Chapter 2

A Chapter by CassieLynne

I woke up the next morning feeling exhausted and a bit depressed. The argument from last night still had me shaken. I had never seen my mother get so angry before, especially towards my dad. I threw back my covers and climbed groggily out of bed. Glancing out of my bedroom window, I realized that today was my birthday. What a birthday indeed. I felt horrible and was definitely hoping that my parents had forgotten about it amongst the remains of their unhappiness. I was really not in the mood to celebrate. I pulled on an old sweatshirt and jeans, and went downstairs to see what awaited me this morning. My mom was bustling around the kitchen as usual. When she heard me approaching, she asked casually,

“Hey Auddi, would you like some eggs and bacon for breakfast?” My mom had clearly gotten over her anger, or else she was extremely good at hiding her true feelings. Unfortunately, I hadn’t gained this gene from my mother, as I was all too good at showing my true feelings. If that was a good quality, I had yet to see some good results. I rubbed my eyes sleepily.

“Yeah, sure mom. Thanks.” I grabbed a glass from the cupboard and poured myself some orange juice. Sitting down at the table, I drank slowly and basked in the silence. I was definitely not a morning person. For once, I was puzzled by my mother’s silence. She really must be upset, I realized. My mom set a plate of piping hot food in front of me and smiled.

“Happy birthday dear. I know it’s on the pretense of bad news, but still try to enjoy it. When your dad gets home tonight, we’ll give you your gift.” I smiled a fake smile and thanked my mom. So she hadn’t forgotten. I wasn’t as upset about that as I had thought I would be. I found myself wondering what the gift was. I finally worked up the nerve to ask my mom what I thought would be a forbidden question. I cleared my throat.

“So, when exactly are we moving?” I heard silence behind me as my mom stopped moving at the counter. Then I heard her sigh.

“Your dad is supposed to know by today, so I guess when he comes home, we’ll all know.” I picked at my food in silence. I wasn’t as oblivious to moving as I thought I had been. It was still taking a toll on me. What was so special about this house anyways? It was a smaller house than what we were used to, and it only had the two bedrooms and one bathroom. The other rooms we had were those of a regular house, but this home was nothing special at all. I guess I was just disappointed in my dad. I had really hoped that we were done moving for at least a year or so. We had only been living here for maybe two months. Luckily, my mom hadn’t unpacked everything yet, so it wouldn’t be as hard to pack up on the big day. I got to thinking about the place my dad had mentioned last night at dinner. Nobel? I had no idea where that was. I had heard of Georgian Bay, but that didn’t tell me much. The Bay was huge, and Nobel could be anywhere around it. I finished up my breakfast and put my dishes in the dishwasher.

“Thanks for breakfast mom, I’m going upstairs for a bit.” She nodded and I dashed up the stairs to my room. I turned on my computer and waited for it to slowly boot up. I went on to a search engine site and typed in The Town of Nobel. Some unrelated sites popped up as well as some mapping sites. I ignored those and clicked on a promising looking site. This was exactly what I was looking for. The place looked beautiful, but it was very desolate and had few places to shop at. There was a local grocery store, pharmacy, and boutique. Other than that, we pretty much had to fend for ourselves, or else drive about thirty minutes into the next town for our bigger shopping needs. Satisfied with my new knowledge, I turned off my computer and spent the rest of the afternoon reading Pride and Prejudice, my favorite novel. Boy, my birthday was a real party.

After hours of reading, I dazedly got up from my bed and went downstairs to find that my dad was already home. He and my mom were sitting in the living room, most likely discussing our moving issues. I snuck past the doorway and headed for the kitchen to see what there was to eat for dinner.

“Audrey?” My mom’s shrill voice called me from the next room. I slumped my shoulders as I let the fridge door slam shut. I trudged into the living room to meet both of my parents’ gazes.

“What’s wrong?” I asked my mom, as I noticed again the use of my full name.

“Your father and I are urgently discussing the moving matters, and I was wondering if you could make us some grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner?” My mom asked sweetly. I sighed my reply.

“Sure mom, they’ll be done soon.” I slowly walked back into the kitchen and turned on the stove. Placing a frying pan on the burner, I went to the bread compartment of the cupboard and shrieked. There was a key with a ribbon and ‘Happy Birthday Auddi’ written on the tag. I gasped and grabbed the key.

“Oh my gosh! Mom? Dad? What is this?” They both came running into the kitchen with smiles on their faces. My mom quickly switched off the stove.

“We wanted to surprise you. You are clearly old enough now, and you’ll need to learn how to drive.”

“That’s right, and you’ll see your new car once we arrive in Nobel. We leave as soon as we’re packed.” My dad added. My face fell at the abrupt news. I loved how my dad added the bad news in with the good.

“Thanks guys,” I stated happily, even though I was feeling even more miserable now. “Oh, and dad, I looked up the town of Nobel. Why do we have to move to such a hick town?” My mom glared at my dad, as if to say ‘I told you so’. My dad waved my statement away.

“Nonsense, it isn’t a hick town Auddi. It’s just way out in the beautiful Canadian Shield area, full of nature. You’ll love it, I know you will.” I grimaced, remembering the lack of shopping outlets.

“Dad, there’s not even a mall that’s close to home. The nearest useful stores are all thirty minutes away or farther.” My mom coughed abrubtly, and looked startled. Apparently I had done more research than she had. My dad smiled uneasily.

“Don’t worry you two, it’ll be fine. I promise. Now, who wants cake? Your mother and I got you your favorite. Ice cream cake!” He bustled over to the freezer and withdrew a huge vanilla cake. I whispered to my mom.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” My mom looked confused.

“About what, the cake?”

“No, no.” I said rolling my eyes. “About moving to Nobel. It’s going to be horrible. We aren’t going to meet anybody in a twenty-foot radius. We’ll have no neighbors!” My mom smiled.

“Maybe that isn’t such a bad thing…” Then I remembered our annoying neighbors with the yappy dog. And our other neighbors who were old and meaner than hungry grizzly bears. Okay, so maybe the absence of neighbors wasn’t such a bad thing, but what about the rest that would be missing from our every day lives? I sure hoped that my dad had something figured out, since I was lost and confused on the subject. This would turn out to be interesting indeed. I abandoned my thoughts and went to grab my slice of birthday cake. I had to admit, they got my soft spot there. I loved vanilla ice cream cake.

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