I found it quite funny that neither one of my parents bothered to turn on the radio while we drove. Instead they sat in silence like two strangers in a car. Maybe it was because Mom was letting Dad concentrate while he drove, or maybe they were just tired of talking to each other. In any case, I was fine with it. I had my phone and I was just going to continue where I’d left off the other night while reading my book.
I couldn’t believe how interesting the story was becoming. I was so involved in the book that I didn’t even realize we were stopping again.
Had I been reading that long?
I thought.
Looking around I noticed we were just crossing into Pennsylvania. The sign on the side of the highway read
“Pennsylvania Welcomes You,”
and had the name of their governor underneath it. I found it to be very plain unlike ours back home which read
“Ohio Welcomes You to the Heart of it All!”
“All right, everyone get out and stretch,” Dad said while cracking his back, which sounded like it hurt.
I was just glad to be out of the car for a few minutes. One of my legs had fallen asleep and I had pins and needles going through my foot. I tried stomping it hoping it would go away, but it didn’t. It just made it feel worse. It wasn’t long before Mom was barking at us to get back in the car so we could get to New York already.
Dad filled up the car and we were back on the highway. There wasn’t much to look at except a lot of trees, so I dove back into my book. I think the best part about this story so far is the girl named Rose. She’s in love with a vampire, of course, named Christian. If I was ever in love with a vampire I think it’d have to be Eric Northman who stars in in the HBO series
True Blood
. I’d definitely let him turn me, so we could be together. After reading for another hour, I decided to rest my eyes even though I wanted to find out what had happened to Rose’s mom.
“Julia, dear, wake up, we’re here.” Mom said with the softest voice.
I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or not, but then when I heard my mom tell me to get up again while tapping on my leg, I knew it wasn’t a dream. My eyes felt so heavy and my body was hurting. Opening my eyes slowly, I couldn’t see much except darkness.
“What time is it?” I asked seeing as I fell asleep when it was still light out and now it’s dark.
“I’ll tell you in a second,” Dad said while he pulled his sleeve back to look at his watch. “It’s just about eight o’clock, honey.”
After climbing out and walking around the car, I see that I am standing in front of a brown building. I wasn’t sure if this was where we were staying for the night, or if this was where we were really living. Looking around I noticed there were green lamp posts up and down the street. “Okay, is this a joke? Do we really live here? Please don’t say yes. I’ll just die,” I said as I raised my hands to cover my face.
“What’s wrong, Julia?” Mom asked concerned about my reaction.
“Really? I feel like we’re on Sesame Street! Look at these green lamp posts and the brown buildings that are attached to the others all the way down,” I expressed, while pointing franticly like this was just a bad dream.
I could see Mom and Dad trying so hard not to burst out into laughter. I didn’t find any of this funny. I wanted to go back to Ohio. I didn’t care if they left me there all by myself. I’d figure out how to survive on my own. It had to be better than this.
“Well, I’m sorry to inform you, but this is our new place, Julia. It’s not that bad. I’m sure it’s really nice inside,” Dad said trying to cheer me up.
Dad started pulling out some of the stuff from the car. I wondered what we were even going to sleep on. The truck hadn’t even arrived yet and it was night time. No moving guys were going to unload a truck at this time.
“Julia, can you come over here and grab some of the stuff from the car?” Mom asked.
I really wanted to tell her no, but I knew that wasn’t going to get me anywhere, so I did what she asked. Once my hands were filled, Dad and I followed Mom up the stairs. Seeing as Dad’s hands were filled, he used his elbow to nudge me in my tracks. “Hey, kid, I know this isn’t something you really wanted, but your mom went through a great deal to find this place. Try to be a little nicer, would you?” I felt really bad after Dad gave me that little speech, so I promised him I would try to have a better attitude.
“Oh, and by the way, Julia. This is not called a brown building. It’s called a Brownstone,” he said as he smiled.
After bringing everything into the house from the car, Mom gave me the official tour of the place. The kitchen was really big and had an island in the middle which sat four people. The walls were a soft yellow color and had a floral border that went all the way around the top. The living room wasn’t quite as big as the one in our old house, but it was nice. So far, out of all the rooms I’d seen, I was truly in love with the bathroom. It was huge. It looked like a bathroom Jennifer Aniston would have in her house.
Not only was there a stand up shower which had multiple shower heads and a glass door, but there was also a huge garden tub that I think could easily fit three people in it. I knew where I’d be spending most of my time...relaxing with a book in my new tub!
“So, what do you think of the place so far, Julia?” Mom asked knowing I had a big smile on my face.
“It’s nice,” I replied.
“Nice, that’s it? I saw your face light up when you saw the bathroom, Julia. Wait until you see your room. I think you’re really going to love it. Maybe a little bit more than the bathroom,” she said while grabbing my hand and walking me back the opposite way. We finally stopped in front of a closed door. Mom turned to look at me and said, “Go ahead, open it, Julia.”
My stomach was doing flip flops. What could be so special about an empty room, I thought. I think I’d be more excited if my room was all set up and I didn’t have to do anything, but that wasn’t the case. The moving truck wasn’t even here yet. Looking back at Mom, I took in a deep breath, reached for the doorknob and turned it while giving it a little push so it would swing open.
