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Another Short Story About a Teen's Survival

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Another Short Story About a Teen's Survival Empty Another Short Story About a Teen's Survival

Post by Xylo,TheCarouselPony Mon Jun 13, 2016 10:29 pm

Caravelle, The ' 20 Ounce Throwaway ' Girl

A Short Story for Teens / Tweens, by Pegasus

( Soda or Pop bottles in the USA are made of plastic, hold 20 fluid ounces, and are meant to be thrown away when done with. )

Synopsis-----

Most young girls look forward to their fourteenth birthday. It is the beginning of their wondrous teen-age years, and the granting and accepting of adult privileges and responsibilities, within a loving family arrangement. But that was not the case for a teen girl named Caravelle Axxe. The only thing that Caravelle received on her fourteenth birthday was an ultimatum from her mother. Caravelle must leave home and move to another village, so as to free-up her mother's time and resources, so that her mother could continue to advance her business career, pursue chasing boyfriends, explore the social networks, and climb up the business and social ladder to fame and fortune. To Mrs. Axxe, Caravelle was like a 20 ounce throwaway soda bottle, only to be cast aside when no longer needed, especially when mom found out that Caravelle was a transgender teen. With Caravelle's abusive father gone due to a tragic automobile accident, but with no monetary worries, thanks to a trust fund that was set up for her by her mother's attorney, Burl Iverson, Caravelle has little to go on other then her instincts and her fragile self-confidence. But just how resourceful can a fourteen year old girl be ? And how will Caravelle fare among worrisome strangers, in a frightening and unforgiving city resort ?

PLACES OF INTEREST IN AND AROUND VONDER VILLAGE AND THE RESORT COMMUNITY OF VONDERLAND

THE WELCOME CENTER---Where visitors and newcomers go to get information about vacationing and / or living in Vonderland. The Welcome Center is located in downtown Vonder Village. Each afternoon or evening a welcoming party is held for all new visitors to attend and get to know each other, as well as getting to know the people of Vonderland.

THE BEACH----The sandy beach that runs from the tip of the peninsula on the lake side to the place where the peninsula is joined with the mainland. A boardwalk runs parallel to the beach for most of it's length. The entire beach is within the village of Vonder Beach.

ROOM SERVICE---The place where people go to be assigned to a lodging place or to a residence anywhere in Vonderland. Room Service occupies most of the ground floor of an office building in downtown Vonder Village.

VONDERLAND MALL---Located just outside the village's town limits, near where the Vonder River runs toward and through Vonder Village. The mall is the largest of the two malls in Vonderland.

VACATION WONDERLAND MALL----Located in downtown Vonder Village. It is an urban, merchant and factory outlet style mall. It takes up a whole city block, but is the smaller of the two malls in Vonderland.

ICE SKATING RINK---Located near Vonderland Mall, but a little distance away, towards Vonder Meadows. The rink is actually a large sports and entertainment complex with two Olympic ice sheets, as well as many other sports venues, and a large indoor music concert performance stage. The complex is owned and managed by the same company that also owns and manages the ski and winter sports venues on top of Mount Eaton and Eaton Ridge, a few miles from Vonder Meadows.

THE HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS----This is the half-way house for orphan and single children and teens. It is an old mansion that has been remodeled to accommodate many persons. A newer residence building has been built near the Home to allow for expansion of facilities. Both buildings are located near the Vonder River, but on the opposite shore of the river from the Mall.

CRYSTAL'S SAFETY ZONE / THE END ZONE BAR---An adults only sports bar and grill located near the downtown area of Vonder Village. The bar promotes diversity, and many different kinds of people frequent the activities held every night and on the weekend. A techno / house / rave / j-rock / dance mix is held every Saturday night.

Atop Eaton Ridge is THE EATON RIDGE WINTER SPORTS COMPLEX---A complete winter sports area with skiing, luge, snowboarding, and all of the other winter sports venues. On the highest peak of Eaton Ridge is a radio antenna and adjoining studios, a short-wave radio facility, a TV broadcast tower and satellite dish, and an Internet router that provides free Internet service to all of Vonderland.
__________________

Caravelle, The 20 Ounce Throwaway Girl

A Short Story, recommended for older children and teen / tweens, by Pegasus
( Caravelle is a transgender themed short story. )

( " Caravelle, The 20 Ounce Throwaway Girl " is Pegasus's entry in the 2011 Girltalk Creative Writing Contest, Hosted by Samantha Rebecca )

______________________________________

Chapter 1--- All I Can Say is That " I'm Here " !

LOCATION---Western Gateway Arch and entrance to Vonder Village

The morning sunshine was unusually bright, so fourteen year old Caravelle reached up and pulled down the sun visor. It promised to be a very warm day for November. She squinted through the windshield of her mother's SUV just in time to see a mileage sign with the words, " Vonder Village 19
miles " displayed on it rush by.
" It won't be long now ", Caravelle thought to herself.
During the two or more hours of their journey, Caravelle and her mother exchanged not more then a dozen comments between themselves. Caravelle knew what was going to take place today, but that did not stop her from feeling uneasy, upset, and apprehensive. Soon the entrance arch and ornamental gate and fence around Vonder Village were in view. At about two hundred feet away from the arch, Caravelle's mother pulled her Navigator SUV onto the shoulder of the road.
" You did this to yourself, you know. No son of mine, Carl, is going to go around town dressed as and acting like a girl! ", said mom.
" The name's 'Caravelle'. Attorney Iverson changed it last month, remember ? But we have been through this a thousand times, mom. I can't help it if I was born perceived as a boy, but am actually a girl. " , replied Caravelle.
" You were born a boy, and will always be a boy. God created you, and God doesn't make mistakes !!!", retorted mom.
In a flash, Caravelle shot back, catching mom off guard. " That's right ! God doesn't make mistakes ! But you and dad sure did, passing your defective and tainted DNA genes and chromosomes to me when you two conceived and created me, causing this condition of a girl trapped in the body of a boy !!! "

If looks could kill, I would die a thousand deaths right now, thought Caravelle, as mom glared directly at her, but said nothing. After a long pause, mom finally spoke.
" You know what to do. This place will be your new home from now on. " , was all that her mother said flatly and without emotion.
Caravelle opened the passenger door, got out, closed the door, and opened the back door. She quickly retrieved her backpack, a small suitcase, a couple of plastic bags filled with snacks and other things, and her purse. As soon as she placed the items on the ground and closed the door, she saw the SUV lunge forward, loudly squealing the tires, make a U-turn, and speed off. A tear spilled down her cheek as she saw the SUV disappear into the horizon. Caravelle thought to herself, " To my mother, I am no more than a ' 20 ounce throwaway ' soda pop bottle, to be thrown in the trash when convenient ". After what seemed like a long time, wherein Caravelle was paralyzed with conflicting emotions, she wiped the tears from her cheek, picked up her things, and began walking to the spacious guard shack just beyond the entrance arch.

The uniformed collage aged young man at the guard shack looked up from texting on his cell phone, only to see a young teenage girl not fifty feet away from the front door. She was wearing a long sleeve pink and white My Little Pony T-shirt, a faded blue denim short skirt, white anklets, and pink and white athletic shoes. She had on her back what looked like a backpack, and was carrying several items. The guard got up from his desk overlooking the front window, and went to the front door to hold it open for the girl. He must have caught her by surprise, because she was so startled, she dropped her packages. She tried to speak, but only manged to point a finger and stammer---
" You-you ! You look like McGee on NCIS ! Really ! "
" I don't know if your observation is a compliment or an insult, young miss. I will take it as a compliment." replied the young man.

Caravelle gathered up her things and took them into the lounge area of the guard shack. She opened her small suitcase and retrieved a large manila envelope, then walked into the next room, and handed it to the young guard seated at the desk.
" My mother just dropped me off a little while ago; all I can say now is that ' I'm here.'. These are all of the papers from my mother's lawyer, Burl Iverson. He has set everything up so that I can stay here. " , remarked Caravelle.
" I will have to reconfirm all of this. " , said the guard, as he looked through the stack of papers and began to boot-up the computer on the desk. Caravelle sat down in an easy chair near the desk and folded her hands. After about twenty minutes, the young guard remarked,
" There is no record of you in Room Service or at the Welcome Center. Let me check the Mayor's Office Official
Website. "
And after another ten minutes, he said,
" I can't find your name in the Mayor's website list of new residents, either. I'll call the Mayor's office and ask about you. "
After talking on his cell phone, the guard flipped his cell phone closed and said,
" They said that they are real busy right now, and to call back later. Until then, access denied. "
" It's like nobody wants me. " , thought Caravelle to herself.

