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Topic: Start (01/16/06)
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TITLE: A New Life in Hicksville | Previous Challenge Entry
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01/18/06 -
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fathom the enormity of the situation.
“We’re moving to Kansas? You’re joking, right”?
My husband and I were dead serious. For some reason God seemed to be asking us to sell our house in California and move to Kansas. We have yet to figure out His reasoning
behind the relocation.
We didn’t know anyone in Kansas nor did we have employment secured there. All we knew was that there were towns in the state that were attempting to bolster their faltering economies and keep their schools from closing by offering free land. This was entirely a move of faith.
Everyone thought we were nuts, especially Courtney. She promptly declared us her mortal enemy (again) and went into the familiar routine about how we were ruining her life and she’d never be able to make any friends there, and so on and so forth. (The last time we ruined her life was when we moved from Minnesota to California, but that’s a whole other story).
Her friends were equally dismayed, mostly because they had no idea where Kansas was. She promptly informed them of the location. “It’s in the middle of nowhere”.
“Why would your parents want to move there”?
That was a mystery to Courtney too, until she hit upon the perfect explanation. “My mom’s obsessed with The Wizard of Oz and this time she took it too far”. That garnered her even more sympathy, imagine having a deranged mother like that!
So in the summer of 2004 we left civilization and ventured into the heart of the western wilderness known as… Hicksville?
Our teenager looked around in dismay. She was supposed to start a new life in Hicksville? Surely this was some sort of a cosmic joke. God couldn’t possibly expect her to finish out her two remaining years of high school in this backwards country where pickup trucks were the preferred mode of transportation and overalls and cowboy hats were the standard outfits.
It turns out that He did expect her to begin her new life here. He also had a few surprises in store for her. The first one was a dance that she was invited to shortly after our arrival. Now this dance wasn’t anything at all like she was used to in California. This was the kind they held after their annual rodeo and it was more along the lines of a hoedown.
Courtney was still in shock as she relayed the details to me. “They were doing the two-step; I thought they only did that in the movies! A bunch of drunken cowboys pulled me out onto the dance floor and made me two-step with them”!
God’s next surprise took place at her new friend’s house. Laura befriended Courtney at school and invited her to their ranch just outside of town. At first everything was cool, Laura’s family had horses and Courtney was able to go out in the pasture and visit with them. When she was petting a horse she happened to glance up and what she witnessed nearly made her heart stop.
They also had pet llamas and the entire herd had formed a battle line and was marching straight towards her. She had no idea what to do. In California she was used to seeing gangs patrolling the neighborhoods, but llamas? This truly was Hicksville!
Thankfully Laura came along just in time to shoo away the offending creatures before they could carry out their evil plan to attack her and eat her alive. What a story that would’ve made for her friends back in California!
Courtney has since made peace with the llamas. She now visits them on a regular basis and even allowed Laura to take a picture of one kissing her.
As for the cowboys, that’s a different story. She swears she’ll never date one. When she waited tables at a local restaurant the ‘trail riders’ came in all the time wearing their chaps and spurs. They minded their manners and drawled “thank you ma’am” but no matter how much they flirted she refused to give them the time of day.
I guess that two-stepping incident at the hoedown did more to her psyche than she cared to admit. Even in Hicksville you have to maintain some pride.
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Very cute!
I loved your descriptions.