Horton's New Diary - Be Careful What You Write!

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A diary is a great way to
get things off your chest, in particular

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feelings of anger or disappointment. But
what if your diary wasn't a silent listener.

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What if when you wrote in your
diary, it listened and it tried

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to help in its own way that
perhaps was just a little bit evil.

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What's that you want to be scared
to? Come with me. You will

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experience tales over opera, ghosts and
death. It is not recommended at the

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foot of week at heart, heart
listen as in the dark, it's more

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fun at that way way. This
is weekly speaking. Hey, my spookies,

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it is indeed Wednesday, and it
is time for a little spooky in

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your weekly. Unfortunately, I come
to you tonight from a place of sadness.

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As many of you know, about
two months ago I lost my dog

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Chicano, and a few days ago
I also lost my dog, Henwolf,

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and it's been really hard. I'm
a dog person, but Henwolf was my

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first dog. I adopted her when
I was thirty one years old, and

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she became the perfect companion for me. She had a lot of health struggles.

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I adopted her when she was seven
years old, and for the last

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two years. I've been caring for
her as she lost the use of her

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hind legs, and unfortunately that battle
finally it had to end and she had

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to rest. She was an amazing
dog, very loving, very loyal,

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very excitable, and one of the
hardest things about losing her is that she's

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not laying here right now next to
me while I record the show. I

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could always count on her to sleep
on the other side of the room.

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Sometimes I would have to do another
take because she would groan or grunt or

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sneeze. I'd give anything to have
her napping in this room right now while

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I do this intro. So we
do have a show for you. I

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wanted to record this. I like
bringing you spookies a little taste of the

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macabre every week. But after the
show, if you want, I'm going

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to do a small tribute to Henwolf
and tell you a little bit more about

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her, and then that'll be the
show. I really appreciate you guys humoring

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me. I just need to get
this stuff out and talk about all of

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it. So yeah, thank you
all, and thank you all to everyone

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who's helped with any of the veterinary
costs. Between Chicano and Henwolf. Yes,

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it's an amazing thing to love so
much. So on another note,

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let's go to a great story by
Rob Fields right after these quick words Horton's

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New Diary by Rob Fields. Let
me ask you all a very simple question

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here. Do you or have you
ever had that one big kid at school

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who only lived to make your life
as miserable as possible. For me,

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that was Bull hit Zigger. No, Bull wasn't his real name. People

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called him that since he was bulky
like one. His real name was Irving.

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Anyway, I'm sure you've heard stories
about how bigger bullies like him always

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went after skinny nerds like me.
I'm sure I don't weigh one hundred pounds

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soaking wet. I wear normal clothes, but also glasses with thick round lens.

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I'm always so calm when I speak. For the record, there isn't

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much that scares me, except maybe
ghosts. Getting back to Hitzigger, his

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sole purpose was to look for me
each and every day at school. I

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never saw him on the weekend,
so I got a bit of a break.

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We met shortly after Chapman Chunker and
I returned to Strickfield Junior High back

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in early November. I had finished
fourth period and left the classroom when someone

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grabbed me and threw me up against
a locker. That was Hitzigger. He

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told me simply, he didn't like
me and I didn't belong at his school.

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And yes, it was known that
Strickfield Junior High was Ariel mirrn School.

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In theory, I think Hitzigger crossed
paths with Ariel and lost that one.

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Since he couldn't have his way with
a queen bee like Ariel, he

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thought he'd go after a smaller fish
like me. Hitzigger got really mad when

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he saw I wasn't a friend of
him. He also forgot I had friends.

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It seemed like every time Hitzigger came
for me, one of them was

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always there. He couldn't even have
his way with the girls, especially Maddie

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Donnerly. There were also times when
Principal Benjamin van Deist saw him bullying and

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gave him detention. Now, you
just knew he was going to get me

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alone at some point. It was
on a Thursday, after the holidays were

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over. I was leaving school for
the day and walking home. Mom said

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she wanted to take me out to
celebrate my birthday. I often cut through

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the alley by the Strickfield Centennial Theater
and walk another block to get to my

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house. Hitzigger was waiting in the
alley and appeared from behind a dumpster.

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Suddenly he lifted me off my feet
and hung me up. Then he knocked

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my books out of my hand.
He sneered at me, your dead meat

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nerd. I raised my finger a
little careful, you might make me a

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ghost. Then he pounded his fings
into the palm of his other hand.

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Oh, I'll do more than make
you a ghost. I sighed and shrugged.

