Summer Vacation in a New City Through the Eyes of a Child

It's only 8:00 am and already the sun is sweltering. It peers down from the bright blue sky to say good morning. Outside it feels like an oven and I am pretty sure you could fry an egg on the sidewalk. It's going to be another sizzling hot drippy summer day in the city today. For those fortunate enough to have central air, count your blessings while the rest of us sweat. This summer has been one of the hottest in history.

Kaila stood peeking out her bedroom window wondering what the day had in store for her. She was saddened by the realization that summer was winding down and the threat of the first day of school was lurking around the corner. To her, it felt like summer never started. A month ago she moved into a new house in a new neighborhood and still had no new friends. All she had was her little sister, Krista, and quite frankly she was getting fed up! She stood muttering to herself at the window. "Why did we have to move here? I absolutely hate it! I want my old house back and my old friends!" A tiny droplet fell from her eye and down her cheek and soon another one followed. They hit the window sill and started to pool. At that very moment, the wave of sadness was overwhelming she couldn't hold it back any more. She put her head down and started sobbing.

Startled by loud noises coming from her closet, she picked her head up. Her heart began to race as she slowly walked over to the mound of boxes stacked ceiling high in her walk-in closet. She was supposed to be unpacking and organizing all her stuff but in a noble effort to express her disgust about moving to this godforsaken place she had refused to comply until now. The muffled noises continued. "Fine" she muttered. "You win mom. I guess I will have to unpack if I want to see what's behind all this clutter and where this noise is coming from." She started sorting through her boxes and wondered how she managed to accumulate so much junk in the ten short years of her life. She piled all her stuffed animals in the corner and neatly stacked all her books on her bookshelf. She felt the unbearable wave of sadness once again as she stopped for a moment to look through a photo album from her last birthday party.

Soon she would see the entire closet floor but sadly, the noise had stopped. Kaila thought she scared it away. She sat on the edge of her bed staring at her neatly arranged closet and then suddenly she heard a noise coming from behind the closet wall. She got on her hands and knees and crawled into the closet toward the sound. Thump, thump, thump! There it was again. Then to her disbelief she saw what appeared to be a tiny door. She couldn't believe her eyes! Slowly she opened the door and squeezed down the tiny path toward the sounds. Suddenly she began to slip; it was as if she were on a slide. She let out an ear piercing scream and began to dread the choice that she had made. Then "plop" she landed in a pile of pink fluffy cotton candy! A tiny little fairy flew up to her and said "Welcome Kaila, I have been watching you. The other fairies and I decided to bring you to our kingdom to cheer you up. No little girl should be so sad especially right before your first day of school!" Kaila could not believe her eyes. "Think of me as your fairy godmother" said the fairy. "My name is Pixie and I am here to cheer you up and help you make new friends. Did you know that there are other new students in your school this year?" Pixie continued. "No, I thought I was the only one." Kaila said still shocked by her whereabouts. "What is this place? Where am I?" Pixie replied, "Didn't you know that every child has a secret door in their closet? When they are sad we make that door visible to them so we can cheer them up. No child should ever be sad. We bring the sad children together down here where time stands still and nobody ever knows. When you leave, you have to promise to keep us a secret." "I promise, I promise!" said Kaila happily. Then a little girl walked over to her and said "Can you believe this place? Did you see the chocolate fountain? You are really going to like it here. By the way, my name is Katie, follow me." Kaila got up out of the cotton candy pile and followed her. "We have been waiting for you all afternoon" said Katie. "We saw you through the pool that your tears made on the window sill earlier. I just moved here too. My daddy got a job transfer and we had to move so I know exactly how you feel. I think we go to the same school too. I live right down the street from you" said Katie.

"That is so awesome!" Kaila said. "You must promise to never say anything to anybody about this place though." said Katie. "Oh I would never!" said Kaila. The girls played and played for what seemed like hours. They played kick ball with giant squishy gum balls and went swimming in a soda fountain. They ate giant strawberries dipped in the three story chocolate fountain. They took a paddle boat ride down a chocolate river lined with gum drops. They had a picnic lunch with Pixie and Dixie, Katie's fairy godmother. They played hide-and-seek in the weeping willows made of strawberry licorice strings and grass made out of green pixie sticks. When you pull the grass sugary sweetness drips from them. Kaila and Katie were getting tired from all the playing. They decided to lie down in the pink pile of soft fluffy cotton candy and rest. Soon they were asleep. That's the last thing they both remember.

"Oh my poor little girl!" said Kaila's mom. "She has been working so hard cleaning her room that she is exhausted and fell asleep in a pile of her clothes." Kaila's mom shook her daughter gently and kissed her flushed cheeks and said; "Wake up Kaila, there is someone here I want you to meet." Kaila rubbed her eyes, looked at her mom and smiled. "Wow!" she said, "I had the most amazing dream ever!" She jumped up and followed her mom down the stairs. A little girl was standing in the doorway and her mom said "Kaila I want you to meet Katie. She just moved in down the street and wanted to know if you could come outside and play for awhile." Kaila was grinning from ear- to-ear as she replied with a wink "Hi Katie, it's nice to meet you." She grabbed her hand and ran out the door to the backyard to play. As she was running with Katie she said "This is the best summer I ever had." "Me too Kaila" said Katie.