After four days on this ninety (90) day goal, I understand a bit better why people don’t start goals: It’s a pain to coninue making progress! The assignment for day four was to go through a cast of characters that the book I’m following provided. Again, since i’m playing with characters to which i’ve already created, i decided to write a scene showing a brief interaction between Ali and Rosita, prior to her kidnapping. Here it is:
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“Rosita,” Ali called from the kitchen. “It’s time to go. Get a move on, kiddo.” Every Monday started the same way: Ali scurried around picking things out of her refrigerator that would serve as lunch for she and her seven-year-old niece, Rosita. Meanwhile, Rosita would milk every single minute in bed. Before too long, Ali would storm into Rosita’s room and say, “Come on, Rosita, wake up, it’s getting late.”
“No, Auntie. It’s not time yet.”
And so on and so on until Ali became completely frantic. “Rosita,” she’d say once Rosita made her way to breakfast. “You have to figure out how to get up and started on Mondays. This is getting nuts, mi hija. We can’t keep running so late. One of these days, we’re both going to get kicked out of school.”
“Oh, Auntie,” Rosita would beam. “You could never get kicked out of school. You’re the teacher and everyone loves the teacher.”
“Ay, mi hija. You have too much faith in love.”
And Rosita would smile. Every Monday was exactly like that. Maybe their outfits were different and maybe the wind was a little stronger than usual, but every Monday Rosita and Ali danced this way out of the house. And every Monday, Mikey would show up at school and walk Rosita home so that Ali could attend the teacher’s staff meeting. This particular Monday may have begun the same as every other, but it wouldn’t end anything like any other Monday or Tuesday or any other day ever had.
Plus, Rosita was more inquisitive on this particular day than she was on any other Monday. Ali sensed this Monday was different when Rosita asked, “Why do people do drugs, Auntie?”
Ali almost slammed the brakes when the Rosita’s words hit her ears. Ali knew this day would come, but she still wasn’t ready. Ali thought back to when she was Rosita’s age and she herself wondered why her own father needed to get drunk. Ali could never understand the reasons why anyone would do something that would render themselves completely useless. Ali remembered one of the many times she pulled her dad’s boots off of his feet because he passed out on the couch. She wouldn’t speak to him the next morning and he never knew she did that, but it was the only way she could feel close to him. It was her way of saying I love you.
“Auntie, hello, where are you, did you hear me?”
“Yeah, mi Rosita. I heard you.”
“So, are you gonna tell me why people use drugs?”
“To tell you the truth, I have no idea.”
“Well, why does my daddy do drugs?”
“Your daddy is sick, Rosita. Maybe someday, he’ll get better. We’ll love him and pray for him and hope that he gets better. Why are you asking all of the sudden anyway?”
“I just wanted to know what you thought before I asked my daddy, I guess I was practicing for when I see him later.”
* * *
So, there it is…I think I like these characters and can’t wait to spend more time watching their adventure unfold!
