by Beth Hoyer
at Northwestern. I wonder why. Makes me wonder what’s going on. Sue wouldn’t tell me why she’s not doing well. I did well in college so I don't have to make up any classes. Sue and I plan to take three classes next semester. They are mostly focused on writing. I liked to write stories and I always wanted to become an author of books someday. Dad and I ate lunch at the mall and we walked around a lot. It was good to get exercise for the legs. After the mall, Dad and I went home then Dad went to work. It was nice of him to take several hours off to spend time with me. I watched my favorite soap opera that it's my favorite. I like one character named Lucky the most. Sue knows I got a crush on the actor who plays Lucky. I could ask for his autograph via mail.
By the way the news annoyingly interrupted the soap opera to say something about a flu-virus epidemic happening in Massachusetts. It's said an angry madman with a gun and a bed sheet covering him robs department stores spreads the epidemic. I hate it when the news interrupts my soap opera. Ugh it annoys me to no end when the news interrupts soap operas for stuff that they could wait till the news hour for this. Glad I live down south in Connecticut. So there should be no problem of getting sick. I really hope not. I don't know what would happen to my parents if I got sick because I’m an only child. Sue, who called, whom I'm grateful because after meeting me she took sign language classes at a local deaf school, part of our conversation was about going to the mall with names changed on Saturday on the phone through a TTY operator:
Sue: "Do you want to go to Westland mall on Saturday with me?"
Me: "Yes, I'll tell Dad our plans so he won’t worry."
We talked about soap operas keeping each other up to date on what's going on them. Then I told Dad when he got home about her driving me to the mall "Dad, Sue wants to drive me to the Westland mall."
The mall was up North near Hartford. Dad called Sue. He wouldn't let us go to that mall we wanted to go to. He was afraid of me getting sick from the madman. The news said another madman with the sickness-said flu-virus robbed a store near the Westland mall we wanted to go to. Dad told us to go to Milly Mall. Sue and I agreed to go to the Milly mall on Saturday. Sue and I spent awhile on the phone talking about what we're going to do at the mall. We planned shopping for clothes, books and other items that attract our interest. I don't know what I'll be doing on Friday tomorrow. I'll probably do what I did today. Sleep late, and watch soap operas plus lots of TV too. I can't wait for Saturday. I want to go shopping. I got a lot of items in mind that I want to buy.
I got a stomachache and a headache. Owe Dad called someone on the phone talking to someone. I don't know who. I think it was mom because he wrote me a note.
"Your Mom coming at 12:00pm noon if she's not sick. Look 4 her please."
He actually wrote the number four instead of spelling out the word. I set my alarm to 10:30am. I hope Mom comes tomorrow because it’ll be worth it getting up early after feeling sick. Dad set the VCR to tape a movie then he went grocery shopping. I was feeling too sick to go. I can't wait to see Mom tomorrow. I just hope she's not sick.
The TV irately talks about that flu-virus epidemic in Massachusetts. Ugh. Is that all they have on the news lately? I checked the movie Dad was taping. It’s on but it’s a boring movie a murder mystery according to the TV guide. Boring I don’t feel like watching it. I got hungry and helped myself to some carrots. My stomach feels better. I think eating something helped settle my stomach. The headache is a bit less than it was awhile ago. I don’t feel like going to bed early because of a headache. Whenever I have a headache I go to bed early and sleep. Later Dad came home with groceries. He put away the groceries while I was on the computer. I do feel sorry for not helping Dad put the groceries away. I was busy trying to go online the computer but wound up with problems. I hate the Internet service we have here. It stinks because it freezes up a lot. I'm not feeling well. I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. I felt like sneezing a bit today.
Yours,
Elizabeth
January 12, 2001 Friday
Dear Anne,
I sneezed during the night and slept with a stuffy nose. I kept a water bottle on my nightstand for my dry mouth nearby. I woke up coughing today with a dry mouth and gagged on some water. Dad didn't come up to see me. He was at work. I watched out the window as Mom came around noon. It was nice seeing her. Dad came home from work on his lunch break. Dad told me to go to my room upstairs and he closed the kitchen door. I could hear with my hearing aids that they seemed to be yelling about something. I don’t know what it was because I went to my room and sat watching a noon soap opera on my TV. Then dad came and got me. Mom and I left to go to the Milly mall Sue and I planned to go tomorrow. Mom actually got lost on the way. She didn't know where the mall was so we went to another mall, which it’s an outdoor mall and was freezing. This mall was farther south away from the Milly mall. Mom and I walked around in the mall looking at stuff. I kept telling mom to make up her mind on stuff, she looked mostly at chinaware and candles. Mom has a thing for candle stuff because I think it’s related to her religion. I asked Mom about that and she told me to learn about it myself and decide on what religious beliefs I should be.
