Flabbergasted

Chapter 1

Berkton is an old, tiny town. My great-great-great-great grandfather was born and raised here. In fact, he was raised in the very house that my family occupies today. Our house was similar to all the other houses in the town, with brightly painted walls and furniture. In addition to the bright surroundings, we had square picture frames of our radiant, smiling faces hung up on the walls in our house.

In Berkton there are five neighborhoods, and ours happens to be the smallest. We had eight houses in our neighborhood of Small Field. Small Field was shaped in two parallel rows of houses. There were four houses on one side and four houses on the other. All of the families in Small Field were much like ours, in the fact that they had a long line of family that had lived in the house and passed it on to their children. For example, when I get older, my parents plan to find a different house in town and give this house to me. Because of this ongoing tradition, all of the neighbors were extremely close. We all knew each other very well, and perhaps sometimes we gathered too much information about each other. Every day in Berkton was exactly the same for everyone. For we all woke up to the shimmering sunrise and singing birds. Then we had a nice breakfast and someone in the family would read the daily newspaper aloud; there was never any real news in newspapers since nothing peculiar ever happened. After breakfast, the parents would head off to work with their ordinary brown, box-shaped briefcases and the children would take the traditional yellow bus to school. Then, when both the parents' and children's, day was over, the family would gather for dinner and gossip about everything that happened. After dinner, the family would go to sleep only to wake up to the same repetitious cycle. It was a nauseating routine if you ask me.

It is just my mom, dad, and I who live in our house. I have no siblings to keep me company, so I spend most days drawing and watching television in my room during my free time. I did not spend all of my time alone because I have two best friends, Carol and Sydney. Carol lives in the house right across from me. Carol is very outgoing and spontaneous. Sydney lives in another neighborhood, Salted Lakes. Sydney was pretty much the opposite of Carol; reserved and liked to plan everything. Both go to the same school as me, Berkton High School. On the weekends we would have sleepovers and watch movies, paint our nails, and gossip. Though usually when we planned a sleepover at Carol's house, my mom would make up an excuse as to why I couldn't go. She disapproved of Carol very much since Carol would always find a way to get me involved in trouble. In fact my mom's nickname for Carol was "Crazy Carol". The last time we got in trouble with Carol was three weeks ago. We decided to go to the town mall and Carol saw these pink heart-shaped sunglasses sitting on the sunglasses rack that she claimed she "just had to have." But there was a problem. Carol didn't have enough money for them. So she quickly grabbed the glasses off the rack and slipped them in my purse, because she didn't have her own purse. The moment she did that, I was so shocked at her careless behavior, I just froze for a second.

"Carol, put those back," Sydney commanded.

Carol did not respond.

The cashier said, "You have to pay for those!" And then

Carol shouted, "Run!" Out of my confused emotions of anxiety, fear, anger, and betrayal, I, Harper Witherwhim actually started to run. I felt like my legs had a mind of their own. All three of us ran, panicky and breathless. We didn't even make it out the door because there was a mall security officer blocking it and he told us to hand over the glasses. I handed them over without a word of resistance. They called the police, who drove us over to a holding cell until our parents came for us. I remember waiting in that cell like it was yesterday, scared that my mother would have my head and enraged that Carol would do that to me. Carol told the police that it was her idea to steal the sunglasses, but I still cannot believe she tried to steal them in the first place and got Sydney and I involved without our permission. All three of us made the newspaper that week and everyone at school found out about it and rumors went flying around that the three of us had become thugs and thieves. I knew we were the top gossip at school when I overheard Mandy, the cheer captain, talking about us. She was telling her friends how we threatened the cashier with a gun. Of course, her version of the story was completely twisted but, needless to say, we were very popular that week. I still remember when my mom picked me up from the holding cell that day; she didn't utter a single word. Then we got into the car and the first words she says are: "I can't believe you would embarrass me like that".

