Longer Short Story

Red Sky

The taxi drove across the flat land down a dirt road through what looked like a ghost town. The taxi stopped at a dirt driveway that had to be about two miles long. The driver told me that my unwanted journey would cost me $25.00. After giving up my money I grabbed my bags and sighed as I started toward my new home. The building at the end of the driveway was hardly big enough to call a house. It was made of brick with green vines crawling up toward the sun. I knocked on the bright orange door but no one answered. I turned the handle and to my surprise, opened the door- it wasn’t even locked. This didn’t surprise me when I realized that the value of the inside contents of the house were worth no more then a thousand dollars.

“Hello? Aunt Elsie?” I called into the empty house.

I decided to walk outside to find where my aunt may have wondered off. As I looked at the horizon I saw Aunt Elsie walking contently towards me. She had a large floppy straw hat placed on her head. Draping over her small body was a yellow and red floral dress. Trotting next to her was a plump pink pig with his nose high in the air and a homemade collar around his neck with a sunflower placed on top.

“Samantha! How are you?” Aunt Elsie asked me as she gave me a bear hug.

“Good.” I replied.

“Well let’s get you settled in,” Aunt Elsie said joyfully.

She grabbed my two bags from the entry way and brought them upstairs to a small room with an iron bed placed in the middle.

“You are my first visitor Samantha!” Aunt Elsie said joyfully. I hated how she called me Samantha. It made me feel so proper. All my friends at home call me Sam.

“Cool,” I replied.

“Well I will let you unpack your bags while I go down stairs and whip up some dinner,” Aunt Elsie said ignoring my lack of enthusiasm.

I looked around at my new living situation and found myself hating Jenny. She was so irresponsible leaving me for a guy who wants nothing to do with me. Well I didn’t need her. If she was willing to send me away than I was willing to forget about her.

“Samantha! Dinner is ready!” Aunt Elsie called from downstairs.

The food was like a rainbow of colors compared to the McDonalds’ meals I got served at home. There was bright green salad with fresh carrots delicately placed on top. Next to them were Red radishes, which looked like nothing I’ve ever eaten before. Than there were mashed potatoes with a lake of gravy, grilled chicken, and ripe yellow bananas.

“Sit sit! I hope you are ok with what we are having, “ said Aunt Elsie. “I didn’t know what foods you like.”

As soon as I sat down, something brushed against my legs. I looked under the table and there was the pig that was following my aunt earlier. It looked right at me and snorted.

“UGH! What is that thing doing under the table?” I asked in disgust.

“Oh Harold?”

“Yes Harold. Shouldn’t he be outside?”

“No no no. He is always allowed in the house. What if I just left you outside? You wouldn’t be too happy with me. Oh no, Harold is family,” said Aunt Elsie. “Speaking of family, how is your mother?”

“Fine I guess.” I didn’t feel like talking about my mother much.

“Well that’s nice of Jenny for letting you stay with me!” Aunt Elsie said. She was so oblivious to the truth.

“Of course. Did she tell you how long I would be staying?” I asked.

“No, she just said that she would be gone for a while and asked if I could look after you, “ She said while she started peeling her banana.

“That’s just like her,” I said under my breath.

“What’s wrong Samantha?” my aunt asked sincerely.

I found myself quickly confiding in her, “Its just that my mother feels like she can just drop me off wherever she pleases. This isn’t the first time this has happened. The last time she left me at grandma’s house for three months.”

“Oh Samantha, it will be fine. Your mother loves you very much and she will be back soon to get you.”

“No you don’t understand. She doesn’t care about me. When I actually am home she doesn’t even notice me and half the time she is at one of her jerk boyfriend’s houses,” I snapped back in anger.

By this time we were both done with dinner and migrated outside where the sun was getting ready for bed.

“Well while you are here, lets have some fun. Have you ever gone firefly hunting?” Aunt Elsie’s eyes brightened up as she told me about her favorite game.

“No, there isn’t many fireflies in New York,” I replied.

“Oh you will have so much fun! Let’s go!” My aunt started running through the tall grass. Trotting behind her trying to catch up was Harold happily snorting.

I looked up at the red sky and smiled to myself as a sudden calming filled me. I knew that a better day was to come. I knew that the summer I would spend at Aunt Elsie’s house would open my eyes to new things and teach me many life lessons.

“Come on Sam!” Aunt Elsie yelled back to me.

I laughed. “Coming!” I said running full speed towards the horizon.