Weird dreams

I am always having strange dreams. Last night, I had three strange dreams. One was a new dream about living on a paradise island whose main income consisted of chopping down palm trees for their juice (like bamboo). The second was a reoccurring dream about being marooned on an island with a dragon, waiting for the afore prophesied prince to come and save me. The third was...uh..oh man! I forgot.
Anyways here's a video that makes me happy:

Yes, I know Miley Cyrus is way overrated, but I like the way this guy signs it.
Anyway, Ciao for now

Story Outline

Tonia

The story of how a young, independent girl becomes a spunky young woman. Eventually, when I start writing details and dialogue, I will put short passages in between in italics. These will be Tonia’s thoughts and journal entries. They tend to be very fantastical and unrealistic, but this is how she views herself.

Chapter 1: Saturday

Tonia is introduced as a rebellious young female who dictates the household and her young single mother.  She has anger issues and does not let much get in the way of what she wants to do. After getting locked in her bedroom and having her mother leave for the night, Tonia climbs out her second story window and goes to the bridge that connects her property with that of her only friend, Maria. There, the two pre-adolescents proceed to spray paint the bridge and talk in a way that would surely get them into trouble if they get caught…which they do. Maria’s mom, the new town teacher, is a strict woman in her forties, with a strong belief in God to guide her and her family through the turmoil that Tonia inevitably brings them.  At their house, Tonia’s mother I called and after refusing to apologize for her behavior, Tonia walks herself home, much to the utter embarrassment of her poor mother.

Chapter 2: Sunday

Tonia enjoys the sun and freedom of the last day of winter break before resuming school, until Mrs. Waters (Maria’s mom) decides to take her to church. This is followed by the very large problem of getting Tonia ready and presentable before they go.  Once Tonia is ready to go (i.e. the Waters’ family gives up), they head off to church, were Tonia tries to do everything in her power not to go inside for worship. Normally, she would go to Sunday school, but Mrs. Waters doesn’t trust her….and Tonia is banned from the classes after an incident with another child.  Once in the service, Tonia enjoys the music, but has trouble sitting still, until Mrs. Waters gives her a paper and pen to draw with.  Amazingly, after the service, Tonia remembers absolutely everything that was discussed, even better than Mrs. Waters does. Once they get home, Mrs. Waters insists that Tonia and Maria try to scrub off as much of the paint as possible. Mrs. Waters briefly considers  making them repaint the bridge, but after daydreaming of the results, decides to forgo the idea.

Chapter 3: First day of school

Monday comes around, and Tonia is shipped off to the local Christian elementary school.  After scaring the other students, and trying unsuccessfully to hit the teacher, (which turns out to be Mrs. Waters herself) Tonia sulks in the corner and draws for the rest of the day. During recess, Tonia picks a fight and is sent home. Shannon tries to reason with her and scold her, but both know that the exercise is fruitless. Tonia blares loud music and draws on the walls of her room, then sneaks out her window. She knows very well that she could just walk out the front door, but she prefers to make life more exciting. She spends the rest of the day, walking around town and being generally ignored or avoided by the people around her.

Chapter 4: Shannon takes a vacation  

After a particularly horrid fight between Tonia and Shannon, the latter takes off, leaving Tonia to herself in the house.  Hearing the commotion, Mrs. Waters comes over to see the house trashed and Tonia in the living room, on the couch sobbing, and holding a bleeding arm. Tonia is then rushed to the hospital and stitched up. There is some miscommunication in the doctor’s office afterwards, and Mrs. Waters is called in. The doctor had been trying to do a physical on Tonia and after explaining the process, and being given no response, had tried to take off Tonia’s shirt in order to better examine her, but Tonia had flown into a rage and virtually destroyed the small office, leaving the doctor in the corner with a large bruise on his head. After some prodding, Tonia feebly offered that she didn’t hear what the doctor had said. No one believed her.  Tonia looked at the floor and was studying a smudge one of the tiles. Mrs. Waters calls her to leave, but gets no response. Thinking Tonia is being deliberately stubborn, Mrs. Waters calls her again, this time louder and with a firm voice. Again, no response. Mrs. Waters, weary from the day, puts a hand on Tonia’s shoulder, causing Tonia to jump in surprise. Mrs. Waters, confused, leads Tonia outside and home. Upon finding out that Shannon had left, insists on Tonia, once again, staying at her house.  Once there, Mrs. Waters does a series of subtle tests to experiment with the theory that maybe Tonia was indeed having a hard time hearing things.  Much to her astonishment, it seemed that, although Tonia retained much of her hearing, she did have some trouble distinguishing the difference between voices and other sound, and sometimes had a hard time understanding speech.

