WestFiction- "If You Love Something" by Mary

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If You Love Something...> chapters 1-2

She stood there at the gate, looking at the new surrounding and secretly admiring it. It was beautiful and very different. That’s what scares her. She was used to crammed up space, noise, traffic jams and polluted air, in short city life. But this place, Callry, was the total opposite.

“Hey there, little girl,” said a man, interrupting this girls thoughts. She backed away slightly, remembering what her dad told her: Never talk to strangers. He looked huge, that or she was small.

“You’ll have to excuse her, she’s a little shy,” as a man approached from the house, extending his hand, “I’m Thomas Micah and this is my daughter, Samantha.” Her father and the other man went inside the house. There was a boy with this man, who stayed behind, he kept looking at her.

“Hi!” he said, extending his hand, “I’m Mark.”

“Sam, short for Samantha,” she replied.

“Will you be staying here long?” Mark asked motioning towards the house.

“Yep,”

“Who is that?” Mark asked, pointing to a boy who was standing at the doorway.

“That’s my brother, Joshua,” she said while motioning him to come. They stood there talking until Mark and his father left. Samantha and Joshua looked at each other. Maybe it won’t be bad living here after all.

~ ~ ~

It has been one year since they moved here and for the first few weeks, Samantha and Joshua had their dose of culture shock. Everything was different from home. Home! How they wished she was home. She missed her friends, school, the weather, the food. She didn’t have much of a family left there, only her aunt, dad’s sister-in-law and grandma. Most of them have migrated elsewhere, like Australia or the U.S. She mails her best friend, Ashley, in KL every week without fail. The buckets of tears they cried when Samantha had to move!

But Daddy says this is home now. Daddy wanted to move here. Joshua and Samantha basically had no say in it. It’s just the three of them. Mum died when Sam was two. Joshua was much older, he remembers her. He always told her she had mum’s eyes. And they rarely talked about Mum. The only thing Samantha knew about her was that she was half-English, half-Indian and her name was Dawne.

Sometimes they were homesick. But things aren’t that bad here. School was fine, kinda fun sometimes, except for learning Irish. Even with personal tutors they still couldn’t get the hang of it. Samantha went to primary while Joshua went to secondary school, his first year. He often complained that it’s weird going to an all-boy school when he had been to a co-ed for all his life.

They had no trouble making friends. In a few weeks, Sam, Mark and Rowen were best of friends. Joshua usually hanged with his clique. Most of the evenings they would go bike riding or just lazing around the house playing a game or watching TV. Once in a while Joshua would take them to the cinema in town.

Mark had his heart set on becoming a tennis pro. He would practice six days a week without fail at the public tennis court. Sometimes Samantha will play with him, but she prefers badminton. Samantha meanwhile continues her karate lessons in town three days a week.

Sometimes some people would make a racist comment or two, but they have learnt to handle it. Not everyone is like that. They would do things that they normally won’t in KL. Like watch the clouds moving on a sunny day. And their dad spends more time with them than he did back home. For Joshua and Samantha, life was quiet and peaceful and enjoyable.

~ ~ ~

CHAPTER 2

It was a bright Saturday morning, the Micah family had just finished brunch. Samantha was washing the dishes, Joshua was reading a Hardy Boys’ book, something he was too old for and their dad was reading the morning paper. The doorbell rang. Everyone just continued what they were doing.

“Josh, the door,” said Samantha hinting.

“You get it,” he said not taking his eyes off the book.

“I am doing something,” she said gesturing her soapy hands.

“So am I,” he replied. Samantha looked at her father, but he gave no support by saying, “It’s not nice to keep people waiting at the door.”

“Fine,” she said testily, washing her hands. Big brothers can be annoying! The doorbell rang again.

“I’m coming,” she called out with the most cheerful voice she could muster. When she reached the door she noticed that both Joshua and her Dad were at her heels. Talk about annoying. She opened the door with a smile on her face and it immediately disappeared. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

“You can close your mouth now,” said the girl at the door.

“Ashley!” was all Samantha managed to say. When Samantha snapped out of it, both girls started shrieking, crying and hugging each other at the same time.

“I knew it was a mistake to let these two meet,” said a voice that made the girls stop.

“Hi Uncle Leslie, Auntie Sue-Lyn,” said Samantha giving both of them a hug. Even though both of the families were not exactly related, they were so close that they grew up calling the other’s parents Uncle and Auntie. For a few minutes, everything was in chaos as greetings were passed around. Samantha gave a hard punch on Joshua’s arm.

“Hey, what was that for?” he asked massaging his arm.

“For not telling me.”

“Then it wouldn’t be a surprise now, would it?” Joshua replied smugly.

“It was more of a shock for her,” interrupted Ashley. They were so happy that they started screaming and hugging each other again.

“There goes my peace and quiet,” Joshua teased. The two girls made their way upstairs to Samantha’s room as not to disturb their parents.

“Nice,” said Ashley commenting the room.

“So what are you doing here?” asked Samantha as she plopped down her bed.

“Well…daddy got transferred here, to Dublin that is, a week ago. And I made them promise not to tell you ‘cause I wanted to surprise you myself,” explained Ashley, looking out of the window, “Wow!” Samantha followed Ashley’s gaze, “Wait till it’s dusk, that’s something you wouldn’t want to miss.” The two girls went around Sligo, talked for the whole day, catching up on everything in KL and in Ireland.

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