I brought some cheap paperback books to add to my growing collection. Suzanna has a collection of books too but she collects the hardcover books. I wanted to eat something but Mom told me to save my money. So we left the mall and went to my home. Dad wasn't there and I missed my favorite soap opera. Mom dropped me off then she went home.
I fed the always-hungry kittens around 5pm, cute. I can't wait for Saturday tomorrow. Sue called on TTY. She forgot to tell me what time she's coming over to pick me up. She's coming over at 11:30am, which means I better be ready by 11am. I think I'll go to bed now. I could use some sleep. I was tired all day. Mom noticed me yawning all day. I'm not sure why. I usually sleep better than I've been doing lately. Am I depressed or what? Or I'm just coming down with something? I think I'm coming down with something. Might explain why I haven't been myself these days. I think I might want to go see the doctor. I'm not sure when. I'll do it on Monday. The doctor's office is closed on the weekends. I'm feeling practically tired. I don't have much energy right now. I could barely stand in the shower. Ooh, sneezed a bit. I can't wait for this cold to go away. I'm sick of it. I've been drinking a lot of water, which makes me use the bathroom a lot. I'm getting tired and sick of it. I might as well get some rest for tomorrow. I have a busy day tomorrow. I have to get up early for a trip to the mall with Sue.
Complaining,
Elizabeth
January 13, 2001 Saturday
Dear Anne,
I woke up feeling weird like detached from my body. Strangely odd and I saw a grey wolf lying on my bed asleep. Then I was back in my body and it wasn’t a wolf body but one of a Human. I slept okay but I woke up at 5am in the morning due to the sun shining in my window. My eyes are light sensitive. I'm a bit cranky but I hope Sue won't notice. I can't wait to go shopping. The Milly mall I hear has great clothes. I've been there with Dad. I got some nice ideas for fashions and stuff. The clothes I'll buy will be rugby and v neck tops. I plan to find pairs of sweatpants. I also will be buying books too. I love reading books. I think I'm a bookaholic. Ha ha. I made up a word. I also got a thing for animal and romance books. I like to daydream a lot thinking of many scenarios. They make great stories for future books I plan to write. Dad has been telling me to type the stories onto computer and sent them to a publisher. I guess I'll do that soon as I can. I just can't wait to do this. I hope I can get around to doing it. I'm lazy when it comes to typing in my stories. I just need to learn to type stories from the top of my head instead of writing them down.
I sat outside watching for Sue who came and her car is a grey color with the interior is red but I can't figure out what car brand it is. It wasn’t easy to write in a moving car with Sue telling me to stop writing in sign language and talk to her. I told her to concentrate on driving because I don't want her to lose concentration whil
e driving and cause a car accident. She got her license at sixteen, lucky her. I’m still learning how to drive a car and I can’t wait to get a car and my license. Sue had the radio on. She was listening to pop music. She told me its pop music. I love pop music, it's my favorite. There's a five-girl band we both love and their clothes. The Milly mall has a store that sells clothes exactly like the five-girl band. I can't wait to try on some clothes and buy them. I always make sure I try on the clothes to see if it fits. I never buy clothes that don't fit. Our tastes in clothes are the same. We're both are wearing exercise pants, a rugby top with a v neck top over a rugby shirt with winter jackets. My pants are white and the v-neck top is a light blue color but the Rugby shirt is violet and the waist length winter jacket is black. Sue's pants are violet color. Her v-neck is white and her rugby top is light blue while her winter jacket is the same as mine is in the color brown. My long hair is up in a ponytail while. Sue's hair is down framing her face. We're both wearing sneakers of our favorite brand. The sneakers are the same brand one of the five all girl band wears, their imports from Great Britain and cost a little