The Crystal Diary - Me (best book club books for discussion .TXT) 📗

she refused and looked annoyed when I mentioned it. At last she admitted to me that she wanted to open it too, but felt discouraged to do so.

“I must admit I tried to open it when you were in the hospital, I tried every method I could think of but it wouldn’t budge. I don’t blame you if you are mad at me but my curiosity was killing me.” Thelma looked at me as if expecting me to yell at her, but when I replied negatively to being upset, she with some surprise continued. “ The reason that I don’t want to open it now is because I have a gut feeling that it’s contents will disappoint you. I just don’t want you to be hurt again.” She looked into my eyes and sighed, “If there is any type of letter from your dad in there, I just don’t want you to read it. I have a feeling he isn’t a nice person.”

“You never knew him so how would you know what kind of guy he is!” I said angrily. “ Besides they are my parents, I have a right to know what my father is like. I inherited that diary from mom, it’s legally mine. I also have a right know what is in there.” Thelma sighed and nodded knowing that I was right.

“But how will we open it?”

I fingered my crystal again then remembered how the leather strap had a circular hole in the middle. I looked at my purple stone thinking about its gilded crystal like shape. How the hole was the same size the end of the crystal.

“Thelma; get the diary, I think I know how to open it!” Thelma winced at me as if thinking I had been drinking too much soda lately. She walked out of the living room to mom’s former bedroom.

Of course! Why hadn’t I thought of that? The crystal was the key. What better way to keep your secrets under lock and key? Thelma came in carrying the book in her hand and looking at me as if I had just snitched a cookie.

“Ok Gwen, I know you have something up your sleeve what is going on?” She came over and sat on the couch next to me and handed me the book.

“Well it hit me how similar the key hole and the shape of the crystal are. It may be just my brain playing tricks on me, or maybe I have been watching too many mysteries.”

“Go on Gwen”

“I think that this necklace is the key to the diary Thelma!” I burst out.

“I don’t think that you should try doing what I think you ‘re going to try to do. You know how fragile crystals are, you could break it and it would clog up the lock.” Thelma stroked my hand as if hoping to wipe away my annoyed expression.

“I‘ll try it anyway,” and before my guardian could stop me I shoved the crystal into the lock and it fit perfectly. Thelma’s mouth dropped and I couldn’t resist flashing her a TOLD YA! Look. I turning the lock and all the metal flowers lit up as I opened the book.

The first pages were old and faded and the writing was hard to make out. Some envelopes were sticking out of the pages and I flipped to the pages that contained the letters. A diary entry was written on the page and read as follows:


September 18, 1989

Dear Diary,

My dearest Gwen came into the world three days ago and I am writing this in the hospital. I hid you in the false bottom of my suitcase. Only one thing ruined my happiness, and it is enough to ruin my sweet Gwen’ s happiness too. Luke wasn’t found in the waiting room and the parking lot videotape showed nothing about him leaving the building. I don’t believe that he could ever abandon his child and me.

He and I were not having any arguments to speak of recently; I know he loved this child as much as I do! My hunch can now be even more strongly supported because I found this note on the edge of my bed this morning…

Rebecca Oxford


“Unbelievable! Rebecca never told me she found something from your Dad. Why didn’t she trust me?” I sighed and watched Thelma pace the room with her head in her hands. I wished mom had told me too, but I knew there was probably something in the contents of this letter telling her not to tell anyone.

“We still have to read this letter from Dad, Thelma,” I wanted to sound calm and collected but my heart leaped in excitement. I would find out what my Dad was like for the first time! I unfolded the letter and read aloud in a shaky voice:

September 18, 1989

Dear Rebecca,

I have sent you this letter to try to make you understand why I had to disappear after you had our baby. I can’t tell you why I must leave you, but I hope you will realize that it is not my choice. Please tell Gwen that I love her. I will love you forever, and I promise I will try to find you and come back to you as soon as I can. Also, please don’t show this to anyone until I come back. There are people around that are my worst enemies and are trying to be our friends. Some of your closest friends could be terrorists!
I can’t tell you anything more.

With the Deepest Love,
Luke


“I can’t believe that your dad would think I was a terrorist!” Thelma practically screamed, as she paced the room. I felt more letters in the back of the book but I didn’t tell Thelma. Her face showed signs of feeling like an outsider, an untrusted acquaintance; I shut the book and reached for my crutches deciding that I had better put it in my room and read it on my own.

“When am I going to start school Thelma?” I asked. Maybe if I changed the subject she would forget about it. But my hope was smashed when she replied in a grouchy tone:

“Day after tomorrow, man it’s late as heck! I ‘ll fix dinner.” She stomped into the kitchen with a proclamation of hurt feelings and growing resentment. The clanging of pans, bowls, and a running sink confirmed my hunch. I knew from then on that she would never forgive my mother for not confiding in her. I also began to feel our friendship would dissolve and we would just be ward and guardian never family. I swung my way into my room and hid the diary underneath my nightstand.

“Gwen, I just called Pete, he’s gonna take me out to a movie, wanna come?”

“No thanks, I don’t feel like it,” Most of the movies Thelma and her boyfriends saw were rated R. Mom would never have approved. She called them “R for retarded”. Besides, I had a diary to read and a father to find. I had too much work to do, and it couldn’t be put off by two and a half hours of crud. Where was dad? I thought about the letter dad left behind. Enemies, what enemies did dad have? Where is he hiding and why? Those questions perhaps could be answered in this diary, mom’s book of secrets.


Chapter 6
Big Changes

As I thought she would, Thelma stayed out later than planned on account of her boyfriend ‘s insisting on taking her out for a midnight snack (or so she told me on the phone after the movie). I stayed out in the living room reading mom’s diary and waiting for her to come home. This time I started reading it from cover to cover. Reading her innermost thoughts made mom feel closer and I felt at peace for the first time after her soul went to Heaven. I read to the middle of the diary until one thing caught my eye. An entry about dad! Finally, some kind of information I could use to help me find him. It read as follows:


August 5, 1999

Dear Diary,

I have come to realize that I must write down the information Luke sent me yesterday before I forget. Ok he said that his career was a secret organization in America called: The United States Emergency Ground Force,