Symbols of my past

Chapter One

A pair of red rubbers and a pink, polka-dotted slicker jumped from puddle to puddle on this last day of October. With every leap, the hood of the little rain coat fell, showing off a pair of lopsided auburn pigtails with mismatched colored bands. A happy escape the owner of the boots and slicker as she hopped about like a pink frog in a pond, to which she pretended she was. "Zoe," a woman called out from the doorway of a large New England style house, "It's time to come in love!" The little girl turned her head towards her mother, a large almost toothless grin showed. "Okay mommy," She shouted as she skipped forward, "Just one more puddle!" Zoe then jumped into a large puddle that was almost as deep and tall as her Red rain boots that she wore. "Don't get too wet dear! You don't want to get sick on your birthday, do you?" Her mother called out again. The concerned tone made Zoe leap out of the large sinking puddle to the door of the White, two floor house they lived in.

"Seriously Zoe," Her mother said crossly, "Your socks and pants are soaked to the bone!" She helped her six-year-old out of the wet clothes and hung them up in the kitchen, to where the front door resided. "You're so lucky, young lady, that Daddy is coming home today or else your birthday would have been in time out with no cake." Zoe gave a pouting face up to her mother, as if to inaudibly say she was sorry for getting soaking wet when she was told not to. Her mother couldn't help but smile and held out her arms. "Come here love," She said scooping up her little girl in her arms, "Let's get you all dressed up in that new princess dress for Daddy, ya?" she nuzzled her nose to Zoe's to make her laugh. "Ya Ya! Cupcake Princess!" Zoe Chuckled, her arms now up in the air as if to say, look how happy I am, after which she then slung them around her mother's neck and hugged her happily. When Zoe pulled back, she looked at her mother as if to memorize her every feature. She wasn't quite sure why she was doing so, but something in her told her too. Her mother and herself shared more in the looks department than Zoe did with her father. They both shared the same auburn hair, the same bright, almost Ice, colored eyes, the same pale freckled complexion and even the same button nose. A lot of her mother's friends and even her pre-school teachers have said that she could have been a clone of her mother. To which Zoe was happy.

As Zoe finished looking her mother over, she noticed that they had gotten upstairs already and was headed into her room. Purple walls, pink and yellow butterfly patterns, a small princess canopy bed in the corner and a closet next to a large set of pained windows. Her mother placed her down and told her to take off her shirt as she looked for the dress, to which she opened the closet and shoved herself into the mass amount of clothes hanging, as if she was trying to be taken away to Narnia. Zoe sat patiently at her drawing table next to the window waiting for her mother to find the dress, drawing a weird symbol on a few pages. She would understand later what it was, but for now she was a smart six-year-old girl from Madison, Connecticut. Her mother worked at the city council in Guilford but loved their Madison house. Zoe would have said she was the luckiest girl in the world for having her school next to City hall, it was easier to see her mother more. As Zoe finished her picture her mother came out of the Narnia like closet and pulled out a cute little princess like dress. It looked like a ball gown, with the large sleeves and the poufy underskirt. The only difference was that the dress was covered in little pictures of cupcakes and it was purple and pink. Her mother helped her through the hole at the bottom of the dress and pulled the dress down, then fixed her Pigtails and placed a Tiara at the top. "Do I look like a princess mommy?" Zoe asked as she twirled around, playing with the poufy skirt. "Yes baby," Her mother cooed, "My little princess." Zoe jumped around the room as if she was outside again shouting, "Cupcakes, Cupcakes, Cupcakes!" Her mother laughed at her silly daughter and pulled out a camera, "Want to take a picture with me?" She asked, Zoe jumped over to her mother and nodded wildly. "Yes please!" The two got in close and smiled at the old Polaroid camera. "CHEEESE!" screamed Zoe at the camera, "Cheese." Said her mother.