Chapter Two:Goodbye, America

FOOTNOTES ARE NOT NECESSARY TO THOUGH THEY ARE FILLED WITH HELPFUL, INTERESTING INFORMATION. PLEASE DO NOT FEEL OBLIGATED TO READ THEM, BUT IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE CHARACTERS INVOLVED, I WOULD RECOMMEND READING IT. THANK YOU FOR READING.

*Okay people, we’re changing points of view now, so prepare yourself. It’s an OC, and it doesn’t introduce her name until, probably, the seventh or eighth chapter in, but it’s Tegan, and she’s getting ready to move to Cardiff because her sister, a missionary, has died overseas, and her funeral is being held in Cardiff, the closest city to the village wherein she died, and Tegan only had enough money for a one-way ticket. So she’s moving from America, where she’s lived her entire life, to Cardiff, where she had only heard of when her sister’s death had occurred. In paragraph 3, the narrator says that she kissed her dog on the top of her heart, and this character’s dog is actually my dog, and when my dog was a puppy, she had a heart-shaped pattern in her fur, (Black and white, she’s a border collie/blue healer) that I would always kiss.

Goodbye, America. (ch.2)

Sunlight. It takes eight minutes to travel to the earth, and eight and
a half to blind me. The sun’s rays travel through my uncurtained
window and dance on top my eyelids. Instantly I wake, knowing that this
is the last* morning that American sunlight will grace my skin.

I get up and I stumble down the stairs, only fully awake when I smack
my face into the same wall as I do every morning until tomorrow.* I
shake my hair out of my tear-stained face and walk slowly into the
kitchen, and brew my last* cup of American coffee.

I fill the dog bowl with water and kibble and shout into the quiet for
my beloved friend, who, thankfully, is making this trip with me. I
smile at her sleepy face and kiss her cheeks, and then kiss her on the
top of her heart.* She stumbles slowly into the kitchen and laps lazily
at her bowl with mild interest, and I smile thinking of her first days
home, when she couldn’t be more excited to gobble all the kibble down
as fast as possible.

I continue my journey, slipping into the bathroom to take my last*
shower in America. I sigh as I step out and dress for my last day in
my homeland. I rocket around my small apartment, packing* the bedding
and utilities and coffee maker, setting the cardboard boxes in the
living room with rest of my whole lives’ possessions, and sigh once
again. Suzy, my one and last companion trot in, whining slightly to
get my attention.

“Yes, I suppose you just have to go to the bathroom right now.” I say
to her as she stills at the word, obviously grabbing her attention
since it’s what she wants. I laugh, because I remember how my lost
love* used to tease her for being so silly.

I sigh for my third time and grab Suzy’s leash, and lead her down my
apparent stairs to the communes’ garden to where she loves. She does
her business in the reserved pets’ area and we travel back upstairs,
back to my lonely apartment. The truck arrives and I load all the
boxes* humanly possible, shipping my beloved treasures off to the
airport.

I sign the lease to my home, leaving it for the last time.* As I drive
to the airport, I pet Suzy, who always sleeps soundly in the front
seat. I board the airplane, and as it takes off, I say goodbye to
America.*