A Chapter From Nay-Nay

When I was younger (you know, before I entered the hugely old age of DOUBLE DIGITS)  my siblings and I would often make of stories around the lunch table. Our favorite set of characters was a family called *ahem* the Frederick Family (so original, I know).

The cast of characters:

First of all, there were Father and Mother. They didn’t come up too much (okay, actually maybe they did but maybe I am way too embarrassed to repeat the stories that we came up with for them. *ahem* All I’ll say is that one of the stories with Father included “baby powder” which made whoever ate it get pregnant. Yeah, so maybe I wasn’t a normal kid after all….)

Next was the notorious Benjamin. He was 18 but very extremely immature for his age. (And I quote from something he said with his own two lips, “Nathan, give me that! That’s my toy and you can’t have it.” He was talking about  a plastic soldier or something like that….) Benjamin delighted in tormenting his younger brother, Nathan.

Sarah was 16 (although her age varied as we grew older). Her main part in the stories was to cook food and be the bastion of kindness and truth….(maybe that’s why she wasn’t in a lot of the stories….)

Enter Sir Mary! Mary ranged from the ages of 12 to 14, but for the most part she was around 13. She looooved knights and often pretended to be one and would battle and conquer the evil dragon (aka Nathan). She was one of the main characters and often got into a lot of trouble.

NATHAN! Nathan was between the ages of eight and ten (and no, he wasn’t exactly nine for the whole story). He was the main character. He always got into SO much trouble. For some reason, we got embarrassed to call him “Nathan” so we came up with the nickname “Nay-nay”. Don’t ask me why. But it stuck, and soon that’s all we were calling the little trouble maker. But he was our beloved character and he was the cornerstone for all of the stories.

Hannah & Elizabeth. Three year old twins. They weren’t really a huge part of the stories, but they played their part in helping Nathan cause trouble everywhere.

Eventually we would add Victor and New Baby, but they were not part of the original series.

So why is this important?

When I was eleven, I decided to write down the adventures of our favorite family. Needless to say, my writing was awful and the stories didn’t make much sense. But over the years, I have continued to write the stories down (adding more GOOD values and cutting out the “baby powder” XD). I enjoy working on the “Nay-Nay Series” because it is a story that is already so messed up (because, you know, eleven year old me didn’t have a ton of talent) that I didn’t have to worry about making it perfect. So when I was ready to give up on all of my other stories, I would just go open the huge document that contained the adventures of Mary and Nathan and I would just write for hours.  As a result, the story has become quite long! Currently, it is 675 pages and the total word count is 217,885! 🙂 Sometimes I like to go back and read the old pages because it reminds me of each time in my life that I wrote it. Anyway. *decides to stop going down sentimental lane* So today I give you a part of THE NAY-NAY SERIES! *grimace* Get ready for some not-so-perfect writing!

The Nay-Nay Series

(Setting the stage: Mary and Nathan are around the ages of thirteen and ten. It is just a normal school day in their little neighborhood. [Of course Mary and Nathan are homeschooled] Mary had finished her morning school and was looking to see what Nathan was doing. Also, Mary is narrating  the story. The sentences in italics is the “narrator”. Apparently, he watches everything and writes it down, too. XD Don’t ask me why younger me was so weird….Now let’s begin!)

Monday, March 16^th

Hi guys. I just finished my school. It was pretty easy today, which is nice. I’m learning about mitosis in science. I had to watch a REALLY boring REALLY long video about it. Anyway, I’m glad that it’s over.

Right now I’m walking to the dining room to see if Nathan wants to play a game with me. He looks ‘glued’ to the window. I wonder what he’s looking at. Hmm…

Mary: what are you doing, Nathan?

Nathan: I’m watching those two guys in the street. They look suspicious.

Mary looked at them. They wore green clothes and both had clipboards.

Mary: they’re just talking. I don’t see what’s so suspicious about that.

Nathan: they’ve been standing in the street for a while now. They keep looking at our neighbor’s house and writing things down.

