Sharon Creech - Absolutely Normal Chaos

I don’t think my parents are taking their vitamins. It scares me half to death

I read Book Three of the Odyssey today. Snore, snore, snore. Telemachus is still off trying to find out what happened to his father (he thinks he’s dead).

There were a couple of interesting things in this section, though. First, Athene says something about death. When a man’s time comes (to die), she says, no one can help him, not even a god. It made it sound like there’s a set time, all prearranged or something. Spooky. Why was Mr. Furtz’s time so early? The other interesting thing was that Athene changes into an eagle and flies away. Imagine everyone’s surprise. What an exit!

One other thing I like in this book is the way Homer describes the sun coming up. He doesn’t just say, “The sun came up.” He says “rosy-fingered Dawn appeared,” and he also calls Dawn the “child of morning.” It makes you think of this little baby with pink fingers crawling up over the horizon.

I rummaged around in the attic today. Found my father’s ice skates, which must be about three thousand years old, and his high-school yearbook (what a scream) and lots of old pictures. There was one of Dad, Uncle Carl Joe, and Aunt Radene. They all looked so young and happy. In this picture, Aunt Radene is standing to one side of Dad and Uncle Carl Joe, leaning against a tree, and it looks as if she is dreaming about something wonderful, because she has this little smile on her face and she isn’t looking right at the camera. She is wearing a halter top and very short shorts and high heels. Her hair is long and curly. Carl Ray sure did not get his looks from his mother.

When I made up Carl Ray’s stupid bed and cleaned his stupid room today, I left a note that said, “Maid service ends TODAY at 11.00 A.M.” The two weeks are up! Carl Ray has to make his own stupid bed from now on.

Called Beth Ann but she was out with Derek-the-Di-viiiiine.

What a day, eh?

My Muse has utterly abandoned me.

Well, Maggie suckered me into watching Tommy today even though I thought it was her turn. But in a way it was a good thing, because I took Tommy to the pool and guess who showed up—Alex Cheevey!

He actually swam around and stuff. Even though I had to stay with Tommy in the shallow end, Alex came and played with Tommy awhile. Alex was in a pretty good mood. He sat with us during break time and let Tommy jump on his stomach. He also talked a little, although it was tough going at times. For instance, it went something like this:

ME:So are you visiting the Murphys again?

ALEX: (Laughing a little.) Huh. Huh. Yep.

ME:What, don’t they have any kids or anything?

ALEX:Who?

ME:The Murphys.

ALEX:Oh. Nope.

ME:So you got bored and came to the pool?

ALEX:Me? Oh. Yup.

ME:Do you like the Murphys?

ALEX:Me? Oh. Yup.

(A little later.)

ME:Hey, I heard you were at Bill Ferguson’s party last week.

ALEX:Yup.

ME:Do you know him? (Stupid question!)

ALEX:Yup. Lives next door.

ME:How was it?

ALEX:What?

ME:The party!

ALEX:Oh. Okay. I saw your sister there. (That’s a lot of words for Alex.)

ME:Yeah, I know. Was it fun?

ALEX:The party?

ME:Yes, the party.

ALEX:Sort of. Why didn’t you go? (He actually asked a question.)

ME:I wasn’t invited.

ALEX:Oh.

(A little later.)

ME:Our neighbor died.

ALEX:Really?

ME:Yeah.

ALEX:Was he sick?

ME:No, not exactly.

ALEX:Well, how did he die?

ME:Well, I guess he was sick only no one knew it. He went in the hospital for some tests and died of some gigantic heart attack or something.

ALEX:Ugh.

ME:Yeah, I know.

ALEX:He didn’t think he was sick?

ME:No. I don’t think so. At least not until they told him he had to go in for some tests. His time was up. I hate that.

ALEX:Ugh.

ME:Yeah.

ALEX:Yup.

ME:I wonder if he knew he was going to die.

ALEX:Maybe.

ME:Like maybe he had this feeling…

ALEX:Maybe.

ME:You ought to at least have a feeling…

ALEX:Yup.

ME:Wouldn’t you like to have a little advance notice if you were going to kick off?

ALEX:Yup. I would.

ME:Me, too.

And that’s all we talked about because he had to leave, but he said he was coming back again on Thursday probably. I might go swimming on Thursday.

Carl Ray still has a job, even though Mr. Furtz is dead. Mr. Furtz’s brother (whose name is also Furtz, of course) is going to take over the store at least for a while. I found that out when I went to the hardware store today. I didn’t really need to buy something, but I was downtown with Tommy after swimming and I just wanted to see if it was possible that Carl Ray could really do anything useful.

When we went in, there was Carl Ray dusting off some turpentine cans. He looked real embarrassed to see us at first, but Tommy took hold of Carl Ray’s hand and was so excited to see him that Carl Ray eventually smiled a little and started acting like he owned the store, showing us all around. I’ve been to that store a million times, so I’d seen it all before, but I pretended like I hadn’t. Then the new Mr. Furtz came up and introduced himself (“Gene Furtz here”) and said he was taking over the store at least temporarily, until “things settle down.”

Then he said, “Don’t you worry, we’ll keep young Carl Ray on here.” (I wasn’t worried.) Carl Ray smiled and looked down at his shoes. What a presence.

Stopped at Beth Ann’s on the way home, but she was gone.

Read Book Four of the Odyssey. Now Telemachus is at Menelaus’s house, where everybody is feasting and “making merry.” It really kills me how everyone treats Telemachus wherever he goes. He’s a total stranger and yet Menelaus orders his servants to take care of Telemachus’s horses and feed them. And then, this really gets me, Menelaus’s maid-servants wash Telemachus and his men and “anoint” them with oil! I mean really. Then they feed them, etc. All of this before they even find out who Telemachus is.

It all reminded me of my mother and how she’s always going on about ole Carl Ray being a guest in our house. Well, I sure feel like his maidservant, but I’ll tell you one thing: I wouldn’t wash and anoint him for all the money in the world.

More Odyssey : Everyone at Menelaus’s starts crying and weeping about Odysseus (because they still think he’s dead), but then a goddess gives them some special wine that prevents people from crying! Imagine.

I wish I had some of that wine for Mrs. Furtz.

But Odysseus isn’t dead. He’s being held captive by a nymph named Calypso who apparently adores Odysseus and doesn’t want him to go back to Penelope. Meanwhile, all Penelope’s suitors decide to ambush Telemachus when he returns .