"Giant Girl Rampages"
Blog Entries from a Very Tall Girl
By Big Melly Mills

Week #1 - 6/8 to 6/14/2008.

"If Melly Mills wanted to rampage through a town, believe me, that town would never be the same again..."


ABOUT THIS STORY:
"Giant Girl Rampages" is the first-ever teen blog-novel: a traditionally-structured work of fiction published online in real time as a standalone blog.

For the most current episodes, click here:
  ==> http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/


ABOUT MELLY:
Melly is very tall. Freakishly impossibly tall. Basketball hoops come up to her hips, and most people are only a bit taller than her knees. She looks down on giraffes, and has to bend down to peek into a second-story window. She's just a bit shy of 18 feet, and nobody else has ever been nearly as tall as that...

Melly's bio is continued here:
  ==> http://makingmelly.blogspot.com/2008/06/melinda-big-melly-mills.html


ENTRIES THIS WEEK:
    * Giant Girl Rampages Through Town
    * Someday
    * Just Normal Like
    * Schooled by Dr. Crisp
    * The Finals
    * Queen of the Tall Ones
    * Exuberance and Exclamations!!!

PLUS:
    * The Giant Girl Illustrator Challenge
    * Behind the Scenes: Beginnings
    * Subscription Information

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ENTRIES THIS WEEK:

June 10, 2008: "Giant Girl Rampages Through Town"

I took the name of this journal from a newspaper clipping on my wall. The headline is "Giant girl rampages through town". Embarrassing, right? Dr. Crisp says the media like to take a small story and blow it up into something big. Like how they keep saying I'm 18 feet tall. Puh-leeze!!! I'm 17 feet 10 and one half inches so stop exaggerating!!! Dr. Crisp thinks I might hit 18 feet by my sixteenth birthday (November 22nd if you want to buy me a gift) but I'm not there yet so don't go around saying Melly Mills is 18 feet tall until Melly Mills damn well says you can!!!

And if Melly Mills wanted to rampage through a town, believe me, that town would never be the same again. What really happened was, I walked calmly into town and people freeeeeeaked out. But that was just cuz they never met anyone like me before. And I'd never met anyone at all, really, except Ma and Pa. I'd never left our farm, or the middle acres of our farm, cuz Ma and Pa said folks on the outside would try to hurt me. But it was hard to stay there all on my own after Pa died and I buried his body next to Ma's in the plot beside their house.

I had well water and enough food to get me through the winter, plenty of milking and egg collecting to keep me busy, wood to chop for the stove, and my big pile of hay to sleep on in the barn. I didn't need nothing from outside the farm until Spring. That's when the fields needed planting and Pa wasn't around to buy the seed anymore. I figured he would have wanted me to look after the crops like I was already looking after the animals and myself.

So I squeezed into Ma and Pa's house, where the door is normal sized and I hadn't been able to fit through since I was seven. I got stuck, of course, and I had to break the frame to get free. I broke a whole lot of furniture and other stuff too, crawling through the house on my hands and knees. If Ma or Pa were still around to see what a mess I'd made, they would have hollered at me good!!!

Ma and Pa kept their money in a cookie jar in the kitchen. I guess that's safe to say now, since it's not there anymore. I grabbed the jar off the refrigerator, stuffed it into the side pocket of my blouse, and backed out the way I'd come in. It's just a good thing they didn't keep their money up in their bedroom because that rickety old staircase would have never held my weight.

That's when I calmly strolled into town and, well, you know the rest. Helicopters, sharpshooters, tranquilizer guns, and I woke up in the town square with all my limbs chained to different lamp posts and little people running all around me. It was like that book, Gulliver's Travels, that Ma used to read to me.

The state said I couldn't live on my own anymore because I'm not 18 yet, no matter how big I am. And the state is represented by shrill Mrs. Johansson, She Who Will Not Be Ignored. So the Appletons are my official guardians for now. They're strange but nice, and they have a son named Jay who is about my age. Jay doesn't talk much or at least not to me. I think he's shy.

The Appletons own an orchard on the west side of my family's farm, so I can stay here in my barn and just let them look in on me when they want. Mr. Appleton says I can help with the fruit picking in the Fall. I think he's just glad for somebody who can reach the tall branches. Being taller than everybody else is finally going to be good for something!!!


