Sharon Creech - Absolutely Normal Chaos

“Exactly,” he said. “Exactly.” One kiss.

Aunt Radene says that you just have to do your best to make the world a better place. I said I wasn’t so sure I could make the world a better place, and she said, “Oh, you already have, Mary Lou, you already have.”

How does a person ever know that for sure?

Beth Ann told me today that when Carl Ray came to see her that night, before he had the accident, he told her that he was moving back to West Virginia. And then he went to see Mr. Furtz in the cemetery. Beth Ann was all upset because she had had a big fight with Carl Ray when he said he was moving. Now she wishes she could take back everything she said. I told her that I was sure Carl Ray knew she didn’t mean it, that she only said those things because she would miss him.

Alex visited Carl Ray in the hospital today, and he took Carl Ray a fishing lure. He told Carl Ray (even though Carl Ray is still unconscious and couldn’t hear him) that he would take him fishing when he woke up.

Carl Ray must like fishing, because he woke up today! You’ve never seen a happier bunch of people in your life than Aunt Radene and Uncle Carl Joe and all my cousins, and my whole family, and the Furtzes and Alex and Beth Ann and all the nurses who have been taking care of Carl Ray.

You know what Carl Ray said when his father asked him how he was feeling? He said, “Don’t rightly know.” Uncle Carl Joe said that that was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.

Athene has just swooped down and anointed Carl Ray and saved him from being thrashed around in the sea. What a relief!

What a terrific day!

Carl Ray is smiling all over the place now, getting better every minute. Uncle Carl Joe still sits by his bed all day long, watching Carl Ray and talking to him.

I was allowed to visit Carl Ray for five minutes today, and I gave him the note that I had put on his dresser, the one about him being okay. He pointed to the bedpan and said, “Do you think I could borrow your socks for the pee pot?” Carl Ray’s getting a sense of humor. His wheel of fortune is spinning around to the top again.

I received a letter from school today with a list of my courses for next year—ack, next week ! My English teacher is Mr. Birkway. He must be new, because I’ve never heard of him. So a complete stranger is going to read this journal and know all about our odyssey. Let’s hope he is understanding and doesn’t put red marks all over everything.

Carl Ray’s better every day. He’s coming home next week, and we’ve been busy decorating his room with signs. Aunt Radene and Uncle Carl Joe and all my cousins are going back to West Virginia today, although you can tell they don’t really want to leave without Carl Ray, but he can’t travel yet. When he’s ready, Dad will take him back to West Virginia.

Carl Ray is hobbling all around the hospital already. He asks all the nurses to sign his casts. I think he’s becoming more outgoing. Who would have imagined? That Carl Ray is full of surprises.

I decided to end this journal tomorrow. I only have a couple of pages left in this little blue book anyway (this is the sixth blue book I’ve used this summer). I asked Beth Ann and Alex if they did their journals. Alex said he only started his when he went to Michigan (I wonder if he wrote anything about me in it???), and Beth Ann said she thought she’d start it today ! I know I wrote too much, but maybe I won’t turn it in anyway. I’m not sure I want a total stranger to read this.

Our family went to Windy Rock today with the Cheeveys and the Furtzes and Beth Ann. What a day. We were all feeling sorry that Carl Ray was still in the hospital and wasn’t able to come too, but Mrs. Cheevey said we would call it Carl Ray Day (“Ooh, a rhyme!”) and she would take pictures and show them to Carl Ray, and when he gets out of the hospital, we could all go again.

I’m sure by now you can imagine all these people clumped together at Windy Rock and you can imagine Mrs. Cheevey darting all around and Beth Ann talking her head off and my brothers climbing trees and me and Alex sneaking off for one little kiss (well, heck!). So I don’t have to write all that down.

I just want to say one more time that Carl Ray is okay!

I was trying to remember how Homer finished off the Odyssey , so I just read the ending again. It’s a little corny, with Athene telling everyone to make peace, but I can’t think of a better ending.

Sigh.

Summer’s over.

Alpha and Omega!!

With warm thanks to Marion Lloyd

Sharon Creech won the Newbery Medal for WALK TWO MOONS, as well as the Newbery Honor for THE WANDERER. Her work also includes BLOOMABILITY, ABSOLUTELY NORMAL CHAOS, CHASING REDBIRD, and PLEASING THE GHOST. After spending eighteen years teaching and writing in Europe, Sharon Creech and her husband have retured to the United States to live.

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WALK TWO MOONS

PLEASING THE GHOST

Cover art © 1997 by Mark Elliott

Cover design by Tom Starace

Cover © 2001 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

ABSOLUTELY NORMAL CHAOS. Copyright © 1990 by Sharon Creech. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub © Edition OCTOBER 2008

ISBN: 9780061972430

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