1. I thought that the stories were interesting. I didn’t really understand why Jeanette Walls’ parents are the way they are. I don’t know why they are against doctors and why they let their little kids just do whatever they want to. Stephen Kings’ ear story was horrifying. I wonder why they had to pierce his eardrums. The babysitter was a really creepy person.

Portfolio #5

Last summer I moved to a new neighborhood. My new neighborhood is really unusual. For example, there are many stray cats walking around. Before I moved to this neighborhood I had never seen stray cats in America. I am from Turkey so the sight of stray animals is not a completely foreign sight for me. Pretty soon I started feeding the cats. At first, there were five to eight cats living under my deck. Later I decreased the amount of food and only one cat stuck along. She just sat on my deck all day long and waited for me to feed her. At some point I tried to stop feeding her because I didn’t want her to be dependent on me. But when I did that she would just come really close to the door and start meowing softly. Surely she was trying to gain my sympathy. She was very successful. After that I started buying her cat food and feeding her regularly.

One day I wanted to try a new recipe. I wanted to bake a cheesecake. I went out to shop for the ingredients. Never before that day had I ever wanted to go back home so fast. As I was buying the ingredients my phone suddenly beeped; letting me know I got a new message. I open the text and see a picture of my brother holding a kitten smaller than his palm in my backyard.

I rushed home as soon as I can, the excitement of meeting my new friend bubbling inside me. After the five-minute car ride that felt like years I finally got home. I dropped the bags of groceries and rushed to my deck to see the tiny kitten wobbling around. I picked up the screaming kitten and held her up to my chest listening to her cries subdue until she went silent and fell asleep. I was like a child that day. Excited over something so little. That day was the most special day of my life.