Chapter two
The New Yorker magazine was a book of colourful glossy pages with amazing pictures and wonderful stories to match. Some were serious news stories for the city; there were also articles on fashion, movies, theatre, food and the light-hearted life columns that commented on whatever they wanted too. Sophie was amazed as she took the magazine from her father and sat down in the leather chair opposite his desk. She kicked off her shoes and her duffle coat, leaving her felt hat balanced on her head as she leant back and began to read.
She was drawn into the stories instantly, thinking about how amazing it would be to write stories like this. Matthew watched her happily, wishing that his little girl could have her dream without her mother's disapproval. He couldn't understand why she was so strict about the rules and how Sophie had to be. He remembered that when she was born, both Matthew and Karen thought the absolute world of her and thought that there was no one more perfect then Sophie on this planet and there never would be. Things changed when Sophie was about 18 months old, Karen would come home from work and Sophie would want to play with her mommy when Karen insisted on working away in her office until Sophie went to bed.
"Matthew, please keep Sophie occupied, you play with her I have important work to do" She would say. As soon as Sophie was old enough to understand, rules were put into place to make Sophie behave herself. Matthew sometimes thought that these strict rules were pulling Sophie's childhood away from and forcing her to act older then she was.
Whenever Sophie came to his office after school, he would allow her to do whatever she wanted. He put games on his laptop, kept sweets in his briefcase and kept toys hidden in the cupboards for her. When she was with just him, she could be a normal little girl. Sophie kept a small leather bound notebook in her school bag that Matthew had secretly brought her one day along with the New Yorker, he hated to think what would happen if Karen found out he encouraging Sophie to become a journalist. Whenever Sophie was occupied by something else, Matthew would read her stories. They were wonderful for a child of eight years old.
Walking into the living room, Sophie dumped her bag on the table and dashed upstairs to her bedroom. Karen scoffed angrily watching her go then turning to her bag on the table.
"That stupid child, she knows what I have told her. Her bag has to go on the hook in the hall way." She sighed opening it. "She never lets me see what is in here anyway". Karen looked inside and her face turned red with anger. Inside there was screwed up sweet wrappers, a copy of the New Yorker magazine and her notebook. She pulled out the notebook and the magazine and turned to Matthew.
"I told you, stop filling her head with these ideas of journalism because it is simply not going to happen Matthew. I will not allow it. The New Yorker is a rotten trash and I'm sure that Sophie's stories are the same. She will never be good enough to write for decent important newspapers so she will not write at all." She ranted lighting the fire and throwing the magazine and the notebook into the flames. Both were unaware that Sophie was watching from the staircase.
"How dare you Karen, Sophie loves the New Yorker and she loves to write. Her stories are amazing and she is amazing. Why can't you just be proud of what she is "Matthew snapped storming along to the kitchen, where he then noticed Sophie on the stairs.
"My stories daddy" She whimpered turning and running to her room, slamming the door shut.
"Sophie Baby" Matthew called but he received no answer. Matthew knew then that the Hall family was falling apart. He scowled viscously at Karen and slowly walked up the stairs towards Sophie's bedroom. Leaning against the door frame, he knocked. "Sophie come on let me in" he said softly. After a while of repeating this, Sophie opened the door and peered up at him tearfully.
"Why did mommy do that daddy" She asked.
Matthew sighed and picked her up, sitting on the bed with her wrapped his in arms. "She doesn't like Stories baby, she doesn't think you should write them but you keep doing what you want too and I will handle mommy"
Sophie nodded clambering down from his lap and laying in her bed with her larger notebook. Matthew looked around to peer at what she was writing but Sophie threw her little body over the book so he couldn't possibly see. She didn't giggle like she normally would when hiding her writing but she stared at him with sadness and hatred in her eyes. What Karen had done had really hit her hard. Matthew bit his lip and quickly left her there in her room alone to calm herself down.
Karen was in the kitchen preparing dinner as if nothing had happened. To her she had been simply setting the ground rules by throwing the magazine and the notebook into the fire, but to Matthew she did it to try and pull Sophie's dreams away from her as if it was all bad for her. No, what Karen was doing was bad for her. Sophie was becoming quieter under her mother's rule and sometimes Matthew could see fear in her eyes when Karen went to her. She was giving in to the rules, only writing in her room when no one could see her. She was only happy when she was at school or with Matthew in his office.
Sophie sat on her bed in her room one evening when both Karen and Matthew were downstairs, silent after another argument. She jumped off her bed and over to the corner of the bedroom where she opened a floorboard, peeling it up from the floor. Her little secret. She had noticed the broken floor board when she had been practising her ballet at the bar on that side of the room and found that there was an empty space below when she pulled the board away. She kept it a secret from both her mother and her father, finding this empty space the perfect place to hide things. She kept some notebooks down there along with her favourite copies of the New Yorker. No matter what Karen said, Sophie was determined to take Matthew's encouragement and become a journalist for the New Yorker.