My name is Reid
I have a pet centipede
and a pet milipede
a sun flower grows from a seed
in the race i have a lead
my 5 star binder is made by mead
my dog is who i ahve to remeber to feed
avery shopsowitz can make me bleed
the hobo at the park smokes weed
i liek to make neckleaces out of white beed
am i retarded, yes indeed
when chased by a gun i have great speed
in my life i never succeed
my name is still reid
i still have a centipede
and i still have a pet milimede
a sun flower still grows from a seed
in the race i no longer have a lead
my 5 star binder is still made from meed
my dog is who i forget to feed
avery shopsowitz can still make me bleed
the hobo at the park still has weed
i still like white beed
am i retarded, yeah
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
short story
Diary of Matthew Francis By: Reid Mattan
“Does any one know the Pythagorean theorem?”
“Yes Mrs. Wilcox it’s a squared plus b squared equals c squared
“Very good Matthew, outstanding work. One minute until school is out for summer. Everyone together now.”
“5,4,3,2,1. YEAH! School is over.”
School was finally over for the summer, a much needed break. As I grabbed by nap sac and shoes, I took one last glimpse of these hallways I was about to leave, forever. Next year, I was off to high school, just another place where I will be the rich loser that no one wants to be friends with, only Alexis and myself.
“Hey Alexis.”
“Hey Matt.”
“It sure is great school is over, speaking of that, would you like to come over and we can hang?” I said
“I’d love to, but I am already going over to Rebecca’s, I am sorry.”
“Oh, ok, I guess I’ll talk to you later then, have a good summer.”
“Yeah you too Matthew.”
Alexis is my only friend and has been since Pre School. I had nothing to do without her, now my problem is finding something to do, for the whole summer. She fills up my days, she is perfect. She is beautiful, her eyes are bluer than the sea, and her hair is blacker than a Labrador. Along with that, she is the coolest person in grade 8 at our school. She is never boring and always has something to do; I will miss her all summer.
I’m well, not a typical kid. I live on Post road in the wealthy city of Toronto. My dad builds mansions so rich living isn’t hard. I only really have one close friend and I spend majority of my days alone with my parents. I’m considered dumb compared to most even though I have been tested many times for gifted abilities and I was tested positive, so I don’t understand that. I have few sports I excel at, and by that I mean play. Those happen to be the “girly” sports, volleyball, badminton, swimming, and trampoline; I would really like to see others do triple back flips, so again, I don’t understand that either. Appearance wise, I don’t get girls I’m considered ugly with my blonde hair and blue eyes, honestly I kind of have a depressing life; money is my life, I have nothing else.
“Matthew dear, hurry up, I have a manicure at four.”
“Coming mother.”
As I took a last glance at the Glenview halls, I got a feeling I have never felt before. I Think I was going to miss my school, how could I ever think about missing school, but I did. The blood stains from my first encounters from the bully, my crusted over, old locker, and of course the hole in the wall which no one knows what happened to cause it. Yep, this school sure had many memories.
I ran to the sleek, black escalade and headed on home.
“Hey mom.”
“Yeah?”
“What am I going to do all summer?”
“You will see.”
What is that about, I was thinking. What could she have possibly have meant by that? I put the thought away and turned on some Rush to calm me down as I drove home. Though I was getting relaxed, two questions common questions ran through any typical teenage mind. What am I going to do tomorrow? And, is that a zit?
I finally arrived home where I was greeted by my dog Eddy.
“Dad.” I yelled out trying to locate him
“Dad this isn’t funny, where are you?”
Eager to find him, I checked the house. As I ducked into the office room I saw him sitting on his large, leather chair.
“Matthew, guess what you’re doing this summer, well at least part of the summer?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You are going to Jamaica with your mother and me for a week.”
I stood speechless in silence. I had no clue what to say. I have wanted to go to Jamaica since I was five and now I can, how amazing.
“Dad your serious right?”
“Yeah son.”
“But why now?”
“I decided you needed to get away before high school.”
“Wow I don’t know what to say… thank you so much. When do we leave?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Sweet, ok awesome, I’ll go pack.”
I left in complete shock and happiness. This is going to be the best summer of my life. It is with my parents, but I don’t care I’ll just ignore them. I had to pack. I got out my suede, tan suit case. It had dust on it because the last time we had left the country was three years ago. I grabbed ten of my most elegant, casual, and formal shirts. Then I tossed in 1 pair of jeans. Along with that, I threw in 5 pairs of Hugo Boss shorts. Next I packed my carry on bag. I put in my PSP, my ipod touch, my macbook pro laptop, and of course Lucky, my teddy bear I can’t go anywhere without him. I was all ready, what a rush. It approached 10 pm and I checked my facebook profile (a massive hobby of mine). Four new notifications, I wonder what they could be. Ryan Muggles wrote on your wall: “Wen highschool starts, im gonna beat u up.” Leonardo Zurak commented on your photo: “Hey fag I better not see u this summer or your dead.”
“Why am I so hated? What the hell did I do?”
On that note I went to bed hoping to finish my otherwise terrible day. But it didn’t end there. For the first time in seven years I was having nightmares, and not about school, about something I was looking forward to, I was having nightmares about Jamaica. Terrible images came to my mind that I couldn’t figure out what it meant.
“ATV? Lost wallet? What? What is that?” I said half asleep.
“Ah, oh, oh, oh, ok (trying to gather my breathe), it was only a dream. It won’t actually happen, ok good.
“Matthew wake up sleepy head, time to go.” Said mom
“ok, one second.”
I was woken up at 3:30 am to take an Escalade to the airport. About a thirty minute drive, then there was two hours at the airport until our 6:00 flight left. Our first stop has been made, we made it to the airport and we grabbed our luggage and headed into the airport literally half asleep. My dad is super elite so that made everything a lot easier. Just like Queen Elizabeth, our family cut through all the lines and made it to our boarding platform an hour before boarding time.
“Matthew do you have everything, did you forget anything?”
“No mom.” I said groaning because of lack of sleep and anger knowing she would think I had lost something.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes here I’ll show you, PSP, Ipod, laptop, Lucky. Wait! Where is Lucky?”