Despite having many other duties to tend to, the friendly guard would try and call from time to time, but always with the same response.
" Call back later, we're real busy. " At noontime, and after seeing how sad Caravelle was becoming, he gave her permission and money to go across the street and buy two chicken lunch boxes from the convenience store and deli. One was for himself, and the other one was for Caravelle. Finally, in the early afternoon, the guard called Caravelle to come to his desk.
" I just got done speaking to a person at the mayor's office. They now tell me to call back tomorrow. It figures, the mayor and her staff can be quite incompetent at times. " Seeing the troubled look on Caravelle's face, he quickly added,
" Your paperwork is complete and proper, I just need to see your name on one of the lists found on the various websites. But I know of someone who maybe can help us. Her name is Maya Bigger, and she is the village librarian, as well as the webmistress to many of Vonderland's websites. If I explain to her what has happened through no fault of your own, I think she can hack into one of the websites and place your name there. I will call her as soon as I get a chance; she has helped me many times in the past to get around the political incompetence that sometimes looms over Vonder Village. "


Caravelle went back into the lounge area and began looking through a collection of DVD's in a small cabinet on the far wall. She found an anime DVD, put it into the player, and began watching the first episode. When the second episode had just begun, the young guard once again called her to his desk.
" On this second attempt, we got you into Vonderland. Here is your temporary I.D. badge, young lady. Because you are a minor, always carry it with you. However, your I.D. says that you have been granted the status of a 'Mature Minor', so that should make it easier for you to move around and do what you need to do. For now, everything is taken care of that I can do for you. I'm sorry that it took so long to do all of this. You will need to go to the Welcome Center and introduce yourself, and to see where you are going to stay, at least until you are assigned a permanent residence. That will probably be the Home for Little Wanderers. If you look through that window, you will see a trolley stop a couple of blocks away. You can ride the trolley downtown, and get off at the Town Centre. On the north side is where the Welcome Center is located. Here is a map of everything in Vonderland. The little comic book characters on each page of the map will direct you all of the locations in and around Vonderland. You can ask for directions if you get lost or confused. Take care, and welcome to Vonderland ! " , said the friendly guard.
" Thank you so much for everything that you have done for me. " , said Caravelle fervently.
Caravelle gathered her belongings and walked out the front door of the guard shack and towards the trolley stop.

It was fun to ride the trolley, but after a little while sitting and watching the scenery go by, Caravelle began to feel depressed.
" The guard was nice and everything, but I do not know what to expect of the people here. And I do not know what is expected of me, now that I am here. " , thought Caravelle to herself. " Nobody knew that I was coming today, and nobody cares that I am here. "
At the trolley stop just before Town Centre, called DeKalb Street, Caravelle looked out the window and saw across the street two one-story buildings connected together with an outdoor patio. The sign above one of the buildings read, 'Crystal's Safety Zone', and above the other building was a sign that said, 'The End Zone Bar'
" Hmmm ! ", thought Caravele to herself, " I wonder if that building is a ' safe place ' that children and people can go to when they feel bad or are in trouble ? "
The next stop of the trolley was Town Centre, so Caravelle gathered her belongings and prepared to hop off when the trolley car came to a stop.

************************************************** *************************

LOCATION---Downtown Vonder Village, Crystal's Safety Zone

Just like the friendly guard had said, the Welcome Center was located on the north end of the public park at the center of downtown. It took Caravelle a few moments to discern which way was north from looking at the map that she had with her. There was a small garden in the front of the Welcome Center, with a pathway leading through the garden to the main entrance of the Welcome Center. To the side of and beyond the garden was a large parking lot filled with cars. Caravelle thought that maybe some event must be going on for the parking lot to be so full. She walked up the pathway, opened the glass front door, and went in. Beyond the front door was a small foyer, with another glass door leading to a lobby. Caravelle walked through that door and to an easy chair next to the door, and put her things down next to the chair, and sat down. There was a large desk at the other end of the lobby, but nobody was behind the desk.

She could look across the lobby into a grand ballroom, and was it ever busy ! It seemed to her that some sort of party or reception was going on. There were dozens and dozens of adults and children talking and running around excitedly. A few were in the lobby, too.
Suddenly, Caravelle began to feel very uneasy and frightened.
" Who are all of these people and children, and what are they celebrating ? I was told to come to the Welcome Center, but am I supposed to go
in there ? Are adults and children going to begin asking me questions ? Am I supposed to be 'the life of the party' ? " , were the some of the ideas that raced through Caravelle's mind.
A second wave of fear and sorrow, as well as a survival intuition washed through Caravelle, as she thought, " I've got to get out of here, all of these people and children are scaring me. No way am I going in there. Fer Real ! "
With that, she grabbed her items and hurriedly rushed out the door and out of the Welcome Center.

Caravelle found herself on a park bench in the town square, on the opposite side of the Welcome Center. She felt scared as well as sick and tired.
" All I want is a safe place to stay, and to be left alone. I have always been alone." , Caravelle remarked to herself, " I think it would be best if I can find a safe place to stay until I feel better about being brought to and dropped off at Vonderland. "
She sat on the park bench until her heart had quit pounding, and she finally no longer felt fearful. Suddenly and idea came to Caravelle.
" I saw a ' safe place ' when I was on the trolley. I can see if I can stay there. It's not that far away, and I can walk there. " , thought Caravelle.
With that, she once again gathered her belongings and began walking towards DeKalb Street.


When Caravelle had reached the crossroads sign of DeKalb Street and Primrose Street, she could see across the intersection and all the way to the two adjoined buildings that she noticed from the trolley. She walked across the crosswalk, then past the first building, then past the outdoor patio, and finally stopped in front of the building called Crystal's Safety Zone. There were tables and chairs on the sidewalk and they were enclosed by a short wrought iron fence, but there was nobody outside at this time. Caravelle placed her belongings on one of the tables and chairs.
" I think that Crystal will let me stay here in her safe place. " , mused Caravelle as she walked up to the front door and opened it to go in. A sign on the front door said, ' Must be 21 to enter ' . Caravelle had just stepped inside the open door when she heard a shrill voice screaming from behind her.
" YOU CAN'T GO IN THERE !!! "
Caravelle stopped in her tracts and turned around to see a little girl just getting off of her bicycle and walking towards her. The girl was wearing a Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt, and torn, faded blue jeans with dirty sneakers.
" I TOLD YOU THAT YOU CAN'T GO IN THERE, AND YOU HAD BETTER DO AS I SAY, RIGHT NOW !!! "
The little girl looked to be no more than nine or ten years old, but was screaming like a Marine Drill Sargent.
Caravelle began to mumble and answer, " I wanted to ask about staying at a 'safe place' tonight. . . . "
" YOU CAN'T ! THAT IS CRYSTAL'S SAFE PLACE. Only Crystal and her best friend, me, Lexi, can go in there. " , shot back the little girl pointing to herself.
" But I'm new here . . . . " , implored Caravelle.
" Then you need to follow me to the Welcome Center. GET YOUR STUFF AND DO IT NOW !!! , yelled Lexi.
Caravelle tried one last time to talk to the girl, " I don't want to cause trouble, I just want to be left alone to . . . ."
" YOU FOLLOW ME RIGHT NOW, or my mom will cause you trouble, because she is on the Village Council. " , fired back Lexi.
Caravelle was becoming confused and frightened again, so she simply picked up her things and begin to follow Lexi as she walked her bicycle towards the Welcome Center. The two girls walked together in silence, as Caravelle did not want to say anything to touch off another firestorm of comments.
" Who is this child named Lexi ? " , thought Caravelle to herself, " Is she an child administrator, or a V.I.P.,
an alien from Mars, or what ? "

**************************************************************************

Location---The Welcome Center, downtown Vonder Village

When they had arrived at the Welcome Center, Lexi turned around to Caravelle and blurted out,
" You go inside to the lobby and sit down. Wait for me, or somebody, to come to you and tell you what to do ! "
Caravelle went inside, put down her belongings, and sat down on the same chair that she was in just a short time ago. She noticed the flat screen plasma television mounted on the wall above the desk on the opposite side of the room. It was tuned to the weather channel, and the weather gal was mentioning that the weather for tonight would be warm and in the sixties, and tomorrow would be sunny, clear, and with a record setting high temperature for November reaching into the low eighties. The party was still going on in the ballroom, and once again Caravelle began to feel uneasy and apprehensive. Occasionally adults and children would wander from the ballroom into the lobby, but nobody came near to where Caravelle was sitting.
" Thank goodness nobody has noticed me. " , thought Caravelle as she was trying to calm herself from a rising dread that was beginning to flood her heart.



After a while, Caravele saw the same young girl who brought her here walk through the doorway from the ballroom to the lobby. She walked over to where Caravelle was sitting. Caravelle was fidgeting, and twisting one of her twin ponytails with her right hand. Sitting as she was in the easy chair, her short denim skirt revealed her long, slender legs.

" Hi ! My name is Lexi. I'm ten years old. I moved you here because you do not have the right to go into Crystal's Safe Zone. You need to always do what I tell you to do because my mother is on the Vonder Village Council. I'm a very kind and caring kid, and I'm being nice to you now, but I can be tough and feisty when I want to. You seem to be nice, but I don't know why you would want to be alone, I don't know why you did what you did, and I don't know if I can trust you. I saw you go into Crystal's Safety Place, so I don't think you can be trusted. " , explained Lexi.

" All I can say is ' I'm here. ' " , was Caravelle's only reply.

" You need to go into the ballroom and join the party. " , admonished Lexi.
With that, Lexi left with a sly, disapproving look on her face.

