No Title, Short Story

 Good morning!

    Happy almost New Year! Can you believe 2023 is almost here? I can't. Life just doesn't seem to slow down. My grandpa came down for a visit on Wednesday and will be going home later today. That's why this is late. It's been nice having him here. The weather has been lovely! Well, very windy the last two days, but warm enough that we could open the windows in the house.

I don't know about you, but I've been trying to plan and get ready for next year. I'm not ready by any means, but I've at least gotten started on things. I might start putting some of our decorations away today. I have plans for this next Read Another Page Reading Challenge, so be sure you check out the Read Another Page blog next week for details.

Anyway, I'm going to keep this short. I wrote this story last summer from a picture prompt at Camp. I don't have a title for it, but I hope you enjoy it.

 

 

    Shouting and hollering, the four younger children tumbled out of the house like a bunch of eager puppies into the cold white world. Cathy, remembering Mom’s injunction to include Aurora in everything, waited for the quiet girl to finish zipping her coat up.
    “Ready?” Cathy reached for the doorknob.
    Silently Aurora nodded.
    “Chelsea, you coming?” Cathy shouted back toward the hall.
    Chelsea appeared and shook her head. “Not this time. Have fun.”
    With Aurora following like a shadow, Cathy opened the door and plunged into the cold, glittering snow. A barrage of poorly aimed snowballs flew at the two girls from either side, and Cathy laughed. She loved the snow and had been longing to get out in it since last evening.
    “Come on, let’s build a fort.”
    The younger children hurried to join and Cathy was soon busy trying to keep Connor from knocking it over before it was built while directing the efforts of the others.
    She didn’t know when Aurora disappeared, but when Mom pulled into the driveway, Cathy looked up. The four younger ones were still there but the new foster girl was not to be seen.
    “Where’s Aurora?” She asked her younger siblings. “Did she go inside?”
    Connor nodded, Donny shook his head, Cody didn’t know, and Dana agreed to everything.
    “Great,” Cathy sighed. “I was supposed to include her, and I was trying, but it’s hard to build a fort and get someone as quiet as Aurora to join.”
    There had been many foster kids in and out of the family for several years. Some had been sibling groups, others had been younger or older, but somehow they had all managed to fit in or at least make their presence known to some extent. But Aurora was different. She hardly talked, did what she was told without question or emotion, and in the two weeks she’d been there had never gotten upset over anything. She hadn’t even seemed excited about Christmas coming.
    “Cathy!” Mom called, “come help bring the groceries to the door please.”
    Trying to leave her worries behind, Cathy trudged through the snow to the van. Maybe Aurora had just gotten cold and gone inside.
    Chelsea met her at the front door to take the grocery bags and Cathy whispered, “Did Aurora come inside?”
    “I don’t think so.” Chelsea’s voice was hesitant. “But I’ve been busy in the other room and may not have heard her.”
    Giving a sigh, Cathy turned back to the van to get the last of the grocery bags. If Aurora wasn’t inside, where was she? Balancing a box of oranges on her arm, she managed to shut the door. She didn’t think Mom would be too happy if Aurora disappeared.
    One look at Chelsea’s face told her that the new foster girl wasn’t inside.
    “I guess I’ll take the kids and we’ll go exploring. At least it snowed and there will be tracks.” Turning, Cathy went back to the pile of snow that was once the start of a fort. “Come on kids,” she said, taking Dana’s hand. “Let’s pretend we are a search and rescue party looking for someone lost in a blizzard!”
    Connor, Cody and Donny were eager to begin and they began running around the front yard like frisky colts. Cathy let them run and after some searching on her own, found a set of tracks leading to the back yard.
    Silent and still, Aurora sat on the stone wall and watched the birds at the feeders. Cathy was about to call her, but stopped as a chickadee landed on the girl’s gloved finger and picked up a seed from her hand. Cathy stared. She had tried and tried to get a bird to eat from her hand, but none ever had.
    Turning, Cathy led her little sister back to the door. Silently, she went inside, helped Dana off with her things, took her own coat, boots and things off, and then walked back to the kitchen.
    “Mom,” she said quietly, “Aurora can do something I can’t do. Look.”
    Mom stepped to the window and looked out. “Perhaps we should let her find her own way of enjoying life at times. I’ve never seen her smile until now.” Mom put an arm around Cathy. “Perhaps we were too noisy for her. Still invite her to join your plays, honey, but don’t smother her with attention.”
    Cathy nodded. She wasn’t quite sure what Mom meant, but she thought she could figure it out.

How was your Christmas?

Is your weather warmer or colder?

Are you ready for 2023?