“Matthew where did you put him?”
“He was in my bag I swear.”
“Well clearly he wasn’t.” responded mother
My dad was listening to his ipod, almost like an instinct I ripped out the ear phones and yelled,
“Where is Lucky?”
“Oh I put him in your suitcase.”
“My god, ok, I thought I forgot him.”
After that little paranoia was over we sat down on those awful, dirty, smelly airport chairs and relaxed until it was 6 when were to board the plane. That was possibly the longest hours of my life when finally the stewardess called,
“Families with kids, you may now take your seats.”
Finally I could get on the plane. I took my time boarding our first class seats, though when I sat down I found a big surprise. The plane had changed. Our seats were like massive domes, each one having a bed for a seat, a flat screen and touch TV. Along with that, there was more leg room, privacy, and most important, storage space for your carry on items. It was like having a mini dream room on a plane for the three and a half hour plane ride, piece of cake.
(1 hour later)
I was starting to realize that even though I had luxury on this plane, it was still long and boring. I had gone through my favourite songs at least two times and I was starting to feel like they were terrible songs because they were being played too much. Don’t you just hate the feeling, you want to do something but you don’t know what to do? I had two more hours of that. At about 7:45 of our flight my dad finally spoke.
“Matthew, would you like breakfast?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Eggs and Bacon.” My dad responded
“Sounds great.” Not knowing what I signed up for.
When breakfast arrived about ten minutes later, I realized that rich life cooking and plane cooking was a little bit different. Let’s just say when the stewardess gave me my food I responded by saying,
“Uh, excuse me, I ordered eggs and bacon, not oatmeal.”
She responded with a simple, “Those are eggs silly, now enjoy.”
Let me tell you something I didn’t enjoy it one bit, after my first bite I spat them out. For the rest of the plane ride I refused all food and I enjoyed myself by watching Live Free Die Hard the movie.
“Excuse me passengers, this is your captain speaking, Peter Mclloyd, we have just about reached your destination in Montego Bay, Jamaica. We are at the altitude of 4219 feet up. With in the next twenty minutes we will be on the ground. It has been a pleasure to serve you today. On behalf of Air Canada, I would like to thank you for choosing our airline, please come back again.”
I could see the beautiful city of Montego Bay. It was spectacular, way better than Toronto. The beach, the flea markets, the building, the landscape, it had everything.
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 we were on the ground.
“Please remain in your seats until the captain turns of the seatbelt sign, thank you.”
Ding, the sign flicked off. Everyone scampered, anxious to get off the airplane. It was exactly 9:27 when my foot touched the runway; the flight had arrived three minutes early.
I took about thirty minutes to grab our luggage in the Jamaican style airport. It was so unique, the roof was made of coconut trees and there were no walls. Along with that, there were gardens filled with lizards and frogs and the occasion bird. It felt like the airport was just stuck in the middle of the jungle; a jungle that didn’t have any broken trees. It looked like a fairy tale setting. Now that we had our luggage, we were told the drive to our luxurious five star hotel was only a ten minute drive. We hopped on our privet rental limo. We were told there were only four limos in all of Jamaica and we got to ride in one. The driver was also great; he very funny in his Jamaican accent and he told us what we were looking at.
“Welcome to Jamaica man. On our left we have the Locopago cliff. Apparently in 1954 there used to be a waterfall there, but the land dried up and so did the waterfall. At the bottom of Mavati Hill, we will be at your hotel man.”
“Where is Mavati Hill?” I asked
“We are on it man.”
You could see the whole city of Montego Bay from here.
“It’s beautiful.”
The reflection of the sun peaked on the beautiful blue water, the trees swayed in the gentle wind, weather was warm and comforting, this is a holiday. I also saw our, what looked like a, picture perfect hotel. It was massive and beautiful. It had yellow brick walls with limestone poles holding up the front arch. It was also surrounded by a forest that looked like it could keep out noise from everything. Within the forest was the property of the Mavati Hill Hotel. It was kind of hard to miss the elegant L shaped pool, the massive trampoline, the 2 mile stretch of beach, the basketball court, and finally the pool side food hut. I put all my nightmare fears behind me and had a new one.
“Am I going to be too busy? How will I do this all?”
“We are here, welcome to the Mavati Hill Hotel. Tips are much appreciated.” The driver said.
“Thank you kind gentleman.” Mom responded. “Here is ten dollars.”
“Thank you Miss, have a great holiday.”
At that moment my image of the hotel got even better. The lobby was a large floating plateau in the middle of a fountain. There were twenty four fountains shooting straight into air completely surrounding the front desk; of course perfectly placed so nothing on the plateau ever got wet unless someone were to tamper with the beautiful set up. Along with that there were turtles and colourful yellow and orange fish. We walked across the little wooden bridge that was just big enough to take our suitcase across, over the water to the front desk. It took about a minute to get our room key because everything was already set up in Toronto when we left. The rest of the lobby was decorated with plants and the occasional fountain. The flooring was beautiful white limestone. Everything seemed to fit into the elegant, relaxing, party type life style that was advertised. We were on floor two of four. We found are room very quickly because the elevator was right in the middle of the lobby and our room was right by the lobby. Our room was just as beautiful. We had a balcony that over looked the ocean, two king sized beds, a bathroom that had a toilet so fresh looking I would have eaten off the lid, our mini fridge was packed with drinks such as Pepsi, Jamaican Springs Water, and of course for the adults here at the resort, Jamaican beer. It was just reaching eleven and we were heading out for our first day.
We started by taking a self tour of the property. There was nothing in the property we couldn’t see from the top of Mavati Hill. The one great thing about this resort is it was all you can eat whenever you want. I took advantage of that having a pina colada at every free moment. Our tour continued at the beach. We put our beach bag down on three chairs to save our seats and get rid of that heavy bag. We started with a walk down the beach. It took about 2 hours there and back, but it felt like the best two hours of my life.
“I have never known peace like this.”
The sand between my toes, the water at my ankles, and the sun on my back it felt so great. When we came back we ate food at the Sun Fish restaurant, it was on the water. The restaurant caught the fish right of the back of the restaurant and cooked it; it was specialized in sea fish.
“Welcome to the Sun Fish Grill. Would you like to start with a drink?”
“Actually I think were ready.” My dad responded.
“Certainly, Sir, what would you like?”
“I will have the king crab please and can I get potatoes with that?”
“Sure, and how about you son?”
“I will have the lobster please.” I said.
“Great, and Madame for you?”
“I will treat myself to the swordfish please.”
“Ok I will be right on that meal.”
For the meantime while I waited for my meal, I looked around the restaurant. The restaurant was decorated in an old submarine design. There were broken bits of submarine hung up on the wall. The wall paper was a unique navy blue I had never seen before. On the wall, there were also pictures of sailors and submarines. It was quite a nice looking restaurant. As the food arrived I headed back to my seat. The food was amazing. The lobster was soft and moist. It had so much taste there was no need for the melted butter. This meal was our lunch and dinner because of the time change and long travel, we were tired and after our meal, I lasted about two hours by the pool before I caved and fell asleep.
“What time is it?”
“10:30.” Mother responded. “We didn’t want to wake you.”
“Wow that was a good sleep, thank you mom.”
“No problem Matt, but we have a busy day ahead of us.”
She explained to me that we were going for a Jamaican ATV safari. We were going to travel through the outskirts of the town and through the forest, and through tiny, shallow rivers. Past 200 year old trees, and I will see animals I would never see again in my life.
“When do we leave?”
“Ok, well the ATV trip starts at 12:00, it takes a twenty minute walk to get there, and we are planning on having lunch before, so anytime now.”
“Ok I’ll be ready in a second.”
We were of for an early lunch at 11:00. We agreed that we needed something fast so we looked for any type of fast food. We spotted a Subway and a McDonald’s. After a long debate (ending in my parents favour) we headed to Subway. I ordered a foot long sub, assorted on whole wheat. Then it was time for the toppings.
“Could I please have, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, cheese, and sub sauce.”
“Sure.”
We sat down and ate our subs in about thirty minutes. Leaving absolutely no scraps behind, I threw out my garbage and started walking to the ATV safari. The timing was pretty accurate; it took us fifteen minutes to walk there giving us ten minutes of leisure before the excursion began.
“Welcome to the Jamaican Safari, do you have your liability forms?”
“Yes we do sir, here you go.”
“Thank you. Oh one more thing, you can’t bring anything along with you on the ATV safari, like no wallets, no cell phones, anything personal must be left behind. We do have lockers that I highly advise for $50, otherwise your belonging are stowed behind the desk.”
“There is no need for a locker.” My dad responded
“Sir I highly advise it, these desks aren’t occupied all day.”
“I’m not worried; here have our goods, put them behind the desk please.”
“Ok. Now it is your time for the safari, please enter through that room on the left where you will find all of our ATVs gassed up and ready for use, just hop on one and get ready.”
We walked down the narrow, jungle painted hallway until we got to the door and entered. I jumped on ATV number 5, my favourite number. We left pretty much right away. We took of going through the city until we made it to the forest where we stopped quickly while the guide explained where we were traveling.
“Welcome ladies and gentlemen. Right now we are heading into the forest part of Jamaica, this ATV trail should last an hour. You will so exotic plants and animals, the Guatamala River, and the Cliffs of Wakiki. Now, during the trail, stay at least 3 full ATVs between you and the person in front of you to avoid injury. The path is clearly marked with neon pink poles marking edges and sides of the path. I highly suggest you stay on path as those poles are there for your safety. Please enjoy yourself, have fun, and be careful, please follow me, time to go.”
We went through a narrow dirty, rubble path through the woods. After 5 kilometres of riding, I notice a massive environment change. The brush of the trees became thicker and greener. The plants became more exotic and a little odd looking and of course there were more animals. Lizards of all sizes eyed me down. Frogs of all colours were all around me. There were birds of all types screeching and yelping. We saw one alligator in the swamp only about thirty inches away from me. As the first 40 minutes went by very fast, we found ourselves down to the last twenty minutes very quickly. It was at this point that we drove through the Guatamala River. It was decent height. We drove through with ease; the water was at ankle level, so high enough for us to get wet. I personally enjoyed the river the best. I never thought I would ever be able to drive through a river. Nearing the end of our trip, the forest became thin again and I was starting to notice paths that we had traveled on before since we basically went in a big circle. There was one kilometre left on the drive when we saw the garage where the ATVs were stored. The tour had ended and what a great one it was.
We entered backed into the building. I took off my rental suit and my soaking wet shoes and socks.
“Excuse me sir, before I went on this tour, I left my I-phone and my wallet behind the counter, could I please have it?” My dad asked.
“Certainly, let me just grab it for you.”
“Could you describe the wallet and I-phone for me, it seems we don’t have anything behind the counter that fits those descriptions.”
“Yes, the I-phone is silver and black and the wallet is brown.” MY dad responded.
“Sure.”
“It seems we don’t have anything behind the counter.”
“What! That’s unacceptable, I left my wallet and my phone and I would like to have it.” My dad screamed.
“Sir, we don’t have it, there is a reason we recommend lockers.”
“I don’t care about the locker; I just want my god damn money. I had my credit card and $200 in my wallet.”
“I’m sorry but we don’t have your wallet. I hope you enjoyed your tour and please come back.”
“I will never come back! Let’s go Matthew and Elizabeth.”
“Dear, how are we going to survive with no money?” My mom questioned.
“It’s ok; I have my debit card in the room.”
We walked back to our room at the Mavati Hill Hotel. It felt longer walking back than walking there, probably because we were tired. We made it back and rushed straight to the front desk to get a key to our room because the key was in my dad’s wallet. I got the key and ran to the elevator. Three doors down from the elevator was our room, we entered.
“It’s ok everyone I have the debit card and I’m taking out money right now, I’ll be back in ten minutes. As my mother and I waited for my dad, I turned on the TV and was watching Family Guy, Jamaican version. It was funny in a way that I couldn’t understand anything. After about five minutes of watching I turned it off; dad walked in.
“We are out.”
“What?”