Mary: hmm… maybe you’re right. We should keep an eye on them.

Nathan: yeah. I’m sure they’re thieves.

The children watched the “criminals” for a few more minutes.

Nathan: look! They just walked into our neighbor’s backyard! They opened up the gate and walked right in! They didn’t knock at our neighbor’s house or anything!

Just then Sarah walked up.

Sarah: what are you guys doing?

Nathan: we’re watching some thieves do their dirty work.

Sarah burst into laughter.

Mary: it’s not funny, Sarah! Those guys just walked into our neighbor’s backyard without asking!

Sarah: I don’t think thieves would steal stuff in our neighborhood in the daytime…when our neighbor is home!

Nathan: hmm… good point. They’re probably looking for gold in the yard. Yeah. That’s it!

Sarah: I don’t think so, guys.

Mary: I’m not sure what they’re doing, but I don’t like it.

Nathan: yeah.

Sarah: you and Nathan could be detectives! Mary and Nathan solve crime that isn’t even there!

Mary: hey!

Nathan: we’re going to solve this mystery!

Mary: yeah. Oh look, they’re coming out of the yard. I wonder what they were doing. They’re talking in the street again.

Sarah: umm, guys?

Nathan: what?

Sarah: those look like those people who sell lawn pesticides. They were probably measuring the yard.

Nathan: but they didn’t ask our neighbor if they could go in his backyard!

Sarah: it was probably pre-scheduled.

Nathan: all your good sense won’t change my mind, Sarah.

Mary: yeah.

Sarah: okay! Let me know what the ‘criminals’ do next.

Nathan: you said that in an I-don’t-really-mean-that voice.

Sarah: exactly.

Nathan: hey!

Mary: look, Nathan! One of them is walking off to our other neighbor’s house. The other one is going down the street.

Nathan: we should follow them!

Mary: but if they had guns it could be bad.

Nathan: good point. We’ll just wait here.

The children watched them men visit each house.

Mary: they’re going into each yard.

Nathan: yeah. Then they walk around the yard – Sarah said that they were measuring – and then they leave.

Mary: but we can’t see them anymore.

Nathan: too bad. I want to call the police and have them arrested for trespassing!

Mary: it isn’t exactly trespassing, Nathan.

Nathan: well, if they come into our yard, they will be in serious trouble!

Mary: don’t do anything rash, Nathan. They did look pretty strong. If you got into a fight with them, you would be a squishy blob when they were done with you.

Nathan: don’t worry. I won’t attempt to fight grown men.

Mary: phew. Good. Oh look! Both of them are coming on this side of the street. They should be at our house in a few minutes!

Nathan: and I’ll ask them what they’re up to!

Mary: yeah!

Soon the guys were at the house next door to the Frederick’s.

Nathan: they’ll come to our house next! I just know it!

Mary: oh look! They’re leaving that house and they’re walking towards our house!

The children waited in breathless silence.

Nathan: oh no! They walked right past our house! Why wouldn’t they come! I need to go ask them!

Mary: wait! Nathan!

But Nathan was out the door and running after the man. Mary’s face grew redder and redder. At that moment Sarah walked into the dining room.

Sarah: what happened to your face, Mary?

Mary: nothing…

Sarah: why is it all red?

Mary: Nathan just ran after the guy to ask him what he was doing.

Sarah: he did what?!

Mary: I can’t talk about it. It’s too embarrassing.

A few minutes later Nathan arrived back at his house, breathless and discouraged.

Mary: did you talk to them?

Nathan: yes. It was terrible. They’re just selling grass pesticides.

Sarah: see! I told you!

Nathan and Mary: *SIGH*

Sarah: and you thought they were criminals!

Nathan: well… we have to have something happen in this neighborhood! It’s too quiet. Nothing adventurous ever happens!

Sarah: and that is probably a good thing.

Mary: sometime, though, I would like a little more adventure.

Sarah: how about you two come help me with the adventure of making cookies!

Mary: yay!

Nathan: I’ll be right there!

—————

haha! XD

~Hattush