1999 Connie

Convict Connie

1999

Continuing our journey. . .

2000

All little children, except one, grow up. They soon know they will grow up and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in--- no wait! That�s the opening paragraph from Peter Pan. Sorry about that. It�s true though. All little children do grow up (except for that Peter boy, I�m not quite sure about him), and, like all children, so also must my characters. (Though perhaps not at the same steady and continuous rate as most little children do.)
Somewhere between 1998 and 1999 Connie became a teenager. Aside from developing earrings and a denim jacket, she also mellowed out some, went from "thug" to "abrasive anti-hero", and became a

leading character in her own story line.
(It is also late of this year when Kaitlynn was "born")
In her own "series", Connie and her best friend Randi are pitted against a mad bomber by the name of "Kramer �The-Mad-Bomber�- Derkins" who will place a bomb somewhere in your home and then call you from a mobile phone to notify you that your house (with you in it) is about to blow up (rather considerate of him, all things considered). This bomber follows Connie and Randi around everywhere they go. Even pay phones at the E-Z mart are ringing to notify customers that they have 30 minutes to vacate the premises when Connie is only "innocently" trying to swipe a few candy bars. (Understandably Connie, being not the most even-tempered of God's noble creatures, takes this turn rather irritably.)

As it turns out, Kramer is just a pawn. No, he�s not a little plastic game piece that can only move forward one space at a time and must attack diagonally. Kramer (�The-Mad-Bomber� Derkins) is working for the esteemed Dr. Julian Peterson,( The Mad Scientist Extraordinaire). Kramer had been sent to test the survival skills, reflexes, and adaptability of the two girls who turn out to be perfectly normal teenagers�which meant they would do nicely.

Dr. Peterson also just so happens to be of that breed of mad scientist that uses mind altering gases to make you believe you are living one impossible scenario after the next. Not surprisingly, that is exactly what happens to Connie and Randi. Most of the rest of the series is a set of short stories, comics, and role-plays that involve these scenarios, and a few near the end about trying to break out of the lab and getting Dr. Peterson arrested.

Despite the, perhaps, �lameness� or cliche of that plot, it helped develop Connie quite a bit as a sympathetic character. It helped me work out for her a series of strengths, weakness, and personality quirks that make her a well-rounded (not to be confused with "well-adjusted") and very real character. (Even if no one knows this but me).