KALICO: 1 Hypnotized, Naked in Hope Springs, Texas

Madison: My Journal

By Madison Avenue Johnson, Hope Springs Eternal Middle School/High School Hope Springs, Texas

Who's afraid of Dauntless Decker?

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

-- Three Little Pigs, Red Riding Hood, et al

Madison: Tuesday

Hello. My name is Madison Avenue Johnson and this is my new journal.

Mrs. Emma Decker, who I hope will be my new English teacher, said I have to keep a journal and show it to her every day, even during what's left of summer vacation if I want to be accepted into her ninth grade class.

Make that especially during what's left of summer vacation, because they must decide by this weekend whether I'm to be allowed to skip four grade levels up to her class. "They" are my Academic Committee. Until this afternoon I didn't know I have an Academic Committee.

From what I can tell, "they" are not real fans of kids getting out of line in this educational factory process they call the Hope Springs Independent School District. At certain ages you're supposed to be such and such educationally developed and if you start jumping grades very much, or start falling behind very much, you'll soon find the powers-that-be casting serious doubts in your direction.

I've barely turned age 10, and this fall I'm supposed to be entering fifth grade at Hope Springs Eternal Lower Middle School.

The rest of the world may not see a ninth grade English class as such a special place to be, but I do. Otherwise, I'll probably still be in the regular fifth grade and somehow that seems boring.

Since my family just moved to this school district over the weekend, I asked if I might be in a more advanced writing class, and it turns out that Hope Springs doesn't have such a program. The best I can hope for in Hope Springs is to advance a few grades.

If Mrs. Decker doesn't want me, then I might be admitted to one of the other levels in grades six through eight. Or I might not, because of what I already said about school districts not liking to make special cases of ambitious students. Despite the way Mrs. Decker scares me, I still want to be in her ninth grade class because I heard it's the best for learning about serious writing.

"The writing sample your Mom submitted with your request was very nice, and it shows you have talent," Mrs. Decker told me. "However, in deciding what to do with you, we must keep in mind your age – you are rather young, you know, for a high school writing class – and be mindful of the circumstances under which you wrote your sample. You wrote extremely well for a fourth grader, but how will you do under ninth grade conditions? Every paper you write must be equal to or better than that one, and we'll be having assignments due every day, sometimes several papers a day."

I think she was trying to scare me away.

"With that in mind, I need you to write something for me every day this week, simply to demonstrate that you have it in you to produce the quality and quantity of writing required."

"What sort of stuff do I need to write about?" I asked. It seemed silly to just drag out a few of my old fourth grade papers and re-work them for Mrs. Decker. For one thing, even I can understand that she's not looking for more fourth grade work.

"The simplest thing would be for you to keep a journal. Write about the things you do or see. Pick a point during the day, today, and make that your starting place and go from there. If you're half as observant as I think you are, I expect you'll find plenty of stuff to write about," she said. Somehow "stuff" sounded different when she said it, I suspect she was adapting her vocabulary to fit with mine.