Chapter 9
Wednesday, June 17th
Rebecca
“Cooper! Go to the grocery store and get me a paper!” Mrs. Knett barks. I give her a glare and slink out the door.
Since the school field trip incident, Mrs. Knett has been crankier than usual. Which means my life is seriously threatened.
The local grocery store here in Phoenix, Arizona has several newspaper stands, but why take all that time to walk there when you could go to the street vendor on the corner and then take the extra twenty minutes to have some free time? And that’s exactly what I do when she sends me out every single morning.
I pay the vendor-guy his three bucks and set out to the light-rail tracks. It’s like a subway, but it’s aboveground, for you big city-goers. I normally just walk along the tracks for a while, and then I use my own judgment to tell the time and when I need to get back to Mrs. Knett’s crowded house.
Even if it is only seven in the morning, the sky is a clear, bright blue, and the temperature is fast rising into the high 90’s. I gaze at the sky for a moment, guessing I have about fifteen more minutes before I need to start getting back. I turn my head and find myself looking at a streetlight with a flyer tacked onto it. I walk closer to it, and can not believe my eyes.
The principal of the school we visited, Mrs. Crest, has quickly followed up on her promise to advertise Mrs. Knett’s orphanage. Sitting there on the streetlamp, right in front of my face, is all the information anyone looking for American kid adoptions could ever want. I smile, appreciating the thought, and happy for the younger kids who are cute and well-behaved, but inside I know that I’m never going to get adopted. Not by anyone. I’ll just have to wait until I’m legally an adult and I can get the heck out of that prison.
I tear down the poster and let it go, watching it float a few feet away from me. I walk forward and stomp on it and without looking back, make my way to the tracks.
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Stormy Skies (On Hold)
Science FictionThis story is being put on hold in order to be edited and rewritten. Feel free to read it anyway.
