I could see the silvery clouds roll in. I was headed out of our summer rental in the town of Saignon, France, to buy a baguette. As I walked down the narrow lane I saw the leaves blowing briskly and those marvelous clouds were moving faster all of a sudden. I knew that a storm was on its way. As I ran across the cracked brick stones I could hear the wind start to howl. It just started raining ample raindrops when I returned to our townhouse with the crusty baguette. I walked in the door and up the helicoid staircase and reached Mom’s bedroom. I could now hear the thunder bellowing in the distance. Mom was sitting on her bed, writing in her journal about our trip. “Where is Quin?” I said curiously. “He’s up in the loft, playing with the train he got at the antique market yesterday,” Mom said. I turned and continued to walk the spiral staircase until I made it to the loft. As I reached the top I could now see hail raining down out the balcony glass doors. Quin gets frightened easily, so I had an idea to turn the storm into something bigger that would really scare him. I couldn’t help myself from laughing. I guess I like to annoy my little brother. “Quin,” I said. “Yes?” Quin said. Can you believe that it’s raining hail?” “Yeah,” Quin replied. “But be careful,” I said. “Why?” Quin said nervously. “It is very dangerous, and it’s big and…” “Just tell me,” Quin interrupted. “It is the beginning of a tornado,” I yelled, trying to make myself not laugh. Suddenly there was a big crack of thunder. Hail was raining down. The hail was now the size of a golf ball! The storm was much more severe than I thought. The wind was howling, the ample raindrops were mixed with the hail so you couldn’t tell what was hail and what was rain. “I don’t want to die!” Quin kept repeating and repeating. I couldn’t help myself from laughing. I guess I like to annoy my little brother. Quin gets very dramatic very quickly and I find it funny to see that, but this time it quickly became bothersome. I walked down the creaky old wooden steps into the kitchen and left Quin alone, scared. As I looked through the kitchen window, I could see rushing water careening through the streets. It wasn’t a flood or anything like that, it was not even deep, but the darkness of the clouds made it look like it was deep. I could hear Mom speaking over the wind howling. In the distance I could also hear Quin screaming in terror. I had lost my patience because I realized Quin still can’t take a joke. He can never seem to let things go. What surprised me was I could still hear Quin screaming two floors below. I felt the cold handle of the refrigerator as I looked for a drink. Mom said in her sweetest voice, “Quin gets scared, you know. Quin is a really sensitive little boy. Do you remember when we adopted him he was considerably more scared than any other child in his orphanage? He didn’t want to be alone in the kitchen, the bathroom, or even his own room. Every time you make a simple joke, like the time when you said there was a monster in the closet, he feels scared and unsafe. Quin feels things in a more sensitive way than maybe you do.” “Yeah, but I can’t deal with it,” I snapped back. “We all have something that scares us. Like you, Logan, you have a fear of bees, hornets, and wasps. How would you feel if no one understood you? Why don’t you try and help Quin?” Mom said in a positive voice. “But he is scared of everything, Mom,” I said. Mom’s right eye went up. Mom just looked at me with this look that I call the really look. I walked to the couch and flung myself on the soft cushions. I started to think about what Mom said and I remembered that a year ago when we went to France I had been stung by a wasp. We were walking up to Château de Saumur. I could smell the strong aroma of grapes in the air. I went to sniff the voluminous grapes and was instantly attacked by a wasp. Ever since that day I find it hard to trust any type of buzzing bug. The buzzing noise haunts me. Every time I hear that noise I am terrified. Sometimes Quin says I am overreacting, but he still seems to understand me. I can see that I am overreacting. I keep my hood on when I am near a flower patch and I jump when I see a bee go near me. I wish I could stop this fear, but I can’t seem to get over it. When I was screaming “BEES!” Quin did not complain or walk away. He helped me and understood my fear. He is my little brother. I am his big brother. I should be helping him, I thought, and I was a jerk for making him more scared than he might have been. As I heard Quin continue to scream I felt bad, I felt really bad. I should have helped Quin when he really needed me. It was wrong of me to manipulate his fear to frighten him more. I felt myself running up the wooden stairs to Quin. As I headed up the staircase I could see Quin crying. I needed to fix what I had done. I suddenly came up with a good idea that would take his mind off this crazy storm. “Quin,” I said, trying to be cheerful. “What?” Quin said through his tears. “It’s just a storm, let’s play survivor. We have to use things in the house to protect ourselves against the storm and survive,”
Family
How I Got Over My Dream