“We have no money! Whoever took my wallet spent all of our money, we have nothing left!” my dad responded
“Oh my god.” My mom said. “Ok let’s not panic, we will call our bank.”
“We don’t have the number, or a phone.”
“Ok, how much money did we have in the room?”
“$35” My dad answered.
“Matthew.” My mom said. “We are going to have to cut this vacation short. Tomorrow after the scuba diving, we have to hop on a flight home.”
At that moment my heart sunk deep into my stomach. Knowing and understanding the problem we were in, I knew that there was nothing I could do; we had to head home early.
“I’ll try to enjoy the rest of the holiday.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
On that note I got my bathing suit on, lathered up my sun screen, and with my parents, I headed down to the ocean. I planned to finish my day swimming. I sat down on the beach chair and sat looking at the ocean; tomorrow, I was going to be out there. Anyway, that was tomorrow and I just had to enjoy today. I jumped out of the chair and ran into the water.
“Mom I need a towel.”
“Here you go.”
“Wait, wow it’s has gotten dark.”
“Yeah, its 6:00.”
“It’s been that long already?”
“Yes, now, let’s go change and head for dinner.”
I was wearing a pink Lacoste shirt, Hugo Boss shorts, and Lacoste shoes. I thought it was a bit to dressy for a beach side restaurant, but it didn’t matter. It was buffet night at the restaurant which was great because I was starving. I ate a variety of meats, pastries, and salads before I was done. It was 9:00 and I was tired already. I excused myself from the diner table and headed back to the room. I entered through the door, grabbed Lucky, pulled back the covers, and fell into a deep sleep.
“Matthew I’m sorry to wake you up, but we have to get going.”
“What time is it?” I murmured.
“8:30, scuba diving is in thirty minutes.”
“Ok, I’ll get ready.”
I was up with my bathing suit on just in time to run down to the beach to make it on the boat. The boat drove thirty minutes when we were far enough from land to see tons of creatures down in the deep.
“Welcome to Jamaican waters scuba diving adventure. Now, this boat will be departing back for land in exactly two hours. Please be aware of your air tank. If you need more air in your oxygen tank, please come back to the boat. I presume everyone has signed there liability forms; Ok great. Please you are not allowed to remove anything from the sea bed. Enjoy yourself, you may go.”
We dove down.
Hammer head sharks, sea cucumbers, tuna fish, crabs many more creatures scan the bottom of the ocean. The sand was like nothing I have even seen or felt. No wonder the fish were choosing to rest here.
“Matthew dear, over here, look!”
“Coming mother”
About three metres south of this picture perfect ocean bed was a magnificent under water volcano. It towered over us just like the CN Tower back home.
“This is the Ocapa Volcano, hasn’t gone off in some thirty years.” Said Dad
“Stunning.” Replied Mother
“I agree,”
We continued to stare in awe at the mountainous volcano.
“Hunny” said Mom “ I’m just going to peak over the edge of this cliff, you know, to see what I can see.”
“Sure dear make sure your oxygen tank doesn’t run out.” Replied dad
“Dad, I’m, I’m, I’m, well I’m really pleased with this trip and I’m happy…. Well dad basically what I’m trying to say is I love…”
I was cut off by a sharp, feminine, under water scream, the voice almost sounded familiar. Wait! That is a familiar voice… MOM!
Along with my father, I raced to the edge of the cliff. Our hearts beating from lack of energy and suspense, not knowing what to expect.
As our faces peaked over the edge we saw a dreadful sight unlike any I have ever seen. It was mother nearly knocked out, eyes closed, face white, plummeting to the bottom of the ocean, deeper and deeper every second. Her tank had broken open and she was out of air and dying fast, we had to act quick.
“Dad what do we do!”
“Ok, ok, ok, ummmmmmmm, the boats gone, ok, I’m going to go get her. Matthew head to shore now!”
“But dad.”
“That’s an order, now go!”
“But before you go, dad, I love you.”
“Don’t worry Matthew I’ll be back, I will be ok.”
He was off, down and down he went until I couldn’t see him. He was gone in the darkness and it was just me alone in the middle of the ocean.
I obeyed my Father’s orders and headed for land. I had lots of air left in my tank so that wasn’t a problem but I hurried anyway. I was just about five hundred metres away. Faster and Faster I swim until I reached shore.
A gasp of air separated me from the water; I was beached. I waited on shore; it’s all I could do. I waited and waited. Three hours passed by and I knew there was a problem, either they found a different shore or… I stopped my trail of thought. I knew I had to do something. I went to the meeting spot for the scuba diving trainers and owners of the expedition. There were no suggestions, no one even bothered to help me. Four hours were gone, there was no way they found shore, my parents, my parents, they…
“Why! No, no it can’t be. Mom, dad.” I screamed. “No!”
Tears flew all over. What used to be a dry white side walk was now a puddle drenched, grey sidewalk.
“I need help anyone.”
But I was just a Canadian kid on a Jamaican street; no one was going to help me. I ran as fast I could into the hotel room; I had an idea. I grabbed a quarter from the desk and dashed to a telephone.
“Hello.”
“Grandma, it happened so fast, I’m so young, I didn’t get to see them. They are gone.”
“Hold on, explain slowly.”
I told her the story.
“Oh my, ok, Matthew I will be at your hotel in six hours, I promise.”
Time went by slowly. I didn’t eat, I didn’t talk, I didn’t move. I just stared at my ceiling grasping my parents clothing in my hand; they still had scent. It’s all I had left of them.
“Mom, dad, I need you!” I said crying
The clock reached 5pm. That was six hours but no grandma. The room returned to silence, yet there was absolutely no peace.
“Matthew I’m here come her, come into my arms.”
“Grandma, they were all I had.”
“Matthew I’ll take care of you my whole life if I have to. Come, let’s go home.
“Does any one know the Pythagorean theorem?”
“Yes Mrs. Wilcox it’s a squared plus b squared equals c squared
“Very good Matthew, outstanding work. One minute until school is out for summer. Everyone together now.”
“5,4,3,2,1. YEAH! School is over.”
