Chapter One: 21 days until
Christmas (Saturday)
The two boys run past Kate, almost
knocking her over. Instead of telling them to slow down, she watches their
mother run off after them. Turning away
from the family, Kate notices a car pulling into the lot. She grimaces as she recognizes Lila’s car. She has no desire to get into a tussle with
her arch enemy, especially in front of her mother. Neither does she wish to act
as if Lila hadn’t just tried, unsuccessfully of course, to seal her
boyfriend.
Plus under her mother’s eye, she’ll
have to behave perfectly. Kate looks
around and spies a family coming off the farm with their chosen tree. Kate hurries forward eager to help them. As she moves, her foot catches a piece of
ice. Kate tries to balance herself, but
before she can, her feet slide out from under her. She lands hard on her butt, dazed for a
moment. She glances up to see Lila smirking down at her.
“Do you think you can help me, if
you’re not too busy attempting to ice skate?”
Kate grits her teeth and smiles,
“Of course.” She hauls herself up, taking care to brush off her butt, wincing
at a tender spot. “What sort of tree are
you looking for?”
“The perfect one, of course.”
“Of
course you are. Now, what shape are you looking for?”
“Did I
not just say the perfect tree? Maybe I need someone else to help me.” Lila
looks around.
Kate
catches her mother’s eye who looks at her questionly. Kate can’t afford another customer
mishap. She holds in a sigh and
recovers, “I meant, how tall and how wide of a tree are you looking for?”
Lila
nods and thinks for a moment. “Well it
has to be the focal point of the room.”
Kate nods in understanding. “I’m
having a party, you see, and everything must be perfect.” Kate nods again.
“What
room will you be placing the tree?”
“The
parlor of course.” Lila looks at Kate as if she’s stupid.
Kate
fights the urge to roll her eyes. Only Lila would call their living room a
parlor. “What about needles, do you want short or long?”
Lila
shrugs, “Whatever’s best really.”
“Do you
want to look in our lot or would you like to see our selection of pre-cut
trees?”
Lila
gives me a look, “I don’t think you really understand. I want you to find me
the perfect tree. God is that so hard?
I’ll be in my car. Don’t take too long either.”
Dumbfounded,
I watch as she flounces towards her car.
Rooted to the spot, my mom startles me, “What was that about?”
“That
was Lila, I’m supposed to find her the perfect tree while she waits in the
car.”
Not
surprisingly, my mother doesn’t comment on the rudeness of Lila’s behavior or
commiserate that picking out trees is not in my job description. Instead, she mutters, “We get all kinds. Your Dad just brought down some fresh cut
trees and put them in barn. Why don’t you start there?”
2 comments:
Aw it makes me smile to see that I inspired someone else to share their writing. Trust me when I say this, I know how terrifying it is to open up and share what you've written. Writing can be such a personal thing, and I really admire those who share their words with others.
Your story has a good start - love that it's taking place at a Christmas tree farm, a family business I am assuming? And you've got good tension already. That Lila chick - what a B! haha
Keep going!
Wow, I think it's great that you're sharing your work, it takes a lot of courage. Your story is great so far, I can't wait to read more.
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