My Family Saves Tucson in '78

By Carey Lee

In Arizona long ago, 1978, three ominous visions of an American Indian haunted my sister Rachel on Sentinel Peak, near downtown Tucson, and our house.  My sympathetic ditzy sister Jan talks down a dancing building full of chocolate.  My mean sister Jory convinces the hapless White-Out leader to end the plague of white goo shrouding the town, by making him an offer he can't refuse.  My smart brother Skeeter schools the local professor, and together we all save the Old Pueblo.  Meanwhile, a brassy anchorman gets taken down a peg, and the local mayor is schooled in the realities of life by me.  This tale is fun, unique, original, and not too many big words.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carey Lee
• Release date: Sep 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215601037

Book preview

To John

Contents

My Family Saves Tucson in ‘78..............................1

Copyright................................................2

Dedication...............................................3

Chapter 1 – I am Not Mean, I am Nice.........................9

Chapter 2 – Yogie.......................................12

Chapter 3 – A Frightening Vision............................14

Chapter 4 – It Will Rain Chocolate..........................16

Chapter 5 – The Creamy Delight Chocolate Company...........19

Chapter 6 – Field Trip!....................................21

Chapter 7 – The Weebamites...............................24

Chapter 8 – A Dangerous Dance............................26

Chapter 9 – Musical Maelstrom.............................28

Chapter 10 – Jan Talks Down the Building, Willy...............30

Chapter 11 – Jan Saves the Chocolate, Willy, and Us...........35

Chapter 12 – Pinky Deal...................................38

Chapter 13 – The Bear on Mount Lemmon....................39

Chapter 14 – We Can’t Escape Yogie........................41

Chapter 15 – A Startling Meeting with the Chief................44

Chapter 16 – Heading Home...............................47

Chapter 17 – The White-Out Factory.........................49

Chapter 18 – Tanque Verde Slip-n-Slide, or Second Plague......50

Chapter 19 – Bears Are for Mountains........................52

Chapter 20 – Snow, or...?..................................54

Chapter 21 – Jory’s Had Enough............................56

Chapter 22 – Rachel......................................61

Chapter 23 – The Chief Appears, With a Crash................63

Chapter 24 – Mom Gives the Go-Ahead......................67

Chapter 25 – The Story...................................69

Chapter 26 – The Interview................................71

Chapter 27 – The Set-Up..................................74

Chapter 28 – The Mayor Is Perplexed........................77

Chapter 29 – A.J. Bayless.................................80

Chapter 30 – An Ominous Sight.............................82

Chapter 31 – A Dark World................................85

Chapter 32 – A Strange Spectacle...........................87

Chapter 33 – Madge and Mikey.............................88

Chapter 34 – Granny and Mean Joe.........................90

Chapter 35 – Bravery Helps................................92

Chapter 36 – A Dark, Diabolical Threat.......................96

Chapter 37 – The Inner Madness............................99

Chapter 38 – The Mayor Preaches.........................101

Chapter 39 – Skeeter Surprise.............................103

Chapter 40 – A Hard Bargain..............................104

Chapter 41 – Professor Brownstone........................107

Chapter 42 – Skeeter Enlightens Professor Brownstone........109

Chapter 43 – Chief Francis K. Polk.........................111

Chapter 44 – Triumph....................................114

Chapter 45 – Negotiating with the Mayor.....................116

Chapter 46 – A Celebration Worthy of Us....................118

Chapter 47 – Ron is Okay!................................121

Chapter 48 – A Lovely Afternoon...........................124

Chapter 49 – My Talented Family..........................126

About the Author........................................129

Chapter 1 – I am Not Mean, I am Nice

W

e live in a tiny green house on the slope of A mountain.  I am 15 years old and normal.  I have a mean sister Jory, a nice ditzy sister Jan, a stuck-up brother Skeeter, and a little sister named Rachel.  Rachel and I are not mean, and we are not stuck up.  Why we have nice, stuck-up, and mean people all in one family, I still do not know.  My name is Randy, short for Randall.

Skeeter's real name was Delbert, and everyone teased him about that, except me and Jan, because we were nice.  He would say things like, I doubt that; I don’t believe you; I don’t believe your words.  Certainly, he was unique, but the traits that other kids sought like fun, for example, were not always evident in Skeeter. 

I wouldn't call Jory mean, except that's how she seemed to me most of the time.  She would say things like not nice you're gross icky and the ‘d’ word - disgusting.  I had no idea, honestly, what she was talking about.  I was just being me.  I took baths.  I cleaned my plate as directed, when we had steak, or something good.  Fish sticks?  No, thanks.  I ate the bread crumbs on the outside.  We had a dog named Norman.  He got the de-breaded fish.  Was I complimented, for my discriminating taste, relative to all the other family members, who never asked once, who caught this what breed why do we have to eat fish anyway?  As you will see, I am totally nice.  And Jory had this way of staring, with these Stepford wife eyes.  But the meanest thing she ever did was not laugh at my jokes, which were funny sometimes.  Maybe she was secretly fun, but I could not tell. 

Mom said she heard the name at the Passion Play in Germany when she was a little girl, and fell in love with it.  At least, I think it was Jory.  It sounded like Jory to me, although...I suppose, the play was in German, it could have been...I don’t know...something else. 

Like what? Jory asked. 

I don’t remember, it was a long time ago.  I don’t wish to discuss it.  Any further.

Mom was strong, yet delicate, and rarely muted.  But if she didn’t wish to discuss it she was done talking for a bit. 

Jan was nice, she listened, and talked, and cried, whenever she could.  I don't know why she cried; we haven't figured it out.  Whatever the reason, Jan can't talk about it.  She can talk about everything else. 

Rachel was quieter than me, but she was open and brave and more adventurous at heart, I think than the others.  She was like me.  Except, I think girls are very...sensitive, maybe?  And, they can remember everything bad I ever did.  You think, Randy, that's amazing.  Not at all; I did such few bad things that each can be recalled in detail.  My problem was being ignored among so many kids.

Despite that fact, I couldn't be 'nice' according to my nice sister Jan.  But she never told me what that was.  How was I to know?  Be nice.  Be nice, how? I asked, nicely.  No answer.  So, sometimes, I listened to her, talking to someone else, and she’d say things like that's wonderful that's so nice and oh, I know.  If everything is nice and wonderful, what isn't?  Turns out, me.  I was funny, and when you are sarcastic all the time, people always think you're joking.  I point out irony, and people think I'm being rude.  I want meaningful conversations, and less worry about little things that don’t matter, like flat tires or an expired burrito.  I think that outlook could be called 'nice’.

Chapter 2 – Yogie

I

tried to be mean, like Skeeter.  "You are uglier than fried rice