Location---The Welcome Center

Caravelle continued to sit in the easy chair in the lobby, twisting and playing with her pigtails as she was trying to fight off the continuous uneasy and fearful feeling that was plaguing her. Soon, another teenage girl came into the lobby and strolled over to where Caravelle was sitting. Suddenly looking up, Caravelle was taken aback by her presence. This girl was dressed very sharp, with an Axelcrombey & Flip designer pullover shirt, and Diesel designer dress skinny jeans.

" Hi there. My name is Crystal. I am thirteen years old and a teenager like yourself. Ya know, I have not seen that many teenagers come to the Welcome Center parties, at least not that many that I would be interested in meeting and getting to know. My parents have bought a business recently, it's a sports bar located in the downtown area. I'm new to Vonder Village myself, and am just starting to learn my way around both the village and the social scene here. That is why I come to the parties here. I'm glad to meet you, maybe we can someday become friends. But I've also heard that you want to be left alone, too. If that is the case, I can leave you alone. No trouble for me " , explained Crystal.

" All I can say is ' I'm here. ' " , was Caravelle's only reply.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments, then Crystal slowly walked away and went back into the ballroom.
__________________

Location----The Welcome Center

Caravelle was perplexed, and began musing to herself.
" What to do ? What to do ? That girl, Lexi, brought me here without my knowledge or permission. Fer Real ! Who is this Lexi, that she can do this to me. And who is the girl named Crystal ? Is she the same person that has Crystal's Safety Zone building named after themselves ? Maybe I can stay with Crystal until I find a place of my own. I wonder if she would mind, she seemed to be real friendly. If not, I think I know of a place that I can go to where people will leave me alone. I just imagine that I can go down to the beach and hang out there until I feel safe in this new place.
Really ! "

Still very apprehensive, Caravelle stood up from the easy chair and stretched. As she was about to sit down again, a nicely dressed middle-aged lady came into the lobby. She was wearing an expensive creme-colored ladies business suit, with matching blouse, jacket, and skirt. She looked around, spotted Caravelle, then came up to Caravelle and spoke.

" Hello. My name is Keera Wellman, and I am the mayor of Vonder Village. And you are . . . ."
" My name is Caravelle Axxe, and I am new here. ", said Caravelle.
" That's odd, " remarked Keera, " I don't remember seeing your name on the new residences list. Anyway, it's my understanding that you went into Crystal's Safety Zone earlier today. You know, or should have known, that that is an adults only sports bar and grill. It's wrong for a minor like yourself to go in there, that is a serious offense. ' , declared Keera.
" I am very, very sorry ! Really ! I thought that Crystal's Safe Place was a shelter for children to come to in order to be safe. ", cried Caravelle, " I didn't know that was only for Crystal, Lexi, and adults to go in there. "
" You need to be walking into the Home for Little Wanderers, not walking into a sports bar. ", shot back Keera.
" And, " continued Keera, " I'm told that you want to be left alone. I have to surmise that maybe Vonder Village is not the place that you need to be a part of right now. As mayor, I expect that all of the residents and visitors of the village actually want to be here, and want to be under my benevolent administration, and will look up to me for the wonderful things that I do. If you do not want to be with the people here, and can not fit in, then you need to go elsewhere to stay. Come with me, young lady to my office. It's down this hallway and to the right. We need to talk. "

Caravelle could do nothing but follow Keera to her office.

Later, the party was beginning to wind down and people were leaving the Welcome Center. At the front desk in the lobby, the host of the party was talking to the bellman at the front desk. Suddenly, Caravelle burst into the lobby, running, and went right to the easy chair that she had been sitting in earlier, and began to gather up her things left there as quickly as she could. Her cheeks were wet with tears and the wrist area of the right sleeve of her My Little Pony shirt was wet. Her left sleeve was torn at the wrist, as if someone had tried to grab her, and she had pulled away. She took one last hurried glance around the lobby, and promptly raced out the front door.

************************************************************************

Locaton---The beachfront in the village of Vonder Beach

Moving along at a rapid clip, Caravelle made her way back to the Town Centre trolley stop and rode the trolley to where the peninsula meets the mainland. She then transferred to the trolley that runs the length of the peninsula and goes to and through the village of Vonder Beach. She got off about half way between the marina and the resort hotel. She walked towards the beach and shore. Just before the beach was the boardwalk, and Caravelle finally stopped to rest on one of the benches that are to be found at regular intervals along the entire boardwalk. She rested until her heart had stopped pounding, and she felt somewhat composed. As the sun was beginning to set, Caravelle noticed that on this section of the beach there was a collection of children's playground equipment. There were monkey bars, a see-saw, a plastic castle, a doll house, a slide, as well as many other items for play. Even thought the sun was setting, the air and beach sea breeze were still warm from the day's nice weather. Reviewing the day's events in her mind, Caravelle began to cry softly to herself.
" Nobody wants me, and nobody cares what I do or where I spend the night. Adults who are supposed to care about me seem only to want to cause me trouble ", were the words burning in her mind and heart.
Again the picture of someone throwing an empty soda bottle into a trash can came to her mind.

Twilight had already begun when an idea came to Caravelle. She gathered her belongings one last time, and walked down the steps that lead from the boardwalk to the beach. She went over to the plastic doll house and opened the tiny plastic door. She put her things inside the doll house, then squeezed herself in. It was a tight fit, but if she curled up, and took off her shoes, there was just enough room to lie down inside surrounded by her belongings. She propped her suitcase against the door to keep it closed, then placed her somewhat soft backpack as a makeshift pillow for her head. She laid down, and after bitterly crying for what seemed to be a long time, finally fell into a fitful sleep.

( End of Chapter 1---" All I Can Say is That ' I'm Here' " )
Xylo,TheCarouselPony
Xylo,TheCarouselPony
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Another Short Story About a Teen's Survival Empty Re: Another Short Story About a Teen's Survival

Post by Xylo,TheCarouselPony Wed Jun 15, 2016 9:17 pm

Chapter 2---Hiding . . . . .



Location--- Vonder Beach and the surrounding area

The next morning, the sun arose to a bright, clear, cloudless sky. It wasn't until later in the morning that Caravelle awoke to the warmth of the sun and the warm air inside the doll house. She was still tired, but the warmth felt good. Soon she peeked out of the open window of the doll house to see that nobody was playing on or around the playground equipment. Good ! She squeezed out of the doll house, then put her things on the sand near the house. Thankfully, there was a porta-potty on the beach next to the boardwalk wall, near the playground. Returning from it, she gathered her things and carried them back to the park bench that she had sat on the previous night. Sitting down, and still wearing yesterday's clothing, she began to assess her situation.

Sitting and looking towards the lake, then looking to the left along the boardwalk and beach, she could see that at some distance away was the resort hotel and it's surroundings. If she looked to the right along the boardwalk and beach, at some distance away was the end of the boardwalk. Beyond that the beach continued on all the way to the marina and even further into the horizon.
" Don't resort hotels have a beach for the guests to use ? ", Caravelle asked herself, " And don't beach areas have a bathhouse for the guests to use to change into their swimsuits ? And don't bathhouses have a shower and lockers for people to use when they go swimming ? Rock On ! ".

Caravelle slipped her backpack on, then gathered her remaining items and began walking along the boardwalk towards the resort hotel. Sure enough, she was able to locate the bathhouse near where the boardwalk passes by and around the front of the resort hotel and continues on along the beach. The bathhouse was open, but everything was self-service. It felt so good to have a hot shower, and someone even left half a bottle of shampoo in one of the shower stalls that she was able to use.
" The weather report that I heard yesterday said that today it would be very warm. I can wear my swimsuit today, since I want to spend time exploring in and around the beach. " , reasoned Caravelle.
She slipped into her swimsuit, then put on frilly socks and athletic shoes. Her swimdress was styled like a little girl's tank swimsuit, in her favorite colors of lavender and pink, but with an attached skirt. There was a big pink heart emblazoned on the front of her swimdress. Caravelle put her wet hair up into the customary twin ponytails that she always wore, secured with two pink bows. She put all of her things into a large sized locker, then closed it and put the key into her purse. Slinging her purse over her shoulder, she was now ready for some serious exploration of Vonder Beach !

Surprisingly for a November day, there were already many adults and children on the beach in front of the bathhouse enjoying probably the last warm day of the year. Caravelle walked out onto the beach, through the crowd, and on around to the front of the resort hotel. It was an older hotel, but still kept in good condition with many updates to the outside as well as the inside. Caravelle walked inside to the lobby, then around to see the many little shops and rooms that were inside. Outside of the resort hotel, but still in the neighborhood, was a shopping district with many specialty stores and designer shoppes. Many were closed for the season, but Caravelle enjoyed window shopping throughout the district. Beyond the shopping district was the themed amusement park. It was closed, but Caravelle was able to look through the surrounding fence to see the silent rides and activity areas. She imagined that she could still see families and children walking and laughing along the twisted aisleways and pathways, and further imagined them as translucent ghosts left over from the last day of summer, and the last day that the amusement park was open.