June 10, 2008: "Someday"

Someday I'll meet a boy who's taller than me. I'll have to stand on tip-toes to kiss him. He'll lift me up by the waist and twirl me around and we'll laugh and laugh like the couples in the fashion magazines and romance novels Mrs. Appleton gave me.


June 11, 2008: "Just Normal Like"

Thanks to Mr. Appleton, I have a computer in my barn and a special keyboard with big keys. I think it's meant for real little kids who mash their whole hands against each key but it works for my "giant sized" fingers as well. Mr. Appleton and Jay spent a whole afternoon last week wiring my barn for the Internet while I tended my cows out on the pasture.

The Appletons are letting me live like I have since Pa died, just normal like, but with stuff to help me learn about the outside world. As well as the computer, I've also got a TV and a stack of new books and magazines to read.

"You're big enough to live by yourself," Mr. Appleton told me.

"Both old enough and big enough," said Mrs. Appleton. "But if you need anything at all, we're just a holler away."

I told them I'd be sure to holler, but I don't imagine I'll ever need anything else from them. I already had everything I needed before I met them, and now I have even more.

So I've been reading all the Internet news stories about my "rampage" through town, and how I must be some kind of mutant or maybe there's something wrong with my pituitary gland. There are lots of pictures of me chained up and they're not at all flattering. It made me mad at first cuz these people don't know me and they keep getting everything wrong (like saying I'm 18 feet tall instead of 17 feet 10 and one half inches, just for starters).

Dr. Crisp said I could start a website of my own to tell my side of things, and to practice some of the writing stuff he's tutoring me on, so that's what I've done. "Giant Girl Rampages" will be my place on the web. I'll update it when I can and answer questions and stuff. It may be fun or it may be a total waste of time. I guess we'll find out!!!


June 12, 2008: "Schooled by Dr. Crisp"

I've never had a doctor before. I've never been sick for a day in my life, probably cuz the germs haven't figured out what to make of me. But Mrs. Johansson says I need regular check-ups to monitor my "condition," like somehow being 17 feet 10 and one half inches is a sickness that'll clear up with the right drugs!!!

So I get a weekly exam where Dr. Crisp draws my blood with a needle made for circus elephants, climbs up on a ladder to look into my ears, takes my measurements with a laser device, and asks me lots of questions. But he's cool about it. It's just his job, and if he wasn't doing it somebody else would have to instead.

Dr. Crisp is also on the school board and does after-school tutoring in the sciences. So when he's not working as my doctor, he's tutoring me in math and biology until the town figures out how the public high school can "fit me in." It won't happen this year, since there's only a couple weeks of the school left on the calendar, but I'm going to have to do a whole lot of studying this summer to catch up with the other kids my age.

I don't blame Ma and Pa for that. Ma tried to school me, in her own way, though she'd dropped out after 8th grade herself. She used to borrow books from the library, and I'd sit Ma on my knee while she read to me. After Ma died, Pa didn't have time for book-learning. I'd have to wait for Pa to go to sleep for the night so I could read and reread the large-print story books that Ma had left behind. And the bible. And the New College Dictionary. I wonder if the library wants those all back by now because I've memorized them all and have a new batch of books from Mrs. Appleton.


June 12, 2008: "The Finals"

Dr. Crisp said I should watch the basketball game tonight. It's "The Finals," whatever that means. I've never watched sports before, but wow! The men in yellow uniforms got way out to a big lead and then the men in green uniforms came back to win. It all happened so fast. Lots of passing and bouncing and shooting...

But that basket they were shooting at would only come up to here on me, if you imagine me holding my hand against my hip. And I could carry the ball in my palm without having to bounce it against the floor. I could be a basketball star by standing in place, leaning over, and just dropping the ball into the net!

Do they let girls play basketball? I'll have to ask Dr. Crisp tomorrow.


June 13, 2008: "Queen of the Tall Ones"

I had a dream last night that I met a boy who was twenty feet tall. His smile made me feel like my insides were melting. He stretched out a hand toward me and said, "We've been waiting for you, Melinda."

"We who?" I asked.

