03.S01 Chapter Three, Snippet One

New Prairie Woman

Susie Rosso Wolf

Chapter Three

Overcast skies loomed above while we drove across the San Fernando Valley on the 405 freeway as we headed south to the 110, then on to the Santa Monica Pier. Kurt manned the wheel of our beautiful new black Ford F150 special edition truck as I sat in the co-pilot’s seat. Brenda sat in back with our most precious cargo; Snowflake and Cricket, Robert’s two darling little girls, who happened to be my great nieces. We were on our way to show them a day at the famous pier; to ride on the carousel, roller coaster and bumper cars while eating cotton candy and corn dogs. Just a year apart in age, they were barely five and a half and six and a half years old. Snowflake and her little sister were living dolls in every sense of the term. We had not seen them since they were babies, and now, they were in our truck giggling and singing with raised pitch squeals of anticipation.

My nerves were jumping from the bumper to bumper traffic that we crawled through so I sat with my back and head straight and tried to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth with silent meditative prayer accompanying each breath. Although somewhat shy when first meeting us at our home, the girls had warmed up to us on the drive and now seemed to have many questions about why they had never met us before. “Aunt Susie,” Snowflake said as I closed my eyes with a little smile on my lips while listening to this angelic voice.

            “Yes, Snowflake?”

“Why didn’t you and Uncle Kurt ever know us before?”

“We knew you honey, you were just too young to remember.”

“Oh.” She said, with a thoughtful whisper as she stared out the window at the traffic and buildings along the highway. Snowflake seemed to be a quiet, reflective child with impeccable manners. Not only was she and her little sister sweet and darling beyond words, these kids were well behaved beyond anything I’d ever seen before. They must be very shy and confused, I thought to myself. These can’t be their actual personalities. I looked out the window too, watching the cars go by, wondering how in heaven this day could actually be happening. I turned and looked at Brenda, smiling, saying thank you with my eyes.