Al Capone Does My Shirts (Gennifer Choldenko)

For YA blog #2, I decided to write character monologues from three characters of Al Capone Does My Homework, by Gennifer Choldenko. The prompt I chose challenged me to pick an important event in the story and write about how three different characters each reacted to the particular situation with each monologue from the point of view of the character. I found that writing Natalie's monologue was the hardest because she has Autism which made it difficult to think about what might have been going through her head after the event; however, I tried my best.

Event: Moose and Natalie are forced to move onto the island of Alcatraz when Moose's father gets a job as a prison warden. Moose loves baseball and soon learns that the inmates love the sport too. He learns that often times inmates can be spotted playing baseball inside the barbed wire and that on rare occasions, a stray baseball tends to make its way over the fence. Moose can't help himself but to tell his new baseball loving friends about the 'inmate baseballs'. When talking to Scout about it, Scout asks Moose to get him one and so, in an attempt to get on his new friends' good side, Moose decides to go baseball hunting. One day, while simultaneously babysitting his sister, Natalie, and searching the yard for an inmate ball to give Scout, Moose loses sight of  Natalie. Upon further investigation, Moose stumbles upon Natalie talking with a prison inmate numbered 105. Here is how Moose, Natalie, and Moose's nosy friend, Piper, each reacted to Natalie talking and practically flirting with the inmate.

Moose: I cannot believe that I let Natalie alone for 10 minutes. Anything could have happened in those 10 minutes. What if 105 touched Natalie? What if he hurt her? I remember the prison warden saying that most inmates haven't seen or touched a girl in over 10 years. 10 years. 105 must be attracted to Natalie. Oh my god, I shouldn't have let Natalie alone for that long. This is all my fault! What can I do? I mean, what should I do? I need to tell mom. No. No, I can't do it. Nothing happened to Natalie, they were just talking. Plus, she looked happy- the happiest she's been recently; I can't take that happiness away from her. Mom doesn't need to know because nothing happened. 10 minutes is nothing, really. All that matters is that she's safe now. Nothing happened, honestly. Telling mom will only make the situation worse by making her mad at me. Nothing happened. Now, I just have to figure out how to make Natalie stop muttering 105.

Piper: Today, I ran into Moose running away from the prison yard with Natalie in tow. He looked frazzled, and I could tell that something was up so I went up to him and found out that Natalie has a prison friend. I think that the inmates number is 105; she kept repeating 105, 105. That must be it. This. Is. Perfect. I have been trying to talk to Al Capone for years, yet to no avail. Now that we have a connection with an inmate, I have my in. Tonight, I will come up with a finalized plan to get to Al Capone. Then, I'll talk with Moose and get Natalie to get my message through to 105 and on to Capone. This is fool proof, I'm so excited. It's finally the break i've been waiting for.

Natalie: 1 0 5. He's so cute. He gave me a flower today. He asked me how I was doing. I love the way his hair shines. He cares about me; he is my friend. 1 0 5. 1 0 5. I wonder what mom would think of 1 0 5. She would probably really like him because he is really cute and really nice. He said he wants to see me tomorrow- tomorrow! I can't wait to see him again. I hope that Moose likes him as much as I do.