I’m pretty sure when I took a step in my room for the first time, my jaw was wide open. I had to close my eyes and open them again just to make sure I was seeing right. Mom didn’t say anything. Instead she just let me take it all in while I walked around. All I kept repeating in my head was,
How?
It was huge. There was a bay window with a long bench built in underneath. On the side of the wall next to it was a built in bookshelf where I could easily grab a book and read while sitting there.
There were already light pink and green stripped curtain’s hung up above it. The walls were painted a lighter shade of pink and had a mural of Paris painted across it. I couldn’t believe it. I never wanted to leave my room.
“Mom, I… I just love it. How? And when?” I asked in complete and utter shock.
“I’ll tell you that in a second, but first look in here,” she said as she opened up a door.
“Holy crap,” were the words that flew out of my mouth and then I screamed like I had just won the lottery. I could feel my legs start to jiggle a little with all the excitement. Walking slowly, I stepped into a walk-in closet and not just any walk-in closet. Straight ahead against the wall was a shoe rack and on both sides of the closet were five shelves that had a bar underneath to hang my clothes. In the middle was a small bench that was painted white and had my name written on the top. Tears began to stream down my face.
“Oh, honey, I hope those are happy tears,” Mom said as she wrapped her arms around me.
“Yes. Yes, they are. I can’t believe my room. I love it all. How did you get that mural on my wall?”
“I found a guy here in New York that does murals and sent him a picture. I know it’s been hard on you, Julia, and I wanted to do something nice for you,” she said as tears fell from her face.
“Mom, don’t cry. You’ll make me start crying again. I love it all and I love you.”
“Seriously, I leave you two women alone for a few minutes and you ladies are crying.” Dad said while making crying sounds to tease us.
“Is everything all set up, honey?” Mom asked Dad.
“Yes, and while you guys were busy, I found a pizza place a couple of blocks from here and grabbed us a late dinner. By the way, the owner swore this would be the best New York pizza we’ve ever had. I laughed when he said that and agreed that he’s probably right seeing we’ve never eaten New York pizza before.
Mom and I both laughed at Dad’s remark. I loved that my dad had a crazy sense of humor. That night we all sat on the floor and dug into what was the best pizza I’d ever eaten. When we were done we all called it a night. Tomorrow was a new start in a new place and I was feeling better already. Maybe Mom and Dad were right. Maybe change was good. I couldn’t wait to set up my room in the morning, but for now it was time to rest.
Chapter Nine
The next morning I woke up on the floor. My air mattress had deflated on me in the middle of the night and my back was hurting. Luckily, I had an awesome shower that would make me feel a lot better. Mom had told me the movers had called and said they’d be at our house in twenty minutes. All I thought was,
So much for a long relaxing shower.
Just as I was finished getting dressed I heard a knock on the door. The movers were here and they were ready to get the truck unloaded. Mom had a system that she had set in place to make things easier. She directed the movers to which room the furniture was going while Dad and I carried most of the boxes in the house. Luckily for us we were smart and marked each of them so we knew which room to put them in.
It took about three hours total to get everything out of the truck and into the house. It was just about lunch time when we finished, so Dad suggested we go for a drive to find some place to eat. After a fifteen minute drive we stopped at a place called Serendipity 3. The placed was so cute. We all ordered the same thing, cheddar burger with fries and for dessert a hot fudge sundae. When I finished, I could barely breathe or move.
Once we got back home, Dad set up my bed and moved my furniture where I wanted it. Then I started to unpack everything. It was so nice to be able to hang all of my clothes in my closet instead of having to fold them in a dresser. I hated clothes that had creases. It did take me longer to put all my books away. I’ve always been addicted to books ever since I could read. Mom says that I have too many, but I don’t think four hundred, or more, is even enough. Who knows how many books I may add to my collection now that I can download them to my phone? It would save me from having to buy hard copies.
I finally finished with my whole room around seven at night and I was beat. Mom and Dad had stopped a while ago. Mom had asked Dad to get a couple of things from the grocery store so she could actually cook in her new kitchen. After all the eating out we had been doing, I was actually glad Mom was cooking dinner. As I was about to get acquainted with my new garden tub which was big enough to swim in, Mom called to me saying it was time to eat.
It smelled so good. Homemade spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread which was one of my favorites. It was kind of weird sitting in a breakfast nook. I was so high up and the stools were pretty uncomfortable. Dad thought so too, so he suggested that Mom either look online for ones with backs and cushions or they could just use the dining room table.
I wondered why we weren’t just sitting at the table in the first place, but then again Dad didn’t have time to put it together seeing he was out at the store. It was leaning against the wall with the legs off and the chairs stacked in the corner. While finishing up eating Mom and Dad were discussing what was on the agenda for tomorrow.
“Well, honey, I’ll go get some of the things we need for the house and you can finish fixing up the place,” Mom said while making googley eyes at Dad.
Didn’t Mom realize I wanted to keep my food down and not worrying about the possibility of it coming back up? Somewhere in their conversation I wanted to ask them if I had to start school tomorrow because really, I’d rather stay home one more day. I wasn’t as nervous, as I was sore and tired. I wanted to just get one good night to rest.