Chapter 5: Getting into trouble
The next day, was Wednesday, and Mrs. Waters Drove Tonia and Maria to school. During school, Tonia seemed to be distracted. When Mrs. Waters tried to force her to pay attention and do the work that the other children were doing, she got easily frustrated and kept asking to have things repeated multiple times. Then Mrs. Waters had an idea. She wrote her instructions down on paper and when she talked, she looked straight at Tonia. She spoke in short paragraphs and then told Tonia to draw a picture of what she said. They went the whole day like that. Mrs. Waters found, that not only was Tonia a very skilled artist, but also that she was very intelligent and, when she could understand what was going on, she was a willing student. After school, Tonia insisted on walking home. Mrs. Waters, elated by the day’s progress, thought nothing of letting her go.

Chapter 6: bail out

Later that day, Mrs. Waters got a call from the police station, saying that Tonia had been caught stealing from a convenience store. Mrs. Waters paid the bail and took Tonia home.

Chapter 7: Counseling

As part of parole, Tonia had to attend some sort of counseling. Mrs. Waters helped Tonia sign up for counseling. Unfortunately, this did not suite Tonia, and after a particularly bad tantrum about the doctor taking notes, Tonia refused to offer any more information and would only sit in the corner and pout. Realizing that this was helping no one, Tonia was disenrolled from that office.

Chapter 8: a new method

Mrs. Waters decided to try counseling Tonia herself.  Armed with lots of paper and a beginner’s guide to American Sign Language, Mrs. Waters and Tonia picked through a few deep discussions and begin to learn ASL together.

Chapter 9: Growing close

Being that Mrs. Waters was the only one Tonia knew that really tried to understand her, Tonia and Mrs. Waters began to get very close and spent lots of time together. Tonia basically lived at the Waters’ house fifty percent of the time, and at her house the other fifty percent, with the watchful eyes of Mrs. Waters hovering over her to make sure she was behaved and safe. Many of the students at the school noticed a marked change in Tonia, and a few even timidly tried to make friends with her, but were quickly reassured that Tonia did not want new friends.

Chapter 10: birthday party.

A few weeks later, was Tonia’s twelfth birthday. Mrs. Waters decided that Tonia should have a party. With only a few minor mishaps, the party went smoothly, most of the guests being the Waters family and other students from Tonia’s class.

Chapter 11: Shannon gets home

The day after the party, Shannon finally gets home to bills and a still trashed house.  Still too weary to deal with Tonia, Shannon cleans up the house and pays the bills. She doesn’t even acknowledge Tonia. Later that day, Mrs. Waters comes over with the information of what has happened and suggests that Tonia see an audiologist about her hearing problems. Shannon refuses to listen and goes as far as to kick Mrs. Waters out of the house. Mrs. Waters then helps Tonia do thing herself. With a reluctant sigh, Shannon signs a paper saying that any medical decisions can be made by Tonia. After many tests, which nearly deplete all of Tonia’s savings, she decides to forgo any medical treatment, including being fitted for hearing aids. She continues to learn ASL with Mrs. Waters.

Chapter 11: Billy Graham

Early that winter, Billy Graham comes to their small town and speaks. The Waters family goes, along with Tonia. They have to sit far in the back, because they could not afford to buy seats close to the front. Although the stadium has a large TV projection, it is hard to see much of what is going on; the audience must rely on hearing Billy Graham’s voice over the microphone. As much as she tries, Tonia cannot understand much of what is being said, and has Mrs. Waters explain later. Toni is very quiet the next few days. Most people assume that she is just busy getting ready for the end of the year and tests.