"Me and others like us. The Tall Ones. We have our own country, far away, where the little people can't bother us." He pulled me in close and kissed me on the lips. He was bending down and I was on my toes. What passed between us was electric!!!

"Will you come with me and be our queen?" he asked.

Queen of the Tall Ones? Me? How could I refuse!!! But when I tried to speak, my lips were sealed shut and I couldn't make a sound.

"No?" he asked. His gorgeous face was plastered with disappointment.

I made wild gestures and tried to pry my lips apart.

"I will be back," he said. "Perhaps you will change your mind."

And then I woke up in my barn and milked the tiny little cows.


June 13, 2008: "Exuberance and Exclamations!!!"

I got a comment on my blog yesterday (my first comment, hooray!!!) that I shouldn't use "cuz" instead of "because" and use bigger words cuz I obviously know them--sorry, because I obviously know them from reading and rereading Ma's New College Dictionary!!!  Oh, and in my newfound and expansive eloquence I should endeavor to refrain from utilizing such a plethora of exclamation points. Yah. Whoopee. Fantastic.

Nah, just kidding!!! I'm trying to write the way I talk, and I almost always say "cuz" instead of "because" even though I know it's wrong. As for the exclamation points, I just love them to death and it seems wrong to only use one at a time!!! Heh!!!

By the way, Dr. Crisp says our town's high school has an excellent basketball team for girls. Not only that, but most colleges have women's teams, and there's professional league for women just like they have for men!!! I wasn't thinking about college yet, but if I can major in basketball and play on TV, I would love that!!!

     ===CONTINUED NEXT WEEK===

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THE GIANT GIRL ILLUSTRATOR CHALLENGE:

Artists can create illustrations of me or the events in my life, as long as they are appropriate for my young readers. Any previous post on this blog can be illustrated. If I like an image that goes well with a post on the blog, I may add a small thumbnail version along with credit to the artist and a link to the full-sized image. Images of me posted elsewhere should link back to the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog.

If you want to draw a picture of me, here's what you need to know:

I'm 15 years old and almost (but not quite) 18 feet tall. Mrs. Appleton says I'm very pretty and well proportioned, which I guess is a complement. I'm not super thin or anything but I think I'm in pretty good shape.

I have dirty blonde hair that's kind of wild because I trim it with Pa's old hedge trimmers. My eyes are green as the ocean, as Ma always said, but I wouldn't know because I've never seen an ocean. My skin is tanned from being out in the sun a lot but not too dark and (usually) not burned.

I wear a blouse and skirt-shorts that my mother quilted for me three years ago. They look like a big patchwork cuz she used many squares of fabric and cowhide. I've grown since then, so the skirt-shorts no longer come down to my knees, my blouse is way tight, and there's a bit of skin showing in between. I don't have any shoes (and that makes me sad to think about so I usually don't).

If you do draw my picture, send the link in a comment so I can post it to my blog. Thanks!!!


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BEHIND THE SCENES: BEGINNINGS

In Week #1 of "Giant Girl Rampages," you met Melly Mills and learned about her unusual size, her background, and her personality. You explored an important event that has turned Melly's world upside-down. You met Dr. Crisp and other key people in Melly's life, discovered her aspiration to meet and fall in love with a boy who is even taller than she is, found out about her reading habits, and witnessed her introduction to a new sport.

Here at Giant Girl Creative Team Headquarters (GGCTHQ), we're pleased with Melly's first five days of blogging. If we did our job well, we'll be able to keep Melly's life interesting and fun to read for at least the next few months.

For more behind-the-scenes info on this story, visit the "Making Melly Mills" resource site at:
  ==> http://makingmelly.blogspot.com/


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SUBSCRIPTION INFO:

New episodes of "Giant Girl Rampages" are posted most weekdays, sometimes twice. Feed syndication is available through any reader program capable of subscribing to the following RSS or Atom feed:

  ==> http://feeds.feedburner.com/GiantGirlRampages


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COMMENTS:

Reader comments help shape the story and add a new layer to the blog-novel format. Your feedback to Melly is always welcome at http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/

Thanks!!!

