The Main Character, Raymond Shorter

I was born in Kansas City, Kansas. My biological parents weren’t able to care for me so I became available for adoption. Tony and Arlene Shorter lived in Fort Worth Texas but had family in Kansas City Kansas. During a visit for Thanksgiving in November 2006, my maternal Great-Grandmother, Monique Brown who knew the Shorter's family told them about me being available for adoption. Tony and Arlene did not have any children. Arlene scheduled a meeting with my great-grandmother to get more information about me. She told them I was a special baby and would have some challenges. After returning to Fort Worth, the Holy Spirit spoke to Tony and Arlene and they were convinced adopting me was what they wanted to do.

Arlene called my case worker and asked how they could adopt me. An adoption referral was sent to Texas and Tony and Arlene requested visitation with me. I was introduced to Arlene and Tony Shorter on February 12,2007 and they visited me twice a month for six months. On August 31, 2007, I moved to Fort Worth with them at the age of 3. My adoption was final April 14, 2008 and I became the son of Tony and Arlene Shorter.

Life in Fort Worth was new to me. I had to get use to my new mom and dad, a new home, different food and new rules. I had my own room. My mom’s job gave me a “Welcome to the Family” party where I met lots of new people who gave me lots of gifts. It was fun!!

I started going to school half a day at Bishop Elememtary School. After school, I went to Kid Connection for after school care. It would be important to me for 8 years because I attended after school programming and summer camps there. I made friends there, had play dates and formed a lasting friendship with Ms. Vickie Garza, the Director. My mom also purchased season tickets for Casa Manana, a local theatre, which performed productions with kids. I enjoyed it so much that I attended their productions until I was 12 years old.

Chapel Hill Academy was my school from Pre-K thru 4 th grade. It was here that I first realized that I learned differently. School became a struggle for me and I didn’t always enjoy it. Because I learned different it became difficult to not be bullied and picked on. I have had few friends because making friends became a challenge too.

At the age of 8, I started taking keyboard music lessons at Kenerly Music Studio and continued until I was 18 years old. I even had music recitals. At Chapel Hill Academy, I was named the Music Student of the Year which was exciting since they were always complaining about my learning differences. I also attended two theatre camps at Kids Who Care, a local children’s theatrical company. It was fun participating in two of their productions.

Eventually the bullying got to be too much for my mother and she grew weary of the teachers calling often about me not staying focused and the school work being too challenging for me. She found Wedgwood Academy. I tranfered in 5 th grade when I was 11 years old. Wedgwood Academy is a school that is dedicated to teaching children with learning differences. The classes were small and I received a lot of individual academic attention. Ms. Wittich, the Principal and the teachers focused on my strengths while presenting the educational information in ways that did not overwhelm me. Micah, my former classmate from Chapel Hill Academy, attended Wedgwood, so I had a friend immediately. I became friends with others that have continued to be my friends such as Nicholas Britton, Hugo Lule and Luke Jensen.

I started getting ideas of writing a movie screenplay long before I started writing it. The ideas for scripts came from my friends, and some of the people at The Little Teapot Daycare I attended, that was operated by Mrs. Cynthia. We would all run around and roleplay and put on masks and act like we were heros. While at Wedgwood, I wrote my very first script, “Crazy Cool Kids”. That’s when I knew I wanted to act and write. So I started watching videos and talking to Mrs. Cynthia about taking acting lessons. I knew that Ms Cynthia was an actress and I had attended some of her productions. She told me to believe in myself and she introduced me to Fort Worth Actor’s Studio. There I learned a lot of acting tips.

I graduated from Wedgwood Academy May, 2020, I got a job and I learned to drive. My parents bought me my first car. "Crazy Cool Kids" was eventually changed to "Tommy and Ray", my script was redeveloped and now I am preparing to turn it into a movie, a movie that I will be starring in as Ray.