Gracie
I walk in the door and drop my kit bag in the hall. I walk into the kitchen and pour myself a tall glass of lemonade and chug the whole thing. "Gracie? Is that you honey?" Mom calls out from the sitting room. "Yeah mom its me. Can I get you anything?" I ask her. "Lemonade?". I pour her some lemonade and walk into the sitting room where she is sitting in her armchair, reading a magazine. "Hi honey, how was your day?" she asks me smiling. I nod. "It was ok. Soccer practice was hard..." my voice trails off. "You know how hard you have to work to be able to get that scholarship Grace" Mom smoothes my hair. "I know, I know its a once in a lifetime oppertunity" I say boredly. I sit on the arm of the chair next to her. "How are you feeling?" I ask her. She sighs. "Well actually, my back is quite sore. But at least my appetite is back" she tells me. I put my head on her shoulder. "Just wait until the girls get here. That'll cheer you up" she tells me. I nod. "I know...I just wish we didn't have to wit until next week!" I sigh. Just then Dad walks in holding a huge log for the fire. "Evening ladies" he grins. "Hey Dad". "Dinners in the oven...yes, I know what you're thinking Gracie, it is reheated casserole AGAIN" he smiles. I clear my throat. "That's ok Dad. I think I'll go take a shower". I walk into the hall and nearly fall over in fright. Standing in the hallway, her suitcase at her side, is Olivia.
"Surprise sister!" she laughs. "O-li-li-livia?" I gasp. "Well don't just stand there! Come hug me you nut!" Liv smiles and opens her arms. I run into them and hug her so tight I think I might break her because she's a lot slighter than I am. "How did you get here? I thought you were coming on Monday!" I say to her. "I just missed you...a lot" she smiles at me. "I missed you too!". Just then Mum reminds us that she's there by clearing her throat loudly. "Mum! How are you?" Olivia walks into the sitting room to hug her too. Mum smiles. "I missed you Liv. How's school? I've been enjoying your emails!" she says. Olivia and Mum talk for a while and Dad makes coffee and puts some of Mrs. Huckle's (our next door neighbour who makes unbelievable deserts) Swiss roll on a platter and sends me in with it to mum and Liv. "Thanks Gracie" Olivia says to me, licking her fingers after her slice of Swiss roll is demolished. We talk for what seems like minutes but when I look up at the clock, I see that it reads 11:15 pm. I widen my eyes and yawn. "Time for bed sugar! Nighty night" Mum says to me gesturing for me to come over to her. She kisses my forehead and to my delight, Liv rises to her feet as well. "I've had a long day as well, think I might turn in early mom. Night. Love you" she smiles. She follows me upstairs to my bedroom which we used to share. Her single bed is still the way she left it, last summer, almost a whole year ago. She smiles when she sees it. "I miss this place" she tells me, sitting down on her bed and smoothing her hands over her patchwork duvet. I roll my eyes. "Why would you miss this? You live in a busy college campus with friends and clubs and boys! How could you want to come back to this?" I ask her. She pats the bed beside her and I sit on it. She looks into my eyes, her brown ones sparkling. "You may want to leave here now...but I promise you, the moment you leave, you'll want to be straight back home. In your patchwork bed, with Mrs. Huckle's cakes and Dads cute little songs and our sticker collection we've had since we were 6". She sniffs away some tears. I put my hand on her shoulder and she smiles sadly. "Yeah...this place...You have it too good Gracie". She stands up and wipes her face and takes off her jacket, tossing it onto her bed. I smile and start getting into my pyjamas too.
The next morning in Saturday and it's perfect weather for a walk. I let mom sit in her wheelchair because she's not strong enough yet to walk long distances. She insists that she wears her good sun-hat and her new coat. I just wear a pair of baggy jeans and a puffy short sleeve blouse. But Olivia dresses up the most. She puts on a pair of white leggings and a purple tank top and a pair of wedge sandals and a cute little white cardigan. I think it may have something to do with the fact that Travis Hyland could be around. Travis is the perfect definition of a cowboy. He rides his family's horses and takes care of the cattle and the pigs and sheep and hens and whatnot. But he's also 6ft 2 and has a six pack so hot that it would make ice cream melt in a freezer. Olivia's had her eye on him ever since she fell at last years county fair and he carried her all the way to the emergency room. She been head over heels and everybody except for Travis knows it. "Ready Gracie?" She asks me, fixing her hair in the hall mirror. "Yep. Ready mom?". "Let's go hunny bee!" Mom smiles. She loves walks. Especially now when its summer and its sunny out. Especially now that she's sick and housebound. We walk out the door and leave Dad in the back garden, tending to the cabbage patch. We walk down the road, towards the town. When I say town, there isn't much of a buzz. Its mostly just a few basic shops (clothes shop, supermarket, restaurant etc) and some other essentials like a health centre and a library that nobody except for Olivia ever uses. That's another thing about Olivia, she's crazy about books.
