Hey! I realise this is a bit short, but necessarily, but I promise more is coming!
Chapter two: Coming Home
Sarah placed her forehead against the cool glass of the window, fighting against the verge of an oncoming headache which had plagued her since her return from the Underground.
Her green eyes searched the country side with a growing anticipation of returning to her Grandmothers cotton farm.
Karen and her father squabbled over the radio station, her stepmother won, and soon Bon Jovi was on playing 'Always'.
Toby was lightly snoring in his car seat, his cherubic lips pressed together tightly as his eyelids flickered when the sun peeped through the tall pines lining the highway. Sighing Sarah turned away from the window to focus on the novel in front of her, her Grandma over the phone suggested to read Austen.
Sarah couldn't argue Jane Austen's place in classic literature, but it's just so boring. Elizabeth Bennet, did refuse Mr Darcy's proposal on grounds of his despicable behaviour but the misunderstandings were soon solved and she realised she was in love with him.
Before or after seeing his mansion, thought Sarah cynically as she closed the book shut with a snap. It was just so dry, at least Jane Eyre was at least in some ways modern in Charlotte Bronte's feminist views. Sarah could not understand why one had to compromise to make a relationship work.
Karen gave up her career to marry her dad. Sarah vowed that she'd never change herself to suit a male, if he didn't love the way she was then he isn't worth her love, with that line of thought an image of the King's face waived into view which she hastily dismissed with a hurried shake of her head.
An hour later Toby woke with a cry of protest of being trapped in the metal beast Sarah's father called a car. Karen quickly gave him a sipper cup of watered down apple juice; his tears were soon abated as his sister made funny faces which Karen frowned over from the car's mirror.
Despite her stepmothers disapproval Sarah kept poking her tongue at her giggling toddler brother, he struggled to laugh while drinking.
Sarah stopped abruptly when her step mother made her feelings known with, 'Sarah don't teach Toby bad habits,' she said sighing and turned her attention to the magazine on her lap.
Making sure her stepmother was not paying attention to her misbehaving stepdaughter; Sarah pulled a face at Toby which set off a round of giggles. Karen sighed loudly, plainly giving up on a tirade which would only resulting Sarah using her strange way of turning all conversations into a form that amused her greatly.
'Sarwah…..Sarwah….Sarwah,' Toby struggled to get his sisters attention , 'Sarwah!,' he tugged on one of her brown locks, jerking her awake. 'Sarwah,' he giggled delightedly and proceeded to slip his tongue through his chubby lips in an attempt to poke his tongue at her.
'Toby…' Sarah groaned sleepily, checking her watch which revealed she'd been out to it for an hour, which meant….. they should be there soon.
The pine trees gave way to a small suburb of brightly coloured houses, each sporting a white picket fence, a tyre swing and some sort of flower garden. The small town was old fashioned and everyone knew everyone. Crime rate was practically non-existent, as the town did not allow for any type of criminal activity.
Who was going to break into a house to steal their old babysitters TV?
The houses gave way to the main centre of town which boasted of a hotel, pub, takeaway shop, corner store, police headquarters, town hall and the Church.
The town was ideally situated in a valley, with clear blue skies in the summer and snow in the winter. Sarah adored the town in which her Grandma lived in.
Or more correctly, the town in which her Grandmother Dolores lived on the outskirts of it. As soon as the town faded away, hectares passed of cotton or cows depending on the farmer.
All to soon the sun was beginning to set and a brightly painted rainbow with sunflowers painted mailbox which revealed her highly eccentric grandmother's tastes.
The car turned off into the driveway, crawling along at a snail's pace as Sarah's father explained his mother's property to her, 'you see the cattle? Over there…..'
Sarah didn't even pretend to take part in her parent's conversation but immediately lost herself to the sense of coming 'home.'
How many times did she argue about living here with her mum and dad when he remarried? Dolores would have taken her like a shot. But they were adamant.
The station wagon crawled up the driveway which turned to be a range of sorts; her Grandmother's house was nestled in the hills where her grandfather built it after returning from World War II. Ancient pines stood still on the right side of the driveway while the other showed the land her grandmother loves.
The steep descent of the driveway had Karen gripping her seat which revealed her fear of heights, however Sarah in her excitement undid her seatbelt and stuck her head out the window, revelling in the fresh scent of the country, the woods and the cold sting of autumn.
Ignoring the protests from her parents from the front seat, Sarah laid her head against the window sill and smiled. She was home.
Review! Please?
