Please welcome writer Stephanie Karfelt
and check out the epic slinky-dog give-away!
Suzy Quimby Rides the Bus
Suzy
liked the dog painted on the side of the bus, but thought it should have eyes.
When you’re going to have Thanksgiving dinner with a family who doesn’t really
want you, it would help to look into the understanding eyes of a dog, even one
painted on the side of a bus. Miss Vicky was supposed to come with her, and
deliver her to the family with the fake smiles, but Miss Vicky didn’t show up.
Suzy had Miss Vicky’s ticket shoved inside her Hello Kitty backpack, with a
penny she’d pressed in a machine for fifty cents. That penny now had an imprint
of jellyfish on it, instead of Abraham Lincoln.
Suzy
double checked her pigtails to make sure they were neat, and dropped her
backpack onto the seat beside her to keep it empty. It made her sad that her
holiday family didn’t want her, but it made her sadder that she had to go
anyway. She pressed her forehead against the cold window to ignore people
looking hopefully at the empty seat with the backpack. Then the bus driver
started to yell, and she looked up to see a lady in a soft brown coat clutching
a cake box.
“I
didn’t have time to get a ticket, the line is so long. Can’t I just pay you?”
The lady offered a handful of money to the bus driver who used ugly words.
The
cake lady looked at Suzy’s backpack seat, and just because the bus driver was
being mean - and Suzy didn’t want mean to win - she dug in her backpack, and
tramped bravely to the front of the bus and handed Miss Vicky’s ticket to the
lady.
~from Pampered Puppy dot com |
“Thank
you, Sweetheart.” The cake lady told her when she sat beside her. “What’s your
name?”
“Suzy
Quimby,” she declared, even though it was talking to strangers.
“Moira
Curtains.” They shook hands formally. “I
like your pigtails, did you do them yourself?”
Suzy
smoothed them proudly, she had fixed them herself.
Moira
sat her cake box between her feet and asked, “Are you visiting family for
Thanksgiving?”
“They
don’t want me.” Suzy announced, “At Easter they said I was annoying and a picky
eater.”
“Are
you?” Moira’s dark eyes laughed.
“I
guess so, everyone says that, but isn’t it rude to say?”
“Oh, I
don’t know. Maybe they thought it would make you eat?”
“They
say it behind my back, like I’m too dumb to understand them. They don’t want me
to come, but it’s on my papers and the Director says I have to do what’s on my
papers.”
Moira
said, “They would miss you if you didn’t come anymore.”
“No,”
Suzy insisted. “My family died, and they feel obli… obli… like they have to be
nice to me. They wish I wouldn’t come anymore.”
Moira
stared at her. The middle of her eyes went big, like a cat’s at night, Suzy
shivered. She wrapped her arms around the backpack and pretended to look out
the bus window at the cloudy, wet day. Miss Vicky would be in trouble for
making her go alone, but Suzy was old enough to know not to talk to strangers.
“Nobody
wants me either.”
Suzy
immediately turned back to Moira. “Your eyes are scary.”
“I
know. I’m sorry.”
“Who’s
the cake for?”
Moira’s
eyes were friendly again, smiling, and she bent forward and plucked the box off
the floor. Balancing it on her knees she opened the lid and turned it towards
Suzy so she could see it. It was a round white cake with yellow roses all
around the edges, enough so that every piece would have a big fat frosting rose
on it. Right in the middle of the cake, in green icing it said, ‘Suzy Q’.
Suzy
hugged her backpack tight and smiled, “It’s for me?”
“What
does it say?” Moira asked.
“It has
my name on it. My Daddy used to call me Suzy Q.”
“Then
it is for you. You can taste it, if you like.”
Suzy leaned
forward to peer into the box, “It’s like a birthday cake.”
“It’s
better than that. Try it.”
Since
it had her name on it, Suzy reached into the box and swiped a thin finger right
over a yellow rose, and popped the sugary sweetness into her mouth. It wasn’t
like taking candy from a stranger, not when the cake had your own name on it. A
frowning lady on the other side of the aisle watched her, while Suzy raked her
finger again and again over yellow roses. She didn’t care what the frowning
lady thought; icing was her favorite part of a cake. Nobody ever let her have
anything sweet, not even the holiday family, because the Director said it
wasn’t on her chart.
