Winston Freeman is thirteen years old. His story is told from his point of view, through narration and online diary entries. There is not excessive foreshadowing, and the foreshadowing he provides is not reliable because he is inherently pessimistic about his own abilities and future.
The story begins with Winston’s diary entry about he and his mother unpacking the moving truck. They bought a house in Vancouver, WA. This is his first move. He was born in Los Angeles, in a gated community in the Tarzana neighborhood. He lived in that same house until now. However, this is not the first time the rug has been pulled out from under him. His father died unexpectedly and mysteriously when he was seven years old.
His mother says that he died of heart failure, which has always bothered him because his father was an extremely healthy eater and a weekend cyclist. He taught poetry and Theatre Arts at Los Angeles City College. Will
Since his father’s death, his mother, who develops software for restaurants has telecommuted. Though her company is based in LA, she was able to move to an area closer to her family and long-time friends because she works from home. She was born and raised in Vancouver. She met Winston’s father when she enrolled in his theatre arts class at the age of nineteen. He was twenty nine years old at the time.
Winston Freeman’s hero’s journey from a boy who is painfully shy and lives boldly in his own imagination to a young man of confidence and principle begins when the summer ends and he begins the year at Discovery Middle School. There he meets Jewel, a confident, but secretive girl who is misunderstood by boys her age. She is; however, unconcerned by this and seeks adventure after adventure. It is her urging that calls Winston to an adventure of his own. The adventure of his life, that begins with his attempt to seek the answers that he doesn’t feel he has about his father’s death and life.
Winston plays an online game called FantasyScape. However, she is extremely protective of him and keeps roping him into all these other activities to make him a “well-balanced” child.
Winston is and only child and has a beagle named Romeo, who his mother bought for him three months after his father’s death. He named him Romeo after a character in a play he’d seen with his mother recently. He’d wanted to be Romeo, because Romeo acted. He may have acted stupidly in the end, but he acted.
His story contains a few other characters. A male teacher, who becomes a mentor for him and Jewel and Joe, the old man who lives next door, who grunts and glares. He keeps the online diary because his mother makes him. She is protective and upbeat, though he “catches” her sadness when he sneaks up on her. He hates chocolate, but loves gummi candies. He misses Alison from L.A., who he’s sure he’ll marry.
Still working out the rest. Four days until kick-off!
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Some past posts to keep you making time:
Adjust your pace accordingly.
It’s about the routine and how you shake up the routine
There are things you will have to give up
See it to achieve it
Washing the dishes
Write slowly
A celebration of the pause
Monday, a run through the driving rain
Zen accident
Get out of your comfort zone