School was finally over for the summer, a much needed break. As I grabbed by nap sac and shoes, I took one last glimpse of these hallways I was about to leave, forever. Next year, I was off to high school, just another place where I will be the rich loser that no one wants to be friends with, only Alexis and myself.
“Hey Alexis.”
“Hey Matt.”
“It sure is great school is over, speaking of that, would you like to come over and we can hang?” I said
“I’d love to, but I am already going over to Rebecca’s, I am sorry.”
“Oh, ok, I guess I’ll talk to you later then, have a good summer.”
“Yeah you too Matthew.”
Alexis is my only friend and has been since Pre School. I had nothing to do without her, now my problem is finding something to do, for the whole summer. She fills up my days, she is perfect. She is beautiful, her eyes are bluer than the sea, and her hair is blacker than a Labrador. Along with that, she is the coolest person in grade 8 at our school. She is never boring and always has something to do; I will miss her all summer.
I’m well, not a typical kid. I live on Post road in the wealthy city of Toronto. My dad builds mansions so rich living isn’t hard. I only really have one close friend and I spend majority of my days alone with my parents. I’m considered dumb compared to most even though I have been tested many times for gifted abilities and I was tested positive, so I don’t understand that. I have few sports I excel at, and by that I mean play. Those happen to be the “girly” sports, volleyball, badminton, swimming, and trampoline; I would really like to see others do triple back flips, so again, I don’t understand that either. Appearance wise, I don’t get girls I’m considered ugly with my blonde hair and blue eyes, honestly I kind of have a depressing life; money is my life, I have nothing else.
“Matthew dear, hurry up, I have a manicure at four.”
“Coming mother.”
As I took a last glance at the Glenview halls, I got a feeling I have never felt before. I Think I was going to miss my school, how could I ever think about missing school, but I did. The blood stains from my first encounters from the bully, my crusted over, old locker, and of course the hole in the wall which no one knows what happened to cause it. Yep, this school sure had many memories.
I ran to the sleek, black escalade and headed on home.
“Hey mom.”
“Yeah?”
“What am I going to do all summer?”
“You will see.”
What is that about, I was thinking. What could she have possibly have meant by that? I put the thought away and turned on some Rush to calm me down as I drove home. Though I was getting relaxed, two questions common questions ran through any typical teenage mind. What am I going to do tomorrow? And, is that a zit?
I finally arrived home where I was greeted by my dog Eddy.
“Dad.” I yelled out trying to locate him
“Dad this isn’t funny, where are you?”
Eager to find him, I checked the house. As I ducked into the office room I saw him sitting on his large, leather chair.
“Matthew, guess what you’re doing this summer, well at least part of the summer?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You are going to Jamaica with your mother and me for a week.”
I stood speechless in silence. I had no clue what to say. I have wanted to go to Jamaica since I was five and now I can, how amazing.
“Dad your serious right?”
“Yeah son.”
“But why now?”
“I decided you needed to get away before high school.”
“Wow I don’t know what to say… thank you so much. When do we leave?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Sweet, ok awesome, I’ll go pack.”
I left in complete shock and happiness. This is going to be the best summer of my life. It is with my parents, but I don’t care I’ll just ignore them. I had to pack. I got out my suede, tan suit case. It had dust on it because the last time we had left the country was three years ago. I grabbed ten of my most elegant, casual, and formal shirts. Then I tossed in 1 pair of jeans. Along with that, I threw in 5 pairs of Hugo Boss shorts. Next I packed my carry on bag. I put in my PSP, my ipod touch, my macbook pro laptop, and of course Lucky, my teddy bear I can’t go anywhere without him. I was all ready, what a rush. It approached 10 pm and I checked my facebook profile (a massive hobby of mine). Four new notifications, I wonder what they could be. Ryan Muggles wrote on your wall: “Wen highschool starts, im gonna beat u up.” Leonardo Zurak commented on your photo: “Hey fag I better not see u this summer or your dead.”
“Why am I so hated? What the hell did I do?”
On that note I went to bed hoping to finish my otherwise terrible day. But it didn’t end there. For the first time in seven years I was having nightmares, and not about school, about something I was looking forward to, I was having nightmares about Jamaica. Terrible images came to my mind that I couldn’t figure out what it meant.
“ATV? Lost wallet? What? What is that?” I said half asleep.
“Ah, oh, oh, oh, ok (trying to gather my breathe), it was only a dream. It won’t actually happen, ok good.
“Matthew wake up sleepy head, time to go.” Said mom
“ok, one second.”
I was woken up at 3:30 am to take an Escalade to the airport. About a thirty minute drive, then there was two hours at the airport until our 6:00 flight left. Our first stop has been made, we made it to the airport and we grabbed our luggage and headed into the airport literally half asleep. My dad is super elite so that made everything a lot easier. Just like Queen Elizabeth, our family cut through all the lines and made it to our boarding platform an hour before boarding time.
“Matthew do you have everything, did you forget anything?”
“No mom.” I said groaning because of lack of sleep and anger knowing she would think I had lost something.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes here I’ll show you, PSP, Ipod, laptop, Lucky. Wait! Where is Lucky?”
“Matthew where did you put him?”
“He was in my bag I swear.”
“Well clearly he wasn’t.” responded mother
My dad was listening to his ipod, almost like an instinct I ripped out the ear phones and yelled,
“Where is Lucky?”
“Oh I put him in your suitcase.”
“My god, ok, I thought I forgot him.”
After that little paranoia was over we sat down on those awful, dirty, smelly airport chairs and relaxed until it was 6 when were to board the plane. That was possibly the longest hours of my life when finally the stewardess called,
“Families with kids, you may now take your seats.”
Finally I could get on the plane. I took my time boarding our first class seats, though when I sat down I found a big surprise. The plane had changed. Our seats were like massive domes, each one having a bed for a seat, a flat screen and touch TV. Along with that, there was more leg room, privacy, and most important, storage space for your carry on items. It was like having a mini dream room on a plane for the three and a half hour plane ride, piece of cake.
(1 hour later)
I was starting to realize that even though I had luxury on this plane, it was still long and boring. I had gone through my favourite songs at least two times and I was starting to feel like they were terrible songs because they were being played too much. Don’t you just hate the feeling, you want to do something but you don’t know what to do? I had two more hours of that. At about 7:45 of our flight my dad finally spoke.
