The buzz of people in the big city made she head spin. Frowning, Katie shivered. It was cold too. And it wasn’t rainy or snowing, just overcast and cloudy, but still cold. She pulled her jacket in closer, but it didn’t help. Katie gazed up at the tall skyscrapers above her, and sighed. She missed the fresh air and the big open fields. Here, everything was too cramped and dirty.
Katie walked along the crowded sidewalk, stuffing her hands in her pockets. She didn’t like New York. It was too big, and her new school was lousy. My school is the size of the town that I used to live in back in Alabama, she thought. As she made her way through the throng of people, she staggered under the weight of her backpack, and grimaced. The teachers at her school gave way to much homework, and she also had to take the bus to and from school, which was a real pain. And in Alabama, she had always lived in a big open house with acres of open fields all around, but here her family had to live in a cramped little and at night she could hear the neighbors yelling and fighting, which kept her up till all hours. Katie hated it here.
She had got to the bus stop and sat down to wait. She absentmindedly stuck her hand under the seat, but withdrew it immediately with disgust. She stared at the gum on her hand, and almost threw up. But she didn’t. Katie looked around for someplace to wipe her hand of, and settled with the seat next to her. Luckily, most of it was easy to scrape off, but some of it was still on her hand. Yuck, she thought.
Katie turned her head up to the sound of an engine, and the bus was in front of her, with the bus driver looking at her with an annoyed expression on his face. She jumped out of her seat and stepped up onto the bus. She looked around for a seat and saw one by the window. There was an empty spot beside it so she gladly relieved herself of her backpack and threw it on the seat. The bus jolted to a start and she steadied herself from the shake. As the scenery flew by, Katie got out her book and occupied herself for the twelve stops ahead of her. She didn’t even notice the people getting on and off. The next time the bus stopped even more people got on, and by the time it started again, there were no more available seats. Katie continued reading and didn’t see that the bus had stopped next and that there was a person standing beside her.
“Uhhh excuse me? Miss?” he said. Katie glanced up and saw a dirty looking man standing beside her, staring pointedly at her backpack.
“Oh umm ya… here” she stuttered. Katie picked up her backpack and set it in her lap. He turned around and sat down. The moment the man sat down Katie smelled something, and it didn’t smelled good. It smelled like rotten fish and skunk. Katie sucked in her breath and crinkled her nose. She looked at him, and it seemed like he was disgusted by the smell too. Katie tried to focus on breathing through her mouth but by the second to last stop she was ready to run out screaming. So she picked up her backpack and got off the bus.
After she got off, she turned around and looked back at the closing doors, and sat down on the bench, careful not to touch the bottom. Katie had planned that she would wait for the next bus, but once she looked around, she forgot all of that. Behind her, was the biggest open field she had seen since Alabama.
It was actually green and little yellow flowers were splattered around in the grass. With her mouth open, she got up and dragged her backpack to the middle of the field, where a tall tree was standing. When Katie got to the tree, she let go of her backpack and leaned against the tree. How could a place this big hide from her? This could have saved her from all that lament and feeling sorry for herself. Still awestruck, she slid down to the soft green carpet below her. Katie leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She sighed in relief. Maybe, just maybe, she could live with this.