Chapter III

Chapter III

          When school started back up people would ask January what she did over the summer. Her response was always the same. She visited her Dad for a week and spent the whole time with her sister, Celia, at Virginia Beach. They visited Busch Gardens twice. Both times January came back with a spray on tattoo; one was a butterfly on her right wrist and the other was a vine on her ankle.

      While at her dad's house lived her stepbrothers. January never liked her them too much (who happened to be twins and juniors in high school), but the four of them were more then willing to come together long enough to share a beer in the backyard.

          For the other 14 weeks she had during the break she worked at a local café in North Carolina. Her mother had landed her the job. The café was ten minutes away from Duke’s campus and was always swamped with students and professors. Students would some to Lake Café in droves and study. Lily, January’s mom, once said it was very normal to have the café packed with silent students before exams.

          Maybe for her benefit (or not because of dead week) she started working in May. Lily was correct, no one spoke as January bustled to delver little cups of espresso and hot, foaming cups of cappuccinos.

          When the students left and the town folk became regulars again January felt at home.

          January always volunteered to work in the morning. In the mornings the blue-collar workers came and ordered the huge breakfast platters. They included biscuits, two eggs, three pieces of bacon, pancakes and grits. Those men were always nice and big tippers. They normally gave January five dollars each.

          By lunch the lawyers who defended rapist and killers came by and always tipped 15% on the dot.

          Then by one Heidi came in. She was a sweet girl who played the guitar on her breaks. Often the boss would have her play longer because it made people stay longer. January ended up the one to bake large muffins and try to sell them. Everyone, even January, adored the days Heidi worked because her music always sounded sweet.

          Then five o’ clock on the dot January left and deposited her tips at the bank before going home.

          Her days ended with reading Sylvia Plath, Edgar Allen Poe, or Robert Frost. It all depended on what mood she was in.

          The summer for her was boring besides work. She still managed to go to the gym three times a week. Sometimes she swam. Other times she would just sit in the sauna.

          As summer came to a close Lily started to become weepy. One morning January was still lying in bed and Lily had crawled into bed with her.

          January was wide-awake. After Lily watched Toy Story 3 with Maia Lily started to tear up. She felt sorrow knowing her oldest daughter would be so many hours away.

          Lily has always been as beautiful as a goddess, but she looked weak and feeble as crawled under January’s purple and black sheets.

          “Promise me you’ll call Janus.” Lily simply said. 

          “Mother…” January couldn’t help but to whine. “I’ll call, but remember I’ll be busy. Making new friends, doing homework, going to class…”

          By now Lily had started to stop the crying. “I shouldn’t act like this right before you leave. I need to leave you with some happy memories.”

          In retrospect her memories of the summer was spotted with cookouts, many strawberry daiquiris and too many days of work. In retrospect her memories of the summer trumped her memories of her first year in college.

Reviews

[Tina Kline]

Nice chapter explaining how January spent her time before school. Very easy to read and not at all boring. I enjoyed this chapter.

[Tina Kline]

Nice chapter explaining how January spent her time before school. Very easy to read and not at all boring. I enjoyed this chapter.

[Coyote Poetry]

I like the chapter a lot. I like the description of the people and the the locations. I like the way you are telling the story. Being young and tasting real freedom. Thank you for a outstanding chapter.
Coyote

[Valette]

Nice chapter, though a lot of commas seem to be missing.
Personally, I think there might be too much 'telling' here and not enough 'showing.' I agree with Daydreamer that much of this chapter contains info that is not strictly necessairy. Some additional set-up or forshadowing might be a little better fit if you want to keep this a conversational chapter rather then action.

[Daydreamer54]

Sounds good,but i don;t think this is info we need to know, better just to drop right into the action! ^^