Coming back from the far end of the amusement park, along the boardwalk, Caravelle spotted a street vendor's cart. So for lunch, she had a chili dog, potato chips, and a Dr. Pepper. She sat eating on one of the ubiquitous park benches, looking out to the lake and to the crescent shaped island in the distance. After eating, she sat a while, then walked back past the resort hotel and inland to the edge of the village of Vonder Beach. A few people were out and around, but nobody paid any attention to her. Finally, after looking around a few blocks of the downtown area, Caravelle walked back to the resort hotel. She then followed the boardwalk back to the original park bench that she had sat on earlier this morning. It was now in the early afternoon, and after resting a little while, she then got up and stretched.
" I wonder what there is to see if I walk towards the marina this time ? ", Caravelle suggested to herself.

In a little while, Caravelle found herself walking along the boardwalk towards the marina. As she looked left, she could see the beach and shoreline. As she looked right, she could see open, grassy meadows beginning to turn brown with the autumn weather's incessant march to winter. In the distance, she could see the trolley tracks running parallel to the boardwalk. When the boardwalk came to an end, Caravelle descended the short staircase to the beach sand. At that point, the grassy meadow gave way to a large block of cedar trees, with the beach continuing on and separating the cedar trees from the water's edge. She had just begun to walk on the beach sand next to the tree line, when she noticed an outcropping of a few trees about a hundred feet away from where she was at. When Caravelle had reached the outcropping, she had to walk around it, and was surprised to see what was there, and hidden from view from the end of the boardwalk. It was an A-frame style cabana, built in a little semicircle clearing at the edge of where the cedar trees met the beach sand.

The first thing that Caravelle thought was, " Who would be using this cabana ? "
The answer was soon apparent, as the cabana had not been used in quite some time now. The little clearing had long grass and weeds growing everywhere. There was trash, beer cans, and a variety of junk strung all over the outside area adjacent to the cabana. Caravelle cautiously walked up to the narrow deck in front of the cabana, and up the steps to the sliding glass front door. There were cobwebs on front door, showing that the door had not been opened in a long time. She could look inside through the glass partition that ran the length of the deck and formed the front of the A-frame. Part of the curtain that was draped behind the glass partition had fallen down, giving way to a partial view of the insides. She again could see trash, beer cans, liquor bottles, and pizza boxes all over the carpet inside. Caravelle tried the front sliding door, but it was locked. So she went around back, and sure enough, there was a back glass sliding door. She again walked up the stairs to the narrow deck and tried to open the back door, but it was locked, too. Looking from the back deck across the back clearing and to the edge of the cedar trees, she could see a small shed dotting the landscaped clearing of overgrown weeds, trash, more beer cans and fast food bags. A small dirt trail lead away from the backyard clearing into the woods.

" I wonder where this trail goes. " , Caravelle thought to herself.
Following it, she found that it lead through the cedar trees for about a hundred and twenty five feet to the edge of where the cedar trees blended into a meadow. Beyond the meadow was the outside boat storage of the marina. As she followed the dirt trail away from the trees, she noticed that she was walking past a concrete pad partially covered with grass and weeds. Part of a wall was still standing a couple of feet high from the back edge of the pad. Caravelle sat down on the worn bricks of what was once a wall. After a few minutes, she noticed another concrete pad near the one that she was on, and beyond that one, yet another one.
" Ya know what ? " , Caravelle spoke to herself in astonishment, " This right here, right where I'm sitting, used to be a small house. Really ! And that over there " , pointing her finger to the second pad, " would have been the garage. And that over there " , pointing again, " would have been a barn or a storage shed. Wow ! I would like to know what had happened to someone's home. Fer Real. "

With her self imposed rest period over, Caravelle continued to walk through the meadow towards the marina. It was kind of spooky walking around all of the boats that were left outside. They were all parked in disarray, some covered, some not, many in various states of disrepair. There were even a few old cars hidden in between the boats. One ancient car had a really old license plate still attached to the back bumper, that still had the state slogan - ' Land of 10,000 Lakes ' - printed on the bottom.
" What a junkyard ! ", she thought to herself.
By time Caravelle had reached the end of the boat junkyard, the grassy ground had changed to gravel. She passed a green trash dumpster, and walked into an area of buildings that was the repair yard of the marina.
" The marina and surrounding shops and restaurants should be fun to explore ! " , exclaimed Caravelle.
And so it was ! Again that day Caravelle got to do window shopping amid all of the shops and stores that comprised the marina neighborhood . In the late afternoon, she found a Taco Bell fast food place, and ate her evening meal of tacos and cinnamon crisps. With the sun nearing the horizon, a dilemma suddenly dawned on Caravelle.
Where to spend the night ?
A fun day swiftly turned sour as Caravelle began to ponder the dilemma. Without much thinking, she cleared her table at the ' Taco Belch ', as she always called it, and walked out the door, going in no particular direction. After a little while, she instinctively began to retrace her steps, back to the marina repair buildings, back through the gravel lot, back through the boat junkyard, and back past the concrete pads. She once again rested on the short brick wall, then began to walk back through the cedar trees on the dirt path.

Returning to the cabana, Caravelle walked up the stairs again to the back deck. As she was leaning on the wooden railing, a wicked cool idea came to her.
" What if . . . . ?!?!? "
She went around to the front door and tried it again. Still locked. Once more, she went to the rear door and tried it again, too. Still locked. But then she noticed that the back sliding door was not really locked, it was held closed with a small diameter, long wooden dowel placed on the bottom track of the door frame. Placing her slender fingers on the door handle, she pulled on the door as hard as she could, and the door moved open about a half of an inch. Repeated tugs on the door handle showed no improvement in moving the door open any further.
" What to do ? What to do ? "
Caravelle now went into the back yard looking for something to pry with. She found it in a piece of long, thick plywood beam lying behind the outside shed. With it in hand, she came back to the sliding door and wedged it into the narrow space between the door edge and the metal frame of the threshold. She tried to pull on the door handle and pry on the board at the same time, but found it difficult to do so.
" Just a girl, just a girl. . . . " , that for some unexplained reason was ringing in the back of her head, over and over, and it made her angry.
So trying one last time, and with one almighty pull on both the door handle and plywood, the wooden dowel broke in half, and the back door slid open.
" That's what a girl can do ! Rock On ! " , a sweaty Caravelle remarked to herself even though she had fallen over backwards and landed on her booty.
Quickly looking around inside, Caravelle saw that nothing had been cleaned or even touched in a long time. With dusk approaching with every passing moment, she went back outside and slid the back door closed.

Still wearing her swimsuit, Caravelle hurried along the beach to the end of the boardwalk, then across the meadow to the trolley station that she first came to yesterday evening. Boarding the next trolley, she road it to the resort hotel station and got off. Going right to the bathhouse, she found her locker, unlocked it and retrieved her meager belongings. Carrying them back to the trolley station, she once again boarded the next trolley and got off at the midway station. Then she carried her things to the boardwalk, then to the boardwalk's end, and finally to the cabana. Going around to the back, she slid open the back door and placed her things inside. Then she looked around outside and found a twig about the same length as the wooden dowel had been. With the last rays of sunlight disappearing below the horizon, Caravelle slid the back door closed and placed the twig in the bottom of the metal track to hold the door closed. And with the back door now secured, she disappeared into the darkness of the inside of the cabana.

*****************************************************************************

Location---The Beach

On the previous morning, Caravelle was awakened by her sense of touch, namely the warm sun and warm beach air that she felt on her skin. However, on this morning, Caravelle was awakened by a entirely different sensory perception, that of her sense of smell. As she awoke, she became aware of a very exotic mixture of aromas, that of moldy, musty interiors, spilled beer from ubiquitous beer cans, stale, moldy pizza in boxes, old shoe odors, as well as many more.

" Oh Yah ! I know where I am now. " , thought Caravelle.

Seeing that is was already bright outside, she eventually arose, and quickly changed out of her swimsuit and into clothes more suitable for whatever the day's activities would become. She selected from her small suitcase a yellow T-shirt with an anime girl and the words, ' Shoujocon 2003-Rye, New York ' on the front and the word,
' Staff '
on the back, a black denim pleated mini-skirt, and black leggings. After dressing, she unlocked the front door and rolled it open, then rolled open the back door to let the place " air out ". Then she dragged a small folding chair that she had found inside, out the front door, down the front steps, and set it up on the beach sand in front of the cabana. After a quit trip to the porta-potty, located by the steps at the end of the boardwalk, Caravelle returned to the folding chair and sat looking at the cabana, collecting her thoughts. After a while, hunger began to growl at her, so she retrieved and opened the plastic bag of snacks that she had been carrying around with her. Her breakfast consisted of potato chips, Ho-Ho's, a pudding cup, and a warm Dr Pepper. When she was done eating, she then got up and began a comprehensive look around both inside and outside the cabana, but now done in the bright morning light.

