The bus door unenergetically began to open.
Squeaking and screeching, her portal to a new life opened. This was her chance. This is what she wanted. From here on out, it would be smooth sailing to Stillwater.
She imagined it.
Shimmery-shimmer-shimmer.
******
On weekday mornings, she would take the bus to her new high school. Her favorite class would be "Culinary Arts," as it was at SAHS, and she would have many friends, most of whom would be artsy, colorful, bohemian, and gay (no pun intended).
On the lazy sunny afternoons, she would retract the curtains in her bedroom. The sun would shine through her French parlor windows, and while listening to tracks from Beauty & the Beast, her favorite musical she would see at the Orpheum Theatre numerous times, she would read...read until she would fall asleep cozily on her queen size bed.
Then on other days, she would work a part time job at the local Starbucks', baking jelly-filled delights and made-with-love pastries in the company's stainless steel ovens and brew specially ordered coffee frapuccinos and toffee mochas to busy businessmen in a hurry and in need of caffeine.
Finally and blissfully, on weekends, Emma would venture on over Pioneer Park in the southern portion of the city by the bay and have a picnic amongst the trees, buy knickknacks at the local mom-n'-pop stores, and never give a care or thought about Wyoming, that homophobic droll place of her birth, again.
Yes, this was her dream. Life would be golden and flawless.
Emma opened her backpack and stared at the cookies she kept.
She had always wanted to cook for Izzy, she recalled.
Yet, she never got the chance...
So with that thought, Emma imagined the perfect dinner on a perfect date with the perfect girl.
****
To begin, she would draw the shades and darken the room.
Inside the dining room of her girlfriend's home, surrounded by glowing golden candlesticks and Izzy at the end of the table dressed in a busty black evening down, she would start with a basket of honey-wheat rolls and a porcelain cup of bourbon butter spread. All prepared by Emma Seymour, renowned master chef.
For the main course, she would prepare:
-Canard au Cassis (French for roasted duck breast), heated to a golden, flawless brown
-Smoked meatballs, coated with a thick, spicy plum sauce
-Duchess potatoes, topped with oregano and a coating of cheddar-jack
-Home-made coleslaw
Finally, for dessert, after exchanging a few puppy kisses, Izzy and Emma would share a piece of delightful cheesecake topped with strawberry slices and a drizzly velvet-red glaze, accompanied by glasses of sparkling cider, as neither were of age for true champagne.
Heaven...
"You the only one, kid?" asked the bus driver.....
