Wild Thing

Chapter Two

We had bought a brand new house when we moved here. Dad actually picked it out before we even arrived. It was a nice little tan ranch styled home with a few bushes in the front and trees speckled here and there. In the neighborhood we lived in all the houses were pretty much new. A contractor developed the land only a year or two ago. I was almost afraid that I would walk up to the wrong one since they all looked identical but I quickly remembered that ours was the only one that had ‘sold!’ stuck to the for sale sign. 

Opening the front door I was about to call for mom, telling her I was home, but quickly stopped when I heard unrecognizable voices. Walking forward I peeked around the wall and was met by my mother’s smiling face. 

“There you are dear, I was wondering when you were coming back home.”

In my living room sat five people, looking highly uncomfortable with glasses of lemonade in their hands.

Pulling my arm my mother tugged me in front of her. “Dot, these are the Jordan’s, they live next door.”

Nodding my head I sent them a little wave. A middle aged woman sat on one of the arm chairs by the front window. She had warm brown eyes and plenty of laugh lines on her face. On the couch sat two girls, one about my age and the other looked like she was still in grade school. By the fire place stood two boys, the taller one was probably my age at the least, if not older and the other one looked like he could be around the same age as my younger brother Jay.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

Walking back to the other arm chair my mother began to chatter. “They stopped by to welcome us to the neighborhood, isn’t that kind of them? Tess over there is in your grade at school.”

“Oh, well that’s nice to know.” I glanced over to the older girl on the couch and she gave me a light smile and shrug. She had the same eyes as her mother and the color matched seemed to be the same shade as her hair.  

“Peter graduated last year and finished his first year of college, while Will is in Jay’s grade and Judy over there is starting middle school.” My mom pointed to each of the other children. They all had brown hair and eyes except for Judy who was blonde.

Peter walked over from the fire place and offered me his hand. “It’s nice to meet you Dot.” A southern twang was noticeable in his voice and the sideways smirk was completely different than the one the greasers had earlier. It would be an understatement to say he was good-looking. Peter was extremely handsome. 

I shook it and smiled, “You too.”

“Dot?” I pulled my attention away from Peter’s warm brown eyes and looked over at my mother who was perched on the edge of the arm chair. “Why don’t you show Tess your room?”

Quickly I turned my head over to Tess who was starting to rise from the couch. “Well, only if you’d like too.”

“Oh I wouldn’t mind.”

We walked down the hall, around all the boxes that cluttered the hallway, and into my room, where even more boxes were stacked. I’d noticed her twang wasn’t as noticeable as her brother’s. Then again she looked kind of different from him anyway. They had the same looks genetically but their style was quite different. Peter is dressed more modestly in a light blue button up t-shirt and a pair of slacks. Tess is wearing a light green camisole and pair of matching shorts, a little more revealing and less conservative than the girls I used to know. I assume Mom will have something to say about that later.

“Wow, I guess you guys really did just move in here,” Tess remarked, looking at all the boxes with big eyes. “From out in the living room you wouldn’t have been able to tell.”