DiRocco’s House
We made it! Pennsylvania at last!
It was a stink early morning leaving Chicago – Up at 6:30. I didn’t think I would have to get up that early until I was back at school! But, I wasn’t actually that keen on leaving Chicago. I had more research to do, thank you very much, and it’s one of the best cities I’ve been in. I mean, with the plot of my story, which has them visiting the Public Library to research the person committing the crimes, is there any better place for me to write my story than sitting in the old Public Library building, which is now the Arts Centre, looking over the beautiful Millennium Park? I do keep thinking how great it would have been to live there, but then catching myself, and recalling how great life really is in NZ, back home, and how much I would lose to never know that.
The flight to Philadelphia was uneventful. I worked on the Chicago Plot, my novel. You know, added place names that were on the old map I studied, detailed some of the baddie’s crime activities from the research I had done on the Chicago Mob, etc.
Kristen, I will add for your sake, and because it scared me a bit, but the plane to Harrisburg from Philly was a teeny-tiny little “puddle jumper”, a Bombadeer Dash 8-100 turboprop plane. We had to walk across the plain tarmac to get to it – no flash bridge right to the door. There were only 4 seats in a row, two on each side of the aisle. I was at the back of the plane, and I could see the cockpit. It was TINY! Can’t be that safe.... Turbulence was terrible.
We flew over the Rivers Potomac and Susquehanna, which was beautiful.
Pennsylvania doesn’t seem like home anymore, but it is good to be back. I nearly cried when I got here. I recognized the airport, and the drive back to where we are staying. We’re staying with friends, the DiRocco family, so we’re only five doors down from the house we used to live him. Same neighbourhood and everything. Scary. Nothing’s changed much, but I remember everything being bigger, since I was smaller, and all the trees have grown. I quite want to stop by my old elementary school, see how everything is, sneer at all the places where the bullies that gave me a hard time cornered me, and really accept the fact that I am a very different person to the one I was when I left.
It’s interesting how much everyone has changed, though. I mean, I was 11 when I left, and you don’t really notice the change in yourself and family, as you’re near them every day. But, Adam, who was 10 when I left, is 14 now, and is over 6 inches taller than me, and is a typical teenage guy. Don’t get much conversation out of him past the occasional grunt. On the bright side, he has matured a bit, and we no longer squabble like 2-year-olds when left in the same vicinity for more than 5 minutes....
Kira, who’s two years my junior, is 3 inches taller than me now, and has glasses and an elf-cut. And, she’s dyed her hair dark mahogany brown. She’s so quiet now. Like, she was so pleased to see me when we first showed up, but it wasn’t anything like the chatty, imaginative friendship we had when we were younger. She seems far older than her years now.
Connor, who’s the same as age my brother, is on eye-level with me now. Everyone has a STRONG American accent, too, which I’m sure they didn’t have when I left....
I’m scared to meet with some of the other people in the neighbourhood, because they didn’t like us much. Too liberal and too anti-George Bush and not Christian enough for them. ;o)
No one can believe how much Bennett and I have grown, too. Ben was 6 when we left, just a very little boy, and is now very tall for his age, and a bigger build. I was quite chubby when I left, too, so now everyone’s commenting how much thinner and healthier and happier I look.
I showed Danielle the pictures I took of Macleans. She says we have the coolest-looking school ever, she wants to live near the beach, and is surprised by the number of sporty kids in our class. She says my music friends look like very nice people, too.
We went to an Independence Day celebration at the Navel Training Base, as that’s where Peter, Adam and Danielle’s dad works. I would say it was fun, but I pretty much curled up under a tree and slept for most of it, actually, only waking up around evening. There were fireflies! I had forgotten about fireflies. And, we saw a groundhog.
There was a fireworks display that was absolutely incredible. The flashes for some of the fireworks were so bright that I couldn’t look at it straight, and the crashes of the explosions were enough that I could feel my sternum vibrate. I have never particularly liked fireworks displays, but there were fantastic, I will admit.
Have to go. I’m supposed to be setting up a place to sleep for the next two weeks. Thankfully, Danielle, Adam’s younger sister, who is Bennett’s age as well, has lent me her room, so I just have to find sheets and a quilt now. I do have to admit, I’m quite relieved. One hotel room with four people is torture, and the same goes with bunking in the same room at a house, too. I would be sleeping on the floor if it not for Danielle. She’s on the floor in her parents’ room.
Oops, really getting kicked off now!
Cheers,
Rachel
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