************************************************** ********************

Looking at the A-frame style cabana from the front, it looked just like a capital letter " A ". The cabana was about 35 feet in length by 20 feet in width at the base. It was elevated from the beach sand by a few feet, with a wooden deck and steps up to the deck both front and back. The sloped roof on both sides reached up to a second story height at the peak. Both roof sides had unusual circular roof shingles, and Carousel did not notice at this time that most of the shingles from about 10 feet off of the ground up to the peak were actually circular solar panels. In the front, from the deck floor up to the " A " crossmember was a glass panel, with the sliding glass front door in the middle. In the back was the same, except that the panel was of wood with a small window to the left of the glass sliding door. Above the " A " crossmember up to the peak was covered in wood paneling on both front and back. The cabana sat in a semi-circular clearing in the cedar trees where the trees met the beach sand. In back, and to the left in the back yard clearing, next to the tree line, sat a small aluminum storage shed. A small dirt path lead from the back yard, past the storage shed, into the cedar trees. The side and back yards were originally of mowed grass and trimmed bushes, but were now of long overgrown grass and weeds, and untrimmed, ugly bushes.

As one walked up the front steps and slid open the glass door to look in, one could see that the interior was divided into rectangular halves. The front half was one room, but the back half was further divided into two square rooms, separated by a walkway leading to the back door. Standing at the front door threshold, and looking left, one could see metal lockers on the back wall from the walkway to the sloped side of the left wall. The sloped left wall had terraced shelving from the floor to the ceiling. A slatted, wooden bench was in front of the left wall shelving for ones to sit down on to change into their swimsuits. One end of the bench was pointing to the lockers, and the other end pointed to the glass front wall. Looking right from the front door threshold, one could see a narrow breakfast bar from the walkway to the right sloped wall. The right sloped wall also had terraced shelving on it. A small card table and chairs were in front of the right sloped wall, between the breakfast bar and the glass front wall. A narrow wooden panel covered the end of the breakfast bar on the walkway side, from the floor to the ceiling.

Walking across the larger room and continuing into the walkway, on the left would be a wall, on the right would be the breakfast bar. Just past the breakfast bar and turning right, one would see one of the two one-fourth sized rooms. The far wall would be a sloped wall. In the corner of where the breakfast bar meets the sloped wall is a small, squat refrigerator. A small microwave is placed on top of the refrigerator. To the left and along the back inside wall of the cabana is a window in the center, with wall mounted cabinets on either side. Below the window is a counter top running the length from the back door to the sloped wall. In the center of the counter top and directly below the window is two tiny sinks and faucets. Below the counter top are drawers and cabinets to the floor.

At the end of the center walkway, straight ahead, is the back door. Making a U-turn in front of the back door leads one through a door into the second one-fourth room. Looking in, along the back wall is a small combination bath tub and shower. On the left is a small toilet. Next to the toilet is a small vanity. On the right would be the sloped wall. However, it has been modified so that the wall is flat, and has a counter top running the length from the bath tub to the back inside wall of the cabana. A tiny sink is set in the counter top near the bath tub and across from the toilet. There is a medicine cabinet above the sink. There are drawers and cabinets under the sink for half the length of the counter top.

************************************************** **********************

When her self-guided tour of the cabana was concluded, Caravelle once again sat down in the folding chair on the beach sand outside. Resting, she began to think of and daydream of what the cabana would look like if it was cleaned up and taken care of. Soon, and without thinking much about it, she instinctively got up and started to pick up the trash that was outside and in front of the cabana. Remembering that she had seen something that would be useful, she went inside to the back window. On the window sill was a large package of plastic garbage bags. Rejoicing, Caravelle tore off several bags and took them outside. On the way out of the front door, she noticed a key hanging on the door frame on the inside. She tried the key in the front door lock, and it worked ! " Rock On ! " , she exclaimed.

During the next few hours, Caravelle had picked up enough trash, junk, and beer cans from the front and sides of the cabana to fill six large trash bags. One by one she would fill the bags, then drag them around to the back and leave them behind the storage shed. In the side yard, she had found a child's plastic wading pool engulfed in weeds, and filled with stagnant water and beer cans. She emptied it and dragged it around to the back yard. Under the front deck, she found two large wax coated cardboard boxes, each one completely filled with 48 empty beer bottles, and with a picture and slogan printed on the sides of the box that said,
' Sheaffer is the one beer to have when you are having more than one '.
Behind a bush she found a large metal beer keg, with a label glued to the side that said,
' Heinekin---Normally we don't advise drinking a whole keg, but go ahead, enjoy a whole keg ' .
" Why do people drink so much ? ", popped into her mind, " And why is drinking a lot of beer and liquor advertised as something that adults must do to have fun ? "
She was then reminded of something that she had overheard her mother screaming at her father one time. Her mother yelled---

" You know how all men are ! You can not get them to do anything around the house, unless you let them drink all day long ! "

Around noontime, she stopped to eat lunch.
" I had better do something about groceries soon, what I'm eating now is the last of my snacks that I had brought with me. " , she noted.
As she was sitting in the folding chair and eating, an uneasiness began to overtake her.
" I like this cabana. " , thought Caravelle, " But there is no electricity or water. And who does it belong to ? Am I trespassing ? What would someone think of me cleaning their cabana ? Can I ever stay here ? Will someone come and take me away to juvenile detention for being here ? Will I go to jail ? This needs to be taken care of real soon, like today, like right now ! Fer Real ! "
Caravelle finished eating, then went inside the cabana, and got something out of her suitcase. She then grabbed her purse, propped the back door closed, closed and locked the front door, and hurriedly left.

With a sense of urgency, Caravelle made her way to the midway trolley station, and rode the trolley to the resort hotel station. Going to the bathhouse, she showered and changed her clothes. She had brought with her a lime green with tiny white flower print baby doll/maternity style top. She wore that top with the black denim pleated mini-skirt and white frilly socks and black mary-janes. When she caught a glimpse of herself in the bathhouse mirror, she remarked,
" My mother told me once that women wear special clothes when they are going to have a baby. I sorta look like I'm wearing maternity clothes, I hope nobody thinks that I am pregnant ! "
She placed her black leggings and T-shirt in a locker and quickly ran back to the trolley stop just in time to catch the trolley to the marina. There she changed trolleys to ride the one that went to downtown Vonder Village. Thanks to the map that was in her purse, the one that the security guard had given her, she located the office building called " Room Service. " She got off the trolley and began walking to Room Service.
________________________________________


Location---Room Service, downtown Vonder Village

Caravelle walked into the lobby of the office building, then along a short corridor to a glass door that said " Room Service " on it in big black letters. She paused before she went in.
A worried voice in the back of her mind said, " Are you sure that you want to go in there ? "
An equally concerned voice in her mind said, " Yes ! You have to do this ! "
" But an adult may tell me ' No ', and I may lose my cabana. "
" No, you have that backwards, If you DON'T go in there, you are going to lose your cabana. "
" You know how adults are, they will tell you anything just to be able to get rid of you and go after what they want. "
" That's why you have to go in there and go after what YOU want ! "
" Maybe I can come another time. . . . . "
" JUST GO IN THERE ! NOW ! GIT-R-DONE ! GIT-R-DONE !!! "

Caravelle swallowed hard, and swung open the door. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone else in the lobby. A long open window with a counter top, and with a computer in the corner of the counter, occupied the entire far wall. Beyond the counter top was an office complex with many desks and equipment arranged into cubicles. Caravelle walked up to the counter. Surprisingly, there was only one person in the office, a woman in her thirties, guessed Caravelle. She was at her desk, but when she got up, Caravelle got the astonishment of the century ! The woman had on the very same baby doll/maternity top that she had on, except that it was a light orange colored background with the flower print. And she had on a black knee-length pleated skirt, similar to her own mini-skirt, but worn with black pantyhose, and black high heels. The woman was a bit chubby, and since she
nicely ' filled out ' her baby doll/maternity top, appeared to be pregnant. However, Caravelle thought that she looked cute, very attractive and was dressed very nicely.