One warm sunny afternoon in November I was sitting at my desk reading a library book about gorillas. I was looking at the gorillas when Kathleen, my cousin-sister, said, “Diane, why are you looking at that picture?” I said, “I’m just looking at it.” Then I said, “That gorilla looks big and scary. I only like orangutans and chimpanzees. They are small and they’re not mean.” It was three-thirty, time to go to the dorm. The students walked down the hallway heading for Dorm Two. That is where I live Monday through Friday because I am a Navajo girl and I live way out on the Navajo Reservation. I live out too far to go to a public school so I go to a boarding school. I started going to boarding school when I was very young and I don’t really like it. I miss my family and I look forward to going home every Friday afternoon. I said happily, “Kathleen, let’s go to the canteen after we eat supper.” Kathleen said, “O.K.” I looked up and I thought that I saw a giant hairy gorilla in front of me. It was like a dream but I was awake. I was scared and I ran behind Kathleen. Kathleen just started laughing. I think she thought that I was playing with her. I peeked from behind Kathleen’s shoulder and the terrible gorilla was showing his teeth and beating on his broad chest. My heart was racing and my hands began to sweat. Suddenly I felt a chill and I shuddered in panic. Kathleen, feeling my hands tremble on her shoulders, said, “What’s wrong?” I answered, “I’m scared.” She said, “What are you scared of? There is no one in front of us.” Then I looked up again and the gorilla was gone. I thought to myself, It was there! Kathleen was looking at me funny. She said, “What’s wrong with you? Are you crazy?” I didn’t want her to think that I was crazy so I said, “Let’s hurry and go to the dorm.” After a few hours it was shower time. There were about twelve of us girls in the shower. Their being there didn’t bother me because I was used to it. At home I used to take showers with my sisters. The girls were laughing and giggling. They were throwing the soap and washcloths around. I just smiled at them because I thought they were just being silly. Then I joined in and laughed and giggled. I forgot all about seeing the gorilla. I got out of the shower after I washed. I got my clean clothes and put them on. I felt a lot better. That night at eight-fifteen the dorm aid, Mrs. Capitan, came and said, “It’s time to go to bed.” She turned the lights off and I got scared. I remembered seeing the gorilla. I was suddenly scared to go to bed. I tried to go to sleep but I kept getting up. I kept feeling that someone was watching me. I was shaking and my eyes were wide open. I kept looking around in the dark but I didn’t see anything. I drew the blanket up under my chin and I finally went to sleep. When I went to sleep it was almost morning. I kept dreaming about the angry gorilla. The next day was a fine day. The night was scary and I was happy that it was daylight again. It was Thursday and I would be going home Friday and everything would be O.K. I went to class. The kids were working so I went to Miss Dorsett, my fifth grade teacher, and whispered to her, “I keep having dreams about gorillas.” Miss Dorsett said, “When you go home tell your mother about it. You may need to have a ceremony.” I felt better after that and I smiled. I knew Miss Dorsett would understand and help me. She always had time to listen to me and help me. After school I was back in the dorm. I was watching cartoons on TV in the living room. Mrs. Capitan was calling me. I got up and went to her. When I was standing by Mrs. Capitan I thought a gorilla started to hit me. I jerked back but nothing happened. I looked at Mrs. Capitan. She didn’t see anything so I thought I was dreaming. I felt like I was going to cry. Mrs. Capitan said, “Do you still have a headache?” I said, “Yes.” She gave me two aspirins and I took them. I thought that the aspirins might help me stop thinking about the gorilla. I went to bed but the aspirins didn’t help. Every time I slept the gorilla came back to me. I would just wake up shaking. I lay in my bed feeling alone. I kept thinking, Tomorrow is Friday. I’ll go home and I’ll tell my mom. Maybe I do need a ceremony. It was Friday morning and time for class. When I was going down to class with the rest of the noisy students I saw some orangutans in front of me. They were smiling at me and waving their furry little hands at me. I thought, The kind and nice orangutans are coming to say hello. I smiled at them and I felt really happy because I really like orangutans. Then suddenly a giant snarling gorilla flashed in front of me. He got between me and the friendly orangutans. With one gigantic paw he grabbed the orangutans and hit them with his other closed fist. The poor helpless orangutans were screaming and hollering. The gorilla killed them in a few seconds. I almost started to cry. I looked around to see if anyone else had seen me. The other kids were running around laughing and chattering as they walked to school. They had not seen anything. I was so scared. I struggled to hold the tears back and a little voice inside me said,