Lakewood✔️

New arrivals

We pulled up to a pretty good size house. Dad and I were in his truck, and Mom was in the car.  The trip took about four hours to get here.

I got out, and Dad said, "Well, what do you think?"

"It's amazing," Mom exclaimed.

I looked at it. It was a cape cod style house.

"Gabe, how can we afford this?"

"The owners wanted to sell quickly and leave Michigan. Said the winters were too much. They left some furniture. Plus, look, we are right on the lake," Dad said, walking towards the back of the house.

I walked and looked at Lake Michigan. I had only been to one of the Great Lakes, and that was Lake Erie. I made my way down to the water. It was huge.  It was also beautiful. I had heard many things about the Great Lakes but never pictured it like this.  Lake Erie wasn't spectacular at all. The Detroit river flowed to it. I scrunched my nose at that.

"Mal!  Come on," Dad shouted.  I turned and went back up to the house. I carried a box labeled for my bedroom upstairs.  It was quite spacious, with a massive closet - nothing like what I had back at the old house.

Mom and Dad had a bathroom connected to their bedroom while there was the main bathroom in the hallway and half bath downstairs. Good, we need three toilets. Having one bathroom was a nightmare.

I grabbed some boxes before I started to unpack.  I wanted to get my room set up before bed. I liked the organization.  I couldn't sleep in a messy bedroom.  My parents thought it was odd until the doctor diagnosed me with OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder.  To say packing was a nightmare for me, was an understatement.

As I unpacked, Dad poked his head into my bedroom, "Hungry?"

"Not yet. I need to finish," I said, putting stuff away.

"Mal, you need to eat."

"Dad, I can't until I finish, and I almost finished. Please."  I begged Dad. I needed to finish, and he gave me a soft look.

"Okay. Hurry up. Your mom is hungry, and so am I."

I smiled and worked quickly. I finished within an hour and was quite proud of myself. Everything neatly organized and put in place.

We went to a local pizza joint. Dad pulled up and got out. To have people stare at us was uncanny. Back in Detroit, the only time you had to worry about stares is when someone was either going to mug you or bum a cigarette. Bumming of the cigarettes was usually the thing I encountered from the bums on the street.

We sat down, and a girl walked over to us with a pad and pencil.

"What can I get ya, folks?"

"Give us a large pepperoni with the works and three pops," Dad ordered.

"Sure thang," the girl said, taking the menus and walking away. Okay, well, our waitress was friendly, at least.  My parents talked while I looked around at the place - typical small-town pizzeria.  People were talking and would glance our way.

The waitress set out drinks down, then went to retrieve our pizza.  She didn't seem much older than me, and she didn't look as wholesome as most around here.

She set our pizza down then looked at me, "You're new here, aren't you?"

"Yeah. We just moved here."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen. I'm a senior."

"Cool.  I'm a senior this year as well. I'm Abby," Abby said, extending her hand.