Giant Girl Rampages - Weekly Update 2
By Big Melly Mills
Blog entries from a very tall girl, week of 6/15 to 6/21/2008.

ABOUT ME:
 
My given name is Melinda Sparks Mills but Ma and Pa mostly just called me Melly so I'm sticking with it, thank you very much. I'm almost 15 years and seven months old, and nearly 18 feet tall. I update my journal on most weekdays, sometimes twice! My story starts here.

ENTRIES THIS WEEK:
    * First Father's Day without Pa
    * One for Me, None for You!
    * Wash Day
    * The Final Final
    * Home Sweet Barn
    * Shed Some Light
    * She Will Be Mist

COMMENT OF THE WEEK:
    * Daniel85 says...
    * Big Melly replies...

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:
    * None yet (see my Illustration Challenge below!!!)


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June 16, 2008: "First Father's Day without Pa"
From the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog at http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/

Yesterday was Father's Day so I visited Pa's grave. Well, I visit Ma and Pa every day, but yesterday I stayed longer and lit some candles I found in the loft.

Pa's grave is on our land not far from the house, in a graveyard with Ma and a bunch of older Millses who lived and died on the farm before I was born. When Pa passed there was nobody else to bury him, so I did it myself. I buried him with Red Thunder, his favorite horse.

When Pa was alive, sometimes I thought he loved that horse more than he loved me. I know that's not true but it sure felt that way!!! It's just that Pa got on with animals better than he got on with most people, including his own family and including me. That's why nobody came looking for Pa until months after he died. Nobody was left who cared about him but me.

There was another "Finals" basketball game on TV last night, but I didn't feel like watching it. I was too sad about Pa. I'm less sad today. Kind of angry, really. People better stay out of my way!!!


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June 16, 2008: "One for Me, None for You!"
From the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog at http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/

Jay Appleton just came by the barn. I almost didn't hear his little fist knocking on the door. I'm not a very good judge of heights, cuz everyone looks short to me, but Jay is barely knee-high so he couldn't be much more than five feet tall. Maybe less. And he's wispy, like his arms and legs might snap from a light breeze.

"Mom wanted me to stop by," he said. That figured. There was no way he'd come near me on his own.

I shrugged like I didn't care. I couldn't help it. Jay is the only kid my own age that I've ever met. He could have been my first real friend, but he never talks to me unless his parents force him to.

"She made a pie." Jay held out a perfect blueberry pie, just like Ma used to make.

I took the pie from Jay's tiny hands and tossed it back with two large bites. It was soooo good, I wish I'd had a dozen more just like it. Mrs. Appleton can really cook!!!

I noticed Jay looking up at me in shock. "I thought we could share it," he said.

I dropped the empty pie plate back into his hands and wiped the last drops of blueberry from my lips. I leaned way down on my knees and elbows to get my face next to his pale, blood-drained, scared-to-death face. Then I belched so loud that it frightened the chickens in the coop across the yard. "That's your share," I told Jay.

The wispy little boy ran away like he was running for his life. I think he was worried I'd make a pie out of him next--Ha-ha!!!

But maybe I shouldn't have been so mean to Jay. Maybe I was still upset about my fatherless Father's Day. Or freaked out about this anonymous weirdo who keeps leaving me comments about wanting to lick my feet, and gross stuff like that...

Hey!!! For all I know, that anonymous weirdo was Jay, and he deserved everything he got!!!


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June 17, 2008: "Wash Day"
From the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog at http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/

I know I should apologize to Jay, but not today. It's Tuesday, and Tuesday is wash day here at Mills Farm. That's the day I wash my clothes, myself, and all of my cattle including the calves, heifers, cows, and Old Carl, our bull. Then I scrub down the entire barn. It's a whole lot of work, so I won't have time to search around for Jay Appleton. Maybe tomorrow...

I can carry a small cow under each arm or a few calves at a time with no trouble but I've always got to drag Old Carl by the scruff of his neck, kicking and complaining all the way from his pen to the creek, big baby that he is. I've got to get into the water and hold him down because he hates the soap and brushes. Every week he tries to slash or gore me with his horns, even though he should know by now that he never can. Washing the cows and Old Carl is tough work, but so much nicer to have sweet-smelling cattle.

