Lets Go Mahi!
Phoebe
Some people think that being autistic has turned Phoebe's world upside-down. Watch as she barrels through the challenges that life throws at her.
Snow came down tumbling out of the sky,onto my roof and through my chimney. My mother sighed as the
snow put out our fire once more. “We will freeze to death!” I cried. “Phoebe, you know we will not
freeze” my mother said firmly but she could not help glancing away. She tucked me under my warm yak
blanket. Gran had made it a long time ago, but she’d passed away last year. I saw the tears welling
up in mum’s eyes, and how hard mum was trying to keep them in. I lifted the blanket off and gestured
for Mum to sit next to me on the old ragged mattress. Mum sat beside me and tucked the thin blanket
over us both. It was one of the three old furry blankets that we owned. Suddenly, the door came
bursting open. Dad and my older sister Jessica, had gone to the village to get materials to ensure
that our little wooden cottage wouldn’t collapse. “Phew!” exclaimed Jessica,as she shook the snow
off herself.”You could catch your death out there!”.” Here, Phoebe”, Jessica handed me a bundle of
sticks and twigs,along with some flint.” You make the fire, I made it last time``.I sighed and took
the sticks and flint from her and started to make the fire, while Jessica snuggled into the blanket,
Mum had gone off to boil snow for green tea. I thought about my friend, Felicity Groves, who lived
in a luxurious house on the west side of the village. Felicity had everything she could possibly
want. One whole room of her house was made specially for arcade games, like Pacman, Space Invaders,
Ms Pacman and tonnes of others. Time for school. Bye!
XOXO,
Phoebe.
The next day, I received an invitation from Felicity to her birthday party. It was this Saturday and
I leapt at the chance. I asked mum if I could go, and she said yes, but Jessica butted in and
started whining that she couldn’t go and that she does most of the work anyway. “No fair, I was
invited!” I argued. “So what, you’re just a lazy slob that doesn’t care about us” shot back Jessica.
I rushed onto the mattress and sobbed into the soft bunny shaped pillow Felicity gave to
me.”Jessica! Huh, really”, I could hear mum saying from the kitchen.”You know not to speak to your
sister like that”. You see, the only reason mum’s saying that is because I have autism. Autism is a
condition,not a disease,so no need to wear masks and stay away from me.It basically means that I
have super senses,it’s hard for me to understand others feelings [and also I’m quite sensitive].
Having autism never affected me too much. I learned to control my demand avoidance over time and I
have good friends like Felicity Groves [as I mentioned earlier], Savannah Chrisley, Sunny
Whitman,and Jenna Whitcoll. They’re all really nice and they never judge me about me being autistic.
Time for tea. Catch you later!
XOXO,
Phoebe.
“Phoebe!” Mum called from the storeroom, where we kept our emergency food and water, along with a
first aid kit and some lanterns [in case the power goes out] .”Come on, you’re gonna be late for
school”. “Ugggh!” I groaned as I rolled off the mattress.I was dreading this day, knowing it was
gonna be the first day of year five, but this was not avoidable. I trudged out of the small shared
bedroom and headed into the tiny bathroom.I quickly did my bathroom chores and jogged into the
kitchen.”Good morning, Jessica” I greeted politely.”Good morning”,Jessica grunted as she spooned
porridge into her mouth.She clearly hadn’t forgotten yesterday’s fight.”Here, Phoebe”.Mum handed me
a plate with piece of crunchy buttered toast. I nibbled on my toast,trying to delay time as much as
possible.”Urggggh” moaned Jessica.”Can’t Phoebe eat faster? I'm gonna meet up with Olivia at the
school library before attendance”. ”Jessica,there’s always time for that later” mum said, taking
occasional sips of her coffee. The most we could afford from the farmers market a week was a 1kg bag
of beans, 2kg bag of flour, 2 packets of frozen okra,some free pistachios and almonds {since Aunt
Mabel owns the nut stall} and a tiny bit of carrot cake .Mum rarely buys carrot cake. Mrs Bernad who
lives next door bakes in the carrot cake stall and she always lends us a bit every now and then.
Sigh. I gotta go make the fire now. See ya!
XOXO,
Phoebe.
“Mum, mum! Look” I shouted with glee as I waved a set of papers in the air. ”What is it? “ Mum
questioned. “Have a look” I said excitedly as I let the papers flutter to the table.”Mmmm” Mum
murmured as she flipped through them. As she got to the last one, her facial expression changed.