“Matthew, would you like breakfast?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Eggs and Bacon.” My dad responded
“Sounds great.” Not knowing what I signed up for.
When breakfast arrived about ten minutes later, I realized that rich life cooking and plane cooking was a little bit different. Let’s just say when the stewardess gave me my food I responded by saying,
“Uh, excuse me, I ordered eggs and bacon, not oatmeal.”
She responded with a simple, “Those are eggs silly, now enjoy.”
Let me tell you something I didn’t enjoy it one bit, after my first bite I spat them out. For the rest of the plane ride I refused all food and I enjoyed myself by watching Live Free Die Hard the movie.
“Excuse me passengers, this is your captain speaking, Peter Mclloyd, we have just about reached your destination in Montego Bay, Jamaica. We are at the altitude of 4219 feet up. With in the next twenty minutes we will be on the ground. It has been a pleasure to serve you today. On behalf of Air Canada, I would like to thank you for choosing our airline, please come back again.”
I could see the beautiful city of Montego Bay. It was spectacular, way better than Toronto. The beach, the flea markets, the building, the landscape, it had everything.
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 we were on the ground.
“Please remain in your seats until the captain turns of the seatbelt sign, thank you.”
Ding, the sign flicked off. Everyone scampered, anxious to get off the airplane. It was exactly 9:27 when my foot touched the runway; the flight had arrived three minutes early.
I took about thirty minutes to grab our luggage in the Jamaican style airport. It was so unique, the roof was made of coconut trees and there were no walls. Along with that, there were gardens filled with lizards and frogs and the occasion bird. It felt like the airport was just stuck in the middle of the jungle; a jungle that didn’t have any broken trees. It looked like a fairy tale setting. Now that we had our luggage, we were told the drive to our luxurious five star hotel was only a ten minute drive. We hopped on our privet rental limo. We were told there were only four limos in all of Jamaica and we got to ride in one. The driver was also great; he very funny in his Jamaican accent and he told us what we were looking at.
“Welcome to Jamaica man. On our left we have the Locopago cliff. Apparently in 1954 there used to be a waterfall there, but the land dried up and so did the waterfall. At the bottom of Mavati Hill, we will be at your hotel man.”
“Where is Mavati Hill?” I asked
“We are on it man.”
You could see the whole city of Montego Bay from here.
“It’s beautiful.”
The reflection of the sun peaked on the beautiful blue water, the trees swayed in the gentle wind, weather was warm and comforting, this is a holiday. I also saw our, what looked like a, picture perfect hotel. It was massive and beautiful. It had yellow brick walls with limestone poles holding up the front arch. It was also surrounded by a forest that looked like it could keep out noise from everything. Within the forest was the property of the Mavati Hill Hotel. It was kind of hard to miss the elegant L shaped pool, the massive trampoline, the 2 mile stretch of beach, the basketball court, and finally the pool side food hut. I put all my nightmare fears behind me and had a new one.
“Am I going to be too busy? How will I do this all?”
“We are here, welcome to the Mavati Hill Hotel. Tips are much appreciated.” The driver said.
“Thank you kind gentleman.” Mom responded. “Here is ten dollars.”
“Thank you Miss, have a great holiday.”
At that moment my image of the hotel got even better. The lobby was a large floating plateau in the middle of a fountain. There were twenty four fountains shooting straight into air completely surrounding the front desk; of course perfectly placed so nothing on the plateau ever got wet unless someone were to tamper with the beautiful set up. Along with that there were turtles and colourful yellow and orange fish. We walked across the little wooden bridge that was just big enough to take our suitcase across, over the water to the front desk. It took about a minute to get our room key because everything was already set up in Toronto when we left. The rest of the lobby was decorated with plants and the occasional fountain. The flooring was beautiful white limestone. Everything seemed to fit into the elegant, relaxing, party type life style that was advertised. We were on floor two of four. We found are room very quickly because the elevator was right in the middle of the lobby and our room was right by the lobby. Our room was just as beautiful. We had a balcony that over looked the ocean, two king sized beds, a bathroom that had a toilet so fresh looking I would have eaten off the lid, our mini fridge was packed with drinks such as Pepsi, Jamaican Springs Water, and of course for the adults here at the resort, Jamaican beer. It was just reaching eleven and we were heading out for our first day.
We started by taking a self tour of the property. There was nothing in the property we couldn’t see from the top of Mavati Hill. The one great thing about this resort is it was all you can eat whenever you want. I took advantage of that having a pina colada at every free moment. Our tour continued at the beach. We put our beach bag down on three chairs to save our seats and get rid of that heavy bag. We started with a walk down the beach. It took about 2 hours there and back, but it felt like the best two hours of my life.
“I have never known peace like this.”
The sand between my toes, the water at my ankles, and the sun on my back it felt so great. When we came back we ate food at the Sun Fish restaurant, it was on the water. The restaurant caught the fish right of the back of the restaurant and cooked it; it was specialized in sea fish.
“Welcome to the Sun Fish Grill. Would you like to start with a drink?”
“Actually I think were ready.” My dad responded.
“Certainly, Sir, what would you like?”
“I will have the king crab please and can I get potatoes with that?”
“Sure, and how about you son?”
“I will have the lobster please.” I said.
“Great, and Madame for you?”
“I will treat myself to the swordfish please.”
“Ok I will be right on that meal.”
For the meantime while I waited for my meal, I looked around the restaurant. The restaurant was decorated in an old submarine design. There were broken bits of submarine hung up on the wall. The wall paper was a unique navy blue I had never seen before. On the wall, there were also pictures of sailors and submarines. It was quite a nice looking restaurant. As the food arrived I headed back to my seat. The food was amazing. The lobster was soft and moist. It had so much taste there was no need for the melted butter. This meal was our lunch and dinner because of the time change and long travel, we were tired and after our meal, I lasted about two hours by the pool before I caved and fell asleep.
“What time is it?”
“10:30.” Mother responded. “We didn’t want to wake you.”
“Wow that was a good sleep, thank you mom.”
