Keena Ford and the Secret Journal Mix-Up

I’m Keena Ford, and this is my notebook.
This notebook belongs to ME ONLY.
Right now it is writing time in my
classroom, and most days during writing
time I write in a beautiful journal. On
the cover of my journal there are clouds
and rainbows and a picture of President George Washington. But I don’t have
my journal today, so I am just writing in
this plain old notebook.
The reason I don’t have my journal is
because a very mean person has it and
won’t give it back. And that person read
my journal. And that person is Tiffany
Harris, the meanest muffin head in the
whole second grade. Tiffany has been
mean for a long time, but the problem
of her taking my journal didn’t happen
until yesterday afternoon.
The problem happened right after I
came home from school. I always walk
home with Eric and Lamont. Eric is my
very best friend, even though we are not in the same class. He is in the second-
grade class that is all boys, and I am in
the second-grade class that is all girls.
And Lamont is a fifth grader. Back when
Lamont was a kid, my older brother
Brian would make sure he got home
safely, so now Lamont has to make sure
Eric and I get home safely. Sometimes
Lamont used to just walk me to the door
of my apartment, but now he ALWAYS
has to wait for my mom to open the door
before he can leave. The reason why
Lamont has to wait is because one time
when he left me at the door, I decided
to visit my neighbor Mrs. Carlito before
going into my apartment. Mrs. Carlito lives by herself, so I wanted to make
sure she was not lonely. Also she has a
LOT of cookies for someone who lives
by herself. When I grow up and live by
myself I will have lots of cookies and also
some carrots because they help you see
at night. Anyway, Mom got pretty mad
at me for going to Mrs. Carlito’s instead
of coming home, so now Lamont has to
knock on the door and wait until Mom
opens it before he can leave.
Yesterday Lamont had only knocked
on the door one time when it flew right
open and Mom was already standing
there. She had her coat and scarf on.
“Is the heat broken?” I asked. “No, I am going out,” Mom answered.
She looked really mad, but I knew she
couldn’t be mad at me, because I waited
with Lamont like I was supposed to.
Unless she was mad at me for something
I did wrong then forgot about.
“Who are you mad at?” Lamont asked her.
“I’m not mad. Thank you for walking with Keena,” she said to Lamont in a way that meant Lamont should probably go home now. He ran down the
stairs.
“Where are we going?” I asked Mom.
“I’m going to Brian’s school,” she
answered.
“And you are going to Tiffany’s.” She took my hand and started
pulling me toward the stairs.
“Oh no I’m not,” I said, pulling back.
“I will go to Eric’s
“Eric is going to a basketball game
with his dad,” Mom reminded me.
“Then I will go to Mrs. Carlito’s,
explained to Mom.
“Mrs. Carlito is out,” Mom said, tugging me toward the stairs again.
“Then I can sit in the car at the middle
school.” I told her.
“I will sit very quietly.
I promise” Mom stared at me without saying
anything. I got the feeling that maybe
she could be mad at whoever she was mad at already AND be mad at me at the same time. So I stopped tugging and started walking down the stairs with
Mom. “Believe me, Keena,” Mom said,
“I don’t like leaving you at the Harrises
any more than you like it.”
Before Mom knocked on Tiffany’s
door, she whispered, “Keena, please do
not give Sylvia Harris a single reason to
say something bad about your behavior.
If I get a good report from her, you will
be able to watch thirty extra minutes of
TV”
“How many shows is that?” I whispered back.
“It’s one show,” Mom said.
“Hmmm,” I said.
“Keena Ford.” Mom bent her eye-
brows together so that they were almost
touching in the middle of her forehead
“Do I look like I want to make a deal
with you? Please just behave yourself. It
is the right thing to do, and I will be very
proud of you. Be a big girl.”
“I will be very good, Mommy. I promise,” I said. Mom gave me a squeeze and
knocked on the door.
Tiffany’s mom opened the door. Tiffany was standing right behind her. Right away I could smell roses, because it always smells like roses in Tiffany’s
apartment. Tiffany’s mom burns smelly candles all the time that are supposed
to smell good but really they just make
you sneeze and wish you could go out-
side.
“Thanks again, Sylvia,” Mom told
Mrs. Harris.
“It’s no problem, Nikki,” Tiffany’s
mom said. “I just feel awful for you. I
hope Brian can fix his behavior before
it’s too late.” She shook her head sadly.
I looked at Mom. I felt worried. I
didn’t know what Tiffany’s mom meant,
but she made it sound like something bad
was going to happen to Brian.
“Oh, I don’t think it’s as bad as all
that,” Mom said to Mrs. Harris. “Brian just needs to learn to stop being a clown
at school.”
“Oh, I am sure you are right,” Mrs. Harris said. She kind of laughed. “Don’t mind me. I was just watching this television program about this nice family whose son was in jail. It was the saddest
thing. And he first started getting into
trouble in middle school. But I’m sure
that won’t happen with Brian.”
“Mmm-hmmm, well, I should be home
by five, Sylvia,” Mom said. She said it
without really opening her mouth, like
her top and bottom teeth were stuck
together.
“Keena is going to be here for almost two HOURS?” Tiffany said. She did not
sound like she was very excited about
having me stay at her house.
“Believe me, my mom doesn’t like leaving me here any more than you like it,’ I told Tiffany. “Right, Mom?” I looked at Mom. She made a laugh sound that also sounded like a coughing sound. Then her
face changed colors a little bit.
“Er, I am just sorry to ask for a last-minute favor,” Mom said to Mrs. Harris. “So thank you. See you at five,” she added, then she kissed me on the top of my head and left me standing there with
Mrs. Harris.
“Well, come on in, Keena,” Mrs. Harris said.
“You poor dear.” At first I had no idea why Mrs. Harris called me “poor dear,” but then I decided
that she probably did not think it was
much fun playing with Tiffany either.
“Ah-choo! Ah-choo! Ah-choo!” I said.
“Oh dear, you have a cold?” Mrs.
Harris looked at me like I was poisonous, or a bomb.
“Your mom didn’t tell me you were sick.”
“I’m not sick,” I told her. “I think I’m
just allergic to your smelly candles
Mrs. Harris frowned at me. Then she
said, “You girls can go to Tiffany’s room. Please do your homework. Then Tiffany
must do her workbook pages. Then you
can play.”

“Ah-choo!” I said again.
Tiffany and I started walking to her
room. “Your brother MUST have been
very bad if your mom had to go to a meeting at the school,” Tiffany said like she
knows everything. Tiffany always talks
like she knows everything. “I thought you
were the only bad kid in your family.
I opened my mouth to call Tiffany a
mean name, but then I remembered that
I had promised to be very good. So I just
said “Mmm-hmm” with my mouth closed,
the same way Mom had said it to Mrs. Harris. Then I didn’t talk to Tiffany the whole time we did our homework. I decided that I was not going to say one
more word to Tiffany until my mom came back to get me.
My teacher Ms. Campbell just said
that writing time is over, so I will have to
wait until after school to write the rest of
the story of how Tiffany stole my journal
because she is mean.