Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: The Family Pet (05/15/08)
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TITLE: The Homecoming | Previous Challenge Entry
By Homer Tipton
05/17/08 -
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And her mother still hadn’t answered the door. “Mom!” she screamed, banging harder with the ball of her foot. “Open the door, it’s hot out here.”
“I’m coming Alex,” Irene called out, “I’ll be right there.”
The door swung open and Alexis burst inside, dropping her backpack onto the floor and rushing to soak up the cool air beneath the ceiling vent next to the stairway. Something isn’t right, Alexis thought. She couldn’t put a finger on it, but in her mind there was something different about today. Her mother closed the door and smiled at her daughter’s silliness.
“Glad to see you, too.” She said, bending to pick up the backpack. “Why didn’t you use your key?”
Alexis collapsed on the stairs in a huff. “Oh, mom,” she began, “I’m having such a bad day.”
“What’s the matter, dear?”
“I don’t know.” she whined, “I don’t feel good. My muscles are sore. I’m burning up because it’s so stinkin’ hot outside and – “
“– and you’re worried about how your father is going to react when you tell him about your grades, right?” Irene interrupted.
“You guessed it.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about your father,” Irene smiled brightly and turned to close the front door. “With all of the excitement over you coming home he won’t be in the mood to scold tonight.”
“I hope you’re right.” Alexis sighed, leaning back onto the stairs. There it is again, she thought, something isn’t right. She abruptly sat up, her mind searching for a possible explanation as she glanced around the foyer. “Mom, is something going on?”
“What do you mean, Alex?”
“Something’s different around here and I can’t figure out what it is.”
“I don’t know,” Irene answered, shaking her head, “everything seems fine to me.”
Within the hour, Alexis was reclining in the living room with her mother, pressing a glass of iced tea against her forehead. Her senses were alive within the familiar surroundings and she relished taking it all in. The coarse feel of the sofa’s shabby polyester upholstery upon her bare legs. The smell of a fresh apple pie baking in the kitchen. The sound of her mother’s rocking chair creaking against the hard-wood floor. The jingle of wind chimes being tickled by a warm summer breeze on the front porch. The clamor of her father’s old Chevy truck rolling up into the gravel driveway and skidding to an abrupt halt. Her father’s deep, booming voice proclaiming his return from town, followed by the husky barking of the family’s blonde Labrador, Parker.
"Parker!" She sprang to her feet and dashed out to greet the dog. "I knew something was missing in this house!"
“Well hey there baby girl!” her father exclaimed, holding his arms out wide to greet the young lady as she raced through the front door. “I sure did miss –”
“Parker!” Alexis squealed, dropping to one knee and catching the excited dog as he bounded into her arms. “I missed you, boy!”
“Hey, what about me sweetie?” her father asked with a puckered brow.
But Alexis didn’t hear him; she was too busy releasing the last of her homecoming anxieties into the loving embrace of her dearest little buddy. Everything had been familiar in the house up to that point, but it just didn’t seem the same until she heard his barking in the driveway. Now she felt right at home. Perhaps the summer wasn’t off to such a bad start after all.
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Well done.
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