Monday, September 14, 2009

Christopher and Taylors Reunion at the Hamburger Shop

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, using Christopher
The Bean Trees, using Taylor
Setting- At the Train Station in Swindon, where Christopher lives, then at the Hamburger shop, still where Christopher lives


Rachel Beiermeister
Mr. B-G, A Block
September 8th, 2009
Summer Reading Essay

Around the area of Swindon , Wiltshire, lives a young fifteen-year-old boy, who has a complicated life to live with autism spectrum. His name is Christopher Boone, from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon. Christopher lives with his father, Ed Boone, on a little street in town. After weeks of investigation as to who killed Wellington, a neighbor’s pet poodle, Christopher learns that his father had been the one to stick the fork in the dogs’ body, which was extremely concerning and uncomfortable for him, what if Dad wants to go after his own son next?.
Scared to live in his own house, Christopher attempts to make the gigantic move to London , where his mother is staying. (Christopher had just found out that his mother didn’t really die of a heart attack as his father had told him, but that the parents split up when he was just a toddler) Finding his way to a train station was the hardest part for him, but he made it easier by making the map into a spiral and going around and around until he found it.
Once inside, Christopher gets his tickets from a rather rude lady using his fathers’ stolen credit card. Sitting down on a bench, he gets pretty anxious and begins to groan a lot to block out the outside noise from other people. Thankfully he took Toby, his pet rat inside his coat pocket. He felt even better when he saw a policeman walking towards him, because police wouldn’t let anything bad happen.
“Anyone at home?” he questions Christopher. He still didn’t quite understand, so he stared blankly. “He said anyone home?” A younger lady said. “Taylor?” Ah, yes, it was Taylor, whom you may recognize from The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver. She had known Christopher through his father, Ed, when she used to live in their neighborhood. “Taylor! So happy to see you here!” Christopher shouted with glee. “What’s up Chris, how’s your father?” “Let’s not get into that.” He replied. “Well, wanna go get some food? You look hungry.” They went to the nearest hamburger place, which reminded Taylor (who at first was Marietta/Missy) of when Turtle, “her baby”, was given to her from a random woman.
“So, how’s Turtle?” Christopher asked shyly. “Alright, she learned her first word, 'bean', but I’m getting worried and anxious to find her real parents; I even tried going back to the town I received her in- Cherokee nation, Oklahoma .” “Oh jeeze, well if she needs a friend, I have Toby my pet rat here with me.” “Thanks, Chris.” She replied.
They continued on with their conversation of catching up on each others lives, with little conflict when Christopher had heard too much and had to put his hands over his ears and groan. Other than that, Christopher also learned about Taylor’s new friends, Mattie and Esperanza who commited a suicidal attempt, and Estevan, who indeed, she told Chris, she thinks she may be falling in love with, "but that’s a whole ’nother story.” She also learned a few things too, like what was going on with finding all the letters under his fathers bed, and learning about his mother.
They were both very happy to had seen each other, and get a recap on what’s going on in their lives. After a long farewell, the two parted, and Taylor left for Arizona , hopefully without the 2 blown-out tires again. Christopher continued on to London , where he ended up happily living with his mother, passing and getting a's on his upper-level maths that he wanted to be in from the start, and with a new pet dog from his father after the horrible passing of Toby.