2.
Kate had barely knocked on the front door when it was thrown open,
and she instantly found herself in dear old Uncle Toby's arms. She
felt tears threaten to spill as she clung to her uncle, a bounty of
memories flooding back to her. Together, her aunt and uncle had been
the parents she had always wished to had.
Uncle Toby kissed the top of her head. "It's so good to see you
again. How was your trip?"
Kate pulled away slightly, looking up at her uncle. Though they had
kept in touch by phone, it had been nearly five years since she had
seen him, and she was surprised how much she had changed in that
time. A curly mop of white replaced his blonde curls, and there were
deep lines in his face that she hadn't remembered before. He was
wearing a thick, yellow sweater that appeared a little too snug for
his portly frame, and as he took a step back, she noticed his obvious
limp. At sixty-odd years of age, she knew he wouldn't be as young and
vibrant as he had once been, but she hadn't expected his age to show
so evidently.
"It was a long trip, but I'm glad I'm here," she murmured as she
stood on tip toe to kiss his cheek. "How are you holding up?"
Her uncle sighed deeply and nodded. "As well as can be expected,
under the circumstances. The neighbor lady was over here earlier,
bringing me a casserole, and your cousins Eddie and Pat came last
night. They're in the living room watching tv."
Kate groaned inwardly at this bit of news. Cousin Eddie and Pat! She
hadn't seen them in ages, and for good reason. As children they had
tormented her mercilessly, calling her names like "Katie the Creep"
and "Crazy Kate". Their name calling hadn't bothered her that much
back then, and she had always tried hard to ignore it. What really
angered her was when they started on about Aunt Sarah. She could hear
them now, as children, saying, "She needs to be locked up in the
loony bin. She's nuts!"
Kate shivered at the memory, but told herself she must try to get
along with her cousins as good as possible. The last thing she wanted
to do was upset Uncle Toby.
The old bedroom looked the same as she had left it. Kate stepped
inside the large room and shut the door securely behind her. She had
just told her uncle that she would say hi to er cousins after putting
away her belongings. Now, she tossed her single suitcase onto the bed
and quickly opened it.
There wasn't much there. A few pairs of slacks and jeans, some t-
shirts, socks and undergarments, her makeup case and hair gel. She
thought back to the tiny apartment she had been living in when Uncle
Toby called her with the awful news. A lumpy bed, one thread-bare
chair, and a couple of pictures on the wall made up what she
called "home". She had always dreamed of living in a palace, or at
least, a nice, beautiful home of her own. But life didn't always work
out as planned. After all, she hadn't invisioned a life in Paul's
Pizza Parlor, either.
Kate frowned and tossed a pair of socks into a nearby drawer. Twenty-
two, no boyfriend, no friends of any kind, for that matter, living in
a tiny room above a loud, smelly pizza place. In the years since her
childhood she had learned one thing : real life was no fairy tale.
A sense of sadness filled her, and Kate swung around to look at
herself in the round mirror above the large, antique dresser. Some
said she looked like Aunt Sarah: the same long, dark hair and
stubborn chin. But Kate didn't think she looked at all like her
beloved aunt. Kate's eyes were much bluer, maybe even sadder, and she
had chopped of her waist-length hair in high school. Now it hung just
below her shoulders.
Suddenly she turned her back on the mirror, her eyes searching the
room and remembering so much. The rose wallpaper, the huge canopy bed
with it's cream and flower print bedspread, the window seat where, as
a child, she would sit and look out into the night sky, wondering how
far it was to the Underground.
The Underground.
Kate let out a weary sigh and flung herself onto the large bed. It
was here that she listened to Aunt Sarah's stories, here that she
dreamed of Jareth. In this bed - in this very room - she had fancied
herself the Goblin Queen, telling herself that one day he would come
for her. And when he did...she would go willingly.