Kaylor's Song (Oh My My My)

Chapter 1

Taylor looked out the window as trees passed by in a blur, the whole world whizzing past while she seemed to stay perfectly still in the car. The sun was just starting to come up and the dew on the grass made the side of the road look like it was sparkling, which was precisely the kind of excitement her seven year old mind needed to keep her occupied on a long drive. She sat with her face pressed up against the window, her breath was steaming up the glass and when she got tired of looking she would write messages to the other cars passing by. When Taylor looked to her left, she saw her little brother Austin mimicking her actions. "Look Teffy!" The four year old pointed as he tried to show off to his older sister. Austin had wrote his name in the sloppy way that only a pre-schooler can, but by the look on his face you would have thought he just created the greatest piece of window art ever. Taylor clapped and reached across the seat to high-five him- who was she to tell him otherwise?

Taylor's mother, Andrea began to wake up in the And passenger seat she'd been sleeping in for the last four hours. The woman turned and faced both of her children, her blue eyes were heavy with sleep but smiling all the same. She put a hand on Taylor's knee as if to praise her for being good and entertaining her brother while she slept. Taylor's eyes matched her mother's and she smiled back. "Mornin' momma!" Austin said and reached towards her. Andrea took her son's hand and greeted him as well. The family car pulled off of the highway and into a rest stop and once Taylor's father Scott parked, everyone got out to stretch their legs and find some breakfast. The inside of the rest stop was far from the highlight of their drive, but it was quiet and clean and Scott and Andrea desperately needed coffee and to make sure their two children were properly fed. After thirty minutes Taylor was skipping across the parking lot and back to their car with her little brother bouncing after her and their parents following behind and planning who would be driving next. Andrea took the drivers seat while Scott got comfortable on the passenger side and the family was off again, one stop closer to their new destination.

When Scott's job gave him a promotion he was overjoyed and accepted the offer immediately. One week later he learned that the job wasn't just about better pay and more benefits, it would actually involve his family relocating from their quiet town on Wyomissing, Pennsylvania to the much busier city of St. Louis, Missouri. After a few days of debating, Mr. and Mrs. Swift decided to pack up their belongings and make the move in order to provide their children with the best and most financially stable future possible. Austin is still far too young to understand the implications of moving and leaving their old town behind. But Taylor is very mature of being only seven and was not happy at all about the idea of changing schools and leaving her friends behind. It took another three days for Taylor to warm up to the idea and two weeks after that their home was in a series of boxes being loaded into a truck to be shipped 14 hours west to their new house.

They were about half way through the car ride and Taylor hadn't slept at all and instead she busied herself by looking out the window, singing along to the radio, and talking non-stop to whichever parent was driving. Her father woke up as Taylor was telling her mother a story she made up about a princess in a castle complete with a dragon and a knight on a white horse. "Taylor please," Scott begged. "Go to sleep. Just for a few hours. Please? If you don't you will be too cranky to help us unpack. Try to get some rest, please." He let out an exasperated sigh. It wasn't that he didn't love his daughter's stories - they were actually some of his favorites - it has simply been a long and restless few weeks and he knew that his whole family could use a break. Taylor obliged and closed her eyes, trying to dream up all the possibilities of what her new life will be like.

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