by Beth Hoyer
wrapping paper. I wonder what's going on. This world is very weird. I have no idea. I don't know what happened to Terra either. I noticed many people were wearing metal bracelets on their wrists. I noticed I had a bracelet on my left wrist. The thing was like a watch. It told time too. Well I tried to get it off but couldn't. I have no idea what's with this. It is very weird. There are snack machines for me to eat and drink. I can eat the food. I don’t know. Work was boring. I was bored. I daydreamed about Earth. I felt pain in my wrist from the wrist watch I looked around to see a police officer holding a remote control in his hand. He pressed a button and my wrist felt pain. I went back to work cleaning up after customers. I think Okapi is a prison planet. I'm not sure. I been noticing the customers seemed to have disabilities. I don't know but I suspect they do. I noticed some had fake legs because they were limping. I also saw some with a fake arm with a claw at the end. I saw a blind man being led by a woman with hearing aids in one ear. I saw the same police officer again. I cleaned and ignored him. I can't wait for my shift to be over. I'm getting bored and I hate it here. The officer followed me into the break room and tried to sign to me. He finger spelled that he was willing to pay me money to have sex in bed. I politely turned him down. I told him it was impossible for me to have a baby. Then the man tried to kiss me which made me kick him in the private part. He glared at me. An employee my boss Lillie Fjord came in. she looked annoyed. She told the police officer to leave. Then she signed to me and warned me about the police. I told her about being married to some deaf guy. She believed me. She told me she was married too. The police have been hitting onto women who are married while ignoring the ones who aren’t married. I don't believe this. It is weird. I asked Lilia if this was a prison planet. She confirmed that. The planet was for people who do not meet the perfection law. I wonder about my parents and grandparents. I told her about my parents. She told me they were shipped off the planet to Earth. They matched the perfection requirements and had finished their sentence. I was shocked at this. She left to go back to work. I went to eat. Yawn what a long day. I worked until 5pm then I walked home. It was a long walk. One good thing was Bruce's farm is on my way home. As I was walking home I saw Bruce drove up in the car. He drove me home. On the way he pointed out the farm. The farm was three metals like buildings in the middle of cornrows. It was interesting seeing it. At home I went to my room to take a nap. I dreamed the house was on fire. I don't know why. But it is very weird. Then Lydia woke me up to tell me it was dinner time. I ate dinner then watched my favorite TV show. Then I went to my room to write in here.
I'm wearing a blue coverall. It has a pocket that is big enough for my diary. Lydia and Ben’s TV is thin looking like a picture frame. I discovered it was also like a computer too. I could go on the Internet. I checked out my web site on gymnastics. Someone added a year. It was made in 2101. Oh boy so it's not 2001. I don’t think so. I suspect it might be a different year. I went outside and I saw the sun set. It was very beautiful. Even in the orange sky. Then I went inside and took a shower. This time I locked the bathroom door and brought my diary in the bathroom. I noticed that my hair has been getting long. I might want to have it cut. After the shower I went to my room and went online the Internet. I looked for a year and discovered that the year is still 2001 here. I looked online for Earth year and couldn’t find it. I got several blocks in the computer. I suspect that people don’t want me to know what year it is. I think I'll go to bed now. I' don't know what I'm doing tomorrow. I only work at the book store on a day called Sundays.