Chapter 12: Graduation

Finally, the end of the school year is upon them, and Tonia graduates sixth grade with honors.  It is only after the graduation ceremony that Tonia realizes that she will have to begin a new class with a new teacher; one that is unaware or indifferent towards her auditory needs. Shannon flippantly suggests she ship Tonia off to a “special” school. This earns her a punch on her freshly healed nose. Tonia has no plans to go to a different school.

Chapter 13: Summer Vacation

The first few weeks of summer vacation are wonderful. Tonia, Mrs. Waters, and the rest of the Waters family spend lots of time together and continue to learn about sign language and the culture behind the people. Tonia reads several biographies and other books about famous Deaf people. Unfortunately, every good thing must come to an end. In early August, the Waters family moves to Europe to do some missionary work. They know nothing of the goings on in America and Tonia. Meanwhile, in America, Tonia quickly reverts to her former behavior and even worse. She lashes out in anger and frustration. She is forced to go to counseling, and refuses to talk, and in fact, hardly ever shows up. While Tonia was rebellious and challenging before, it was never malicious. Now, Tonia is doing everything she knows how, to tell people around her, how unhappy she is. The only thing anyone can truly understand is without Mrs. Waters, there is no hope for Tonia. She spends time in jail for assault. Shannon is no where to be found, and Tonia is awarded to the state.

Chapter 14: Responsibility

Finally, in a fit of desperation, Tonia’s parole officer tries to get in contact with Mrs. Waters. It takes almost a month to get a hold of her, and another month to convince her to come back to the states. Mrs. Waters suggests other ideas and alternatives before, reluctantly leaving her family and taking a flight to America. By this time, Tonia is in the hospital due to an injury after falling off  the side of a building that she was trying to climb. Mrs. Waters meets her in the hospital, where Tonia wakes up to find herself handcuffed and feeling very silly. Mrs. Waters is not amused by Tonia’s actions and tells her so. After a few more months of discussion, Tonia is awarded to Mrs. Waters’ custody.

Chapter 15: Dating…Sort of

Mrs. Waters and Tonia begin rehab together. Tonia has to do counseling again and community hours. Once she and Mrs. Waters get acquainted again, and Tonia’s anger abates enough, Mrs. Waters starts teaching again. One of the kids in her class seems to like Tonia, and after much prodding and coaxing, Tonia decides to go out on a date with this boy. At first, it seems that Tonia and Justin get a long (which is pretty awesome considering her track record with people in general). Then one day, Justin innocently asks Tonia why she can’t hear, and all goes to hell again.

Chapter 16: volunteering

Eventually, Mrs. Waters gets the idea that Tonia should volunteer with her at class to finish her community hours. By this time, Tonia is homeschooling ninth grade, and doing very well. She agrees and helps out with the kids. She is often the start of a lot of mischief and most of the time doesn’t what she is supposed to do, but the kids love…and fear….her. They respect her. At one point, she is talking to a kid who claims that he doesn’t care what anybody thinks and will whatever he wants to. Tonia tells him that, “If old Mrs. Waters can shape me up, she can sure do the same for you!” Mrs. Waters over hears this and cuffs Tonia for calling her old, but smiles anyways.

Chapter 17: faux normal

After awhile, Tonia’s life begins to resemble those of other people her age. She is still a rebel, but she is smart, conscientious, and alert.  When Mrs. Waters isn’t around, Tonia is not above doing something unconventional to get her way, but she is also no longer the bane of everyone’s existence.

Chapter 18: born again

After two years with Mrs. Waters, Tonia I now going to church, helping with the children’s ministry, and continues to help with the kids in Mrs. Waters class. No one shutters when they hear her name anymore. In fact, most kids boldly go up to her with questions or for advice. One day, after church, the pastor invites the congregation to an alter call. Everyone is amazed when they see Tonia get up and walk resolutely to the front o pray. Yes, she is one of those new Christians that cusses every once in a while and she still challenges authority whenever she can get away with it. She never fully accepts the limits society puts on people, and insists n doing things that make sense or make her happy, rather than things people expect her to do.


I know it;s long, but I hope you like it.
Ciao for now

Tonia

This is a story in progress about a young girl who defies..well....everything and everybody. I will post the first chapter  and outline of the book later. right now I just wanted to write a brief summary