"Bitzi, is it true?" Nyoko asked anxiously. "Are we really going to have to move to Beach City by the end of the year?"

Bitzi just nodded her head while she did the dishes. "Yes, it's true."

"Why would you take the job offer at The Beach City Times anyway?"

"Well, for one, it pays better than my job here. Plus, imagine waking up every morning and being able to walk to the beach in such a short distance. Doesn't that sound nice?"

Now that Nyoko thought about it, being within walking distance of a beach did seem like a pleasant thing, but she still wasn't sure she wanted to uproot everything. She'd made new friends here, ones that she could communicate with anytime when they couldn't physically hang out. Granted, there was always AIM, but it just wasn't the same having to communicate with them over the Internet when she'd almost be 400 miles away from them. Then again, it hadn't been a problem before when she could only communicate with Buster that way, so why was it a problem now?

Nyoko rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. "I don't know, Bitzi. What about your ex-husband? What about your friends? How do they feel about us moving away?"

Bitzi stopped what she was doing and placed both of her hands on Nyoko's shoulders. "They're sad about it, but they're also trying their best to be supportive of me. Believe you me, I'm not sure about doing this either, but I need the money for both you and Buster. I have to find some way to put you both through college, don't I?"

"Yeah, that's true... I guess..." Nyoko sighed. "I guess I'm just not ready to say goodbye to this place."

"Me neither, Nyoko, me neither."


It was the last week of December. It would only be a matter of days now before 2003 arrived. Nyoko still didn't like the idea of having to move away from her new friends or her teachers, but she was slowly becoming at peace with Bitzi's decision. Likewise, Buster was pretty bummed out over having to leave the kids he grew up with behind, but he understood why they had to move. His mother really needed this job, perhaps more so than either he or Nyoko realized.

Bitzi and the kids had just packed the last of their things into boxes. Bitzi couldn't wait to just get to Beach City already. She could already see it now. Leisurely walks along the beach, jazz festivals as numerous as the stars in the sky, riding a bike whenever she pleased... the possibilities were just endless. She also hoped that she would get an assignment to cover a football game at some point, if only as an excuse to indulge herself in actually going to a football game and participating in a tailgate.

"Hey, Mom," Buster called out to her while she was seemingly frozen in the middle of putting a box into the trunk of her silver 1986 Ford Taurus.

Bitzi quickly snapped out of her daydream and shook her head. "Yes, dear, what is it?"

"Do you think the people in Beach City will like us?"

Bitzi resumed with putting away boxes into her station wagon. "Well, I read that Beach City was named the friendliest town in mid-Atlantic America, so why wouldn't they like us?"

"I don't know." Buster's eyes darted down to the ground. "I just don't want us to feel out of place, you know? If Beach City is supposed to be this friendly little town on the East Coast, then I want us to feel welcome over there."

"Believe you me, sweetie, I was worried people wouldn't like me either when your grandparents and I first moved to Elwood City. I didn't know how to act or how I would be perceived. Everything just seemed all new to me. With time, though, I grew to love this town and just about everyone in it... including your father. I'm hoping you and Nyoko will feel that way once we've been in Beach City long enough."

Buster's eyes darted back up to his mother's level. "I hope you're right, Mom. I'm sure that, however this Beach City Times thing goes, it will have been worth it."

"Me too, sweetie. I hope I'm making the right choice here."


Just two days before New Year's Eve 2002, after a tedious road trip for Nyoko and the Baxters that lasted six hours and fifteen minutes, they finally made it to Beach City. Nyoko looked out the window from the backseat and tried to take in everything she could see from this Delawarean town. It was such a quaint little cliff-side town with small, modest colorful houses and small, modest businesses that seemed to cater to everything from donuts to Ghanaian-American pizza to Mexican seafood and even selling T-shirts. She couldn't help but wonder how well Buster would take to Aqua-Mexican or Fish Stew Pizza, as they seemed like the kind of niche restaurants he'd want to eat at.

"Wow, I can't believe how scenic everything is," Bitzi couldn't help but think out loud.

"Me neither," Nyoko replied. "Are we there yet?"

"Not yet. Though I can see our new house up ahead. You can see it, too, right?"

The fourteen-year-old girl squinted as the station wagon grew closer toward their destination. "Uh, I think so?"

From what Nyoko could see, the house they were moving into appeared to have been painted neon blue and had a dark slate gray roof. It also looked to be a two-story house with a garage attached like a conjoined twin. There was still six inches of snow on the ground and the rooftops left over from the blizzard that hit during the holidays.

"Oh yeah, I definitely see it, Mom!" Buster exclaimed as their new house finally came into full view. "It looks cool."

Soon enough, Bitzi pulled into the driveway of the new house. "Well, we're here."

Nyoko breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, they'd made it. She immediately proceeded to get out of the passenger side of Bitzi's station wagon and look around, with Buster following right behind her. Beach City really was as scenic as Bitzi claimed. In the distance, Buster spotted a hill with an abandoned lighthouse.

"Mom, there's a lighthouse here!" Buster exclaimed again.

"Oh yeah, I read about that," Bitzi replied. "It hasn't been in use since the '80s. No one really knows why. Anyway, what do you think about our new house, guys?"

Nyoko looked the house top to bottom. "It... actually looks cool, if I'm gonna be honest."

"Oh, good. I have to put down a lot more money than usual just to buy this place. Now it's time for us to start unpacking, and believe you me, we've got a lot of unpacking to do."

And so Nyoko and Buster decided to help the Baxter matriarch unpack for the new house for the rest of the day. They talked about the days when they lived in Elwood City, when they went to Lincoln High School, and when they hung out at the Sugar Bowl with their friends. They talked about what life was like in that small town and how rich the culture and history were. Most importantly, they talked about how much they would miss their friends and how much their friends would miss them. Nyoko couldn't help but feel bad about leaving those people behind. Sure, she didn't get along with them sometimes, but she knew them and she knew how much they meant to her.

"We had some good times in Elwood City, you and me," Bitzi said. "But all good things must come to an end."

"Yeah..." Nyoko paused with her thoughts for a second. "You think 2003 will be a good year for us?"

"No. I know it'll be a good year for us."

Nyoko just smiled. Something about that gave her hope. Any year after 2002 would have to be a good year for her, right? As if in response to that question, Nyoko came across a silver-blue metallic handheld mirror lying on the front porch near the door and picked it up. On the front, it had a round piece of reflective blue glass with a faint contour of an octagonal gemstone etched on its surface. On the back, a blue teardrop-shaped cracked gemstone was affixed to its back. She had no idea where this mirror came from or who had left it here, but she was determined to keep it close to her heart and cherish it for what it was worth.