Alexander Bell

** Having to wrap my head around thinking and speaking like a 6 year old again!  Hopefully I succeeded.

Hey, it’s me Alexander.  I’m six years old and this is my turn to talk.  Although I don’t really like talking, but mom says I need to put myself out there more and be more apart of the family.  I thought I was part of the family so at first I didn’t really know what she meant.  I guess I’m kinda shy.  I don’t know what shy feels like.  Mom called me an in, intro…I can’t remember the word.  Do you know what I mean?  I looked at her funny and she changed it to shy.  Shy must not be a good thing because she asked me to start trying to be different. So I am.

You have to understand, it’s weird being the only boy on the island.  I wish one of my sisters had been a boy, then I would have someone to play the games I want to play.  My dad is a boy, but he is often working; on the island or writing his next book.  When he isn’t doing that, he is busy with other things.  Like playing sports with Bella.  He doesn’t know how mad that makes me sometimes.  I mean, I could play sports if he asked me too but he never does.  So I spend my time learning and playing with my animals.  Animals are safe.They never hurt your feelings or let you down.  Except for that darn cat, cause he prefers Anna to me.  He even waits for her to wake up, the traitor. 

He’s a boy, he should like me better. 

It’s summer now and we don’t have to focus so much on learning for the next few months.  The days can be pretty boring if you don’t have something to do and my parents won’t let me have any more pets.  No matter how much I beg. 

“Try playing with your sisters,”  mom said one day.

“But they are girls.  Girls are boring.  All they want to do is girl stuff.”

“Maybe if you ask them, you will find things you like to do together.”

“Doubtful,” I replied back.

“Try,” she said, giving me that look she does.  It means she is done talking about it till I do what she says.

I walked around for another day.  Played my violin some.  Since I am a year older, I fit the violin better and I think it’s fun to play now.I play it outside though, which doesn’t sound as good as in my room but makes my sisters happy.  I played till my fingers got sore.  Then decided to give mom’s suggestion a try.

Bella was busy playing with her invisible friend.

She said I could join in but they way she said it….didn’t sound like she really wanted me to, so I moved on to find Anna.

Anna was busy playing house with the dolls.She was so busy with her story, she didn’t even hear me ask if we could play together.  

Bonnie was in the kitchen standing on a chair like she always was, wearing a funny paper hat and the cat hissing at her like usual.

“What are you doing today Bonnie?”

“I’m queen of the castle and I’m talking to all my subjects.”

“Subjects?”

“You know, the people of my kingdom.”

“Why are they called subjects?”

Bonnie put down her arm and turned to me with a confused look.  “I don’t know,” she said.  “That is just what it always says in the books.”

“Kinda weird, don’t you think.  I mean why not just call them people?” I asked.

Bonnie jumped down from the chair making Caesar scatter out of the way.  “I know right!  Feels weird to me too.”

“Can I play?”  I asked shyly……….  oh, hmmmm, now I kinda know what mom means by shy, I think.

“Yea!  I’m kinda bored playing castle anyway.  What shall we do?”

“Do you want to see my animals?”  Bonnie nodded.

We spent a lot of time talking about animals and she gave me some advice about Caesar.  After that we played on the playground for the rest of the day.  Bonnie is a lot of fun.

The next day we were setting up for a water balloon fight, when Anna asked if she could play.  We asked Bella too but she said she was going exploring with her friend.  It didn’t matter, cause we had a lot of fun without her.

That day I learned that my sisters weren’t who I thought they were and we had a lot in common.

Things got better after that.  Mom and dad even changed some of the rules.

“Now that you are six, we can relax some of the rules.  But only a little and as long as you are always together.  If you are alone, no deal.”

Like we were allowed to go exploring up to the lighthouse and play in the water coming up on the beach without a parent being in the water with us.  But only if, a parent was watching.

Break the rules even once and we go back to the little kid rules.  We were cool with that.

One day we were on the beach and I was tired of the water, so I decided to play my violin for a while.

You know how you get a tingling in the back of your neck when you feel like someone is watching you?  Well at first I thought it was the vibration from the violin, but when I stopped it was still there.  I turned and saw this:

a bunch of people hanging out further down the beach and this woman had come closer to watch me play.  I got the creeps, grabbed my sisters and ran into the house to tell dad.

Things changed after that.  We were no longer allowed to leave the house to play outside and this boat was now sailing around the island all day long.Dad’s phone rang a lot too and sometimes he talked normal, but other times he was very angry.  He always left the room when he got like that.

I tried asking dad what was wrong and about the boat.

All he said was I had nothing to worry about as long as I followed the rules and stayed inside.  He said the boat was there for our protection.  

“Protection?” both Bella and I said at the same time.

Dad put down his fork.  “Sorry.  That was the wrong word and I didn’t meant that.  The boat is there making sure no one else comes to hang out on the island.  That’s all.  Everything is fine.”

All I knew was, everything was not fine and dad was lying.

Okay I’m done.  I really don’t feel like talking anymore, but I will end this by happily telling you that Bonnie’s advice about Caesar worked.  One day I was in the foyer when Caesar jumped into my arms and started purring.

Best day of my life!