Free The Diary of Melanie Martin by Carol Weston

foot. Matt showed it to a guard, who showed Matt where to find it.
    Matt led the way, and we all liked the boy. Dad said, “I guess kids have been stepping on thorns for thousands of years. Cave men and cave boys probably stepped on thorns.”
    “And cave women and cave girls,” I added. “Now let's find my postcard.” I'd picked out a female wolf nursing two human baby boys. I showed it to a different guard, and she pointed the way and we found it. According to Dad's guidebook, the wolf is over 2500 years old!
    According to a legend, two baby boys, Romulus and Remus, got dumped by their father, Mars, on the bank of the river Tiber. They would have starved to death except that a mother wolf nursed and adopted them— kind of like what happened to Mowgli in
The Jungle
Book
, and sort of like what happened to Tarzan in
Tarzan
, except that he got saved by monkeys, not wolves. Anyway, Romulus and Remus grew up and founded a city. But they got into a big fight, and Romulus ended up killing Remus. And that's why the capital of Italy is named Rome, not Reme.

    Well, Matt and I may have sibling rivalry, but at least we'd never kill each other!
    On our way out of the museum, I showed Matt an old statue of a sad man whose nose was chipped off.
    “Guess why he's so upset,” I whispered.
    “Why?”
    “Because look what else is missing.” I pointed to where his you-know-what should have been.
    Matt and I cracked up.
    Next we went to the bathroom. Mom and Dad didn't have to go, so Mom made me take Matt to the ladies’ room. Matt can get too silly in ladies’ rooms, but he acted normal, and he even taught me his trick for never getting burned with the C-is-for-Hot water. He said to remember that F is for Freezing.
    Next stop: the Pantheon. Matt kept saying, “Look up!” and I kept thinking that if I did, he'd laugh and say, “Made you look.” But when I finally did look up, Matt didn't laugh. He just said, “Isn't that awesome?”
    The Pantheon is almost 2000 years old, and it has a big wide dome and no windows, and the only light comes from a hole at the top. Dad said it's called the Eye of God. In Italy, it seems as if God is always watching you.
    Dad said that we wouldn't be able to see all the sites but that they'd saved one of the coolest things for last. So now we're driving to the
Santa Maria della Concezione
(San Ta Ma Ree Ya Day La Cone Chate See Own Ay).
    It doesn't sound cool. It sounds like one more church.
    By the way, if my handwriting is sloppy, it's because I'm writing in the car. I'm lucky I can read and write in cars. Matt says he can't even look at a book in a car or he'll throw up all over the place. I don't know if that's true or not, but I don't plan to hand him a book and find out. Could be messy.

    same day
back in the

    Dear Diary,
    Dad was right. We just saw the coolest thing!!!
    We visited these rooms that are a cemetery for around 4000 monks. Living monks took the dead monks’ bones, and instead of burying them, they
decorated
with them. They glued them all over the walls in fancy designs. Like a humongous arts-and-crafts project!
    There are tons of skulls and a bunch of complete skeletons. Wearing monks’ robes. Staring at you, but with no eyes.
    Matt could hardly believe they were actual people bones.
    Even the ceilings were decorated with bones bones bones.
    In the very last room, there was a sign written in different languages. It said:
    What you are, we were.
What we are, you will be
.
    I bought five postcards.
    It would be so cool to have a Halloween party there, but Mom said it's not for parties. I think it gave my parents the willies, and they were afraid it was too creepy for us. It did scare Matt a little. Not me. I like that it was spooky.
    It makes you appreciate being alive, you know? I'm even appreciating my family, which is pretty weird. I mean, I might mention it to Miss Sands, but I won't tell Cecily or anything.
    Faithfully,

    same day

    Dear Diary,
    I just looked in the