I give special attention to Tinkerbell cuz she's my favorite, the one I hold in my arms as I sleep. She's a two-year-old heifer and don't tell anyone but I think she's "with calf"!!!


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June 17, 2008: "The Final Final"
From the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog at http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/

I watched another basketball game on TV last night. They call these games "The Finals" even though so far there's always more and more of them left to play. They acted like this last game was the final "Final" but I just don't believe them anymore!!!

The players change uniforms between every game, like they're trying to fool us into thinking they're a whole different team. The men in green from the other night were wearing white this time. And the men in yellow were wearing blue!!!

The game wasn't even close, but still a lot of fun to watch. I think I could play this game. I really could!!! The tallest player on either team is only seven feet tall--Ha-ha!!!


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June 18, 2008: "Home Sweet Barn"
From the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog at http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/

I am so upset right now, I'm about to break this keyboard from pressing the keys too hard. Mrs. Johansson took a tour of my barn today--my home since the age of seven--and called it "unfit for human habitation." So what does that make me, some kind of animal?!!

Mrs. Johansson says I have to move out, and she has the power of the Child Welfare Division of Social Services behind her. She's going to wish she had the power of a bulldozer instead, cuz that's what it'll take for her to drag me out of my barn!!!

Where am I supposed to go? To a house with eight-foot ceilings and doors I can't squeeze through? The only place large enough for me to live in is going to be another barn!!!


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June 19, 2008: "Shed Some Light"
From the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog at http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/

Mr. and Mrs. Appleton came by today. They sat in the folding chairs Ma and Pa would use while I stretched out on my stomach with my chin on my fists, so we were just about eye-to-eye. The Appletons look much younger than Ma and Pa ever did. Mr. Appleton is a few inches taller than Pa, but very skinny. Mrs. Appleton is shorter than Ma and plump like a pear. I guess it was Jay's bad luck to get stuck with all their shortest and skinniest genes.

"Mrs. Johansson approved the plans for your new shed," Mr. Appleton told me. From the tone of his voice, I could tell he didn't like that old witch from Child Welfare any more than I did. "We're pouring the foundation this afternoon. It cost us a fortune to get a work crew on such short notice, but Mrs. Johansson was insistent."

Mrs. Appleton shot her husband a disapproving glance. "The cost of the shed is irrelevant. Melly needs a place to live and we are her guardians now."

"I already have a perfectly good barn," I told them.

"This isn't a barn, dear," said Mrs. Appleton. "When we get done building the furniture and decorating the walls, it'll look just like any other teenage girl's room."

I perked up a little. "Can I bring my cows?"

"No," Mr. Appleton stated.

"Then what about just Tinkerbell?" I sat up and looked around the barn until I found my the two-year-old heifer munching on hay in the corner stall. She is the only cow who stays indoors with me during the summer. She's more pet than cattle.

"No," Mr. Appleton said again. He seemed a bit shaken by the way I scooped Tinkerbell into my arms and held her in the crook of my elbow.

"Melly, dear, you have to understand," said Mrs. Appleton. "Mrs. Johansson thinks it's unsanitary for you to keep cows in the place where you sleep. She's looking for any possible excuse to take you away from us, and who knows what will happen if you fall into state custody." I wasn't sure what she meant by that but the thought of sleeping in a barn behind Mrs. Johansson's house sent shivers down my spine.

"Okay," I said, while stroking Tinkerbell's head. She mooed and nuzzled her nose into my armpit. As bad as I feel for myself, I feel even worse for Tinkerbell. She's going to miss snuggling up to me in the night.


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June 20, 2008: "She Will Be Mist"
From the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog at http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/

I dreamed about Ma last night. For a while, it was like she was alive again. She clucked and cluttered around me like a mother hen--a really small mother hen, if you can imagine, with a really large chick. "Look how big you've gotten, my little Melly! Are you taking care of yourself? Are you minding what Mr. and Mrs. Appleton say? Are you not giving little Jay too much trouble?"

"Yes, Ma," I told her.

"You're going to need new clothes for school. Oh, how I wish I had a needle and few bolts of denim to make into jeans! Your father wouldn't let me make you pants, as if somebody might confuse you for a boy. As if anybody would even see you!"

