As I was throwing my last bag into our car, I started thinking back on this past year. I do that a lot but this year was just amazing. It was my first year in high school. Next year I will not be the one that gets lost or have to go to the "Ninth grade Dance". However, before that I had to go through summer first.
It is my first summer visiting my uncle Devin. I had not seen him in six years. He is my fathers brother and he has owns a 50's style restaurant name 'Tootsies' since he was 23. Now at 57, his business is still up and running. My parents want me to get a job there. Personally, I think that would be awesome. Uncle Devin lives up above the café, so all I would have to do is walk down I flight of stairs to go to work.
Actually, I do not even remember what the town, Johnsontown, looked like. I was only nine. This time it was going to be different though because we were going to be staying there the whole summer.
I was really going to miss the small town of Walkersburg. The fresh pine scent, sherbert sunsets, and the fireflies brightening the August nights.
I am especially going to miss my friends from the softball team. When I am with them, I feel like the greatest person. We are always cheering each other on and that is how we got to the Nationals this year. We took home the cup, so basically we are the best in the county.
So here I am riding in the car. Watching the valley go away and the sun go down. Trees started to become rarer and buildings kept rising.
No, Uncle Devin is not a rich person! Every city has its small outcast town. He is not poor though, he just has the taste of small town life.
My mom is asleep, my dad is trying to drive and look at a map, my sister is listening to a book on tape, and I am watching the city light fade away into the small town of Johnsontown.
It was about eleven-thirty when we pulled in the gravel driveway of Uncle Devin's house. Our headlights hit the big green dumpster beside the back door.
"Is this it?" asked my little sister, Helen. She was stretching and yawning at the same time.
"Yes, it is" said my dad slamming the drivers side door. "I hope Uncle Devin's still awake".
"I'd be surprised if he was," said my mom. "It's almost tomorrow".
"Well, it's about time you lot have gotten here" said a voice from the second story window. "Until I went down stairs, I had nearly fallen asleep." You can come into the kitchen door, it's unlocked."
I heaved my suitcase out of the car and dragged it to the door. Inside was the dark restaurant kitchen with numerous stoves and grills. The walls were bright blue and the floor had lime green, yellow, and gray tiles.
As we walked out of the kitchen, we were behind the counter of the gray-blue counter and table tops with a silver metal trim. There were orange and pink benches that looked out onto the village post office and a salon called 'The Red Toenail'.
I dropped my luggage on the black and white tiles as Uncle Devin came down the stairs.
"Welcome, well you lot have changed much", said Uncle Devin. He had much more gray hair than I had remembered. He had lines on his forehead and two deep lines on the side of his mouth from smiling. "I suppose you're all 'ungrey, here I'll whip you lot up some waffles and I've just addend a new fruit salad to the breakfast menu".
"That would be lovely," said my mother. "May have a seat at the counter?"
"Why yes, of course," said Uncle Devin, backing into the kitchen.
"So, do you remember this place?" asked my father. "Sort of" I said, looking around the café. "I remember coming down here for breakfast every morning".
"Well, this place hasn't changed much," said my mom. My sister had her headphones on and had her head on the counter asleep.
"Can I wake her up?" I asked.
"No Hun" mom suggested. "She's tired, best to let her sleep".
It was about midnight when Uncle Devin came out with the waffles and bowls of fruit.
"There you all are," he said setting a tray in front of us. "Now you say this place has not changed much," said Devin, pointing to too wooden doors that I had never seen before. "I was getting so many customers that I was having people wait up to three hours to get a table. They also had the old high school knocked down.
"You're joking!" said my dad almost choking on a strawberry. "The old Cielessa High!"
"Well it had been falling apart for quite some time now," explained Devin. "They built a nice park there though, so if you girls don't want to hang out here all day it's beside the antique lamp shop next to here".
After we finished our midnight snack, I walked up stairs to Uncle Devin's Loft to get some shuteye. My sister and I got the guest room and Mom and Dad got the fold out couch in the living room. I just walked out of the bathroom when Uncle Devin stopped by.
"Well, lest see now how old are you?"
"I just turned 15 this May," I said
"Well up here in Johnsonville that's legal age for workin' a job. How'd you like to work at you're ol' uncles restaurant?"
"I'd love to" I said. "I can't wait". He smiled and left the room just as Helen was entering.
"What did he want?" she asked "None of your business"!