“Oh, Phoebe!” Mum exclaimed as she read the letter aloud. “Dear Phoebe Spencer, You have been
invited to audition for the Ambrosia Play that occurs on the third of July,the founding date of the
Ambrosia county. I came to know about your talents by your school. The play we are performing this
year is Matilda the Musical. I hope you’ll find great enjoyment in performing for the play. Sincere
thanks, Evelynn Auclarrie-Barbeau.” As Mum got to the last bit,she erupted with happiness.”Oh
Phoebe, this is my dream come true for you".The reason is that Evelyn Auclarrie-Barbeau is mum’s one
and only idol. Mrs Auclarrie-Barbeau is one of the most famous and popular occasion organisers in
all of the Ambrosia County, and that’s what sparked Mum to become an occasion organiser but not many
occasions happen around here, so she barely makes any money. Dad’s a coal shoveler, and his boss is
a grumpy,old man called Mr Frederickson. Ugh! Jessica just called me. Catch you later! Bye!
XOXO,
Phoebe.
This morning,Mum came with very good news. Aunt Lisa is coming to visit! And so is her baby
Josephine (Jessica and me call her Josie for short).I’m so excited. They’re coming over tomorrow on
Saturday, and they are staying for 3 weeks! It’s gonna be so fun! Also, I went to the first audition
for the musical, and guess what? I got the main part of being Matilda! Got to go now and help Mum
put the mattress that Josie and Aunt Lisa are going to sleep on. It’s a shame Uncle Stan can’t come.
He’s been called away for work overseas. Bye!
XOXO,
Phoebe
Aunt Lisa and Baby Josie arrived! Josie has gotten a bit taller and heavier since the last time I
saw her, but she’s got a bad case of jetlag. Right now, Aunt Lisa is feeding Josie some milk in
their temporary room. But Josie looks so adorable!! She is wearing a cute pink tutu, with a mini
tiara headband. She looks like a baby princess. Sigh. I wish our family had enough money to afford
dresses like that. Uncle Stan has got a really good salary for being a sales accountant for Xero, a
company that sells home appliances, and Aunt Lisa is a private chef. Aunt Lisa and Uncle Stan are
always so considerate towards our little cottage. They live in a huge mansion in Miami, Florida, and
they came in a 14 hour flight, just to meet us here in Fairbanks, Alaska.Huh, now I pity Josie. She
can’t sleep at night because of her jetlag. Aunt Lisa’s been feeding Josie bananas, in hope of Josie
adapting to the time change quickly, but at the moment, all Josie does at night is cry and bawl.
Oooh. I hope Josie’s okay.But at the moment, it’s no fair. Jessica keeps hogging Josie and she
hasn’t let me hold her once. I’m going to Felicity’s house. Bye!
XOXO,
Phoebe
Yessss! Today I got 3 whole hours of playing with Josie without Jessica. That’s the good side of
having a sister who goes to high school. Jessica got in detention for passing notes in class to
Olivia, so she had to spend 3 hours writing an essay on how she wouldn’t pass notes in class. Poor
Jessica (I’m sarcastic, okay?). As if I would ever care. Oh, it’s time for a rehearsal for the play.
Talk to you later.
XOXO,
Phoebe
UGGGH! Today was horrible! I was on my way to school, and I tripped. My knee was badly scarred. I
could feel the tears rushing down my face, and my knee was stinging. Luckily, Savannah saw
me.”Phoebe!” she rushed to me.”Are you okay?!”. “I’m fine” I sniffed.”You’re definitely not fine.
Come on. Let’s go to the sickbay”.Savannah lended me her hand, but I got up myself. Savannah walked
me to the sickbay.”Oh dear me. What has happened to you, Phoebe?” kind Mrs Perkins asked.”She
tripped on the way to school” Savannah exclaimed.”Ok then, let’s clean this up”.Mrs Perkins cleaned
up the scar expertly in less than a few minutes.”All done. You can go to class now” Mrs Perkins
smiled. But that’s not all. On the way home, it was raining. I hadn’t got my jumper nor my raincoat,
and I had to walk home!Jessica was going to Olivia’s house in her car to work on a school project.So
unfair! About halfway through, a shiny black SUV pulled up beside me.The window rolled down.