"Ma?" I spoke softly, worried about what I had to ask her and how she might reply.

"Yes, Melly?"

"I'm moving out of the barn. Off the farm, too. The Appletons are building me some kind of shed."

"Yes, I know," she said.

"So...does that mean I won't be able to see you anymore?"

Ma laughed, just like she used to when she got to a funny part in a book she was reading. "I'm not a ghost, Melly. That is to say, I'm not confined to the barn like some kind of haunting spirit. I'm with you, in your heart and in your head, wherever you go."

I wiped tears of relief from my eyes. "Thanks, Ma. I miss you sooooooo much!"

"And I miss you."

It was a perfect moment until I tried to scoop Ma into my arms to give her a gigantic hug. As soon as I touched her, Ma turned to mist and floated away in all directions. I guess she really was a ghost after all!!!


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COMMENT OF THE WEEK:

Daniel85 says:

   You can really carry one cow under each arm???

   WOW ^^

   I wished I could seen this with my own eyes for one time

   Greetings from good old Germany ^^

Big Melly replies:

   Small cows like Tinkerbell and some of the others, sure.

   They're heavy, so I couldn't go too far with them, but down to the
   creek and back isn't too hard.

   It beats making two trips!!!


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ILLUSTRATION CHALLENGE:

If you want to draw a picture of me, here's what you need to know:

I'm 15 years old and almost (but not quite) 18 feet tall. Mrs. Appleton says I'm very pretty and well proportioned, which I guess is a complement. I'm not super thin or anything but I think I'm in pretty good shape.

I have dirty blonde hair that's kind of wild because I trim it with Pa's old hedge trimmers. My eyes are green as the ocean, as Ma always said, but I wouldn't know because I've never seen an ocean. My skin is tanned from being out in the sun a lot but not too dark and (usually) not burned.

I wear a blouse and skirt-shorts that my mother quilted for me three years ago. They look like a big patchwork cuz she used many squares of fabric and cowhide. I've grown since then, so the skirt-shorts no longer come down to my knees, my blouse is way tight, and there's a bit of skin showing in between. I don't have any shoes (and that makes me sad to think about so I usually don't).

If you draw my picture, send the link in a comment so I can post it to my blog. Just make sure it's safe for my young and innocent readers. Thanks!!!

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Comments and suggestions welcome at http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/
Help spread the word!!!

Giant Girl Rampages - Week #4
By Big Melly Mills
Blog entries from a very tall girl, week of 6/29 to 7/5/2008

ABOUT THIS UPDATE:

This is a weekly collection of posts from "Giant Girl Rampages", the first ever teen novel published in real time in a blog format. For the most current episodes, click here:

  ==> http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/


ABOUT MELLY:
 
Melly is very tall. Freakishly impossibly tall. Basketball hoops come up to her hips, and most people are only a bit taller than her knees. She looks down on giraffes, and has to bend down to peek into a second-story window. She's just a bit shy of 18 feet, and nobody else has ever been nearly as tall as that... Melly's bio is continued here:
 
  ==> http://makingmelly.blogspot.com/2008/06/melinda-big-melly-mills.html


BEHIND THE SCENES:

Character backgrounds and frequently asked questions are being collected on a story resource site. Here you can find out more about how the story is being written, who the characters are, and why it's on the web instead of in a book. Visit the "Making Melly Mills" resource site:

  ==> http://makingmelly.blogspot.com/


SUBSCRIPTION INFO:

New episodes of "Giant Girl Rampages" are posted most weekdays, sometimes twice. Feed syndication is available through any reader program capable of subscribing to the following RSS or Atom feed:

  ==> http://feeds.feedburner.com/GiantGirlRampages


ENTRIES THIS WEEK:

      * HORSE
      * The Bigger Person
      * Brotherhood
      * Returning to the Scene
      * Out of the Shadows
      * Life in My America


BONUS FANFICTION:

      * Melly Mills vs. The School Yard Bullies
        (Written by Realsmall, Illustrated by That Borrower!)
      * Giant Girl Ruined My Vacation
        (by DustinM)

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June 30, 2008: "HORSE"
From the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog at http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/

I'm getting better at shooting free-throws from the half-court line at the hoop outside my shed. I still miss more shots than I make, but I get a piece of the backboard or rim most of the time. Dr. Crisp taught me a shooting game called HORSE that only takes two people to play, and I can play with a "handicap" so my height isn't so much of an advantage.

