Where The Tracks End

Chapter 1:

"Are you ready to go?" Mother called from downstairs. "Almost!" I called back. I quickly shoved a jumper into my bag and looked around my room. It had a little bed in one corner and a wooden desk in another. I pulled the blinds down to shut out my room from any prying eyes - mainly Jimmy Johnson from across the road. He liked to see through everybody's windows. My room had an orange wall paper with darker orange roses. My carpet was an orange one too, as well as my bed sheets and door. Even my blinds were a pale orange colour. I gazed around the room again, hoping there wasn't anything I could have missed. It looked like that was it.

 I picked up my backpack and walked down the stairs, giving Suzie, my black toy poodle, a quick pat on the way. She got up and followed me, her tail waving with pleasure. She quickly snuck a glance at the place where her bed was meant to be - right next to mine. Then she danced off down the stairs with me where my mother was waiting.

She looked at my bag and smiled. "Anyone would think you were going for two months, not two weeks!"I giggled and placed my carry on bag with the rest. "Well, I also had to pack for Suzie!" I said. Suzie jumped up and barked from her place on the floor at hearing her name. I patted her and clipped on her collar. It was a bright orange one, with a silver bone-shaped tag that had her name and our phone number on it. Suzie at once started barking with excitement, knowing that he collar meant she was going out somewhere. "OK, then." Mum said, putting her empty coffee mug in the dishwasher. "Let's go then." 

I clipped on Suzie's leash and marched out the door with my backpack and wheelie bag. We hopped in the car and drove off. I glanced back at my house. it's OK, I told myself, it was only for a couple of weeks. 

Suzie wriggled into my lap, tearing my thoughts away from leaving home, and making me focus more on keeping her away from the backpack. She knew there was food in there. And right she was. I had packed a cheese sandwich with a packet of plain Smith's chips, jersey, and some homemade chocolate chip cookies as a treat. But that wasn't what Suzie was interested in. She was squirming around, trying to get her teeth into the bag so she could rip it open and eat the bone that I had wrapped in glad wrap and brought as a treat for her. "Not until we get on the train." I mumbled through a mouth of black curls.

At last, I managed to push her over to the other side f the seat and hold her there long enough for her to fall into a deep, doggy sleep. I started thinking of what my Aunt's dog, a boxer, would look like now, and whether he would accept a bouncy dog like Suzie in his house.

This whole trip started when Mother and I first learned that Dad would be at work for the rest of the holidays, as the barracks needed him. He worked as a soldier. He said that he wouldn't be able to get home until after I had gone to bed, so he couldn't make dinner. Mum was going to go to a work meeting the whole holidays, too, so she couldn't be home to look after me either. So it was decided that Suzie and I would go all the way down to California to stay with my Aunt Franny and Uncle Tommy. How would we get there? Well we could just fly, but going be train is much cheaper, especially with a dog.

"We're here!" Mum called over her shoulder. I shook Suzie, who was dreaming, to wake her and we got out of the car. Mum got out and hugged me. "Don't get into any trouble." Was all that she could mumble. I nodded, tears welling in my eyes. We'd never been separated like this before.

Luckily, Suzie came to the rescue doing one of her antics. As Mum bent down to say goodbye, Suzie slurped her all the way up her face - starting at her chin and finishing at her forehead, where the hair began to grow. Suzie hated having hair in her mouth, and who could blame her?

Mother laughed and wiped her face with her hankie. But I could clearly see she was upset. I hugged her again, tightly, with Suzie yapping at our feet.

Then we heard the voice ring out, "ALL ABOARD!"