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Uh, what did I ever do
to you? You exist? He

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said, simply. When I got
home, Mom knew when she saw me

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holding both halves of my glasses.
What happened to you, Richard? Mom

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yelled. Now, I don't want
you to get in the idea that Mom's

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overbearing or mean to me. She's
just very protective since it's just the two

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of us. Mom never talked about
my dad, and I don't ask,

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since I never see any pictures of
him anywhere. There's a time when you

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lie to Mom and a time to
tell the truth. Much of the time

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I tell her the truth, and
I told her about bull Hitzigger. Interestingly,

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Mom knows everybody around the village part
of Strickfield. She was on the

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phone with Bull's parents and going off
on them. It sure was a heated

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argument since both sides were yelling.
Mom threatened to sue hit Zigger's parents if

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they didn't pay for my glasses.
I went up to my room and put

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on glasses I had from before.
Then she came in and demanded to know

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where my so called friends were when
I was in trouble. Yeah. Mom's

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never liked any of my friends,
including my five new ones. I couldn't

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tell you how many times she's tried
getting me to stop being friends with everybody,

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especially Chapman and Chunker. Like I
said, Mom can be over protective,

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especially after being gone a whole year
because of Abigail Tomlin. Again,

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Mom's not a bad person, to
be fair. She gave me a good

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life and a great home. I
explained to Mom why my friends weren't there

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when hit Zigger did what he did
in a nutshell. They all had other

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commitments. Yeah, they helped me
out when they see him in trouble,

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but I can't expect them to be
there all the time. After Mom and

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I finished arguing. She left me
alone. Then I pulled out my diary

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and wrote in it about what happened
today. I know you wouldn't think a

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skinny nerd would keep a diary,
right, or that I'd be using a

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real old school pen that you have
to dip in a bottle of ink to

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write in it. I've been doing
it since starting the sixth grade. It's

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been therapeutic in helping me get my
feelings out. I saw I was on

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my last page and had to get
another diary. I would go into downtown

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village and get one, either at
Wilder's Market or one of the two pharmacies.

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After finishing today's entry, Mom appeared
in my doorway. You're still filling

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up to celebrating your birthday, Richard. I looked her way and nodded.

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First Mom took me to get a
new pair of glasses. Then she took

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me to the Strickfield Town Center Mall
for dinner. He wouldn't believe how dead

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the mall was now. Since the
holidays were over, many of the stores

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closed up and left for the season. There were still the big anchor stores

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JC Penny, Best Buy, and
Dillard's. I wanted to go to the

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mall for dinner because I loved Scotto's
pizza, which was still a mainstay there.

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I don't know what it is about
Scotto's, but for me, their

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pizza is just tops. The others
don't mind eating here with me, but

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they say they've had better. Mom
seemed to like Scotto's too. After dinner,

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Mom took me to a movie,
then for a birthday ice cream cake

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at Big Ed's Soda Parlor, where
I opened all my presents. One of

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them was a new diary that had
a lot more pages in it than the

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past diaries I've had. Unlike the
other diaries, this one had this antique

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cover on it. The pages also
looked and smelled antique, which told me

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Mom might have found it somewhere outside
the village. I wasn't going to ask

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her, though, oh and Chapman
and Chunker both texted me to wish me

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a happy birthday. My other new
friends didn't know since I never told them.

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Since Mom wanted to celebrate my birthday
with me on said day, I

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had to wait until Saturday to have
my birthday with the guys. The next

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day, at school, Hitziger suddenly
ambushed me and stuffed me into my own

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locker. Aw, did you tell
your mommy on me? You little wimp,

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he jeered, making my folks pay
for your new glasses. Well,

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let's see you tell your mommy you're
spending the rest of your life in your

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locker. Then something slammed up against
the locker door. Soon the door came

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open. Chapman helped me out of
my locker. Chunker and Carter Cross were

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with him. Hugh okhorton. Carter
asked, I give my pals my usual

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smirk. Hitziger never messed with the
guys and backed off. It was Carter

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who threw Hitziger into the locker after
he stuffed me inside. He pointed right

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at me and said I was dead
meat and that my friends wouldn't always be

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around. When I came home from
school, not only were my new glasses

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broken, I didn't even have a
shirt on my back. Also, my

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books were soaking wet after Hitzigger dropped
them in a puddle from when it rained

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all day. Mom was furious again
and was on the phone with Hitzigger's parents

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yet again. I decided to write
and the new diary Mom got me for

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my birthday Yesterday I wrote down what
happened today and added something to the extent

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of how I wished Hitzigger would just
disappear from my life. After I finished,

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I went and cleaned up. Who
would have thought it, bull Hitzigger

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was nowhere to be found at Strickfield
Junior High On Monday, I remembered he

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was supposed to present his paper in
English class. Oh well, at least

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it was one day where Hitzigger wouldn't
give me a hard time. You want

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to know what the funny thing is, Not a single person ever mentioned his

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name, even mister Ford. Hitzigger
was also in my science class with Miss

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Radolphi, and she never once said
his name. You know, teachers usually

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do their seating charts before class to
make sure every buddy's there, even calling

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out their names. Not once,
was irving Hitzigger said. In fact,

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Hitzigger never showed up to school for
the rest of the week, and none

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of the teachers even mentioned him.
Come to think of it, the guys

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never mentioned him again either. When
the weekend came again, I was writing

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in my new diary, I put
in how much I really liked Bailey Downs

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for being my lab partner in my
science class and how she talked to me

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on Friday nights when we're watching movies
at Maddie's. Then I said I wished

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we could hang out a lot more. After I finished, I turned on

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my computer and saw Chunker messaged me
the guys wanted to meet up at Roth's

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Rings later. Just then, a
new conversation suddenly started from Bailey Downs.