And by the way, Dr. Crisp has a really good outside shot for such an old guy!!!

I thought Doc would be upset that I hadn't done his writing assignment about my earliest memory, but he wasn't. "Memories are tricky things," he said. "It sounds like you've got an important part of your past rattling around that big head of yours, but you can't force a memory to come until you're ready for it."

Maybe. I guess. No matter how hard I try, I can't put a face to the shadowy person in my mind. All I get is freckles and red hair, and it makes me angry. What I don't know is whether I'm angry at Freckles or at myself for forgetting him or her so badly.


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July 1, 2008: "The Bigger Person"
From the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog at http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/

My dream is to play in a real basketball game with two teams wearing numbered uniforms, but that will have to wait at least until the school year. For now I'll have to aim low, which is why it might be fun to challenge Jay Appleton to a game of HORSE.

Jay hasn't spoken to me since that day with the pie, and I feel awful about that. I see him sometimes, looking out his bedroom window cuz it faces my shed. But when I wave to him, he just disappears. I don't have much experience with how long people are supposed to stay mad at each other, but Jay seems to be way over the limit!!!

I can't wait forever until Jay gets over being mad, so I'll have to be the bigger person--like they say. I'll just march over to the Appleton house, knock on his window, and ask him to play some HORSE.


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July 1, 2008: "Brotherhood"
From the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog at http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/

Okay, that so didn't go the way I expected.

I walked over to the Appleton house, just like I said, and peeked into Jay's window. I had to bend over a little to do it, since Jay's room is only on the second floor. Jay was sprawled with his head at the foot of his bed and his sneakered feet propped up with pillows as he read a paperback book with spaceships and aliens on the cover. Do all boys read upside down like that? I had no idea!!!

I knocked to get his attention, just like I always used to knock on Ma and Pa's window when I needed to talk to them. It was never any big deal with Ma and Pa, but I guess it's different when you're not expected. Jay looked at the window, saw my face, and shrieked like a little girl--or how I'd imagine a little girl might shriek, since she wouldn't be able to get any more shrill or high-pitched. Jay fell off his bed, mid-shriek, and scampered toward the door like an insect with too many legs to work them all at the same time. He misjudged the distance and slammed his head into the wall.

I tried not to laugh while he was rolling around on the floor, but it was hard cuz he looked sooooooo funny!!! Somehow Jay got back to his feet and staggered around in a daze. I motioned for him to open the window for me but he was so out of it, I had to push the window open by myself. It was unlocked, 'tho I'm sure it will be locked from now on.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I thought this was your wash day," he said. "Aren't you supposed to be washing your cows and stuff?" For someone who's been avoiding me, he sure knows a lot about my routine.

"I'll do that later," I told him.

"So what do you want?"

"I thought you might want to shoot some hoops." That was a phrase I'd learned from Doc. Shoot some hoops, like the ball is a weapon and the hoops are target practice. I held the ball up to the window in case Jay didn't know what I meant.

"I don't want to shoot hoops with you!" he shouted.

"Look, I'm sorry about what I did a couple weeks ago. Maybe I can watch you eat an entire pie and we can call it even?"

Jay seemed to recover his courage, and actually gained a few ounces more courage than he'd ever shown before. He even took a few steps forward, close enough so I could probably have reached into the room and grabbed him. If I'd wanted to, I could have pulled him outside and shook some sense into him!!!

"You don't get it, do you?" he asked. "I didn't want to be your foster brother, and I sure don't want to be your friend. Now go away and leave me alone!"

I was too stunned to speak. I was too stunned to do anything but retreat back to my shed, while Jay bolted his window and pulled down the shade. I'm still stunned, and probably couldn't speak right now except that my fingers almost seem to be typing by themselves.

Before today, Jay had just been an annoying boy who lived in the Appletons' house. But he really is my foster brother now. And he will be my foster brother for as long as Mr. and Mrs. Appleton keep taking care of me. Me and Jay probably won't ever be friends but we still have a family connection, and neither of us can break that.

