Verity's Book 2.0

Caitlin's Adventures, Part 2: Real Life

This part of Caitlin's adventures really happened. It is not normal life, but it is real life. Sometimes an exhaustive account of real life. Only the names have been changed.

All punctuation, spelling, and formatting transcribed as written.

Chapter III —
THE BEGINNING OF THE TRIP

Caitlin (okay I freaking hate typing this name it's as bad as Ariliea from my fantasy trope horror) sat in the living room, deep in the vivid breath-taking sentences of THE LAST BATTLE. But part of her was alert, waiting for the door to open. Two weeks earlier, her mother had surprised her by saying, "Would you like to go on a two-week trip with Jessica and Katy Carpenter?" Of course she had said yes. Now, two weeks later, she was sitting in the living room with a light jacket on, waiting for Mother to come home with Mrs. Carpenter from Bible Study. The Carpenters would drop Mother off, and pick her up.

Although she had been waiting, she started when the door swung open. There were some last-minute flurries (a hat and jacket for the windy city of Chicago) and they were out into the cool May night. (Okay what the flippin' pancakes. It wasn't May, it was November. Apparently this was another deliberate discrepancy to tie this in to the last chapter's timeframe) After a ten-minute-or-so ride, they came to the house, where Caitlin was introduced to the Stonwells, the children's grandparents. She liked them immediately, and simply called them Grandma and Grandpa.

(This was actually the norm with older couples in our church. They were always somebody's grandparents, and it felt logical for we who weren't related to adopt the title our peers gave them, though generally with a specified surname. Plus, with three or four generations in the same family, it gets complicated when you try to refer to "Mr. Rubingh".)

She had brushed her teeth at her own house, but she waited to get P.J.'s on until the other girls brushed their teeth. Then she followed them downstairs to their basement, where a surprise awaited her. The Ping-pong table was covered with blankets! Katy explained that since relatives had come over, including Grandma and Grandpa, they were "camping out" under the ping-pong table! "Hope you don't mind," Katy said. "No way do I mind!" said Caitlin, laughing as she ducked under a "door" and into the tent. (I mean literally camping out under a ping-pong table with friends is the pinnacle of childhood) She dropped her bag right outside the door (a.k.a. blanket) nearest to the bed she picked. Jessie came in, and they talked for a while until Katy emerged into the tent, carrying a paper bag under one arm. "This was going to be our Christmas present to you, but we decided to give it to you now, as a present for the trip."

Caitlin eagerly took the bag, and tore the tape off. Inside lay an adorable 18-inch doll, with soft, silky black hair and blue eyes. She wore a blue, white-and-green checkered no-sleeved dress, and a matching headband. She stared at it for a minute. She could hardly believe her eyes. "Thank you," she said softly. "I always wanted an 18-inch doll!"

N.B.: If the illustrations hadn't made it obvious, Caitlin Wright did not look like me. She had black hair done in perpetual pigtail braids, lacked glasses, and also lacked several of my personality quirks that I found undesirable (picky eater...). I made the doll match Caitlin because I was obsessed with American Girl doll magazines where they would show pictures of the dolls with owners who matched. My doll did not actually have black hair, much less match me. She was a used Battat doll with red hair and deeply tanned skin. I adored her wholeheartedly and would actually never have traded her for one that corresponded to my appearance.