
“Abasi!” called Baraka “I need help with Habib, he
won’t take a bath!” “Ok!” he said and ran into the bathroom. Habib was saying
“I want to write a letter to Ruby first!” Baraka sighed and said “All right, but you
will have to take a bath right after” Abasi walked out of the room and started
a letter to Ruby:
Dear
Ruby,
Do
you think that poaching is wrong? On the radio last night we heard that 5
elephants have been killed in the last 4 months. Isn’t that terrible? I think
so.
Love, Abasi
September 2,
I got a
letter from Abasi about poaching. Mom let me make a petition against it. So far
I have gotten 521 signatures!
Nine
Abasi heard a knock on
the door. He ran to it, opened it and stared.
There were five or six TV announcers. He knew who they were because he
had sometimes seen them before. He gasped and said “What are you doing here?”
the tallest of them all said “We’ll tell you later, now get your family ready
for the news” “What!” “Come on, get going!” In an hour everyone was ready and
the news people seat up a camera and told them were to stand. They turned the
camera on and called Abasi forward
“You have won a scholarship to study in New York” Abasi screamed “That’s were Ruby lives!” the announcers looked confused but they didn’t say anything.
“You have won a scholarship to study in New York” Abasi screamed “That’s were Ruby lives!” the announcers looked confused but they didn’t say anything.
* * * *
Ruby was doing her homework in the room she shared
with Ivy when her mom called “There’s someone who I think you will be very
happy to see, Ruby!” She rushed down the
stairs and saw someone standing in the doorway when she realized who it was
“Abasi?” the boy nodded and said “I won a scholarship to study in New York!”
and she ran down to meet her friend.
