Journal of Ronald Peter Venendez ch.1

         After sixteen weeks at sea, my family and I finally arrived from France. I couldn’t wait to move into my Grandpa's village, Balmora! He named it after his father, who died in 1773. I heard there was magic where he lives, but I didn't much believe in magic, I've never seen anyone who knows how to use it.

         Once we got to Balmora, my Grandpa gave us a house to live in. The house was decent size, but my room was small. I have only one sibling, a sister; her name is Theresa. She is a year and a half younger than I am.

         My dad woke me up the next morning and asked me if I knew what day it was. I was confused at first, but then I thought for a minute and realized it was my sister's twelfth birthday!

         I had no spare change and I probably couldn’t borrow any money, because no one would have trusted me in this town, because they didn’t know me. I wanted to buy my sister a box of chocolates, but Grandpa told me that it cost three gold pieces. My dad said if I went around the town doing good deeds he would pay me! For every good deed, I would get a gold piece.

         In the first hour, I did two good deeds. I helped our neighbor, Farmer Bob, move some planks across his field and then helped his wife by emptying her washtub. Only one more good deed to go! I left the farm and started heading toward the center of town.

         As I was walking, I passed a little girl who was crying. “Hmm,” I thought, “maybe that little girl needs help! That would be a good deed!”

         I talked to the girl and she told me that a bully stole her stuffed bear. I thought maybe if I could find the bully and get the bear back, that would make her happy. I asked the girl which way the bully went, and then started looking for him. I went up the hill and there he was. That's the bully! I know this because he has a stuffed bear strung on his back. I went up to him and yelled, “Give it back, you scum face!”

         Well, he didn't take it so well! He threw a punch so hard that when I ducked, he hit the tree behind me and it looked like there was a puncture in the tree! He started screaming in pain, threw the bear on the ground, and ran down the hill. I went to the girl to give back her stuffed bear, but surprisingly she told me to keep it. She said, “That fight was worth it!" I didn’t know what I was going to do with a stuffed bear, but it did mean something to me, so I strapped it onto the back of my leather cuirass.

         I quickly ran down the hill to where my father works. He’s a blacksmith. I told him about the three good deeds I had done and he handed me three gold pieces on the double! Excited about having enough money for my sister’s present, I ran from the blacksmith shop to Tom the Trader’s shop and bought the box of chocolates.

         I wanted to give it to her as soon as I could, so I started hurrying home. When I got there, I saw her down the road from our house, picking wildflowers. I thought about giving her the stuffed bear, too, but I gave her one last year and she didn't like it. She said she was too old for stuffed bears. I know, though, that she has a few of them in the bottom of the trunk in her room, not that I was snooping or anything.

         I went over to where she was picking flowers and gave her the box of chocolates. She started jumping up and down, all excited about the gift.

         Suddenly, we heard stomping noises and jingling like chains rubbing against each other. I looked out over the field behind our house and saw a large group of men running toward our town. They were dressed like bandits, with bandannas and leather armor and they carried iron longswords.

         At first I didn’t know what was going on, but then I remembered overhearing my mother talking to my father on the ship. She was worried because my grandfather had written letters about bandit raids in nearby towns.

         I knew this must be a raid, but I thought, “What shall I do?” I dropped to the ground and pulled Theresa down with me. We were both hiding behind a fence with a large boulder in front. Without seeing us, the men ran past. They split up and starting attacking everyone in sight. Two of them ran into our front yard and into our house. Our mother was in there! Soon they came out, dragging our mother between them. They started taking her down the hill toward town.
         
My sister screamed, stood up, and started chasing the bandits. I tried to stop her, but she kept going and going! One of the bandits turned around, saw my sister, and grabbed her, too. I quickly hid behind another boulder so they wouldn’t see me.