My mother made sure our family retained an honorable reputation. As a matter of fact, when she had her weekly teatime with her friends, Mrs. Dean and Mrs. Williams, she told them that I was just a pure victim of Crazy Carol's corruptness. Over time I had eventually forgiven Carol and she promised never to do anything like that to Sydney and me ever again. My parents still didn't trust her, especially my mother. She would give Carol what I call "the evil eye" every time she saw her.

While Carol socialized with everyone, Sydney really only talked to Carol and me. She was also a genius and made straight A's in school. All the teachers adored her because she participated a lot and continuously got the highest test scores. She also really enjoyed reading and always carried a book with her. My mother adored Sydney simply because she knew how to stay out of trouble and she was basically perfect. Actually, there was one thing she was completely terrible at, and that was sports. Sydney was a total klutz when it came to anything athletic.

Anyways, today my mom appeared to be bothered by something. She was staring out the window with one of her hands on the blinds and the other on her hip. Something was occurring in Small Field. The Lucas family, whose house was diagonal from us, was moving out and a brand-new family was moving in. In Berkton, no one new had ever moved in like thirty years. We were not used to difference in this humdrum town, simply because nothing ever changed. The Lucases were kind of my mother's favorite family in the neighborhood. They always did nice things for everyone. Sometimes they would barbeque for the neighborhood. Other times they would have bake sales, and they had the best red velvet cupcakes. Also, they would host the neighborhood block party every year. The neighbor block parties were always a blast. Everyone in the Small Fields area had been miserable after hearing that the Lucases were leaving. The Lucas family wanted to move because they claimed they wanted "a change in scenery". Which, naturally, everyone in the town thought was the most bizarre excuse ever because they didn't see a reason for change. However, I thought it was an acceptable reason. It can get boring and wearisome living in a small town where you have the same routine and see the same faces every day. A lot of neighbors, including my parents, urged the Lucas family to stay. Well they didn't "urge", they practically got on their knees and begged. My mother had gone over to their house earlier in the week and brought Mrs. Lucas her favorite cookies. Other people in the town did similar gestures while trying to convince them to not leave. The town threw out reasons like "it is safe here", "this is the best place to be", and "you will not understand the world outside of this town." Which, looking back, all seemed like bogus excuses to me. I don't think the neighbors were actually trying to help the Lucas family, but instead the neighbors really wanted them to stay so that everyone in Small Field wouldn't have to witness things changing. It was like the thought of change was the monster hiding under a little child's bed, and the town was the little child that checked under the bed every two minutes to make sure the monster wasn't there and that everything was normal. Either way, the Lucases didn't seem to care about the town's warnings because they just packed up their belongings and left anyway. The family that bought the Lucas's home was the Strange family. Their last name seemed to fit the situation. They were currently moving into the house. Last time I was outside, I happened to see Mr. Strange carrying a television inside.

My mother looked like she was going to have an anxiety attack watching them move in. I was sitting at the table during my pre-calculus homework. My mom had been peeking through the window for like an hour straight. "How dare them to just let random people in the neighborhood. They can't just replace the Lucas family like that. All those memories just flushed down the drain. The Stranges are practically intruders and should be prohibited from moving in to Small Field. We have had order and peace for decades and now here comes this new family that we know nothing about. They could be secretly a bunch of frauds or crooks. For crying out aloud, their last name is Strange. I find that very strange." To her these were all reasonable reasons as to why the Strange family should not be allowed to move in. Though her rant was ridiculous, it did make me wonder what it would be like to have this new family move in. I thought it was rather exciting to see new faces. Whose knows, maybe the Stranges will become the new favorite family in the neighborhood someday. For now, this new family was a mystery. My mother probably knew the most about them because she had been watching them like a hawk. All I really knew was that their family consisted of three people. There was Mrs. Strange, Mr. Strange, and apparently they had a son. They would definitely be the gossip for the next couple of weeks in the town.