Matthew's Creek

one

November 1983

Sophie peered out the window of the old mini van her father refused to replace. Miles of road lie between them and their new home. She wasn't sure how to feel about starting a new life in a different town, with different people, and different friends. She never experienced change in her whole ten years of living so she wasn't sure what to expect.

"Robert, I'm telling you, that bird is giving me a look that I'm not too fond of."

Sophie turned to face her grandmother who looked quite shaken up about the bird figurine her father had placed on the dashboard for "good luck". He shook his head before pleading with her, "please Kathy, it is not going to do anything to you, it's fake! Do we have to have the same argument everytime you step into the car?"

Her grandmother continued to stare at the small falcon that sat on the dashboard before she turned away in disgust. Sophie didn't understand why her grandmother was so strange, her parents told her that "grandma was just imaginative", but Sophie knew she was more than just imaginative, she was crazy!

Last summer when Sophie and her parents traveled down the road to go to dinner without grandma they came back only to find her on the roof with all of the kitchenware stacked like a tower outside the house. Grandma claimed she was protecting herself from the aliens, but mom and dad told me that she forgot to take her crazy pills.

Sophie shook away that thought because it only reminded her of how things used to be with living on the property. She didn't know how their home would be now. Would there be a forest, or fields of wild flowers, or even a farm? She asked these questions to her mother and father earlier, but they simply shrugged their shoulders and went back to packing the overstuffed vehicle.

After hours of counting cars, trees, and even rocks, Sophie fell asleep uncomfortably against the car door.

Miles later Sophie was awoken by the shaking of the car as they went over a large bump in the road. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms over her head feeling the old material on the roof of the car. "Sophie, your awake", her mother smiled sweetly at her. Sophie nodded her head and turned her head towards the window to watch the clouds. It was late in the day by then, when they first left it was so early the sun had not risen quite yet.

"We are going to stop soon to get gas and a room", her father said matter of factly. She sighed in response and let her tired eyes close once again.

Feeling cold Sophie awoke to find herself in a hotel room on a cold stiff bed beside her grandma. She glanced at the time, it read 4:02 AM. She guessed she fell asleep right before they made it to the hotel and her mother must have carried her inside. She knew she was almost too old for her parents to carry her, and she felt upset knowing she was growing up and she could no longer play all day. She was expected to take on responsibilities and act like a lady, or whatever that meant.

She glanced at her mother who lie still. She always thought her mother was beautiful, in fact she knew she was, everyone else thought so. She looked at herself in the dim lighted mirror across from her shared bed. She was a short, pale, dark haired girl with the skinniest little body you would ever see. Everyone teased her for being scrawny but her mother promised she would fill out when she got older. She better have, she hated being called stick.

Hours went by and everyone else was finally awake and ready to continue on their journey.

Everyone packed into the car and headed down the road with hope shimmering in their eyes.

More hours had passed and Sophie was becoming nascious of the scent of her Grandmother's floral perfume. She gagged a couple times before her mother noticed and handed her a paper bag just in case. "We're almost there everyone!" Her father sounded cheerful, and she was thankful someone was happy. All she could think about was getting out of the car and breathing fresh air. Her parents wouldn't let her open the window because the crank had broken last time they tried to use it.