First Piece

Author's Note: I thought that it would be fun to post my first piece of the year that I wrote, grammar errors and all. It is very short too. I like reading this because it shows me my growth in writing.

Halloween is a very fun time of the year. People dress up as whatever they want to be. On Halloween people try to scare themselves just for fun. I think that that is kind of stupid but that's not any of my business anyway. No matter what I think everyone should participate in it because it's a fun thing to do and everyone can express themselves  in their costumes.

Soup For Mom

 Authors Note: I wrote this piece as a warm-up one day and went back to edit it. When you read it you will find that in the story I get upset because of something little, but I was trying to do something big, take care of some one who I care about. 

Steaming soup boiling, as I heat it. Bubbling up as if it is boiling lava. My mother was home sick today, so I felt as if I owe her something for being a wonderful mother, sick or not. She has been there for me all my life, so why shouldn't I be there for her? I cool it down waiting to take it to my mother. I look at it as it sits in front of me, teasing me by the smell of fresh vegetables and herbs. I have to take a bite just a small one at least. I try to stop myself, but it seems as if there is something holding me back. It must be my mom sitting in the other room. What else could it be? 
I don’t want to eat all of her soup, or any really, but I am hungry and it smells so good. If I only take one bite I will hurt no one right? I think for a while then I reach out for the spoon as I smell the soup. I pick up the spoon and start towards the bowl. I go in and take a spoon full. I know that I want it but there is no way, I have t I think to myself. The spoon gets closer and closer to me as I see the steam steaming out of it like a sauna. I put it into my mouth and the feeling in my tong disintegrate. My whole mouth is burning. It feels like a volcano erupted in my mouth.
I start to feel extremely upset for failing myself. I guess I don't have any self control. There is no way now that I can ever eat soup that isn't mine again, especially when the person that you made it for is sitting near you.  My mother is sick and the soup is for her after all. I love my mother and I want her to get better but I don't think she will without some soup and proper care. I can't believe that I was so selfish when my mother is sick in the other room sitting wrapped in a warm blanket in the other room. She is in my sight now. I am upset about what I had done, but it isn't about me. I need to get the soup to her and make this situation better. The only way that can happen is for me to help her with anything that she needs all day, and the whole time that she is sick. I feel that is my duty now.

Is It Worth It To Be Selfish

Authors Note: This piece was written for my District Assessment as a mandatory piece.

What would you do if your were working for someone who is way more powerful than you? Someone that controls the whole mass of land that you live on. A citizen under the power of one man. That man was the King of England, who tells you what to do, when to do it and how it should be done. Well in the story The Hundredth Dove by Jane Yolen that is just what Hugh had to deal with. Hugh was the best fowler in England, granted that is probably not the best title to have, but he embraced it anyway.

The king ordered Hugh to come the palace for a court session. Hugh was both nervous and excited because he had never been to the palace before. When he got there he went in a room with the king and his lady, Lady Columbia, who was very beautiful. She was slim and fair with black eyes. Hugh described her as he felt she was, "She was neat as a bird," he said. She and the king were to get married soon, so the king ordered one hundred doves in one week's time. Lady Columbia did not agree with the idea at all. She begged him not to have doves as the meal for their wedding, but he rejected the suggestion just as quickly as it was spoken. There was nothing for Hugh or Lady Columbia to do for themselves. Hugh would have to complete the job as told.

The white dove was the dove that Hugh wanted to catch the most. For a long time he wanted to catch her. The symbolism in the story shows me that the white dove was Lady Columbia. I know this because the way he described her and the dove were very similar and in some ways the exact same. He exclaimed that the dove and Lady Columbia both had black eyes, and were both slim and fair. This symbolism meant a lot to me, and made the story come alive.

The fowler had a motto that was extremely important to him. It was sown on his tunic. Servo is what it read, meaning ("I serve"). It was written on his heart. He would serve the king whatever he wanted and or needed. An order of one hundred doves was a large one by the king. It was definitely a high order but not too difficult for Hugh to manage. The first day he caught twenty doves. All blue-gray, but one was not. One of the doves was the white dove. The one dove that if it flew over head you would know because of how white she was. He said that even in the night sky she would shine brightly. This dove was normally not with the rest of the flock, so when Hugh caught it he was happy, but that happiness wouldn't last long because when he got them all home the white dove was gone.

In the end Hugh takes the white dove and kills it. At that same time Lady Columbia was killed because the dove and Lady Columbia were one. Hugh takes all the doves to the doves to the palace for the king. All one hundred made it to the palace for the king, but only ninety-nine of them were alive when they got there. The one thing stood out and helped me prove my theory. That one thing was that after he brought the doves to the palace the wedding was called off. They talked nothing about Lady Columbia afterwards. The king wasn't worried at all and didn't wonder about her which made me think, did the king tell Hugh to kill Lady Columbia. Why would he want to kill her? Then I thought again. Hugh wanted her dead because he wanted her to himself. He trembled at her beauty.

Hugh didn't listen to what other people had to say. Lady Columbia told him not to hunt the bird but he proceeded anyway which got Lady Columbia killed. It is selfish to not listen to other people and do whatever you please no matter who it hurts in the end. The lesson learned is that it is okay to be selfish sometimes but other times it is more important to listen to other people.