The Jace Letters, Part Six

This installment is a little less centered on the sf/fantasy, a little more on the YA aspect of the older story idea. I make no apology for this. Enjoy (I hope)!


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Six

Subject: Re: Einstein and Stuff
Date: 5/??/??? 24r027098wieh
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Jace –

I was wondering when you would ask for proof, not that I'm exactly in a good position to give you any. How about this?

Birthday Presents from Me to You
* Age 6: a stuffed poodle on a pillow. Do you still have that? Seems to me I remember seeing it in your closet the last time you gave me "the Tour."
* Age 7: Scrabble Junior.
* Age 8: I can't remember...oh, yes. A necklace maker. I must have spent an hour in Toys R Us that time, trying to figure out what you'd like.
* Age 9: a diary with an audio feature and a lock.
* Age 10: a set of acrylic paints and an artist's tablet.
* Age 11: if I'd actually managed to get to Los Alamos, I would have given you a box set of the BBC Narnia movies on DVD. They're here with me. Since you're not likely to get these, I've been watching them. If it's really 2006, that means the Disney version came out. Was it any good?

I trust that establishes my identity.

On the name thing: my goodness, Jace, don't you know how incredibly cool your nickname is? At least it is from my point of view. You may remember that I was there when you told your parents to start calling you Jace instead of Janice. That was a gutsy thing for a seven-year-old to do. I thought your mother would be upset, but then your dad laughed, and I knew they'd go along with it. You have cool parents!

As for "Jace Face the Space Case," I thought you liked Jace Face. That is your screen name, after all. Is it really the "space case" part that bothers you, or is it because these kids are trying to be mean? The heck with them. If there's one thing I regret most about my childhood, junior high and high school years,, it's that I let whatever everyone else said and did hurt my feelings. YOU know you're not a "space case," and these kids probably know it, too. They're just going for the rhyme. You can even come up with a positive interpretation of "space case" if you try.

Heck, it's not remotely as bad as being saddled with the name "Sandy Sheets." "Hey, Sandy! How about washing those sheets?" "What were you doing in those sheets to make them sandy?" I was called Sandy Bottoms, and Sandy Pandy, and Sandy Sh*ts, and Sandy Feets, and even Candy Beets! I didn't handle it very well. Don't make that mistake. You've got a really good name, but absolutely every name can be turned into a joke or insult if you work at it. If some jerks at school try that on you, don't give them the satisfaction of being hurt by it. It's their problem, not yours. And a lot of times, as I learned many years later, teasing isn't meant to hurt. You can choose to enjoy the joke, instead of being scarred by it as I was.

So, it's past midnight by my watch,and I'm tired and sore. If I go to bed, does that mean you'll be 13 or 14 or 22 years old when I wake up in the morning? Gabby came through here a few minutes ago, and I asked her about the Einstein twin paradox and your theory about me. She didn't really answer the question, but she smiled. I think she was genuinely pleased to hear that it was you who came up with that. Make of that what you will: I have no clue.

Love,

Aunt Sandy (really!)

Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Five

Yes, this is a day late. Sorry. Still, I'm not sure that anyone but me cares about that.



The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Five

Subject: Einstein and Stuff
Date: 5/1/06
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Dear Aunt Sandy (if it's really you),

Well, it hasn't been a year this time. Only about three weeks. I guess maybe if you answer right away, it gets to me sooner.

I've been thinking about a video we saw in school, about Einstein and time and stuff like that. I guess it was explaining relativity, but I don't really understand it all yet, although I'd like to. Anyway, in the video, one twin went out into space and traveled at almost the speed of light. The other twin stayed home. When the astronaut twin came back, he was still young, but the other twin was old. Time slowed down in the spaceship because it was moving so fast.

So what I was wondering is this. Are you sure you're not in an alien spaceship or time machine? Can you feel the room moving, or motors humming,or something like that? I mean, if you are moving really fast, faster than anything this side of Star Trek or whatever, then time really could go slower for you than for me. It would also explain, sort of, why you can't get online. It doesn't explain how we can email each other, though.

You know, I've been believing that you're really my godmother, Sandy Sheets, pretty much just because it's your email account, and your emails sound like something you'd say. But what if it's all a trick, like the police told my parents? Is there some way you can prove you're who you say you are?

If you are Aunt Sandy, I guess maybe I should do what I said I'd do, and ask you for advice. I'm in the regular public school starting this year, and I'm having a little trouble with some of the kids. They like to call me Jace Face the Space Case. They say Jace is a stupid name. I kind of try to ignore them, but that doesn't seem to help. What do you think I should do?

Jace
(really Janice)


Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Four

Last week I made a continuity error. Did anyone spot it? I'm leaving it in, with the hope I can explain it as a plot point, months from now.

I'm not going to do recaps on any of the entries for this serial. Each installment is short enough that it should be easy to catch up if you come in late.


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Four

Subject: Believing the Unbelievable
Date: 4/??/??? 24r08498whfo
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Jace –

You talk about what I say being unbelievable, and I suppose that it is. But then you hit me with unbelievable claims of your own! How am I supposed to react when you say that my accident, if there was one, was almost a year ago, and that my car was found in Deming? I haven't been to Deming in years.

I swear to you, Jace, that unless I've been in a coma, there's no way that even a week has gone by for me since I left Tucson to visit you on your birthday. It certainly hasn't been a year. My forehead is still bleeding, and my arm is sore, the way muscles sometimes get the day after an accident. That's how long it's been since I got here, wherever here is: about a day, maybe two. I look in the mirror, and I'm no older than I was before.

But your latest email is dated next April. How can that be? Something strange is going on, even stranger than I realized.

I asked Gabby whether she was an alien. She just laughed and said no. But there's definitely something she's not telling me.

If you're about to be twelve years old, then you're heading into adolescence, when pretty much everyone needs somebody to confide in. I remember being 12, 13, 14. They weren't the best years I've had. I'm not sure I have any good advice to offer, or even that this will reach you before you're an old married lady. But if you want to try to tell me what's going on in your life, I promise to reply as soon as I hear from you.

Okay. I got your email at 9:03 PM, according to my watch. It's 9:46 PM now. Please let me know whether you get this on the same day, week, or year as your email to me.

Love,

Aunt Sandy



Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Three

I originally intended to rewrite or add to this entry, which I wrote in a hurry very late Saturday night, based on what I'd already written in my head. But I think I'll let it stand, except for fixing a typo and rewording one sentence. It probably helps to rush the writing just as much as Jace herself does here.

The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Three

Subject: Re: Why I'm not there
Date: 4/10/06
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Dear Aunt Sandy,

I don't believe this. You act like you just got the email I sent you, but I sent that the same night I got that first weird one from you, right after you disappeared. Don't you know it's been almost a year since then? I'm going to be 12 years old next week. I wish you were around, because I could use some advice, grown-up advice about stuff I can't talk to Mom about.

They found your car outside of Deming, all smashed up. They didn't find you though, or even any blood. Mom and Dad tried to tell the police that we got email from you, and we think you're alive. They took a copy of the email with them, but that's all. They never came back or told us anything.

After that we heard from a couple of people in Roswell. They say you were abducted by aliens. Do you think maybe Gabby is an alien?

Please notice I've worked hard on my writing since last year, even though I didn't get your criticism until just now. Yeah, I know that last email was bad. My friends all wrote like that at the time, but I kind of knew better.

Write back quick!

Jace



Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction