by Linda Nelson
Karla sat with her arms crossed for most of the way. When they entered the town of Brantwood, she leaned forward against the front seat, trying to see what the new town looked like.
It was a small city.
The houses were sparsely scattered along both sides of the road. They clustered closer and closer together as they traveled toward the center of town. Several traffic lights lined the street slowing the cars down to a crawl.
Her dad announced beaming with excitement as soon as they were about to reach the first landmark of importance to Karla, “This is it, your new town, the city of Brantwood. Over there is the way to your new school, Brantwood High.” He pointed.
They drove for a bit more before he pointed out each different landmark. “There's the mall and movie theater... Library, and over there is the bowling alley, we're almost there. Oh and there are a lot of one way streets in this town.”
They drove passed a mini mart on a corner and turned down the next street. Their new home was sandwiched on a side street between the mall and the school. One was in one direction, and the other was in the other direction.
Karla's dad pulled into the left turn lane at a stoplight.
The bustle of cars and pedestrians had her attention.
Karla watched an elderly woman dressed in drab clothes push a small shopping cart along the sidewalk. She was one of those homeless persons. The woman then stopped when she got to the crosswalk to wait for the light to change. Karla continued to watch as this woman began to push the button on the pole repeatedly in hopes of making the light change faster.
Her dad turned the corner and announced, “This is our street…” The sound of his voice brought Karla's attention back to the road ahead of her.
She noted where the mini mart was and how close it was to their street. Maybe she could walk to it in the next few days to buy some candy or something.
The library was not far away either.
They passed a church as they turned down their new street.
“Mom, did you ask Dad about the cell phone?”
Karla was still leaning forward against the front seats so she could see the landmarks of interest.
Her mom scowled, “I haven't had a chance to, and we’ve been so busy.”
She gave her mom a quick sneer behind her back.
“Karla, I will look into getting you one, but only if you promise to stop complaining about our having to move. We didn’t want to have to do this either. But we have to do what we have to do.” Mr. Centon responded, frustrated by Karla's constant whining, and the tension between Karla and her mom. He also gave her mom a glaring side look to that her mom did not see.
Their house was the tenth house down the street on the left. Her mom's blue sedan was already sitting in the driveway. She wondered what time her parents got up this morning. Karla didn't recall hearing her mom leave, but she knew the car was gone.
Her mom said excitedly, “This is it.”
Mr. Centon backed the moving truck into the driveway, parking it beside her mom's car. A small gray cat scooted across the driveway, darting toward the house next door.
Karla waited impatiently to get out of the truck. She let her eyes scan over the outside of the new home. It looked similar to the last house they were living in. Just, not as many trees around the property and the houses were much closer together. She could not see into the back yard from where she stood, a tall wooden fence blocked her view.
“Where's the pool. Can I see the pool?” Karla said. “Everyone keeps saying we have a pool now.”
“It's around back. Hurry back, we have a lot to do and not much time,” her dad replied while he opened the door to the back of the truck and pulled out the ramp. He untied a moving dolly from the inside of the truck. This was what he was going to use to bring big stacks of boxes into the house.
He shoved its base underneath a stack of boxes, pulled them off the truck, and wheeled them into the house.
“Yeah… I'll be right back, Dad. I just want to take a quick look.”
Karla found the latch on the wooden fence and made her way out behind the house.
She grinned at the sight of the in-ground pool. It took up a large portion of the half-acre backyard. A patio centered between the pool and the house. Now she knew why Jan kept talking about pool parties.
A tall fence blocking her view of the neighborhood surrounded the backyard. She noted the pool was empty, not even a puddle was seen in the bottom of it. Karla ran back to help her dad with the boxes. Her mood significantly changed for the better. Most people love having a pool and Karla was one of them.
“Dad, how come there's no water in the pool,” she asked as she grabbed some of the boxes off the truck.
“The last owners drained it last fall,” Mr. Centon explained. “The house has been vacant since winter. We’re going to leave it empty, too, for now. We’ll fill it next summer, have it ready for Memorial Day.”
Karla felt impressed knowing she now had an in-ground pool. She liked the idea of not having to worry about bloodsuckers anymore. Too bad, it would not have any water in it until next summer. That was okay with her, and the backyard was large enough to have cookouts and pool parties. The thought of the pool parties left a small smile on her face.
Maybe the pool would help her become a little bit more popular in her new school. Every girl wants to be fairly popular with her classmates. It makes life easier is no one is bullying you every day at school.
Karla carried a box in her arms as she stepped up the couple of cement steps leading into the house. Looking around as she entered the sunken living room of what must have been a garage at one time. She did not care for the color of the old wallpaper on its walls. It made it seem so odd with the swirls and off color.
“Yuck... What awful wallpaper,” Karla commented.
Her mom looked up from a box she was digging in. It was on the breakfast nook separating the dining room from the kitchen.
“I have to agree, that is going to be one of the first projects your dad will be tackling. That wallpaper does have to go, along with the rest of the wallpaper.”
“Good… cause I can't stand it.”
Karla stepped up the steps leading to the kitchen and the rest of the house and asked, “Mom, where do you want me to put these?”
Her mood had significantly changed after seeing the pool and no longer spoke to her mom with an attitude.
“Right over there.”
Her mom motioned to a corner of the room where the dining room table would be going.
“Where is my room,” Karla asked as she placed the box down on the floor.
“You go get another box, and I will show you your room,” her mom bargained with her.
This was no longer necessary. Karla did not care. Even her mom now sounded a little bit happier than usual, which was always a plus. It was much better than having her mom bark orders at her all the time.
Karla spotted the case of soda on the kitchen counter.
“Okay.”
She stopped to get one each. One for her and one for her dad. Pausing before she returned for another box she let her eyes quickly scan the kitchen.
It was plentiful with cabinets, and it had an almond colored refrigerator and stove. The kitchen window and sliding glass door looked out at the swimming pool in the back yard and caught her attention for a brief moment.
After quickly looking around the kitchen for the first time, she paused in the living room, on her way back outside to help her dad with the truckload. She stopped to take another quick peek at the living room and avoided looking at the wallpaper. Karla was happy to see the fireplace. She had always wished they had a fireplace just like the one Jody’s parents had.
She skipped out the door, bringing the soda for her dad.
“Thought you might like something to drink,” Karla said as she handed him his soda.
“Thanks…”
Her dad accepted the soda, cracking the tab and waiting for the bub
bles to settle before taking a sip.
Karla made several trips into the house carrying armfuls of boxes. Her dad used the moving dolly, loading stacks of boxes on to it so he wouldn’t have to make as many trips. He had to pull the dolly up the stairs backwards to get them into the house.
Her dad struggled with a couple loads of boxes. Karla had to help him by lifting up on the bottom of the dolly to get it up the cement steps and into the house. Some of them were apparently heavy.
“Why are those boxes so heavy,” Karla asked.
Her dad stacked the heavy boxes against the far wall of the living room.
“Books… I forgot we had so many until I started packing them.”
“We can put the bookcase over here,” her mom, pointed to a bare wall in the dining room.
“All right… The furniture is coming in next anyway. That was the last of the boxes.”
Mr. Centon motioned for Karla to follow him back outside.
“Come on Karla, we have furniture to bring in and then we will be done.”
Karla found some of the furniture big and bulky, like the sofa and mattresses. She tried to carry them in the house going backwards, but she stumble going up the stairs, so she traded sides with her dad. This made it easier for her.
A group of teens gathered across the street to watch them move into the house. Karla was conscious of their eyes on her. She felt motivated by the onlookers from across the street and at the same time she began wondering what grade they were in and if they went to her school. Were there more kids her age living on her street?
Karla's bedroom furniture was the last things off the truck. She had been waiting for what seemed hours to see her new bedroom. It looked a little bit bigger than her last room. Again, wallpaper smothered the walls with ugly swirls.
“Eh. God. What ugly colors.”
Her dad set his end of her bureau against the wall of her room.
“Sometime soon I will rent a steam cleaner, and we will strip your walls.”
“Good. Cause this is gay.”
Karla pointed to the swirls on the wall.
“We’re done now with unloading the truck. You can start setting up your room the way you want it. We will be back in a bit. Your mom and I have to return the truck.”
Karla nodded. She pushed her stripped bed up against the wall under one of the two windows. She looked outside her window and saw the group of teenagers were now gone.
Her dad was pulling out of the driveway with the truck, followed behind by her mom in the sedan.
She then began setting herself to her new task and started looking for all the boxes with her name on them. She had made sure she had written her name on the sides of all the boxes that she had packed in for her room. After several minutes of searching, she found them stacked in the dining room next to the pile of boxes containing the books.
She decided to carry them to her room one at a time. Taking care, Karla avoided stacking them against her closet. She needed to be able to hang some of her clothes.
The third box she came across were clothes for her bureau.
When she opened her top drawer of her bureau to put her underwear away, she found a wrapped package.
Picking up the package, she saw the note card. It read: We hope this helps you with your transition to your new school, love Mom and Dad.
“Oh my God, did they actually get me one? It can't be.”
Karla ripped the gift-wrap off the package exposing the box label LG with a photo of a cell phone on it. She wanted to jump for joy.
She opened the box and sat down on her still unmade bed. She hadn't found her box with her bedding yet. It was probably going to be the last box she came across.
She couldn’t wait to see what her phone was like. She pulled it from the box and began fumbling through its contents. She set several items onto her bed, the charger, the battery, and a holder for the phone. Karla then found the instruction booklet and glanced through it, looking to see what features her phone had.
It had caller ID, call waiting, texting, and most importantly a camera. Now she would be able to take pictures of her school and send them to Sarah and Jody.
Happy with her discovery, she decided to set it on top of her bureau. She would come back to it later. There were still more boxes she needed to bring into her room, and the phone needed to be charged. She decided this would be a decent place to keep the phone while it was charging.
The plug outlet was half way down the wall behind her bureau. She found it was easy to plug the phone in while the bureau was still empty. She tucked the cord behind the bureau so it could hang down the back, out-of-the-way.
She then made several more trips to the dining room to get the rest of her boxes.
As she picked up the last box, she heard the sound of a couple of cars pulling into the driveway. She recognized the sound of her parent's cars and stood there waiting for them to enter the house.
When they entered the house, Karla decided to take the last box into her room. She returned quickly with her new phone in her hand. She knew they would be expecting a big thank you.
“Oh my God, you got me a cell phone?”
Karla was still ecstatic with excitement and gave her mom a gigantic hug, “Thank you. Thank you so much, Mom.”
Mrs. Centon smiled she was apparently pleased with Karla’s change in attitude, “Don't thank me, thank your dad. He picked it out last night.” Her mom returned the hug. “But, I do hope you like it.”
“Dad, thank you for the phone,” Karla hugged her dad too. “I got to go call Sarah.”
“You are welcome, but for now on I don't want to hear any more whining about our having to move away from your friends.”
He returned the hug.
Chapter ~ 4
Friday morning came fast for Karla. She had spent a couple of hours searching for her bedding. It had been close to ten o'clock before she was able to make her bed. This was after she unpacked her last box of school clothes and hung them in her closet. It was late when she went to bed.
“Karla? Are you up?”
Her Mom's voice vibrated through her body and shocked her out of a sound sleep. She rolled over to look at the alarm clock.
Argh. She groaned to herself.
“Yeah,” Karla answered. She rolled over in her bed, pulling the blanket over her head. She muttered softly to herself, “Morning already?”
“Do you want anything for breakfast,” her mom hollered through the closed door.
Karla growled in annoyance. Her mom yelling at her through the closed door bugged her.
“No, Mom.”
She sat up in bed and waited to come to here senses. She had hoped that the move was just a bad dream. When she opened her eyes, there were still some unpacked boxes piled along the bedroom wall. They confirmed the move had been the real thing.
“How 'bout a hot chocolate,” her mom prodded. She was still calling through Karla's closed bedroom door.
“No, Mom,” Karla growled again.
She forced herself out of bed and began gathering the clothes she was going to wear. It was her first day at her new school, and she wanted to wear one of her new outfits. She searched through the ones hanging in her closet, pushing them one way and then pulling them back until she settled for a blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans.
“Glass of milk,” her mom offered once again through the closed door.
“No, Mom,” Karla groaned.
“Coffee,” her mom offered.
“NO, MOM. I'm getting dressed, and I'll be out in a minute,” Karla snapped.
“Well, you don't need to talk to me like that. I just wanted to fix you something before you went to school,” her mom griped.
“I don't need or want anything.”
God, why doesn’t she just leave me alone?
Karla slipped into her shirt and pants and then she snatched a pair of socks from the top bureau drawer and shoved them onto her feet. Jamming her feet into her untied sneakers, s
he left her bedroom, with her bedroom door shut behind her, hiding her unmade bed.
Her untied laces clicked on the wood floor as she walked.
Normally Karla’s mom would not even bother with offering her any breakfast. The fact that her mom kept insisting on her having something was in itself irritating. She also thought it was weird that her mom was even up at this hour. Usually Karla would get herself up and off to school while her mom kept right on sleeping, probably from a nights worth of heavy drinking of vodka and tomato juice.
Her mom had not gotten up to make her breakfast since she had been in first grade. That had not lasted for more than a week.
At the age of six, Karla would get herself up and ready for school all by herself. If she missed the bus, her mom would threaten to ground her for a month.
She only missed the bus once, which was enough to teach Karla that that was not such an admirable thing to do. Her mom would yell at her all the way to school for making her get up out of bed so early in the morning.
“Just remember, I offered,” her mom called once again from the kitchen.
Karla followed the short hallway to the kitchen. Her bedroom was again across the hallway from the bathroom, just as her parents’ bedroom was also once again located at the end of the hallway. The house was pretty much the same layout as before except for the fact that the living room was sunken this time instead of being on the same floor level.
She entered the kitchen taking a couple slices of bread and slipped them into the toaster. Then she grabbed a glass and poured herself some juice.
“I thought you didn't want anything,” her mom protested.
“Eh. I changed my mind …okay,” Karla growled. She wondered what was up with her mom pushing breakfast on her anyway. She was being weird today.
“What's with the attitude,” her mom chided, “You better change it.”
“God, Mom. I don't have an attitude. Just stop bugging me.”
Karla moved away from the kitchen sink so her dad could set his empty coffee cup down. She sat down at the breakfast nook to eat her toast while her dad gave her the look. He had stepped in between her and her mom. He ran his hand over his balding head.