Felicity’s head poked out.”Wanna ride?” she asked.”Yes, please”. At that moment, I was grateful for
anything that would get me out of the rain.”Hop in”,Felicity pointed to the backseat with her
thumb.I opened the door and shuffled into the seat.”Wow!” I thought to myself.”So this is what a
rich life is like”. The car had a mini refrigerator, resting in between the two front seats. There
was also an iPad fastened behind Felicity’s seat.”Thanks Fel, Mrs Groves”.”No problem” Felicity
said.”You’re welcome to get a ride home anytime” Mrs Groves turned around and gave me a movie star
grin.”Anyway, it would be horrible for you to walk home in that weather. You could get sick!”. I’m
home now. I’ll write to you later.
XOXO,
Phoebe
As we pulled up beside my cottage, I hopped out of the car and I ran to the porch. I waved to
Felicity and then the car left. As soon as I stepped inside the house, Mum rushed over to envelope
me in a hug.”Oh, my darling girl! I was scared to death when it started raining heavily. I thought
you’d get soaked and come back home, sneezing and sniffling. The forecast says that there’ll be a
thunderstorm after”. Sure enough, clouds started to grey and there were loud booming noises.”Fingers
crossed the house won’t leak” I said, alarmed.”It shouldn’t” Mum said firmly.”Anyway, how did you
get home without being soaked head to toe?”.”Felicity gave me a ride” I replied, hoping Mum wouldn’t
get mad.”I’ll call Felicity’s mum to thank her”. I quickly got changed out of my wet clothes and
changed into my warmest, heading into the kitchenette to fix myself a hot chocolate. I poured myself
a cup of skim milk (normal milk is too expensive) and popped in half a spoon of cocoa powder. I
stirred the milk till it became a chocolate brown. I took my cup of hot choc into Aunt Lisa’s room,
where Josie was playing with her rattle and Aunt Lisa was lying down, reading.”Oh, there’s my
favourite niece!” Aunt Lisa put her book down and sat up. I took a sip of my hot choc and sat down
beside Aunt Lisa. Suddenly, a spear of thunder split the pitch black sky.”Waaaaah!” Josie cried, as
she crawled up to sit in my lap.“Ok, Miss Fussy-Pants. Let Phoebe drink her cocoa” Aunt Lisa said as
she tried to peel Josie off me. To be truthful, I had also gotten a bit frightened and I moved a bit
closer to Aunt Lisa. I quickly finished the last of my cocoa and placed the empty cup beside me,
picking up Josie as I did so.”Fee-bee” Josie babbled as she curled up into a little ball. Almost
immediately, she fell asleep.”Seems like you have a special connection” Aunt Lisa smiled.”Yeah!” I
grinned as I cradled Josie in my lap. Oh, it’s time for bed. Goodnight diary.
XOXO,
Phoebe
Huh! I swear, good luck is not on my side! Today, I was humiliated, all because of Jessica’s stupid
hand-me-down uniform! Our school uniforms aren’t that bad, but today, it was the devil piece of
clothing! While writing, my pencil fell down, so I bent down to pick it up, and my skirt ripped
right down the middle! The seam had loosened, and my skirt had taken its last breath. Then my arch
enemies, Mikayla Song and Michelle Daken, laughed so much till their stomachs hurt. Let's say I’m
never wearing those Hello Kitty pants again. When I got home, I was red with fury. I begged Mum to
buy me a new skirt, but Mum said we couldn’t afford it, and that she’d have to sew it up. Uggh! Life
is so unfair. Right now, I’m sitting in the storage room, pouring my heart out to you diary, but I
guess I have to go have dinner now. Bye.
XOXO,
Phoebe.
Mmmm! I’m back. Aunt Lisa just made the most delicious dinner ever. She made roast chicken, mashed
potatoes, stir-fry veggies, and for dessert, Crème brûlée! It was so good, I took another serving of
the stir-fry vegetables. If Mum had made it, it most likely would’ve tasted like grease mixed with
salt. Ick! Bedtime now. Goodnight!
XOXO,
Phoebe.
Today? Well, it wasn’t TOO bad. Felicity saw I was wearing not a school skirt, but a navy skirt that
wasn’t part of the uniform. She ALWAYS has 3 pairs of spare skirts in her bag. She let me borrow a
pair. The best part of my day was probably when Chyou Ah Chan - a quiet chinese girl handed out
packages of money for her birthday. Nestled in each shiny red package was 50 dollars! Jessica was so
envious I thought her eyes might pop out!
XOXO,
Phoebe.