“You
don’t seem like a very picky eater to me.” Moira teased her.
Suzy
leaned back in her seat and grinned, she liked the lady in the brown coat.
Moira’s eyes weren’t so scary, they were tired. Suzy ran a messy finger along
the edge of the lady’s coat, it felt smooth. “I feel funny.”
“I
know, Suzy, just close your eyes and rest. You’ll feel better in a minute.”
Obediently
Suzy closed them. It was a little scary, because she didn’t feel right, she
felt dizzy and hot. Moira held her sticky fingers then, and that helped.
The bus
stopped and Moira tugged her to stand, holding her gooey hand tightly. They
left the Hello Kitty backpack sitting in the seat. The lady across the aisle
was looking at it; she looked worried so Suzy looked back. There was an old
lady with silly grey pigtails sitting in her seat; her eyes were squeezed shut
and yellow frosting painted her mouth. It frightened Suzy; she clutched Moira’s
hand with both hers and whispered, “That’s me, isn’t it? I forget I am old.”
“You’re
not old anymore Suzy Q. Your real family wants you; everyone wants to see you.
Come on.”
~
About Stephanie Karfelt: Writing fiction with a twist is my specialty. My novels lean towards New Adult and Urban Fantasy. Warrior of the Ages is my first novel, and should be out later this year. It’s about an immortal warrior moonlighting as a cop, and just how dangerous a blonde in a speeding convertible can be for the world’s oldest bachelor. My hope is that this book will make cops everywhere think twice about trying to foist speeding tickets on women.
The latest on my books can be found at www.WarrioroftheAges.com, or follow my blog for some fun giveaways at www.TheGlitterGlobe.com. And just for friends of Linnette, I’ll give an Epic Slinky Dog to the first three visitors. All you have to do is follow my blog too (because you already follow Linnette’s, right?) and post “Linnette sent me” and I’ll send you an awesome Epic Slinky Dog. Be sure to leave me contact info so I can find you!
Thanks for coming, Stephanie! And friends, you'll love the epic slinky dog. So run on over to the Glitter Globe (you'll love it there), follow Stephanie and let her know I sent you.
What a great story Stephanie ...thanks for sharing it:-) Love the story's deeper meaning !
ReplyDeleteKeep writing Stephanie ...you have a gift :-)
Lorna
lornafaith at gmail dot com
Hi, Lorna! Thanks for stopping by! :D
ReplyDeleteOh! Oooooh! Oooooooh!!!! More more more!!! Loved it. I need to know so much more. LoL Thanks for that treat Stephanie! Nice Friday Linnette! =) I love your Friday with Friends!
ReplyDeleteMy goodness...chills all over me! Steph you are a genius! Loved it.
ReplyDeleteAaaawwweee... Thanks, Donna! So glad you enjoy it! :D
ReplyDeleteLornaFaith - Thank you so much! Oh it is such a thrill to have someone "get" my writing!
ReplyDeleteCan I say I knew you when. . . ? You are a scary good writer, Steph. nice job!
ReplyDeleteDM Kilgore - Isn't Suzy delicious? I loved her.
ReplyDeleteLaDonna - Thank you! <3
ReplyDelete:) Thank you, Kathleen! You can say whatever you want, especially awesome nice things. I'm so glad you stopped by, and enjoyed Suzy Q!
ReplyDeleteIs anybody else flunking CAPTCHA big time?
ReplyDeleteI'll go shut it off. I had problems with other people commenting in the past.
ReplyDeleteOh! I enjoyed this! Stephanie you have such a way with words. Tricked me. You sneaky girl. I love it.
ReplyDeleteShieldmaiden-Out
Loved Suzy Q!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the book.
Lovely story, Steph. Moira Curtains. Fantastic name, great compliment to the visuals.
ReplyDeleteTouching and surprising end- I had to double take- it took me from a grin to an all-out smile.
Like has been said- you're a special writer, you put a gilding on stories that's distinctly yours.