The Outsiders: Before My Time Part III

English Paper

Goldie's POV
April 5, 1965

As we slowly drove towards the address Mom gave me, we passed by some parks with some playground equipment and I suggested that Candy and Red hangout there while I drove the rest of the way to Mom's house. I pulled over, they hopped out, and I told them to be careful before I continued my drive.

I approached a small shack with one big window letting the entire street see into their living room. The house was white, with a paved path that cut through the over grown grass that led straight to the front door. I had to open up a chain link fence which luckily wasn't locked. I stepped onto the property and closed the fence behind me.

I walked up to the stairs and jumped up onto the porch. I approached the door and I knocked quickly. Just a couple seconds later the door swung open and Mom's smiling face greeted me.

"Hey, Goldie, come on in," she said, letting me into the house.

I stepped in and was immediately in the living room. I could see the kitchen straight ahead, and just before the kitchen there was a dark hallway to the right. I didn't see anyone else in the house.

"How was your drive?" She asked.

"It was fine. Easy to find," I said and closed the door behind me.

"Take off your shoes," she told me.

I paused to crouch down and slip my shoes off and I lined them up with the rest of them. There weren't very many pairs, but they all looked the same. Dirty black or white Converse, or muddy boots.

She led me toward the kitchen where there was a dining table with a few mismatched chairs. She sat in one of them and gestured that I sit in one next to hers. She had a stack of blank sheets of paper on the table, along with the English book and binder.

"So, I took some notes from her lecture," she said, opening her black binder and taking out a page of her notes. "It's supposed to be fiction, and twenty pages long."

"Anything else?"

"I honestly wasn't paying much attention."

"Okay.... so, fiction." I nodded, trying to brain storm. "What should it be about?"

She clicked her tongue a couple times before grabbing one of the clean sheets of paper and started making bullet points.

"I think we should do something funny and stupid," she suggested. "Like, a surgeon who can only operate with his toes."

I chuckled a bit and said, "or a cat with super powers. Or we could pitch an invention... like a telephone that can fit in your pocket and doesn't need a wire."

I thought maybe mentioning cellphones would make Mom think I was a genius. Thus, making her trust me. I said I had a plan. I didn't say it was a good plan.

She just stared at me funny and asked, "what?"

"Nothing," I chuckled nervously, quickly realizing it backfired. "Just a stupid idea. Forget about it."

"I like your cat with superpowers idea," she said, writing that down on one of the bullet points. "What power should he have?"

I wanted to say time travel so very badly, because it was the only possible thing I could relate to. That might be too on the nose. 

"What about teleportation?" I asked.

"Crazy idea," Mom giggled, "what if we had this cat be from a time where cats and dogs and other domesticated animals are like hyper-intelligent. So like they can walk on their hind legs, and talk like people and think like people. Imagine a person just in a cat body, okay?"