audio narrative second draft

7/30/2019 Audio Narrative Second Draft

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Rosalie DePaola

February 1, 2013

Audio Narrative

An Honest Outburst

The sun reflected off the surface of the glistening, clear blue water of the peanut-shaped

pool. My siblings and my faces were shining just as brightly, as we could barely contain our

excitement. It was the summer of 2009the summer we moved into our new house with a pool.

Standing on the scalding hot stones of the patio, we waited impatiently for our parents to come

outside. We had previously decided that we would jump into the pool at the same time, as a

family. As soon as my slow-as-turtles parents opened the doors of the house to come outside, we

swarmed to the outskirts of the pool. On the count of three, my parents, my siblings, and I

plunged into the icy cold water, signifying the beginning of a new era of DePaola family

summers.

Ever since then, during each summer the pool has been the focal point of our family time.

In the summer of 2012, we were celebrating our third year in the house. As usual, the six kids

commemorated the first day by jumping in the pool at the same time. In the split second we were

all suspended in the air, I took notice of the variety of genes and personalities that emerged in my

siblings and me. Im the oldest, therefore the responsible child; I usually get called out for

being bossy. Gabriella, nicknamed Gabe, is the second child, with all of the Native American

and Italian genes. She is a quiet girl with dark olive skin and long, straight almost-black hair.

Edward and Katie are the twins and could not be more different in personality. Edward is loud

and obnoxious and after having a major growth spurt he stands at six-feet tall with football-

player shoulders. Katie is smart, but quiet, like a lion stealthily stalking its prey. She is relatively

short with light brown, almost blonde hair and blue eyes. Liz is literally a mini me; she has the

same medium-olive complexion and dark brown hair as I do. She is usually sweet, but she can


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have a short temperwhen shes angry. Michael, the youngest, looks like a little Edward, with the

same blue eyes but blonde hair. He is very athletic, although slightly chubby, and is often the

troublemaker. Even though we are all different, we somehow manage to stay a close-knit family.

The summer continued on in its usual way; whenever we had a chance, we would all be

out by the pool, sunning ourselves or taking a swim. This summer, however, there was a lot of

tension in my family; it was my last summer at home before going off to college and we werent

sure how to handle such a big change. My siblings and I took it out on each other so there was

always a fight going on. Gabe versus Michael, Michael versus Liz, Edward versus me, someone

was always making fun of someone else.

In mid-July, right around the three-year anniversary of the day we moved in, something

happened that changed our behavior for the rest of the summer. It was mid-day and the sun was

scorching hot, so we decided to cool off by playing Toothpaste, the starting category being

favorite color. Edward decided to pick on Liz by making fun ofherfavorite color, orange. It

wasnt even really mean, he was just saying in a mocking voice, Im Liz and my favorite color

is orange. Its very common that when someone starts picking on someone else, the rest of the

kids join in so theyre not the next one to get picked on; of course the rest of us laughed along

with Edward. Liz had enough of us ganging up on her; she stormed out of the pool and

dramatically ran over to the chairs where the towels were stacked. We assumed that she was

going inside to tell on Edward and we continued playing the game.

A second later we heard an furious, blood-curdling scream come from Liz. We looked

over and she was fuming, holding a patio chair over her head, ready to throw it at the next person

that made her upset. We all starting saying things at the same time like, Liz calm down, and

You freak put the chair down! Edward decided to taunt her by saying, You wouldnt throw it


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in the pool. Of course that just made her angrier so she threw it at Edward. Luckily the chair

was made of hollow metal so it wasnt heavy and Edward was able to dive out of the way. We all

started laughing because it was such a stupid thing to do, but Liz was still mad so she grabbed a

loose brick by the side of the pool and held it threateningly above her head. Then we all stopped

laughing.

With tears streaming down Lizs face and our full attention due to the brick she yelled,

Im tired of you guys picking on me. Im tired of you laughing at me. Im tired of it! Edward

and Michael were cracking up, even though it obviously wasnt funny. Liz glared at them and a

suppressed flood of angry words and true feelings began to pour from her mouth. Edward,

youre a big, fat oaf that is obsessed with video games. And Michael youre just a fat baby thats

spoiled. Gabe, Katie, and I started giggling at that and Liz pounced on us next. Rosalie, youre

just a spoiled brat who thinks shes so pretty and fashionable but NO ONE LIKES YOU. Gabe

youre always a bitch and youre black. Her comment to Gabe meant that because it was the

summer and her already tan skin had become very dark, she could pass as a black person. This

was supposed to be some kind of insult, so Katie let out a cackle. Liz made her final livid

comments with Katie as she screamed the loudest she had yet: Katie, youre a fucking potato

with toothpicks for arms and legs!

At this we all couldnt breathe we were laughing so hard. Liz even cracked a smile at her

own joke and started to laugh through her tears. The best part of her comment to Katie was it was

true; Katie had a regular sized body with really skinny arms and legs so she looked

disproportionate, exactly like Lizs metaphor. We started asking for more heated insults about us.

We loved how brutally honest she was with everyone and it was good to laugh at each other

without being the only person who was picked on.


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After that incident, we fought much less. Despite the harshness of Lizs honesty, her

comments became humorous and relieved tension rather than causing it. It made us remember

that we are a family even with our individual differences. Whenever I would have another split-

second moment like the one at the beginning of last summer when we first jumped in the pool, I

was grateful that my siblings and I were each others best friends and it would always remain

that way.

audio narrative second draft

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