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I chatted with both Bailey and Chunker
for a bit. Then Bailey asked me

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if I want wanted to hang out
today? Wow? Talk about a stroke

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of luck right. I told Bailey
I'd definitely hang with her. Then I

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told Chunker I wouldn't make it to
Roth's Rings and why. Chunker said okay

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and that we'd talk later. Bailey
and I walked around downtown village and spent

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all of Saturday afternoon together. We
eventually went into Big Ed's Soda parlor.

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As we were enjoying our milkshakes,
Mona Abels, Bailey's closest friend, came

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in and found us. Before Mona
could say anything, Bailey looked mad,

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can't you see I'm busy here?
Boy? Did Mona ever look stunned?

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I've seen Mona and Bailey enough to
know these two are timeless friends. Yeah,

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they bickered sometimes, but okay,
I'll talk to you later, Mona

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stammered. She still looked hurt.
When Mona left, Bailey turned her attention

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back to me, just the way
she was looking at me now. Then

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she took and held my hands.
I suppose, under normal circumstances, what

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I was thinking was likely impossible.
Then I remembered I live in Strickfield,

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Ohio, and that I'd actually met
a couple of honest to goodness ghosts in

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Abigail Tomlin and Mary Worth. Even
when it was time for me to go

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in for the night, Bailey didn't
want to leave me. Then I remembered

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how I said I wanted to hang
out with her a lot more. And

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what was more, Mom got way
over protective of me again when she saw

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Bailey was with me. When I
came home, I was still thinking about

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today when I sat down at my
desk and opened my diary. After dipping

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my pen in the ink bottle,
I wrote about my day with Bailey.

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Then I deliberately wrote something about how
I wished Mom would just leave me alone.

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I didn't write it to be mean, but I had to know if

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my theory was correct. I finished
the entry and closed up my diary.

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Sunday morning came. I could smell
those wonderful smells of breakfast as I got

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out of bed. I put on
my slippers and went downstairs to see what

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Mom was making. Except it wasn't
Mom in the kitchen making breakfast. It

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was Bailey. Bailey actually had on
a dress and apron and was moving around

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the kitchen like she had always lived
here. Then she brightened up, smiling

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from ear to ear when she saw
me, Hey you, she cheered,

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breakfast is almost ready. I really
outdid myself this morning. She pointed at

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me, and just for you,
my darling boyfriend. Suddenly she had this

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weird look when she backed me up
against the wall. Have you seen mom

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anywhere? I squeaked. Bailey gave
me another weird look. Since when do

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you need a mom? You got
me? Then the front doorbell rang.

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I raised my finger and slipped away
from Bailey. Hold on. I answered

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the door and saw, hey,
Maddie, what's up. I let Maddie

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in, and she handed me a
book. You weren't paying attention, but

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you left your English book in mister
Ford's class on Friday. I almost forgot

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about it anyway, just here and
giving it back to you. Oh hi,

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Bailey. Suddenly Bailey got really mad, pointed sharply at Maddie and roared,

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Ritchie's mine. Then she grabbed a
big sharp knife out of the drawer.

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I'll kill you mouse. Maddie and
I both knew Bailey wasn't kidding around.

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We were ready to run out the
front door when Bailey made an amazing

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leap and buried the knife in the
door. Maddie and I quickly turned tail

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and ran upstairs. Mom's room was
right there, and we locked ourselves in.

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What is going on? Horton.
Mattie shrieked, slam you just wait

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mouse. Bailey yells, I'll kill
you. You can't have my guy,

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Ritchie's mine. I knew I could
talk to Mattie since she knew about weird

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stuff too. Then I told her
about my new diary and what I wrote

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in it. You know where your
mom bought it? Maddie asked. It

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was a birthday present? I answered, Maddie seemed to have an answer.

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We gotta go look at it,
Horton. Maddie and I had to get

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to my room, so we came
up with a plan. I unlocked and

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opened the door. As soon as
Bailey rushed in with the knife. Maddie

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was on all fours. Bailey fell
over her and was on her back.