“No problem Matt, but we have a busy day ahead of us.”
She explained to me that we were going for a Jamaican ATV safari. We were going to travel through the outskirts of the town and through the forest, and through tiny, shallow rivers. Past 200 year old trees, and I will see animals I would never see again in my life.
“When do we leave?”
“Ok, well the ATV trip starts at 12:00, it takes a twenty minute walk to get there, and we are planning on having lunch before, so anytime now.”
“Ok I’ll be ready in a second.”
We were of for an early lunch at 11:00. We agreed that we needed something fast so we looked for any type of fast food. We spotted a Subway and a McDonald’s. After a long debate (ending in my parents favour) we headed to Subway. I ordered a foot long sub, assorted on whole wheat. Then it was time for the toppings.
“Could I please have, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, cheese, and sub sauce.”
“Sure.”
We sat down and ate our subs in about thirty minutes. Leaving absolutely no scraps behind, I threw out my garbage and started walking to the ATV safari. The timing was pretty accurate; it took us fifteen minutes to walk there giving us ten minutes of leisure before the excursion began.
“Welcome to the Jamaican Safari, do you have your liability forms?”
“Yes we do sir, here you go.”
“Thank you. Oh one more thing, you can’t bring anything along with you on the ATV safari, like no wallets, no cell phones, anything personal must be left behind. We do have lockers that I highly advise for $50, otherwise your belonging are stowed behind the desk.”
“There is no need for a locker.” My dad responded
“Sir I highly advise it, these desks aren’t occupied all day.”
“I’m not worried; here have our goods, put them behind the desk please.”
“Ok. Now it is your time for the safari, please enter through that room on the left where you will find all of our ATVs gassed up and ready for use, just hop on one and get ready.”
We walked down the narrow, jungle painted hallway until we got to the door and entered. I jumped on ATV number 5, my favourite number. We left pretty much right away. We took of going through the city until we made it to the forest where we stopped quickly while the guide explained where we were traveling.
“Welcome ladies and gentlemen. Right now we are heading into the forest part of Jamaica, this ATV trail should last an hour. You will so exotic plants and animals, the Guatamala River, and the Cliffs of Wakiki. Now, during the trail, stay at least 3 full ATVs between you and the person in front of you to avoid injury. The path is clearly marked with neon pink poles marking edges and sides of the path. I highly suggest you stay on path as those poles are there for your safety. Please enjoy yourself, have fun, and be careful, please follow me, time to go.”
We went through a narrow dirty, rubble path through the woods. After 5 kilometres of riding, I notice a massive environment change. The brush of the trees became thicker and greener. The plants became more exotic and a little odd looking and of course there were more animals. Lizards of all sizes eyed me down. Frogs of all colours were all around me. There were birds of all types screeching and yelping. We saw one alligator in the swamp only about thirty inches away from me. As the first 40 minutes went by very fast, we found ourselves down to the last twenty minutes very quickly. It was at this point that we drove through the Guatamala River. It was decent height. We drove through with ease; the water was at ankle level, so high enough for us to get wet. I personally enjoyed the river the best. I never thought I would ever be able to drive through a river. Nearing the end of our trip, the forest became thin again and I was starting to notice paths that we had traveled on before since we basically went in a big circle. There was one kilometre left on the drive when we saw the garage where the ATVs were stored. The tour had ended and what a great one it was.
We entered backed into the building. I took off my rental suit and my soaking wet shoes and socks.
“Excuse me sir, before I went on this tour, I left my I-phone and my wallet behind the counter, could I please have it?” My dad asked.
“Certainly, let me just grab it for you.”
“Could you describe the wallet and I-phone for me, it seems we don’t have anything behind the counter that fits those descriptions.”
“Yes, the I-phone is silver and black and the wallet is brown.” MY dad responded.
“Sure.”
“It seems we don’t have anything behind the counter.”
“What! That’s unacceptable, I left my wallet and my phone and I would like to have it.” My dad screamed.
“Sir, we don’t have it, there is a reason we recommend lockers.”
“I don’t care about the locker; I just want my god damn money. I had my credit card and $200 in my wallet.”
“I’m sorry but we don’t have your wallet. I hope you enjoyed your tour and please come back.”
“I will never come back! Let’s go Matthew and Elizabeth.”
“Dear, how are we going to survive with no money?” My mom questioned.
“It’s ok; I have my debit card in the room.”
We walked back to our room at the Mavati Hill Hotel. It felt longer walking back than walking there, probably because we were tired. We made it back and rushed straight to the front desk to get a key to our room because the key was in my dad’s wallet. I got the key and ran to the elevator. Three doors down from the elevator was our room, we entered.
“It’s ok everyone I have the debit card and I’m taking out money right now, I’ll be back in ten minutes. As my mother and I waited for my dad, I turned on the TV and was watching Family Guy, Jamaican version. It was funny in a way that I couldn’t understand anything. After about five minutes of watching I turned it off; dad walked in.
“We are out.”
“What?”
“We have no money! Whoever took my wallet spent all of our money, we have nothing left!” my dad responded
“Oh my god.” My mom said. “Ok let’s not panic, we will call our bank.”
“We don’t have the number, or a phone.”
“Ok, how much money did we have in the room?”
“$35” My dad answered.
“Matthew.” My mom said. “We are going to have to cut this vacation short. Tomorrow after the scuba diving, we have to hop on a flight home.”
At that moment my heart sunk deep into my stomach. Knowing and understanding the problem we were in, I knew that there was nothing I could do; we had to head home early.
“I’ll try to enjoy the rest of the holiday.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
On that note I got my bathing suit on, lathered up my sun screen, and with my parents, I headed down to the ocean. I planned to finish my day swimming. I sat down on the beach chair and sat looking at the ocean; tomorrow, I was going to be out there. Anyway, that was tomorrow and I just had to enjoy today. I jumped out of the chair and ran into the water.
“Mom I need a towel.”
“Here you go.”
“Wait, wow it’s has gotten dark.”
“Yeah, its 6:00.”
“It’s been that long already?”
“Yes, now, let’s go change and head for dinner.”
