Review, Revision, Edit and Update:
These letters to the Storyteller, have given me an opportunity to write more character development for secondary characters like Tanya.
The few revisions I made were minor wording changes. Otherwise it seemed a fairly easy read.
Tanya's Career Path
Seventeen year old Tanya Meadows had read her last book. Throughout the pandemic restrictions she had tried to get books from the library and was successful for the most part until winter set in. Winter on the Island was not like East coast winters where her cousins lived. Apparently, those winters were horrible; great mounds of wet snow, winds that whipped off the Atlantic Ocean that kept everyone indoors even before the pandemic. Here, it was just rain. There had been white Christmas’ most years, but they only lasted for a few days. She was not sure she cared for snow. Tanya had been in some good snow ball fights. One year when the snow lasted longer she had seen some beautiful snow sculptures in the park across from her school. Isolated from her friends, Tanya couldn’t even babysit because she was not in the right bubbles as recommended by Public Health. She especially missed the Richardson children, Ben and Abby. Mrs. Richardson worked from home most days. Her mother did the child care when she had to work at the school. Looking after the Richardson children was a favourite for Tanya. But stewing over it wasn’t making her feel any better.
She closed the cover of Mystery at the Blue Lagoon and sighed. What was she to do now? Her chores were all done. Her homework was all caught up. It was raining and cold. It was supposed to rain heavily all day. The library was closed through the Christmas holidays, so she couldn’t get any new books. She was going stir crazy. The letter. She had an email from Martha out at the Beaufort Estate asking if she would write something about her life for the Storyteller. She had almost deleted the email, not sure she had anything to contribute. That’s what she could do. Picking up her stack of books, she put them on her mother’s old credenza in the hallway. She ran lightly up the stairs to her room. Clearing off her desk except for one of her notebooks, she selected one of her favourite coloured pens - mauve. It always made her smile.
~~~~~
Hello, Miss Storyteller. We have never met but I’ve heard so much about you from Mrs. Haverstock-Digby. I understand that even her grandchildren Ben and Abby Richardson have written their little stories. They are my favourite children to babysit. (Don’t tell Ben I used the ‘baby’ word - he does get quite offended.) I think they are really my only connection to the Beaufort Estate. I think I’ve been the Richardson babysitter since Abby was born, so that would be about five years. Mrs. Richardson was on maternity leave for quite a while, so didn’t have to return to work right away. Mr. Richardson had not yet taken the job off island. About twice a week, Mrs.Richardson needed some help with housework so I would go out after school for two hours. Of course, Mr. and Mrs. Richardson would have a date night every two weeks. They planned it for evenings when I was there anyway, so I would give the children their supper and get them to bed. Mr. Richardson gave me a ride home when they returned from their outing. Looking after them really has given me some ideas about what I want to do with my life. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, but didn’t know what grades I would like to teach. I couldn’t see myself teaching high school. Too close to my own age. But working with Ben, Abby and all the other children I had worked with suggested an elementary school grade. Oh, I just about forgot. I also looked after Mr. Thornton’s four boys occasionally. Mr. Thornton is the Beaufort chauffeur. Those children are a bit old but still in the elementary school ages. My experiences with them all has been so enlightening. Children are so creative and love to learn. Sometimes in very interesting ways. Like the sign that Ben and I made for Mrs. Richardson’s mother. At the time, Mrs. Richardson lived in the other side of the duplex that her mother owned. The sign was on the gate between the two yards. The children were running back and forth to visit with their grandmother without any warning or permission. In short, the sign was teaching about the need of privacy for their grandmother, as well good manners. Asking permission was the other part of the lesson. The children’s mother still lives there, but Mrs. Haverstock-Digby, has married Mr. Digby the butler. They moved to their own cottage. When the new person moved in, we had to modify the sign - lesson number two. I enjoy listening to the children, their suggestions and their solutions. I suppose that is how they have helped me to outline my career path. I do hope that doesn’t sound too odd. During the pandemic restrictions, I do miss the children. A whole classroom of children? I do hope I can manage that but that is my objective. To be honest, I really was searching for something interesting to fill some time. This turned out to be more interesting than I expected/
Thank you for this opportunity.
~~~~~
Tanya read over her essay. She wasn’t sure what kind of mark she’d get for it. She had never been very good at essay writing. “I’ll take this over to the Estate tomorrow - that’s if it stops raining - but at least I won't be tromping through snow.” She slipped the folded page into an envelope and propped it up against her bust of William Shakespeare. Just then her mother called out that supper was ready. “Be right there mom!”
“The discipline of writing something down
is the first step toward making it happen.”
~ Lee Iacocca
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