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Maddie got back up and we ran
to my room. After locking ourselves in,

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I showed Maddie the diary. Bang, crash, open up, Ritchie,

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I love you. Don't you understand? Bailey screamed, mouse, can't

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have you. Mattie pointed to the
diary. Tear a page out, just

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do it, funny thing. Positively
couldn't tear any pages out of the diary.

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I even tried poking a hole through
a page with my pen. The

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page wouldn't even show that I had
tried doing it. Ten to one.

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This new diary came from Tinkers,
Maddie said. Then she explained to me

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how Tinkers was a store that just
happened to appear to the right person.

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From there, you'd go inside and
Tinker would sell you something he knew you

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needed. Usually the item had something
deeply wrong with it. On top of

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that, you couldn't destroy them.
Now. I never let people read my

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diaries, not even Mom. But
I let Maddie read what I wrote in

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the new diary. Yeah sounds about
right, everything going on in here,

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Richie. Suddenly the door began coming
apart. Bailey kept stabbing at it and

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throwing herself at it enough times.
She looked in at Maddie and me,

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I love you Richie. Then she
said to Maddie, taking after Ariel Mirn,

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I hate you mouse. Bailey screamed
as I got an idea. When

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she finally burst through the door.
I slammed the diary down on the desk

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and poured the remaining bottle of ink
onto the pages. Mattie and I looked

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at each other, hoping praying it
would work. Bailey suddenly stopped and dropped

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the knife as she reached Mattie.
Epilogue, It was my birthday all over

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again. It was like everything since
my birthday before had never happened. Well

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almost, I'll get to that.
Everything happened the way it did before,

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with Mom taking me out for my
birthday. Like before I got that diary,

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only thing I did was open it
up. There was nothing written in

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it from when I'd written in it
before. Oh yeah, hit Zigger was

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back at school and giving me a
hard time. Bailey was still my lab

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partner in science class, but at
least she wasn't obsessed with me. Obviously,

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Mom was back since she took me
out for my birthday funny thing.

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Though Maddie actually remembered what happened all
of it, we talked about it in

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private. We ultimately agreed that since
I couldn't destroy the diary, it had

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to be kept safe. I gave
the diary to Maddie and told her I'd

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be too tempted to write in it
again. She understood and promised me she'd

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keep it safe. We went out
and found a diary similar to the one

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from Tinkers. Mom never knew the
difference. As for how things went from

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here, hit Zigger still gave me
a hard time. He eventually got off

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my back when he saw my friends
wouldn't let up on him, or that

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I actually wasn't afraid of him.
Bailey downs and I did start talking more

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and we hang out sometimes. Also, when Mona or Maddie came around,

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she didn't bare her teeth or go
after them with a big knife. Mom

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was still over protective of me on
account of she was a mom and I

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was all she had. At least
she finally started to call me Richie instead

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of Richard. Yeah, I'd say
life was good now, as long as

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that diary would never come back into
my life ever again. Speaking of ever

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again, we'll be back for some
more adventures down the road. That's all

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for now, another fun and spooky
romp through Strickfield with our good buddy Rob

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Fields. Thank you so much Rob
for this week's story. So you're welcome

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to shut the show off if you
don't want to hear this story, but

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I really wanted to share it.
About seven years ago, I adopted Henwolf,

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and she was a morbidly obese mutt
dog that was seven years old and

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had been returned to the foster.
I saw this dog and I thought,

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man, what a cool dog.
So I adopted her, brought her home,

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and she immediately ingratiated herself into my
entire life. She had the most

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beautiful, soulful eyes I've ever seen
in my life, and from the moment

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that we were together, she made
it very clear we were a team.

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She would follow me around, she
would sit when I told her to sit,

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she would stay when I told her
to stay. We could walk without

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a leash. She would go on
car rides with me. It was something

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really special, something I had never
experienced personally, and she just brought so

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much joy in my life, especially
during the lockdown and during COVID nineteen and

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everything. She was always there guarding
and protecting me and my inevitable second dog,

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Chicano, who passed away a couple
months ago. And it was a

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wonderful experience adopting an older dog and
giving her another chance at life because you

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really can teach and hold dog new
tricks. It's going to be very hard

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to go on with the show without
her because she was always, and I

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mean always, with no exception,
she would lay in the booth with me

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while I recorded these shows. In
fact, she laid in the booth with

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me on last week's show even though
she was very sick and very tired and

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really struggling. And it was shortly
after that show was recorded that we had

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to decide it was time to say
goodbye because we love her so much.

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So thank you for listening to this. I really appreciate it. I just

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needed to get it off my chest, and thank you so much for listening.

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I promise next week won't be so
so sad. So until next time,

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my friends, please stay spooky and
love your loved ones with all you

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got. Thank you for listening.
Make sure to find your way back next

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week, but for now you are
safe. Trust me.