Yours
Elizabeth
Dear Anne,
I added a question mark to the date where I put it because I don’t know what the date is. I wonder what happened to me. I don’t know what's going on. Bruce called on the phone at 10am and left a message. He wanted to drive me to someplace to eat. Lydia gave her permission. She woke me up at 11am and told me Bruce called. I got up and got dressed. I sat outside to watch for Bruce. Bruce came and we went out. He drove me to a restaurant on the same street at his farm. The restaurant didn’t have much in its menu but the food was interesting. Being a picky eater I only ate a sandwich, and apple juice to drink. Bruce had meat. After the food he drove me to his farm and gave me a tour. The farm was huge. It was a house and two barns that had animals such as horses, goats and sheep. It was interesting. Then he drove me home in time to watch the soap opera. After the soap opera we went outside and sat on the bench under a tree talking about Okapi. Bruce thinks his grandfather is really on Earth. I told Bruce about Lydia lying to me about the year. Bruce told me he suspected his grandfather lying too. I wonder what's with the planet. Bruce and I went back inside to eat dinner. Lydia had dinner in the oven cooking. I watched the news with Bruce till it was dinnertime. One thing it now takes five minutes to cook food. Bruce and I had some dinner and then watched my favorite TV show. It's on Monday to Friday. I'm happy about that. I showed Bruce my left wrist. He showed me his right wrist. There was a metal band on the wrist. He complained about feeling pains on it. Lydia I saw got a phone call. It was Lad. He was looking for Bruce. Bruce went home. I kissed him on the cheek. He kissed me on the hand. I think Lydia wasn't pleased by the look on her face. I went to my room and watched the news. They talked about the dragons belching out fire. They added the dragons have been torching houses. I hope it doesn't torch Lydia's house. I have a headache. I think I'll go to sleep after I take my shower.
Yours,
Elizabeth
Dear Anne,
I left my door open a crack and during the night I felt cat paws all over me and just woke me up by landing on my stomach. Oof I opened my eyes and discovered that there wasn’t a cat despite feeling one. I pulled out my diary and started writing. I suspect I'm here on this planet for a few years. I don't know. I'm not sure. In two hours Lydia will wake me up. I guess I'll go back to sleep. Lydia woke me up at 10:30am. She told me I was to go to school. Bed according to her was teaching a class about sign language. I don't know. I drove myself to the school. There was a computer on the car that showed where the school was. The school was for kids age’s six to twelve. They gathered in the gym. Ben signed while he talked. He talked mostly about me being deaf and learning sign language. He taught the kids the alphabet. Then kids asked questions. Mostly about what it was like being deaf and learning sign language. I saw some kids were deaf too like me. They seemed to know sign language because they signed. After that Ben and I drove home in separate cars. . I'm a little bit bored. I'm sure my soap opera will be on at 3pm. I'm not sure. I've been watching it for awhile. I hope to go to college sometime. I don't believe this. Instead of my soap opera I got the news instead. They talked about a planet being colonized in the Okapi system. Well the planet's name was Oksana. What a name besides it sounds Russian. The news talked about the perfection law. Earth was sending an army to Okapi to kill off people who did not meet the perfection law requirements. The ship will be arriving in a few months. I'm very annoyed about that. Bruce stopped by. I told him what the news just said. Bruce got angry. He told me he remembered being on Terra. I told him I remember too. It was weird. Lydia and Ben came home. They were upset. I told them about the news. They told me to go into the forest when the army people come. They might be here in a few months. I'm not sure. I don't know. Bruce and I looked out the window to see a truck on wheels stop in front of the house. Men with army outfits on came out with guns. Bruce and I went out the back door and ran as fast we could in both Human and wolf forms. I remembered to bring my journal in its waterproof pocket. We ran changing our forms to wolves until we reached the river. I turned around to feel a boom. I saw smoke in the sky. I think it’s the house on fire. We crossed the river and ran up the mountain. At the top we ran into the bushes. I could see a helicopter. It fired at the tree I was hiding. Bruce and I ran down the mountain. We felt the ground give away beneath us. We fell in metal tubes that led to a mattress. I looked up to see people with guns aimed at us. One of them a man with shiny eye
s held out his hand. I gripped it.
He signed "Welcome to the rebel stronghold."
Bruce and I got up and took a look around. We were in a huge cavern. There were tents and a blue river next to the tents. The guy introduced himself. Said his name was Luke Kingly. I asked him if he was related to Maureen and Christian kingly. He told me in sign language that they were his ancestors. I asked him what year was it. He wouldn’t tell me because he clammed up. I noticed that Luke was around my height. Bruce is taller by a few inches. He showed us the cavern area. It was interesting. I saw tents. He gave us a tent to sleep in. there was sleeping bags and pillows. Bruce and I explored the cave. There were twenty tents with several people. I met them. They each had something the army was going to kill them for. There was a big tent for food. There are glow balls light the caves. I don’t' know what they are. One of the people told us in sign language that it was time to go to bed. They were moving out early tomorrow. I checked the time it was 9pm. I'm sure
