The Lucky Paw

Chapter 1

Birds chirped, as if to proclaim the happiness of the day. Sniffing the air, Katy Hawkins inhaled the fresh, woodsy scent of the pines that surrounded her house. "I'm home!" she shouted, letting the front door slam shut behind her.

"Katy!" shrieked 6-year-old Anita, her adopted sister. Katy had loved Anita since the moment she had rocked her for Mrs. Patterson six years before."Hi, Anita." Katy hugged the girl. "Will you play cards with me? Please?" Anita begged. "Not now. After dinner." Anita bounced off to her room, her Sketchers thumping on the hardwood floor.

Katy climbed the stairs to her pretty bedroom, kicked off her tennis shoes, dropped her track bag, and turned on her favorite country station.

The soft Carrie Underwood song made Katy smile. The sprints at practice that day had stretched her muscles, making them tense and tired, but now she relaxed them, soothing the knots that had built up. She quietly hummed along to the song, inhaling the sweet scent of the strawberry perfume she'd sprayed that morning. Before long, listening to the lyrics made her thoughts drift back in time, to when she was a little girl.

Katy was born to caring parents who loved her dearly. Sadly, tragedy struck and she lost both. She lived in an orphanage for two years until she was placed with a foster family. Still she yearned for her mother's creamy complexion, gorgeous blonde curls, the way she had always smelled of watercolor paint, and the smooth, silky cotton of her favorite blouse.

Katy remembered picking wildflowers with her mother. She loved feeling the velvety texture of the brightly colored petals when she brought them to her cheek to inhale their sweet, earthy scent.

Katy remembered how her mother had read in a soft, gentle voice out loud to her like only a mother could.

Baking was a passion that they shared. Katy could remember countless afternoons spent baking chocolate chip cookies in their big, familiar country kitchen, where Katy's mother had made Katy feel as essential to the process as the flour and sugar. With Walmart bags lining the counter tops, they would happily set to work.

Her mother liked them crispy, but Katy liked them soft and doughy, so they each made their own batches to their liking. They used the biggest chocolate chips the store offered, and Katy's mother always made sure there was one big cookie for Katy, baked just how she liked it. And she always let Katy have a few bites of cookie dough before the cookies went into the oven. The recollection of inhaling the buttery aroma of chocolate chip cookies made Katy's face stretch into a smile and her heart sing with joy. Katy had good memories of her father as well, however.

Her father was a serious yet jolly man with thick, bushy dark hair that was trimmed neatly. He looked a vision in the suit he wore to his job. Katy had loved hugging him because, as a child, she thought the stench of Sharpie pens which clung to his outfit smelled good. He was a hardworking husband and a loving father to Katy. He worked weekdays as an insurance salesman for a big company, and frequently brought Katy home a mint from work.

At age five, Katy's father was killed in a car crash on his way to work, alone: A horrible, twisting mess of hot metal and crumpled fenders that smelled metallic and greasy. The ringing, screeching sound of the two cars ramming into one another was something Katy occasionally had nightmares about. For Katy, the nightmares didn't end there.

Katy got off the school bus stop one day and her mother was nowhere to be found. She waited, paced, and cried,

but when her mother never came for her, she panicked and asked people for help. The police were called in to investigate, but when her mother remained missing, a social worker decided that the best thing would be to put Katy in an orphanage, since she didn't have any other relatives.

Katy didn't know how she would survive after losing both her parents; it was a sharp, devastating loss.

Katy was sent to Marybeth's Home For Girls. It was the closest orphanage, and an old, run-down place at that. For two years, Katy lived in misery. She scrubbed floors, washed windows, and dusted, all to please the nasty manager. Her limbs ached with fatigue every night and the harsh smell of cleaning equipment clung to her clothes.

Then great luck found her. The widower, Mrs. Patterson, who happened to live in Katy's former house, came to the orphanage looking for a child to adopt. The woman who smelled of scented soap and hope appealed to Katy very much.

Likewise, when Mrs. Patterson saw Katy, she fell in love with her. When Katy went home with her, she was pleasantly surprised to find that Mrs. Patterson lived in the same house Katy grew up in. She was very glad to return to a house so filled with warm memories, and Mrs. Patterson was very excited for Katy to be able to return to a home she knew. Katy was even given the same bedroom that she had had before. About a year later, Mrs. Patterson adopted a little girl, Anita. Katy loved helping Mrs. Patterson with Anita, and she truly felt like part of the family.

Distant, warm memories of pressing baby bottles to Anita's lips and comforting the crying child by rocking her slowly brought a smile to Katy's face. But there was not one day that went past that Katy did not remember and miss her parents.

"Katy! Dinner!" Katy was interrupted in her reverie by Mrs. Patterson's summons. The 14-year old rushed down the stairs to eat. "Yum, smells like lasagna!" she commented before sliding into her place.

"Half right," said Mrs. Patterson from the kitchen. "Garlic bread, too." "Even better!" Katy replied. "Yeah, it's yummy!" Anita squealed. They dug in, Katy letting the hot cheese melt in her mouth. The threesome chatted and cleared dishes after their supper was over.

Katy spent an hour and a half playing rummy with Anita. By the time they finished playing, her fingers ached from the stiff playing cards. She didn't mind, however, as Anita gave her an extra hug goodnight.

Katy was a cross-country track star , and had earned dozens of ribbons over the years. She began to rearrange them, lining them up neatly on the new bulletin board that Mrs. Patterson had gotten her that weekend.

The walls themselves were a faded lavender color, smelled of old paint, and had many cracks, bumps, and blemishes. It was probably due to the fact that Katy hadn't ever repainted, wanting to keep the room the same way it had been before her life crumbled.

Katy got ready for bed. She flopped down on her stomach, and played her favorite song, Love Me Like You Mean It by Kelsey Lewis. Sinking into the smooth, cottony sheets that she had just retrieved from the clothesline that day, Katy sighed contentedly. Eventually she fell asleep, dreaming of sweet things in the absence of intolerable nightmares.