Books: the way to travel

August 12th 1860 Missouri

All I can see is grass, tall and uncut, waving in the wind. The prairie looks like a sea of tan and brown grasses dancing in the sun. Small homesteads are here and there, and wagon ruts are carving roads. There is only one stream and some willows around that stream, but other than that the prairie is plain grass. I can see a small town in the distance, tiny compared to the roaring city of New York. There is not one car in sight and there is no noise. You are probably wondering where I am, and how I got here, so I will explain what happened.

I was in New York, going to bed in my apartment, just across from Central Park. I was thinking about the book I was reading, Little house on the Prairie, the story of Laura Ingalls Wilder. We were reading it in lit. Circle and it hate the book. I fell into a deep sleep listening to my iPod still thinking about the book. Then, this morning I woke up in a small train, roaring down open prairie. I was still half asleep, and thought I was dreaming, but when the conductor woke me up and took me to the platform, I knew it was real. On the platform the conductor hurried me over to a family with three children. The girls were all wearing bonnets, like all of the other women around.

Now, I am sitting on one of the willow branches writing in my diary, the one thing that I had with me when I was on the train. The sun is starting to set, and dinner is almost ready. The mother, her name Caroline was asking me to help cook dinner. I had never cooked, but I helped with the dished, and now I am free.

Caroline Called at me. Oh, yes, and my name is Hannah, but my real name is Eliza May, though it is my middle name. I hurry over to the house, a two story wooden house that is made of logs, and has a wooden fence around the yard. There is a barn with two horses, I have only seen, not met. There is also a giant garden, and more animals in different areas.

I come in a take-off my shoes and sit down for supper, as they call it. I prefer the word dinner, less fancy. I am shocked and scared. I have never eaten with these people. Where are my mother and father? Where is cocoa, my dog, and were is Jackie my super annoying brother? Where is my sister? I do not like this time travel deal at all. The most horrible thing is there are no iPads or TVfeather stuffed bed with a quilted blanketalmost flatEliza May, are you dressed, time to come down for The what, I do not remember what I used to wear; this is scaring me a lot.

Laura calls from the stairs. I hurry to the step ladder that comes down to the first floor. The smell of corn cakes and bacon greets me pleasantly. The table is set nicely and Carrie sits on her mothers family, their old one burned down. We were able to bring water and lemonade to the dads.

Now I am in bed, the stars gleaming in the sky, and the moon standing loud and proud. Laura and Mary are sound asleep, and the room is still. The thought of my life slipping away from me scares me. Every now and then I will say something about my old life, but then it will be gone, as fast as it came. This is all so mysterious, I do not get why it happened to me, of all people.

The days went on for Eliza May. Seasons changed and came. Harvest had just ended and the bitter cold took over. Mary was accepted into the advanced school, and Eliza May and Laura still went to the town school. Mabel and Ida were always over at the house playing, and Carrie was getting older. Ma and Pa were very content in their life. The days were getting more and more familiar for Eliza May. She is now not a new person, everybody thinks of her as a part of the family. She now is just like a pioneer, wearing bonnets and everything. She now works in the garden as chores, and does most of the baking. Pa works in town for the railroad, and also sells his grain in the general store.

January 16th 1861

Mother calls from the stairs. It is so weird; I cannot remember anything but this life. I even think of Caroling as mother, like I have no other parents. The thought scared me less, but it is still weird.

I call down the stairs. I swing the wardrobe doors open and grab a pink calico dress out. It is starchy, but comfortable. Even the cloths are not uncomfortable anymore.

The hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon fills me up. I hurry with Laura and Mary to get out the door so we can make it to the school on time. Mary walks with us to the town, and then takes the trains to Pepin where she has school. Mabel and Ida meet us at the cross roads, or the spot where the two wagon track roads cross and form one that leads into town.

School goes by so fast. We gather up our coats and lunch pails and run out the door books in hand. Ida and Mabel leave soon at the cross roads, but Laura and I keep running. We are home in no time. We slam the door and drop our coats and grab our books to study. When dinner rolls around we prepare the table and help with the cooking. Pa ad Mary come home tired and we eat dinner early. Then we clean the kitchen; tuck Carrie into her bed in Ma and Pas book, Little House on the Prairie. It seems so familiar something is the same, but what? I can only imagine what the future is like, maybe someone will make a book, and I will relate to it.

And then it happened. I was thinking about what the future would be like, and I fell into a deep sleep. I was sleeping, in the peaceful room, but then I woke up, in a bed, bright pink covers, and a roar of noise. It was so strange; there were these screens on the wall, and small screens on a bright pink fuzzy bed. Out my window were these thingss crayons and cars all over. MY iPads and my TV Oh My Gosh, now that prairie life is flooding back tom me. I set the book down, BOOM it was gone, my prairie life. That book, is the key, I can time travel with that book. Now I get why I time traveled, to understand, to learn about that book, the one I hate, the book I never focus when reading. Then when I picked up the book I got it, the thing that was familiar in my prairie life, I was in that book, and Laura was my sister, same with Mary!

I hurried out of bed; I am going to tell my parents! Sun streaming across my room, book in hand I go, hurrying to the kitchen, thinking about the book. BOOM, I forgot that when I think about the book I time travel, so here I am on that same train roaring down the open prairie just like the beginning.