Mariko’s Secret Notebook
Henry Kiryowa
Entries
1 Riku Stars in a Cartoon Show
2 At the Movies
3 Riri in the Mirro
4 What Were They Thinking?
5 Car Talk!
6 At the Library
7 The Photograph
8 Squirrel Looking for Lunch
9 I Meet the THUNDER BOY!
10 Shadows
11 I Know What They Think!
12 Played by the Digital Games
13The Most Beautiful Person…I Know
Mariko’s Secret Notebook
Shsssh! my name is Riku Tanabe. I’m going to be 10 next week. I’ve just seen my big sister, Mariko, tossing this, in the trash can…Oh, yikes! It looks like some kind of a diary…a thick notebook full of notes! Wonder why she’s throwing it away!
Uh… I shouldn’t do this, but I CAN’T stop myself from doing what I’m about to do…reading it!
It looks kind of old. Look, it says “Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 10-” Wow! She was 10 when she started keeping this diary! Now she’s 14 maybe 15.
I can’t believe I’m reading my sister’s secret notes. But hey…she’s just thrown them away.
I’m gonna need a safe and quiet place before I start devouring it. Here we go…
Mariko Tanabe is my name. My family, friends and not so friends call me Mari chan. I’ve been alive for ten years, one day and some hours. I live in a two-storey house on a street that doesn’t have a name somewhere in the prefecture of Shizuoka Japan, with my mom and dad and an annoying younger brother named Riku. Oh and… seven gold fish all of them named Kin chan. I wish we’d something bigger in form of a pet.
Yesterday, I bought this thick Notebook at a stationery store. My mom asked me what it was for and I told her that I wanted to write some important notes about my life. “Are you starting to keep a diary?” she asked. “I’m not really sure. I just want to jot a few things down. May be it’ll be fun to read it in the future when I’m older,” I said.
I’d like to keep my notes absolutely secret! I don’t know for how long, though. If you’re reading this short preface note, STOP! Put my secret notes notebook back where you’ve found it. It might be too late to stop you from reading it anyway but… please don’t ever tell my mom and dad, friends or teachers about it. There’s no doubt if my parents get to know some of the things I’m about to put on these clean sheets of paper, socks will fly off their feet and land on the neighbor’s roof!
I may be ten years and a day old with piggy-tails and ribbons and secret crushes on fifth and sixth grade boys but I’m not your average, regular ten -year old girl. I see, hear, feel and imagine things that I’m sure most of humanity doesn’t. I tend to be more observant and think about stuff that regular kids of my age and a little older, wouldn’t ever bother themselves with. This is the first time in my life I’m attempting to make a record of stuff happening in my young life. Part of me says that I should not do this. And the other…why not? It might be fun even if it may get me deep in a pile of trouble.
Vocabulary
toss …を(軽く)投げる、放る
I can’t stop myself from 自分が…するのを止めることができない
turn 10 10歳になる
devour …をむさぼり読む
two-storey house 2階建ての家
annoying うっとうしい
thick notebook ぶ厚いノート
stationery store 文房具屋、文具店
jot a few things down いくつかちょっと書き留めておく
absolutely secret 絶対内緒に
preface note 前書き
no doubt 疑いなく
secret crushes 片思い、ひそかな恋心
tend to どちらかといえば…する方だ
observant 目配りの利く
stuff ものごと
deep in a pile of trouble 山のようなトラブルにどっぷりと