The woman came up to the counter and said, " Hello. How can I help you, young miss ? "
Caravelle noticed that her name tag read ' Charity ' .
" Uh ! I mean. . . . Hi ! ", stammered Caravelle as she was trying to get around the clothing astonishment, " My name is Caravelle Axxe, I'm fourteen, and I am new to Vacation Wonderland. Here is my I.D. Can you tell me who owns something on the beach ? "
" I'll do my best. " , replied Charity.
" Just outside Vonder Beach, just beyond the end of the boardwalk, there is a cabana.
Who owns that cabana ? " , asked Caravelle while she was wringing her hands.
" Less see. " , said Charity as she moved over to the computer on the counter and began to boot it up.
After a little while, Charity spoke again.
" Hmmmm, Vonder Beach you say. Is it on the resort hotel side or the marina side of the boardwalk ? ', asked Charity.
" On the marina side. " , remarked Caravelle.
" Less see. Between the end of the boardwalk and the marina boat storage. Yah ! That would have been Henry Mathisson's property. But everything there was torn down when the marina expansion was done about two years ago. " , stated Charity.
" But there's a cabana. . . . " , began Caravelle.
" But it's not there now. " , broke in Charity, " Like I said, the local government took his property by a process called 'eminent domain', then moved him off of the property, then gave it to the developer that was contracted to redo the marina. Less see. . . . that would have been WE WREC U *. They demolished everything to make room for the expanded boat storage area. " . proclaimed Charity.
" But I . . . . " , began Caravelle for a second time.
" No but's about it, young miss " , Charity said sternly, " You must be confused ! There are cabanas by the boardwalk near the amusement park, and also by the water park, but not where you are describing to me. There might have been a cabana there at one time, but it's not there now. It's gone, ka-put, zilch, curtains, end of story. ! "
" Well if you say so. " , offered Caravelle.
" Is there anything else that you want to inquire about ? You know that you are going to need a place to stay in Vonderland, don't you ? " , observed Charity.
" Can I ask about a room for myself in the Home for Little Wanderers ? " , asked Caravelle.
" You can apply here for that. " , said Charity, " Anything else ? "
" Even though my mother no longer wants me, either she, or my attorney, is still my legal guardian. Mr. Burl Iverson is my attorney. And since I have been declared to be a Mature Minor, do I have to be assigned to an advocate/mentor and have a trustee appointed to watch out for me in Vacation Wonderland ? " , asked Caravelle."
You can apply for that, too. " , said Charity, " Anything else ? "
" I know that I am a minor, but since I have an attorney, and when I have my advocate, can I have semi-autonomous status in Vacation Wonderland ? " , asked Caravelle.
" That sure is a mouth-full for such a young lady ! " , remarked Charity dryly, " Haven't you ever heard of the old saying,
' Be careful of what you wish for, you may actually get it ?'
Anything else ? "
" No, I guess that is all for now. " , said Caravelle.
" Then take this blank form, go sit down over there at the desk, and fill it out completely, Put down all that you want done. If you don't have a temporary residence yet, put down where you can receive mail or e-mail. Then put the form in that plastic tray on the counter. Your requests will be presented to the appropriate people for consideration. If anything is approved, it will either be posted on that bulletin board over there on that wall, or be posted on the e-mail that you specified. Or it will be posted on Vonderland Cable TV Channel 369. Don't call us, we'll call you ! Have a nice day ! " , proclaimed Charity with a note of finality as she strolled back to her desk.
Caravelle wanted to ask Charity if she was actually pregnant, but was embarrassed to do so.

Caravelle filled out the form, signed it, and left it in the plastic bin. She walked out of Room Service, used the ladies room, then walked out of the office building into downtown Vonder Village.

It was now late afternoon, so Caravelle thought that there would be enough time to do some light shopping before she went back to the cabana.
" For now, it looks like the cabana is going to be my home, at least until the application that I just turned is approved for a room in the Home for Little Wanderers. And the cabana DOESN'T LEGALLY EXIST. " , Caravelle gleefully exclaimed to herself.

__________________________________________________ _______________________________

* W.E. W.R.E.C. U.---( pronounced-We Wreck You ) An acronym that stands for Wonderland Enterprises / Wonderland Regional Economic Consultation and Underwriting. One of the largest land developers in Vonderland. They are ' plugged in ' politically with the mayor and the local government officials so that they can do things that are not necessarily strictly legal, kosher, or proper.
_______________________________

Location---Vacation Wonderland Mall, downtown Vonder Village

Digging out the map once again from her purse, Caravelle looked to find the Vacation Wonderland Mall in downtown Vonder Village.
" Here it is. ", she said looking at the map, " And it is not that far away, I can walk to there from here. "
But after walking a few blocks, Caravelle became confused as to just where the Mall was. She found herself in front of a parking garage, and she noticed that a young mother and two children were just getting out of their car and locking it up. She could hear the mother talking with her daughters about going shopping for new shoes at the Vacation Wonderland Mall.

As the three were leaving the parking garage and walking along the sidewalk, Caravelle hurried to catch up to them.
" Excuse me, ma'am. My name is Caravelle Axxe, I'm fourteen, I'm new to Vonderland, and can you tell me how to get to the Vacation Wonderland
Mall ? " , implored Caravelle.
" My, you startled me ! " , exclaimed the young mother.
The young mother had on a pretty blouse and a voluminous knee-length circle skirt. Her two daughters were both wearing pretty dresses. The youngest child looked to be about 5 years old and was held by the hand of her mother as she hid behind her mother's skirt. The older child seemed to be about 9 years old and stood near her mother, looking at Caravelle.
" The entrance to the Mall is just around that street corner. Just turn left at that corner, then go down one block and turn left again. You will then see the entrance. " , said the young mother with a nervous demeanor.

" Hi ! My name is Lilyanne Turner. And that is my mother, Ariel, and my sister, Sophie. " , said the older child,
" You seem to be a big girl, so I want to ask you a question. Why are you here alone ? Where is your mother and father ? Why do you get to go downtown by yourself ? "

Well, Lilyanne, to answer your questions, " , replied Caravelle as she squatted down and leaned on her toes to speak to Lilyanne face to face,
" My father is no longer around, and my mother no longer wants me to be with her, so I was taken to Vonderland to stay by myself. I came downtown to ask about a place to stay, and to do some shopping at the Mall. I can take care of myself. Really ! Thank you for asking, though."

" Oh, my. . . ", said Lillyanne.

" If you need anymore information, you can go and ask the guard at the Mall. " , interrupted the young mother with a sour voice, " Now please leave, RIGHT NOW, you are scaring my children. "
" She's not scary at all, she's just a big girl. " , said Lilyanne.
" PLEASE GO NOW !!! " , the young mother said in a raised voice, " And come with me, children. "
Caravelle could just catch what was next said by the mother to the children---
"Girls! That person over there is not a real girl. He is a cross-dressed boy! That means he is a real boy wearing girl's clothes! That makes them very sick and dangerous to be around!"

" I have to go now, too ! " retorted Caravelle, " I am in a big hurry to get my shopping done before sunset. Thank you for your directions. "

Caravelle turned away from the young mother and her daughters and crossed the street. As soon as Caravelle had her back to them, she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. As she walked the rest of the way to the Mall, silent tears streamed down and wet her cheeks. Nobody noticed, or if they did, they did not say anything to Caravelle.

Once inside the Mall, Caravelle dried her cheeks with a tissue from the pack that she had in her purse. Silently, and with a low self-esteem, she did her shopping. She saw a warm electric blanket on sale, so she bought it.
" I'll need it for when the weather turns cold, which should be very soon now. " , she thought to herself.
She also bought a pack of teen's paper panties, a tube of first aid cream, and a tube of lip gloss. At the grocery discount outlet, she bought a few more snacks and a six pack of Dr Pepper, a can of spray foam cleaner and a roll of paper towels. Soon she had to stop shopping, as she could not carry all the things that she wanted to buy.

Caravelle carried her two large plastic bags to the downtown trolley stop. After boarding the trolley that was going to the transfer station near the marina, she sat down, looked out of the window into the evening twilight, and almost began crying again.
" Why did that young mother think that I was scary ? Is a fourteen year old tween girl really all that scary ? I wasn't carrying a gun, knife or a bomb with me. I wasn't dressed like a terrorist. I was dressed very nice, a lot of young girls wear baby doll/maternity tops these days. Fer Real. Was it because I was wearing a mini-skirt ? I don't think so, her daughters both had on short hemline dresses just like little girls wear nowadays. Sophie's dress even showed her rhumba panties. Did I talk nasty to her or Lilyanne ? No ! Did I say anything that was gross or improper to them ? No ! What is wrong with me then ? I thought that maybe they would make the offer for me to walk together with them to the Mall entrance. I wanted to be friendly to them. Why was I treated like a bad girl. Why was my presence so unwanted ? Was I dressed so poorly ? Seems that the mother thought that I was supposedly a cross-dressed boy. Seems that she thought I was sick and dangerous. Seems that I have always been unwanted. Seems that I have always been alone. Seems that I have always been a throwaway girl " , thought Caravelle with much anguish.

When she finally got back inside her new place on the beach, her cabana, she immediately dropped her packages on the floor, then collapsed on the floor herself and began crying her heart out, in the darkness of the cabana, and in the darkness of the night.

( Chapter 2--- " Hiding. . . . " concludes )
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Xylo,TheCarouselPony
Xylo,TheCarouselPony
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Another Short Story About a Teen's Survival Empty Re: Another Short Story About a Teen's Survival

Post by Xylo,TheCarouselPony Thu Jun 16, 2016 9:10 pm

Chapter 2---Hiding . . . . .



Location--- Vonder Beach and the surrounding area

The next morning, the sun arose to a bright, clear, cloudless sky. It wasn't until later in the morning that Caravelle awoke to the warmth of the sun and the warm air inside the doll house. She was still tired, but the warmth felt good. Soon she peeked out of the open window of the doll house to see that nobody was playing on or around the playground equipment. Good ! She squeezed out of the doll house, then put her things on the sand near the house. Thankfully, there was a porta-potty on the beach next to the boardwalk wall, near the playground. Returning from it, she gathered her things and carried them back to the park bench that she had sat on the previous night. Sitting down, and still wearing yesterday's clothing, she began to assess her situation.

