As I'm about to dive into my plate of bacon, I heard a high pitched noise called a ring tone. My head jerked up and I abandoned my bacon to go investigate. I see a number I don't recognize, but I answer it anyway.
"Hello?" I ask into the phone.
"Hello," I hear a male voice respond. "Is this Julia?"
"Why? Are you looking for her?" I say.
"Yes. Who is this?"
"Um, this is Courtney. Do I know you?"
He ignores me and just says, "I need to talk to Julia."
OKAY! I think. Impatient much?
"Mom! MOm! MOM! MOM!!!!" I yell. I hear footsteps, so I say, "Some guy on my phone wants to talk to you!" I give her the phone and go back to my bacon, but I listen carefully for some information.
"Hello? Yes, this is she... What?" I hear her say. I want to know what's going on, but I stay silent in hopes that I hear some more of the conversation with the mysterious person. But, she walks into her room, so I just sit there, drinking orange juice and staring at a half eaten plate of the meal known as breakfast. After fifteen minutes, she comes out looking shocked.
"What is it mom?" I ask, feeling more worried by the second. She sits down next to me and takes my hand.
"Sweetie, I need to tell you something. Your dad? He left us when you were three months old to go to Montana. He said that he fell in love with the town and stayed there. He wants to get to know you now that you're older. So, he invited you to spend the summer there. I told him that you would get back to him after we talk about it..." she says, trailing off and looking up from the counter at me expectingly.
"Um. Dum. Um. Uh..." I stutter, feeling speachless. "What about the beach?" is all I can get out of my mouth.
My mom smiles. "We can still go at the end of the summer. Or we can even go for your spring break. But I think you should go bond with your dad. I've been hogging you for about fourteen and a half years. I believe that he deserves at least one summer. Don't you?"
"Um.. sure? Yes. No. I don't know! I've never made a decision this hard since... never! What do you think?"
"I think that you should try a summer. At least a month, to see if you like it. Deal?"
"It sounds like your trying to kick me out mom," I say, smiling.
"I'm not trying to kick you out! I'm just saying that you should go spend time with him," my mom defends. But, she sees that I'm smiling and calms down. "You sure your okay with this?" she asks.
"Sure, it's a deal! I'll spend one month with him. If he's okay, maybe two. If he's to redneck, I'll come home as soon as possible."
My mom smiles and hands me the phone. "Here, call him. Talk to him about it. I'll see what the cheapest price is for plane tickets, then find out how much I have to pay." I return her smile and take the phone, calling my long lost- and now found- father.
