Maggie's diary

Dear Diary,
Today Dee came to visit. She has changed so much. When she got off the car I was blinded by her bright, long dress. Mama was happy to see her, I think, but personally I just wanted to hide in my room and not have to feel uncomfortable around Dee. But Mama did not let me.

Dee did not even say hi to us when she got home. She got her camera out and started taking pictures. She does not really care that much about us. The thing that shocked me the most, and I think Mama as well, was when she told us that her name was now Wangero, not Dee! She changed her name because she said she did not want to be named after the people who "opressed" her! She does not like her family very much. Personally I think your family is part of your everyday life. It is what makes us who we are! I do not understand her.

Before Dee told us about her change of name, this guy with a weird name tried to shake my hand. I did not want to, though, he was weird-looking.

Later, on Dee looked through Mama's things, and asked Mama if she could take some of them. One of these things were the quilts that Grandma had made, which would be passed on to me. I do not understand, she tries to distance herself from her family, but she wants to take some family heirlooms. I was not in the room, but I could hear their conversation. After Mama told Dee that the quilts were for me, Dee got mad. She said that I was going to ruin them becayse I was going to actually use them. What else are you going to do with quilts? Well Dee wanted to hang them up! Why would you hang quilts? She said that she would hang them like if it were the most natural thing to do with a quilt. I could tell Mama did not want to tell Dee that she could not have them, and I did not want her to feel guilty for not giving them to me. I decided to go into the room and tell Mama that Dee could have them. Actually I really did want them, but I did not want to get into a fight about them. After telling Mama that Dee could have them, she stayed still, just looking at me for a while. Suddenly Mama snatched the quilts from Dee's hands, and gave them to me. I could not believe what had just happened. Mama had never said no to Dee, this was the first time Dee had not gotten what she wanted. Dee was outraged to see that Mama had chosen me. She could not believe it, and left the house right away.
I was so suprised but at the same time very pleased. When Dee left she put on these huge, sunglasses which covered more than half her face. I smiled the whole time while she got ready to leave. I am very glad Mama gave me the quilts, it means a lot to me.

Maggie

I am a witch

We were sitting down at a table, just talking. Somehow we started discussing witches, and how cool it would be to be one. At that moment I thought of telling her that I was a witch, just as a joke. "Ariel, I have to tell you something, I'm a witch." I said it to her very seriously, and I did not make it seem like I was lying. She looked at me and laughed, "Yeah, right!" I did not smile back, "I'm serious, why would I lie to you about this?" Her smile turned into a weak grin, "No, really, tell me the truth. I don't believe you, you can't be a witch!" "Fine," I answered, "Don't believe me." We remained in silence for a while, and then she said, "Are you serious?" "Of course I am. If I wasn't I wouldn't be telling you." I told her she had to promise me she would never tell anyone, because my parents did not let me say anything about it. Ariel started getting unconfortable, I could tell she wanted to leave. She started moving her chair away from me, but she did it very slowly so that I would not notice. As I was telling her all this, I heard my mom coming down the stairs to where we were. While she came down I told Ariel, "Don't say anything. If my mom finds out I told you she will kill me." She was very silent and still while my mother talked to me. When my mother left Ariel asked me, "Can you do magic?" "Of course," I answered, "I have a wand, and those witch hats over there," I pointed to some witch costume hats, "those are real." Ariel looked terrorized. We did not talk for about 5 minutes. Inside, I could not stop laughing, but I knew it would be difficult to convince her I was not a witch, because she had seriously believed it. I started laughing out loud and told her, "Ariel, you know I'm lying, right?" She looked at me, and did not smile. "I was lying," I repeated. "No, all you said sound real. I don't know what to believe." She answered. I laughed out loud. "Now I am serious. How could I be a witch? They don't exist!" Ariel was still not totally convinced, but I could tell she was a little relieved. "So, all this was a joke?" she asked, "All of it." I answered. Ariel smiled and we both laughed.
More than two years have gone by since that day, but I still laugh about it, and remember how funny it was to see Ariel's reactions to my lie.