“Ash? ASHEENA! If you don’t get down here right this very minute, you WILL be late for school!”
I suppose, maybe if I’d been up on time this morning, perhaps I wouldn’t be hiding in the Janitor’s closet to avoid meeting the half-dozen policemen who were sent to escort me to the courthouse to see a certain bank manager about claiming some million or billion dollar inheritance. They have the wrong girl.
I am NOT the one they are looking for and I do not want to be. I absolutely refuse to go anywhere and I am NOT leaving my mountain!
But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself here, you see it all happened very….well, normally. Announcing that I’d be late for school is Mom’s way of saying that if I miss Old Dugan’s wagon, she isn’t responsible for how I’ll get to school, never mind that the roads and trails are so twisted on Royal Shadow Mountain that I’ve honestly yet to see any driver willing or daringly stupid enough to risk his precious car on the horrible experience of getting up here.
Lucky for me, Old Dugan happens to have a nice, wooden wagon and a team of very sure-footed packhorses that know every inch of every single trail on Royal Shadow. I’ve never had anything even close to resembling an accident in the near thirteen years I’ve been riding with him. I came down the stairs late enough to have missed dad, but not the orange juice. “Morning, Mom.”
Helping myself to a glass I slid into my usual spot, slurping the cool liquid as fast as possible without setting myself up for a brainfreeze. ‘Mom’ froze in mid-movement. “Asheena-how many times have I told you? Hallie. Call me Hallie. I’m not your mother.”I hid a smile in the glass. It’s been our argument for as long as I can remember. “No, but you’re the closest thing I have to one, Aunt Hallie.”
“I’m not your aunt either.”
“I know. But whatever happened to respecting your elders and all of that?”
“Good grief-I’m not that old.” Aunt Hallie hurries to the table. A bowl of hot cereal is plunked down in front of me, followed closely by the fresh fruit platter. My favorite breakfast. “Is it really that hard to remember, or you just love to throw that at me, first thing in the morning?”
“Do you really want an honest answer?”
“Ash-Eat. You are late you know.”