I've never had any siblings in my life, but now I have a brother!!!


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July 2, 2008: "Returning to the Scene"
From the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog at http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/

Mrs. Appleton and Mrs. Johansson have been arguing and negotiating for a week about me and my lack of a proper wardrobe. Of course, I'm not allowed to participate in the discussion at all!!!

There's state money that can be used to make clothes in my size, but only if three different local stores don't have anything for me to wear. Obviously Mrs. Johansson will have to hand over the money, but she's making Mrs. Appleton get a signed statement from every store manager in town that they tried their best to fit me into something and failed.

That means I have to go back into town!!! The same town where people smashed their cars while looking at me!!! The same town where people tried to chase me away with rifles!!! The same town where they shot me with tranquilizer darts and chained me to four lamp posts cuz I was trying to buy seed for my family farm!!!

Mrs. Appleton says I don't have to go right away, cuz it will take a while to warn the police and town government that I'm coming. She swears that this time I won't get shot by anyone, but I'm not so sure.

I don't wanna go!!!


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July 3, 2008: "Out of the Shadows"
From the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog at http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/

I had a dream about Freckles, the man or woman or boy or girl I can't quite remember while I'm awake. In the dream, Freckles was at the farm with me, back when Ma and Pa were still alive. There was a whole lot of taunting, and Ma said for Freckles to leave me alone. And oh, she was so mad at Ma for that--yes, she was a she, I remember that part now!!! Miss Freckles was a girl with freckles and long orange-red hair. She was always frowning, always shooting daggers of resentment with her eyes, and she was just as tall as me!!!

Now that I'm awake, I don't know if I was remembering something real or just having a stupid crazy dream. There's nobody else as tall as me, so who was this girl and where did she go???

Stupid crazy dream.


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July 4, 2008: "Life in My America"
From the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog at http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/

Happy birthday, America!!!

For the first fifteen years of my life, all I ever saw of America was my family's farm. Now there's also the Appletons' Orchard and the nearby town, but that's still not enough for me to get a real sense of the place. I've read about the Grand Canyon, the Rocky Mountains, San Francisco Bay, Amber Waves of Grain, and all that stuff, but none of it seems real to me. That's why I always think of America as just my farm and anything else I can see with my own eyes.

I'm sure the real America is still in good shape this year, but I can't say as much for my America here at the farm. There's no feed left for the cows, and for some reason the regular supply deliveries have stopped coming. I'm pasturing the cows in the corn and wheat fields to keep the pasture grass from being nibbled too short, so it's good I wasn't able to buy any seeds during my disastrous stroll into town. If Pa were still alive, those acres would be covered in crops instead of cow-nourishing weeds.

There's really not much left to feed myself with, either. I emptied the larder during the winter. This spring I got by on milk and eggs, but there aren't any more eggs since I couldn't feed the chickens anymore. So now I'm down to cow's milk and whatever table scraps Mrs. Appleton can spare.

In the past, Pa used to celebrate the Fourth of July by grilling steaks, setting off fireworks, and playing patriotic music on the stereo. "Melly," he'd tell me, "whatever else you are, and whatever else you become, always remember that you are an American." According to the Internet, that means I'm supposed to have a decadent lifestyle and unlimited freedoms, but I don't.

I'm starving to death, alone in a shed!!!


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BONUS FANFICTION:

A couple of super talented folks got together and made an illustrated story about me. It's called "Melly Mills vs. The Schoolyard Bullies" with text by Realsmall and illustrations by That Borrower!

This story is so neat!!! It didn't actually happen to me, but it could have, and wouldn't it be great to put some bullies in their place??? Maybe someday I'll do something in the real world that's as brave as I was in this story--Heh-heh!!!

  ==>http://realsmallstories.blogspot.com/2008/07/written-by-realsmall-illustrated-by.html

Also, DustinM wrote a blog entry that might be true about how Giant Girl Ruined My Vacation--'tho it wasn't my fault he came to town on the same day that I did!!!

  ==>http://blog.blogfiction.org/2008/06/giant-girl-ruined-my-vacation.html

Great work, guys. Keep them coming!!!


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