[Editor’s Note – The next events of note take place in August 2019. In earlier entries, Sidney discusses not being picked for the school’s hokey team that year but planning to try again next year if she is still alive. She also confirms that nobody at school, other than the teachers, seems to know that she is the same Sidney as her by that time very well-known campaign or, if they do, they are being very discrete about it. The next reproduced diary entry was written in LA.]


Tuesday 13th August 2019

Got the best news ever today! Not only is Jessie’s mom letting her come to my birthday party in Dallas on Saturday but she’s allowed to come with me, Daddy and Martha to Disneyland on Thursday which is my actual birthday! The only better present would be to hear that my campaign has been successful and I can be my own birthday dinner but Martha said I need to be prepared for that to take at least two more years and maybe more. I asked what happens if I am 15 before the law gets approved as we proposed making it for girls 8-14 but she said if that gets close we’ll just make it 10-16 instead but she thinks it will happen before then. I really hope so! She and Daddy are talking about opening a second campaign office in LA and letter Moira run it while Claude runs the one in Dallas and she goes between them. She said it would make sense as I do spend a lot of time here too. Daddy asked if I want to come out of school next year and have tutors instead so I can spend more time on the campaign but I don’t know yet. He said I didn’t have to decide yet anyway. Called Jessie after dinner and talked to her about Disneyland and the party. Her mom said she can fly with me and Martha on Daddy’s plane. It feels so nice to have my friend back.


Wednesday 14th August 2019

Daddy had a meeting at the hotel today so went there with him. This one had an apartment at the top just like the one in Dallas but I don’t like this one so much because Mrs Webber isn’t here and I guess because the LA house is so new it feels just the same. The manager here is a man called Scott and he’s nice I guess but always seems really busy and when I try to talk to him I feel like I’m getting in his way and keeping him from his work and that he’s only polite to me because he’s afraid Daddy will fire him if he’s not. Not that I’d complain to Daddy of course, as long as he was not actually mean, he’s just so different from Mrs Webber! I bet she’d be happy if I went to live at her hotel full-time!

Went to the gym for a bit but got bored so asked if I could go shopping. Daddy doesn’t like me walking around LA the way he lets me in Dallas so he sent me out in a car with one of his drivers who was a nice man a bit older than Daddy called Frank. He told me about his own daughter who has just had a baby and shared the candies he keeps in the glove box with me. I asked if he’d seen the posters and he said everyone had and laughed. There are certainly a lot in LA too but they don’t seem to stand out as much as the ones in Dallas. I bet NYC is even worse. It would be a good idea to have an office here too. It might help us get more noticed.

Frank drove me to Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s and I made him pick out some new shirts for himself too and some presents for his new granddaughter then we went to Big Lou’s Toys and found her a massive rabbit plushie then to the American Girl Place to find her a doll with her name and also to look at the dolls since Martha is talking to them about making a Sidney one with her own book about my campaign. We saw they already sell hats and boots like mine. Martha said the problem at the moment is that the doll would be naked and most American Girl dolls don’t have all their bits. She said the proper name was Anatomically Correct. She said a Sidney doll with smooth chest and nothing between her legs would look silly and nobody would want them so she’s trying to get them to agree. I told Frank about Meat Girl 1 and said if it comes to LA I want him to drive it.

After the shops we went to Wendy’s and Frank said the Baconator was his favourite too then he showed me pictures of his family on his phone. I asked if we could go to a movie. He told the ticket seller he was my Grandad so we could go into an R-rated one called Ready or Not about a woman playing Hide & Seek with a weird rich family who are all trying to kill her then they all explode at the end! It wasn’t scary if you don’t mind the gore and pretty funny. I bet Jessie would like it! I’ll tell her about it but not the ending!

After the movie Frank took me back to the hotel and I went for a swim with my suit on as Scott wouldn’t allow suit off I’m sure while I waited for Daddy. He took me out for dinner in town before we went back to the house but Frank wasn’t our driver this time. I told him how nice Frank was and that he should get a raise. Daddy said it was good to know.


Thursday 15th August 2019

I am officially 9 years old! We are picking up Jessie on our way to the park. Hunter and Alexei joined me and Daddy for breakfast and Alexei will be bringing his new girlfriend to the park so we finally get to meet her. I asked Hunter who he wasn’t bringing his girlfriend and he said it was because he couldn’t decide which one to bring! He is handsome and charming like Daddy so probably finds it easy to flirt with girls but I bet he gets slapped a lot too!

People often think rich families give big, fancy presents at birthdays and Christmas but we never do really since Daddy lets me have anything I want or need so he tries to find something nice and personal instead. This year he gave me a gold necklace with the logo of my name on it and a pair of pink sneakers with the logo in gold stitching across the heel. Alexei gave me a book called The Whole Hog full of recipes and traditions for pork and wrote inside Hope you find this inspiring! Hunter gave me a golden-yellow teddy bear with a pink hat and boots like mine! Martha called and said she is sorry she can’t come today but wishes me a very happy birthday. I decided to wear my new necklace and sneakers to the park. If anyone notices them they will just think I am a big fan!


Friday 16th August 2019

I am writing on the plane since Jessie is asleep. We had the best time yesterday and Alexei’s girlfriend is really nice. Her name is Carolyn which I said is a pretty name and she said she was named after her grandma. [Carolyn Elizabeth Boswell (later Boswell-Roebuck), my grandmother – Ed] and she is from a rich family too so not after Alexei for Daddy’s money which is something he and Hunter both have to be careful about. Her family are what Martha calls Old Money.

It was wonderful hanging out with Jessie again and we just didn’t talk about the campaign although she did say my sneakers were cool. I should ask Martha if we can get some sort of in with the Disney parks. Maybe sponsor an attraction or something? I’m sure Daddy golfs with Bob Iger sometimes so maybe he can arrange something?

I really hope Jessie is going to enjoy the party tomorrow! The girls from the first bake sale are coming and we are paying for their flights again but they are the only ones. Everyone else who is coming had to enter a draw on the website and say if they got invited had to say that they could get here on their own but we are putting all the families up in the hotel for one night. We’ve hired out a special area of Klyde Warren Park and put railings up like a music festival with security all around so the public can come look but can’t get in or close to us if they’re not invited.

Martha says there are 100 girls coming including me and Jessie and everyone who doesn’t have their own will get given the hats and boot covers like we send out for the bake sales but I bet lots of girls will have their own. When they signed up for the draw they had to agree to the dress code that was hat and boots and nothing else so anyone who wasn’t comfortable with that wouldn’t have asked to come. There is going to be a coach that picks us all up from the hotel so Jessie and I will stay there tonight. Mrs Webber says as there are so many of us she will turn one of the conference rooms into an extra dining room for breakfast but she wants pictures of us all in front of the hotel before we go.


(To be continued...)