Family Stories by Chelzea, age 10

Chapter One
Tobiey Gets Lost

The doorbell rang and my mom answered it. She was nine years old. It was her anutie bringing her a dog named Tobiey. My mom said, ''It's so cute.'' My mom's auntie took Tobiey for walk then came back to feed him and asked my grandma if she could keep her dog for her because she had no room for the dog in her house. Then the next day the dog escaped because one of my mom's sisters accidentally left the door open.

Chapter Two
Grandma

My Grandma on my dad's side of the family was walking home one night here in San Francisco. She stopped at an odd street that was near a hospital. She said the street felt dark and cold. Then she said, ''The evil is dark and cold,'' but she had to go home so she went down the street and said, ''What if I don't make it out, then who will take care of my babies?'' She kept walking until the street was no longer dark and cold.

Chapter Three
My Great grandfather

Once when my great grand father was alive he had donkeys. My mom wanted to ride one of the donkeys so she got one. At first it was calm and then all of a sudden it went crazy and it made my mom fall in a puddle. The next day my great grandfather sold both of the donkeys, and after he sold them he went inside the house and laid in bed then a few minutes later my mom went inside the bedroom and tried to wake him up and he didn't open his eyes or move. Then my mom realized that he was dead.

Chapter Four
My Name

When I was born my mom saw when they where taking me out of her stomach. I think I heard her screaming and she was also happy that she had a baby. Then a nurse took my mom to another room and asked her what my name was going to be. My mom said ''JC.'' The nurse made a mistake and wrote down Chelzea. Then years passed and my mom told me about the mistake with my name. When she told me that, I was shocked and happy to hear my real name. I was happy that I had a name I liked better than the name I have right now. I don't like the name Chelzea because it sounds kind of odd to me and I like my real name because it makes me think I was named after JC Penny and I like that store. JC also looks easy to write on tests and stuff. Chelzea means "landing place for chalk or limestone." This makes me think I'm like a chalkboard or a book people write on and I'm imagining their words in my head.

Chapter Five
My Dad

One night I heard my dad crying. I asked him what was wrong. He said, "My cousin died because someone killed him." This broke my heart. Then he told me not to kill people and he told me why my parents don't let me go to school alone. That made me so sad that inside my mind I saw three columns, one for me, one for my mom and one for my dad. Mine was empty because I felt nothing and so was my mom's. My dad's column was rising. It hurt my heart when my dad went to his mom's house for the funeral.

My mom asked me why was I crying. At first I wouldn't tell her but then I said, "I'm crying because dad said that his cousin died."

She said, "I know, he told me when he got home."

Ever since my dad's cousin died everybody in my dad's family has been sad and crying. Something happened. Every time I went to their house they would always ask me if I wanted juice or something or if I wanted to watch TV, but they didn't after ask me these things after my dad's cousin died. When we came home from my grandma's house once, I wispered to my mom and said, "Mom, why didn't they ask me if I wanted something?"

My mom said, "They did. They asked you if you wanted Chinese food and you said yes".

"I don’t remember."

About The Author

Hi, my name is Chelzea, aka JC. I am ten years old. I live in San Francisco with my mom and dad. My favorite thing to do is to sing. I am good at math. Someday I want to be good at reading because my dad says I need practice. When I grow up I want to be a rock star. If I were an animal I would be half-puppy and half-bunny because these animals are so cute and cudley. I am different from my family because I am really sensitive. My biggest fear is getting eaten by a lion. I wonder if my mom knows other secrets about me but she doesn't want to tell me.