North of Normal- A memoir of my wilderness childhood, my unusual family, and how I survived both by Cea Sunrise Person

Author:Cea Sunrise Person
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: NF
ISBN: 9780062289865
Publisher: Harper
Published: 2014-04-29T04:00:00+00:00

A FEW DAYS AFTER Mom and Karl’s fight, Mom surprised me by being awake before I was. When I went downstairs, she was already at the kitchen table with my breakfast waiting. I sat down and began eating my cereal.

“So . . . listen,” she said, clearing her throat. “I was wondering if you might be okay on your own for a couple of hours. I need to go somewhere, and I’m going to have to hitchhike. I’d rather go on my own. This is a small town, and people talk.”

“Talk about what?”

She smiled and reached for my hand. “It’s just for an hour or two, okay? I’ve left you a sandwich.”

“But I want to go with you!”

“Trust me, it’ll be really boring. You’ll have way more fun here playing with Suzie Doll or drawing.”

“Where are you going?”

“I just need to check something out. It’s nothing for you to worry about.”

I didn’t respond, but when I saw that she was serious, I finally climbed the stairs to get my art bag.

“Good girl. Just stay inside, all right? I’ll be back before you know it.” Mom gave me a quick hug, and then she was gone.

The house settled around me. I knelt on a chair at the kitchen table and took out my crayons, clattering them loudly on the table to break the silence. Pressing a piece of paper to the table with my hand, I drew a jagged line across the center for mountains, a quarter-sun with long orange rays in the corner and a row of pink daisies at the bottom. A square topped with a triangle was our cottage, a rectangle was our door and a circle was Mom’s smiling face at the window. I gazed at my masterpiece and then slid from my chair, wondering what to do next. I wasn’t hungry yet, but I found my honey and butter sandwich in the fridge and ate it anyway, singing quietly to myself as I did.

I was halfway through eating when I heard the thump. I stopped chewing and held my breath. Thump . . . thump . . . thump . . . It was the sound of footsteps, I realized, and they were climbing the front stairs.

My body flooded with terror. I dropped my sandwich and bolted upstairs to my bedroom. Glancing around the room, I made a dash for the closet. I pushed backwards into my clothes, pulled the door shut behind me and crouched down in the darkness. Whoever was down there was knocking now, each rap as loud as thunder in the silence. My heart was beating so hard I could feel it in my throat. I was going to cry. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a long, shaky breath, waiting for the sound of a key in the lock and footsteps climbing the stairs to discover our secret.

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