Sitting and looking towards the lake, then looking to the left along the boardwalk and beach, she could see that at some distance away was the resort hotel and it's surroundings. If she looked to the right along the boardwalk and beach, at some distance away was the end of the boardwalk. Beyond that the beach continued on all the way to the marina and even further into the horizon.
" Don't resort hotels have a beach for the guests to use ? ", Caravelle asked herself, " And don't beach areas have a bathhouse for the guests to use to change into their swimsuits ? And don't bathhouses have a shower and lockers for people to use when they go swimming ? Rock On ! ".

Caravelle slipped her backpack on, then gathered her remaining items and began walking along the boardwalk towards the resort hotel. Sure enough, she was able to locate the bathhouse near where the boardwalk passes by and around the front of the resort hotel and continues on along the beach. The bathhouse was open, but everything was self-service. It felt so good to have a hot shower, and someone even left half a bottle of shampoo in one of the shower stalls that she was able to use.
" The weather report that I heard yesterday said that today it would be very warm. I can wear my swimsuit today, since I want to spend time exploring in and around the beach. " , reasoned Caravelle.
She slipped into her swimsuit, then put on frilly socks and athletic shoes. Her swimsuit was styled like a little girls tank swimsuit, in her favorite colors of lavender and pink. The body was lavender, with pink corded trim around the neckline and arm openings, pink spaghetti straps criss-crossing the scooped out back, and pink ruffles around the leg openings. There was a big pink heart emblazoned in the middle of the bust area. Caravelle put her wet hair up into the customary twin ponytails that she always wore, secured with two pink bows. She put all of her things into a large sized locker, then closed it and put the key into her purse. Slinging her purse over her shoulder, she was now ready for some serious exploration of Vonder Beach !

Surprisingly for a November day, there were already many adults and children on the beach in front of the bathhouse enjoying probably the last warm day of the year. Caravelle walked out onto the beach, through the crowd, and on around to the front of the resort hotel. It was an older hotel, but still kept in good condition with many updates to the outside as well as the inside. Caravelle walked inside to the lobby, then around to see the many little shops and rooms that were inside. Outside of the resort hotel was a shopping district with many specialty stores and designer shoppes. Many were closed for the season, but Caravelle enjoyed window shopping throughout the district. Beyond the shopping district was the themed amusement park. It was closed, but Caravelle was able to look through the surrounding fence to see the silent rides and activity areas. She imagined that she could still see families and children walking and laughing along the twisted aisleways and pathways as translucent ghosts left over from the last day of summer, and the last day that the amusement park was open.

Coming back from the far end of the amusement park, along the boardwalk, Caravelle spotted a street vendor's cart. So for lunch, she had a chili dog, potato chips, and a Dr. Pepper. She sat eating on one of the ubiquitous park benches, looking out to the lake and to the crescent shaped island in the distance. After eating, she sat a while, then walked back past the resort hotel and inland to the edge of the village of Vonder Beach. A few people were out and around, but nobody paid any attention to her. Finally, after looking around a few blocks of the downtown area, Caravelle walked back to the resort hotel. She then followed the boardwalk back to the original park bench that she had sat on earlier this morning. It was now in the early afternoon, and after resting a little while, she then got up and stretched.
" I wonder what there is to see if I walk towards the marina this time ? ", Caravelle suggested to herself.

In a little while, Caravelle found herself walking along the boardwalk towards the marina. As she looked left, she could see the beach and shoreline. As she looked right, she could see open, grassy meadows beginning to turn brown with the autumn weather's march to winter. In the distance, she could see the trolley tracks running parallel to the boardwalk. When the boardwalk came to an end, Caravelle descended the short staircase to the beach sand. At that point, the grassy meadow gave way to a large block of cedar trees, with the beach continuing on and separating the cedar trees from the water's edge. She had just begun to walk on the beach sand next to the tree line, when she noticed an outcropping of a few trees about a hundred feet away from where she was at. When Caravelle had reached the outcropping, she had to walk around it, and was surprised to see what was there, and hidden from view from the end of the boardwalk. It was an A-frame style cabana, built in a little semicircle clearing at the edge of where the cedar trees met the beach sand.

The first thing that Caravelle thought was, " Who would be using this cabana ? "
The answer was soon apparent, as the cabana had not been used in quite some time now. The little clearing had long grass and weeds growing everywhere. There was trash, beer cans, and a variety of junk strung all over the outside area adjacent to the cabana. Caravelle cautiously walked up to the narrow deck in front of the cabana, and up the steps to the sliding glass front door. There were cobwebs on front door, showing that the door had not been opened in a long time. She could look inside through the glass partition that ran the length of the deck and formed the front of the A-frame. Part of the curtain that was draped behind the glass partition had fallen down, giving way to a partial view of the insides. She again could see trash, beer cans, liquor bottles, and pizza boxes all over the carpet inside. Caravelle tried the front sliding door, but it was locked. So she went around back, and sure enough, there was a back glass sliding door. She again walked up the stairs to the narrow deck and tried to open the back door, but it was locked, too. Looking from the back deck across the back clearing and to the edge of the cedar trees, she could see a small shed dotting the landscaped clearing of overgrown weeds, trash, more beer cans and fast food bags. A small dirt trail lead away from the backyard clearing into the woods.

" I wonder where this trail goes. " , Caravelle thought to herself.
Following it, she found that it lead through the cedar trees for about a hundred and twenty five feet to the edge of where the cedar trees blended into a meadow. Beyond the meadow was the outside boat storage of the marina. As she followed the dirt trail away from the trees, she noticed that she was walking past a concrete pad partially covered with grass and weeds. Part of a wall was still standing a couple of feet high from the back edge of the pad. Caravelle sat down on the worn bricks of what was once a wall. After a few minutes, she noticed another concrete pad near the one that she was on, and beyond that one, yet another one.
" Ya know what ? " , Caravelle spoke to herself in astonishment, " This right here, right where I'm sitting, used to be a small house. Really ! And that over there " , pointing her finger to the second pad, " would have been the garage. And that over there " , pointing again, " would have been a barn or a storage shed. Wow ! I would like to know what had happened to someone's home. Fer Real. "

With her self imposed rest period over, Caravelle continued to walk through the meadow towards the marina. It was kind of spooky walking around all of the boats that were left outside. They were all parked in disarray, some covered, some not, many in various states of disrepair. There were even a few old cars hidden in between the boats. One ancient car had a really old license plate still attached to the back bumper, that still had the state slogan - ' Land of 10,000 Lakes ' - printed on the bottom.
" What a junkyard ! "
By time Caravelle had reached the end of the boat junkyard, the grassy ground had changed to gravel. She passed a green trash dumpster, and walked into an area of buildings that was the repair yard of the marina.
" The marina and surrounding shops and restaurants should be fun to explore ! " , exclaimed Caravelle.
And so it was ! Again that day Caravelle got to do window shopping amid all of the shops and stores that comprised the marina neighborhood . In the late afternoon, she found a Taco Bell fast food place, and ate her evening meal of tacos and cinnamon crisps. With the sun nearing the horizon, a dilemma suddenly dawned on Caravelle.
Where to spend the night ?
A fun day swiftly turned sour as Caravelle began to ponder the dilemma. Without much thinking, she cleared her table at the ' Taco Belch ', and walked out the door, going in no particular direction. She instinctively began to retrace her steps, back to the marina repair buildings, back through the gravel lot, back through the boat junkyard, and back past the concrete pads. She once again rested on the short brick wall, then began to walk back through the cedar trees on the dirt path.

Returning to the cabana, Caravelle walked up the stairs again to the back deck. As she was leaning on the wooden railing, a wicked cool idea came to her.
" What if . . . . ?!?!? "
She went around to the front door and tried it again. Still locked. Once more, she went to the rear door and tried it again, too. Still locked. But then she noticed that the back sliding door was not really locked, it was held closed with a small diameter, long wooden dowel placed on the bottom track of the door frame. Placing her slender fingers on the door handle, she pulled on the door as hard as she could, and the door moved open about a half of an inch. Repeated tugs on the door handle showed no improvement in moving the door open any further.
" What to do ? What to do ? "
Caravelle now went into the back yard looking for something to pry with. She found it in a piece of long, thick plywood lying behind the outside shed. With it in hand, she came back to the sliding door and wedged it into the narrow space between the door edge and the metal frame of the threshold. She tried to pull on the door handle and pry on the board at the same time, but found it difficult to do so.
" Just a girl, just a girl. . . . " , for some unexplained reason was ringing in the back of her head, and it made her angry.
So trying one last time, and with one almighty pull on both the door handle and plywood, the wooden dowel broke in half, and the back door slid open.
" That's what a girl can do ! Rock On ! " , a sweaty Caravelle remarked to herself even though she had fallen over backwards and landed on her booty.
Quickly looking around inside, Caravelle saw that nothing had been cleaned or even touched in a long time. With dusk approaching with every passing moment, she went back outside and slid the back door closed.

Still wearing her swimsuit, Caravelle hurried along the beach to the end of the boardwalk, then across the meadow to the trolley station that she first came to yesterday evening. Boarding the next trolley, she road it to the resort hotel station and got off. Going right to the bathhouse, she found her locker, unlocked it and retrieved her meager belongings. Carrying them back to the trolley station, she once again boarded the next trolley and got off at the midway station. Then she carried her things to the boardwalk, then to the boardwalk's end, and finally to the cabana. Going around to the back, she slid open the back door and placed her things inside. Then she looked around outside and found a twig about the same length as the wooden dowel had been. With the last rays of sunlight disappearing below the horizon, Caravelle slid the back door closed and placed the twig in the bottom of the metal track to hold the door closed. And with the back door now secured, she disappeared into the darkness of the inside of the cabana.

