"Not again. C'mon, just a couple more miles" I speak to my old Ford Escort.
"Is the car going to stop again?" My daughter Anabelle asks me from the backseat.
"Hopefully not sweetie" I smile at her through the rear-view mirror
This has not been my week. It started with me forgetting our last gallon of milk on the counter overnight; leaving us with dry cereal to eat this morning. After that, I almost drove Annabelle to school in her pajamas. Again.
Lacie Castleton. That's me: the worlds most scatterbrained single mother in Bluehill Maine. Though I didn't always used to be like that. When I first had Annabelle, I was a full-of-life teenager. Her father, William, and I got married at the ripe age of eighteen once we found out we were going to have a daughter. We made it through the first couple months of marriage with flying colors. We thought, without a doubt, that we could make things work. But once the baby came, so did an abundance of stress and responsibility. I coped with my stress with long baths and buckets of Toll house cookie dough. I thought William was doing okay, until I came home early after work one day to find that the way he coped, was by spending time with an old flame. Well, used- to- be old flame. Now it is a full blown fire.
The thought of moving far away from William was a tempting one. But I couldn't make Belle leave her school. She loves it here. So do I. The town is small; everyone knows each other. It's like a big family.
I got the house after the divorce was finalized, so Belle and I now live there by ourselves. She spends most weekends with her father, though sometimes he isn't 'available'. I gladly keep her on those occasions.
As a teacher at Belle's school, my pay isn't overwhelming. But I love what I do.
"No, no, no" I speak to my car again as it begins to slowly come to a stop.
I pull over to the side of the road, flicking my hazards on.
"Shoot" I say under my breath.
I hear Annabelle giggle in the back seat
"I knew we were going to stop. Maybe we will be late again!" Her face lights up.
Five years old and already loves getting to arrive to school late.
"Stay in the car okay?" I glance at her over my shoulder as I unbuckle my seat belt "I'll be right back"
As I stand outside of my car, I realize I have no idea what I'm doing. The last time the car stopped, I was dropping of Belle at William's. Needless to say, I was not the one who fixed the car.
I stood in front of my red car and placed my hands on my hips. Smoke began to emit from the hood of the old vehicle
