Daydream Believer

i. books and boxes

"Are we there yet?" I whined. It seemed like it had been forever since leaving Seattle. I already missed the big needle pointing to the sky and our old house. I hugged Bronto, my dinosaur, against my chest.

"Soon," Mommy said from the front seat.

"When's soon?" I asked.

"Maybe another five minutes or so."

Five minutes was a long time to wait. I stared out the window. The sky was bright blue and there were white clouds that looked a little bit like puffy cotton balls.

I imagined myself prancing through the long greenish-brown grass that was in everyone's backyard. Bronto and I could play here. Maybe I could take a book and stare at the colorful pictures under one of those tall, leaning trees. I could hide away from all of these people wandering around the town. They were like demons out to get me. I much preferred the company of Bronto.

We passed by little gingerbread houses until we approached a big sign.

Welcome to Odiosis, Illinois.

"Look! We're almost here kids!" Daddy shouted.

"Yay!" my little brother Noah screamed.

So this was it. Odiosis. It was hard to think of it like home though. It was more like an adventure land; a world to explore. We pulled into the driveway of one of the many little houses and parked.

"This is our new house," Mommy said.

Noah and I got out of the car. I looked around. It was a lot bigger than our old house. Everything about it was big. Big doors. Big windows. Big rooms. A big backyard. I wasn't quite sure if I liked it yet.

The moving people were already carrying big boxes inside. Once they reached the front door, I opened them. Some had books. Some had toys. Some had dishes and pots and boring stuff like that. Noah took out the blocks and started playing with them.

"McKenna, Noah, get out of there," Mommy said. I stopped searching and scrambled back to Daddy.

"Hi McKenna," he said.

"Daddy, I don't want to go to school tomorrow," I said.

"McKenna, don't you want to be smart?" Daddy asked. I nodded. "If you go to school, you'll be really smart."

"Okay Daddy," I said, giving him a hug.

"Do you like our new home?" Daddy asked.

I nodded. "I think I might like it."