4

“It takes around an hour to arrive at the airport. Luckily, we get there just in time. The next flight to America is in thirty minutes. We rush inside, and go to buy tickets. We somehow get the first-class ones, and hurry to board. I’m quite surprised -yet relieved- we’re allowed to bring our dog onto the flight. They even have a seat for him. 

“I sit  in the seat beside the window, and I strap our dog into the dog-seat next to me. My mother sits across from me, and she straps my brother into the baby-seat next to her. I lie back, and look out the window. Watching all of the clouds roll past like the waves of the ocean, as the plane flies through the air, is really calming. I take a deep breath, and fall asleep.” My great grandmother stops talking, and gets up from her chair. 

“Is that all of the story?” I question. I really hope it’s not. I want more. 

My great grandmother laughs, “No, sweetie. There’s more. I’m just going to fix some tea.”

I get up, and go follow her to the kitchen. Except, I’m just fixing a glass of ice water. I hate tea. I wait for my great grandmother to finish making her favorite, chai tea, and then we go back to the table.

“So, where was I?” My great grandmother says, as she sips from her drink, and continues. “We arrived back home in America on November eighth. The United States had only been apart of the war for almost a year.

“We landed in New York; from there, we flew to Nashville, Tennessee. Where we originally lived, of course.” My great grandmother says, and waves her hands around. She laughs, as do I. 

What’s so funny is, we’re in Nashville right now. 

“The thing is, back then, in the 40's, Nashville wasn’t as popular, and huge as it is now. It was easy to find someone if you tried your hardest, or had connections.” 

I grow suspicious once my great grandmother says that. I assume she notices, because she smiles before going forward. 

“We moved back into our old home. I hadn’t realized how much I missed it. 

“Right after a day of being back, we got loads of ‘welcome home’ gifts from neighbors. My mother had to explain to at-least half of our neighbors about my father. Man, did I hate watching their reactions. It made me feel like I was reliving that day again; which is something I did not want to do. 

“It took us a week to get fully-settled in. My mother was back at her job she had before we moved, and I was going back to school. My aunt babysat my brother until I got home, and then I took care of him until my mother got home. Everything had finally gotten back to normal. Until one day-“ My great grandmother gets interrupted by the phone ringing. She gets up, and goes to answer it.

It’s one of her friends from church, so I know this’ll be a while. I sigh, and decide to eat some of my spaghetti from earlier.