At the Candy Shop with Paul Day

Tristan Wolf, our imaginative hero is eight years old when his adventure begins. He is as dreamy and clever as only a child can be. We were all Tristan once in our life and maybe now, we have one in it. My guests- smart, creative and inspiring personalities- have accepted the challenge to go back to those years, to go back to when they were around eight or ten to answer some questions about the world around them.  

Let me introduce you to Australian author Paul Day, when he was eight.

Mariana: Hi, Paul, it’s very nice meeting you. Where do you live? And who do you live with?

Paul: Hi Marian, I mean Mariana. Is that right? I have an Aunt Marian so it’s a bit confusing. It’s nice to meet you too. I live in a big house with my family in Bendigo on McColl Street, just down the road from the mines. It’s not a very big house and I have to share my bedroom with my six brothers. I even have to share my bed cause there isn’t enough room. We only have a black and white TV too and we have to share that also. My Mum and Dad and my two sisters have their own room cause they are girls. Not my Dad though, he’s a man.

M: How do you get along with your siblings? What do you fight about?

P: I don’t get on very well with my brothers, except for Aaron. He’s

 the youngest and we do everything together. My other brothers pick on me a little bit cause I’m small. Plus, they call me dummy and stupid and I don’t like that so I get upset, a little bit. My oldest brother is ok, but he is always busy. We fight a lot, me and my brothers, mostly about nothing. Once, my brother went to hit me and I dodged and he missed and broke his thumb when his hand whacked into the window. He cried like a baby but I got in trouble cause he dobbed and Dad thought it was my fault. But it wasn’t.

M: What school do you go to? What do you like to do at school the most?

P: I got to Leura Public School in the Blue Mountains in NSW Australia. I’m in the third grade and my favorite teacher is Miss Simons. She’s the Music and Art teacher and she is really pretty and nice too. She doesn’t like it when the other kids pick on me and I spend recess and lunch in the Art room drawing and playing the trombone. I like camping and hiking and sometimes we get to do that at school. I also like music and art cause Miss Simons takes it and she is very pretty.

M: And the worst about school?

P: I don’t like some of the big kids. They steal my lunch and pick fights and that. I also don’t like Math because I’m no good at it.

M: What’s your best friend’s name?

P: My best friend is Daryl. He’s a bit silly and gets into trouble, but not because he’s naughty. He gets stuck in things and is always late for class. Once he got stuck in the drain chasing a stray cat and the teachers couldn’t get him out so they had to call the ambilians. When they got him out he giggled and said that they tickled him. It was so funny. But his mummy wasn’t laughing. She was crying. She yelled at him for getting stuck again. He’s my best friend cause he’s the only one that doesn’t call me shorty.

M: What is the food that you absolutely dislike eating? How does it taste like?

P: I hate brussel sprouts and broad beans. They are yucky. Mummy makes me eat them. I chew them then I ask to leave the table to go to the toilet and when I’m in there I spit them out and flush them down the dunny. Mum doesn’t know though so please don’t tell her.

M: Do you have pets?

P: I have a very special little dog. His name is Latch. I called him Latch cause he followed me home one day and latched onto me and he never lets me out of his sight. He’s my only other friend in the whole world, besides Daryl. Latch is funny and silly and he barks at the wall and chases Sally, our cat. She doesn’t like him, but he likes her, which is why he chases her all the time. I tried to tell her but she just hisses at him and if he gets too close she scratches his nose and then he yelps.

M: Are you scared of the dark?

P: No, not really. Well, maybe a little. I don’t like dark places, like when me and my brothers went down to the caves and we got stuck half way along and then my younger brother screamed because he thought he saw a hand sticking up from the bottom. It turned out to be just some roots or something. It was so funny.

M: Do you dream a lot? Do you daydream?

P: I dream all the time. Sometimes I dream I am a little bird stuck in a small cage and suddenly the door is open and I am free. Only, I don’t want to leave. Sometimes I dream I am flying like superman. Sometimes I have bad dreams that the world is ending and everything is exploding around me and I don’t know where my family is or anything. I can’t even find Latch and that worries me a lot. Most of the time I like to dream, but I don’t want the world to end. My teacher told my Mum and Dad I daydream. But I don’t know about that, cause I rarely sleep during the day so how can I dream?

M: Who do you look like, your mom or dad?

P: I look like my Dad. But I sound like my Mum. One day I will look and sound like my dad, like Peter does. He’s big and tall and he has muscles and he sounds grumpy all the time, just like Dad.

M: Who is your favorite artist?

P: I like ABBA. I love the blonde singer best. She’s beautiful and pretty like Miss Simons. Sometimes I go over to next doors and me and Sandy pretend we are in ABBA and we sing all their songs with microphones we made by ourselves.

M: What is the best book that you’ve ever read?

P: My very favorite book is the Loaded Dog. It’s really funny how the dog runs around the mines with dynamite in its mouth and doesn’t know the fuse is lit and all the men go running in all directions. The dog is black like Latch and the Policeman chasing him reminds me of Daryl cause he trips over everything all the time when he chases the dog. It’s so funny. The dog doesn’t blow up though, but the buildings do.

M: Do you think you’ll ever get married?

P: My brothers don’t think I will. They tease me all the time and say mean things like, “You’re too ugly to get married”. I would like to marry Sandy, but she’s a little bit older than me by thirteen months. She’s pretty and me and her play together sometimes. I think she would like the blonde singer from ABBA to be her bridesmaid and I think I would like my youngest brother to be my best man when he is old enough. He’s only four now though.

M: What do you want to be when you grow up?

P: I want to be a writer and write funny stories about little dogs doing silly things and getting into trouble. I like writing stories and Miss Simons, who is also my English teacher, thinks my stories are really good.

M: Thanks for sharing with me Paul. I hope we can be friends for a long time!

P: Thanks. If we are friends, then I can have three friends instead of 2, Lucky, Daryl and now you. That’s more friends than I have ever had in all my life. I like you cause you remind me of my teacher Miss Simons.

This is Paul Day nowadays, in his own words: 

"My wife Jennifer and I have been married for 25 years (last January) and are still very much in love. We have 2 children, both now adults. Our son, Josh, now lives away from home, but our daughter, Beck, is still at home and wants to be a writer also.

Right now I have 13 books published on Amazon (more if you count the print versions). I mainly write Children’s Books and YA Fiction. I am a Qualified Teacher and have worked in Public High Schools for the past eleven years. Before that I was a Motor Mechanic with 13 years experience. I studied at University for 6 years in between careers.

We live on a property out in the country with our 2 horses, one dog (Soxy), one cat (Toby) and 2 birds (Cocky and Teal)"

When I was eight I used to daydream, I played pretend and I loved to write. I still remember my 8^th birthday present and the feeling of
joy it gave me. What was it? A journal, covered in
beige leather, with a writing pad of white satin pages and a black fountain pen that attached to the inside of my elegant and beaming new friend. And this is me, at that age, smiling at the world that I knew…oh, yes, I knew, someday would me mine!
Mariana Llanos