Actually, none of us is very elephantiike. We're all pretty normal thirteen-year-olds. Well, aside from the fact that each of us is a vegetarian, which some people find strange. (I find it strange to eat slaughtered animals.)

You know what else I find strange? Polluting our planet and destroying natural resources, such as trees. As you can guess, I am super-passionate about environmental issues. Here

"Dawn

are some other things you need to know about me: I'm in eighth grade. I have long, light-blonde hair and freckles. And my life has been like a soap opera. "The Days of Dawn," in six scenes:

1. Early Years. I grow up happily in sunny, laid-backPaloCity.

2. The Divorce. Mom decides to move back to her hometown (Stoneybrook) with me and my younger brother, Jeff. We buy an old farmhouse with a secret passageway that was once part of the Underground Railroad. I grow to love Stoneybrook, I meet great friends, and I join the Baby-sitters Club.

3. The BigSplit. Jeff hates his new town and sinks into a huge funk. After much suffering, he decides he wants to live inCaliforniawith Dad. Mom reluctantly agrees. (Two hankies for this part.)

4. The Re-marriage. My friend Mary Anne Spier and I discover that her dad used to date my mom in high school. We play matchmaker. They fall in love and get married — and the Spiers move into our house! (Swelling music here.)

5. Dawn's Big Move. I find myself missing Jeff and Dad terribly. I convince Mom and Richard (my stepfather) to let me move back toCaliforniafor awhile. (More hankies.)

6.CaliforniaWedding. A work in progress. Sure to be another major tearjerker.

Hmm. Maybe I could get Maggie's dad interested in this plot. He's in The Industry. InSouthern Californiatalk, that means the movie business. You know what Maggie's favorite part of a movie is? The credits. She sits at the edge of her seat and reads the names of people she knows. (Me? I'm in the aisle, checking my watch.) Her style is more than cool.