I was wearing a pink Lacoste shirt, Hugo Boss shorts, and Lacoste shoes. I thought it was a bit to dressy for a beach side restaurant, but it didn’t matter. It was buffet night at the restaurant which was great because I was starving. I ate a variety of meats, pastries, and salads before I was done. It was 9:00 and I was tired already. I excused myself from the diner table and headed back to the room. I entered through the door, grabbed Lucky, pulled back the covers, and fell into a deep sleep.
“Matthew I’m sorry to wake you up, but we have to get going.”
“What time is it?” I murmured.
“8:30, scuba diving is in thirty minutes.”
“Ok, I’ll get ready.”
I was up with my bathing suit on just in time to run down to the beach to make it on the boat. The boat drove thirty minutes when we were far enough from land to see tons of creatures down in the deep.
“Welcome to Jamaican waters scuba diving adventure. Now, this boat will be departing back for land in exactly two hours. Please be aware of your air tank. If you need more air in your oxygen tank, please come back to the boat. I presume everyone has signed there liability forms; Ok great. Please you are not allowed to remove anything from the sea bed. Enjoy yourself, you may go.”
We dove down.
Hammer head sharks, sea cucumbers, tuna fish, crabs many more creatures scan the bottom of the ocean. The sand was like nothing I have even seen or felt. No wonder the fish were choosing to rest here.
“Matthew dear, over here, look!”
“Coming mother”
About three metres south of this picture perfect ocean bed was a magnificent under water volcano. It towered over us just like the CN Tower back home.
“This is the Ocapa Volcano, hasn’t gone off in some thirty years.” Said Dad
“Stunning.” Replied Mother
“I agree,”
We continued to stare in awe at the mountainous volcano.
“Hunny” said Mom “ I’m just going to peak over the edge of this cliff, you know, to see what I can see.”
“Sure dear make sure your oxygen tank doesn’t run out.” Replied dad
“Dad, I’m, I’m, I’m, well I’m really pleased with this trip and I’m happy…. Well dad basically what I’m trying to say is I love…”
I was cut off by a sharp, feminine, under water scream, the voice almost sounded familiar. Wait! That is a familiar voice… MOM!
Along with my father, I raced to the edge of the cliff. Our hearts beating from lack of energy and suspense, not knowing what to expect.
As our faces peaked over the edge we saw a dreadful sight unlike any I have ever seen. It was mother nearly knocked out, eyes closed, face white, plummeting to the bottom of the ocean, deeper and deeper every second. Her tank had broken open and she was out of air and dying fast, we had to act quick.
“Dad what do we do!”
“Ok, ok, ok, ummmmmmmm, the boats gone, ok, I’m going to go get her. Matthew head to shore now!”
“But dad.”
“That’s an order, now go!”
“But before you go, dad, I love you.”
“Don’t worry Matthew I’ll be back, I will be ok.”
He was off, down and down he went until I couldn’t see him. He was gone in the darkness and it was just me alone in the middle of the ocean.
I obeyed my Father’s orders and headed for land. I had lots of air left in my tank so that wasn’t a problem but I hurried anyway. I was just about five hundred metres away. Faster and Faster I swim until I reached shore.
A gasp of air separated me from the water; I was beached. I waited on shore; it’s all I could do. I waited and waited. Three hours passed by and I knew there was a problem, either they found a different shore or… I stopped my trail of thought. I knew I had to do something. I went to the meeting spot for the scuba diving trainers and owners of the expedition. There were no suggestions, no one even bothered to help me. Four hours were gone, there was no way they found shore, my parents, my parents, they…
“Why! No, no it can’t be. Mom, dad.” I screamed. “No!”
Tears flew all over. What used to be a dry white side walk was now a puddle drenched, grey sidewalk.
“I need help anyone.”
But I was just a Canadian kid on a Jamaican street; no one was going to help me. I ran as fast I could into the hotel room; I had an idea. I grabbed a quarter from the desk and dashed to a telephone.
“Hello.”
“Grandma, it happened so fast, I’m so young, I didn’t get to see them. They are gone.”
“Hold on, explain slowly.”
I told her the story.
“Oh my, ok, Matthew I will be at your hotel in six hours, I promise.”
Time went by slowly. I didn’t eat, I didn’t talk, I didn’t move. I just stared at my ceiling grasping my parents clothing in my hand; they still had scent. It’s all I had left of them.
“Mom, dad, I need you!” I said crying
The clock reached 5pm. That was six hours but no grandma. The room returned to silence, yet there was absolutely no peace.
“Matthew I’m here come her, come into my arms.”
“Grandma, they were all I had.”
“Matthew I’ll take care of you my whole life if I have to. Come, let’s go home.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
music poem
relax, enjoy, feeling, enjoyment
the guitar plays, a soothing to the soul
followed by a sweet deep drum
marks my path
finally the voice
like birds chirping the morning
beauty
whether its Geddy Lee or Sting
harmony
harmony with the music
my potion
my cure
my enjoyment
my music
the guitar plays, a soothing to the soul
followed by a sweet deep drum
marks my path
finally the voice
like birds chirping the morning
beauty
whether its Geddy Lee or Sting
harmony
harmony with the music
my potion
my cure
my enjoyment
my music
limerik-
the cocky singer walks out front
his terrible posture makes everyone grunt
the next day he fell off the stage
he broke his spine on the wire gage
and the crowed cheered for his stunt
his terrible posture makes everyone grunt
the next day he fell off the stage
he broke his spine on the wire gage
and the crowed cheered for his stunt
clerihew- hockey
genious dances with the puck
deeking the forwards only to be tanked by a truck
dead, crushed, in miserey
just a game, have fun, should be cheery
deeking the forwards only to be tanked by a truck
dead, crushed, in miserey
just a game, have fun, should be cheery
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Dog Sledding
Burried face deep in snow
my family pulls me forward
looks so cruel but is a gift
trecking through the path
snow is my path
destination unknown
no buildings no cars
just trees and my dog sled
we keep going
this is our cause this is our purpose
my family pulls me forward
looks so cruel but is a gift
trecking through the path
snow is my path
destination unknown
no buildings no cars
just trees and my dog sled
we keep going
this is our cause this is our purpose
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