Gabriel (Book 1)

Rushing Back to Russia

April 28th, 2013

"Jordan! I'd like to leave while I'm still young!" I yell to her.

"Sophia, you call us everyday, no matter what time it is. We wanna know how you are and how it is. You can come home whenever you want..." Jordan lectures.

But Sophia interrupts her, "Mom, can I go now?"

Jordan is dumbfounded as Sophia gives her and Josh a kiss and then runs over to me and pulls me into the car.

We wave at them until we can no longer see, and soon we're at the airport. We have to go through security and all that stuff, I honestly forgot about all that, so by the time we were done we had to board the plane right away. As soon as we were seated, the plane took off right away and then we had nothing to do but wait for six hours. Sophia turned to me and started asking me everything she would need to know about Russia.

"Where will we go first? I want to see everything, Uncle Gabriel." She says in wonder.

"We'll go to my home town first until you get used to the different time zone. Then I think we'll go to Moscow."

Her excited face is just wonderful, I know this trip is going to be great for the both of us.

"Well, I'm going to sleep a little now so I don't miss anything once we land." She announces.

"Honey, its a 3 hour car ride of pure country and nature once we land. You can sleep then too."

She shakes her head, "No, I don't wanna miss any of that either."

I wrap my arm around her as she leans close to me and falls asleep.

Once we land I gently wake her and take her small hand in mine until we get off the plane. She's still groggy as I lead her to the car rental counter and get us a car. She starts to wake up a little when its time for us to find our suitcases. After Sophia found her purple suitcase, we went out to the parking lot and found the car. Its a silver subaru with a moon roof. I throw our luggage into the trunk while Sophia keeps her small back pack with her, crawls into the front seat, puts her seatbelt on and opens the moon roof. I put my own seatbelt on and then take a minute to remember how to drive a car. Its not that I never drove one...its just that running is faster and less conspicous. So, cautiously, I ease onto the road and follow the signs leading away and into the country. For the entire 3 hours Sophia finds something to take pictures of, out of the corner of my eye I saw them, and they were really good photos. Eventually the pavement gives way to dirt, I tell Sophia that this is how we know we are getting closer. Her elbows rest on the car door and her chin is on top of her arms as she sits looking and waiting for the town to show itself. Half an hour later, the town emerges. Its small, countryness is very welcoming and its exactly as it was when Johanna and I were here. I drive slow going down the road so Sophia can take pictures and look at all the different people. The small town fades away as twilight settles upon it. Down the road a little further, my house comes into sight. I pull the car right up in front of it and when Sophia steps out, she has her head tilted all the way back in order to view it.

"This was your house?" She asks in awe.

"Yes. Back in my day it used to be bigger, and over in the distance was a barn filled with animals, a coral for our horses and a stable for all of them."

Sophia snaps a picture and takes her suitcase from me.

"No way," Her voice echoes in the foyer, and travels down the halls. I turn on the crystal chandelier lights and small rainbows are reflected all around the room.

"Yes way." I reply with a smile.

"Where am I going to sleep?" She asks and follows me up the stairs.