( Chapter 2---" Hiding . . . . " continues. . )
__________________

( Chapter 2--- " Hiding . . . . " continues . . )



Location---The Beach

On the previous morning, Caravelle was awakened by her sense of touch, namely the warm sun and warm beach air that she felt on her skin. However, on this morning, Caravelle was awakened by a entirely different sensory perception, that of her sense of smell. As she awoke, she became aware of a very exotic mixture of aromas, that of moldy, musty interiors, spilled beer from ubiquitous beer cans, stale pizza in boxes, old shoe odors, as well as many more.

" Oh Yah ! I know where I am now. " , thought Caravelle.

Seeing that is was already bright outside, she eventually arose, and quickly changed out of her swimsuit and into clothes more suitable for whatever the day's activities would become. She selected from her small suitcase a yellow T-shirt with an anime girl and the words, ' Shoujocon 2003-Rye, New York ' on the front and the word,
' Staff ' on the back, a black denim pleated mini-skirt, and black leggings with black lace around the leg openings. After dressing, she unlocked the front door and rolled it open, then rolled open the back door to let the place
" air out ". Then she dragged a small folding chair that she had found inside, out the front door, down the front steps, and set it up on the beach sand in front of the cabana. After a quit trip to the porta-potty, located by the steps at the end of the boardwalk, Caravelle returned to the folding chair and sat looking at the cabana, collecting her thoughts. After a while, hunger began to growl at her, so she retrieved and opened the plastic bag of snacks that she had been carrying around with her. Her breakfast consisted of potato chips, Ho-Ho's, a pudding cup, and a warm Dr Pepper. When she was done eating, she then got up and began a comprehensive look around both inside and outside the cabana, but now done in the bright morning light.

************************************************** ********************

Looking at the A-frame style cabana from the front, it looked just like a capital letter " A ". The cabana was about 35 feet in length by 20 feet in width at the base. It was elevated from the beach sand by a few feet, with a wooden deck and steps up to the deck both front and back. The sloped roof on both sides reached up to a second story height at the peak. Both roof sides had unusual circular roof shingles, and Carousel did not notice at this time that most of the shingles from about 10 feet off of the ground up to the peak were actually circular solar panels. In the front, from the deck floor up to the " A " crossmember was a glass panel, with the sliding glass front door in the middle. In the back was the same, except that the panel was of wood with a small window to the left of the glass sliding door. Above the
" A " crossmember up to the peak was covered in wood paneling on both front and back. The cabana sat in a semi-circular clearing in the cedar trees where the trees met the beach sand. In back, and to the left in the back yard clearing, next to the tree line, sat a small aluminum storage shed. A small dirt path lead from the back yard, past the storage shed, into the cedar trees. The side and back yards were originally of mowed grass and trimmed bushes, but were now of long overgrown grass and weeds, and untrimmed, ugly bushes.

As one walked up the front steps and slid open the glass door to look in, one could see that the interior was divided into rectangular halves. The front half was one room, but the back half was further divided into two square rooms, separated by a walkway leading to the back door. Standing at the front door threshold, and looking left, one could see metal lockers on the back wall from the walkway to the sloped side of the left wall. The sloped left wall had terraced shelving from the floor to the ceiling. A slatted, wooden bench was in front of the left wall shelving for ones to sit down on to change into their swimsuits. One end of the bench was pointing to the lockers, and the other end pointed to the glass front wall. Looking right from the front door threshold, one could see a narrow breakfast bar from the walkway to the right sloped wall. The right sloped wall also had terraced shelving on it. A small card table and chairs were in front of the right sloped wall, between the breakfast bar and the glass front wall. A narrow wooden panel covered the end of the breakfast bar on the walkway side, from the floor to the ceiling.

Walking across the larger room and continuing into the walkway, on the left would be a wall, on the right would be the breakfast bar. Just past the breakfast bar and turning right, one would see one of the two one-fourth sized rooms. The far wall would be a sloped wall. In the corner of where the breakfast bar meets the sloped wall is a small, squat refrigerator. A small microwave is placed on top of the refrigerator. To the left and along the back inside wall of the cabana is a window in the center, with wall mounted cabinets on either side. Below the window is a counter top running the length from the back door to the sloped wall. In the center of the counter top and directly below the window is two tiny sinks and faucets. Below the counter top are drawers and cabinets to the floor.

At the end of the center walkway, straight ahead, is the back door. Making a U-turn in front of the back door leads one through a door into the second one-fourth room. Looking in, along the back wall is a small combination bath tub and shower. On the left is a small toilet. Next to the toilet is a small vanity. On the right would be the sloped wall. However, it has been modified so that the wall is flat, and has a counter top running the length from the bath tub to the back inside wall of the cabana. A tiny sink is set in the counter top near the bath tub and across from the toilet. There is a medicine cabinet above the sink. There are drawers and cabinets under the sink for half the length of the counter top.

************************************************** **********************

When her self-guided tour of the cabana was concluded, Caravelle once again sat down in the folding chair on the beach sand outside. Resting, she began to think of and daydream of what the cabana would look like if it was cleaned up and taken care of. Soon, and without thinking much about it, she instinctively got up and started to pick up the trash that was outside and in front of the cabana. Remembering that she had seen something that would be useful, she went inside to the back window. On the window sill was a large package of plastic garbage bags. Rejoicing, Caravelle tore off several bags and took them outside. On the way out of the front door, she noticed a key hanging on the door frame on the inside. She tried the key in the front door lock, and it worked ! " Rock On ! " , she exclaimed.

During the next couple of hours, Caravelle had picked up enough trash, junk, and beer cans from the front and sides of the cabana to fill six large trash bags. One by one she would fill the bags, then drag them around to the back and leave them behind the storage shed. In the side yard, she had found a child's plastic wading pool engulfed in weeds, and filled with stagnant water and beer cans. She emptied it and dragged it around to the back yard. Under the front deck, she found two large wax coated cardboard boxes, each one completely filled with 48 empty beer bottles, and with a picture and slogan printed on the sides of the box that said,
' Sheaffer is the one beer to have when you are having more than one '.
Behind a bush she found a large metal beer keg, with a label glued to the side that said,
' Heinekin---Normally we don't advise drinking a whole keg, but go ahead, enjoy a whole keg ' .
" Why do people drink so much ? ", popped into her mind, " And why is drinking a lot of beer and liquor advertised as something that adults must do to have fun ? "
She was then reminded of something that she had overheard her mother screaming at her father one time. Her mother yelled---

" You know how all men are ! You can not get them to do anything around the house, unless you let them drink all day long ! "

Around noontime, she stopped to eat lunch.
" I had better do something about groceries soon, what I'm eating now is the last of my snacks that I had brought with me. " , she noted.
As she was sitting in the folding chair and eating, an uneasiness began to overtake her.
" I like this cabana. " , thought Caravelle, " But there is no electricity or water. And who does it belong to ? Am I trespassing ? What would someone think of me cleaning their cabana ? Can I ever stay here ? Will someone come and take me away to juvenile detention for being here ? Will I go to jail ? This needs to be taken care of real soon, like today, like right now ! Fer Real ! "
Caravelle finished eating, then went inside the cabana, and got something out of her suitcase. She then grabbed her purse, propped the back door closed, closed and locked the front door, and hurriedly left.

With a sense of urgency, Caravelle made her way to the midway trolley station, and rode the trolley to the resort hotel station. Going to the bathhouse, she showered and changed her clothes. She had brought with her a lime green with tiny white flower print baby doll/maternity style top. She wore that top with the black denim pleated mini-skirt and white frilly socks and black mary-janes. When she caught a glimpse of herself in the bathhouse mirror, she remarked,
" My mother told me once that women wear special clothes when they are going to have a baby. I sorta look like I'm wearing maternity clothes, I hope nobody thinks that I am pregnant ! "
She placed her black leggings and T-shirt in a locker and quickly ran back to the trolley stop just in time to catch the trolley to the marina. There she changed trolleys to ride the one that went to downtown Vonder Village. Thanks to the map that was in her purse, the one that the security guard had given her, she located the office building called " Room Service. " She got off the trolley and began walking to Room Service.
________________________________________


Location---Room Service, downtown Vonder Village

Caravelle walked into the lobby of the office building, then along a short corridor to a glass door that said " Room Service " on it in big black letters. She paused before she went in.
A worried voice in the back of her mind said, " Are you sure that you want to go in there ? "
An equally concerned voice in her mind said, " Yes ! You have to do this ! "
" But an adult may tell me ' No ', and I may lose my cabana. "
" No, you have that backwards, If you DON'T go in there, you are going to lose your cabana. "
" You know how adults are, they will tell you anything just to be able to get rid of you and go after what they want. "
" That's why you have to go in there and go after what YOU want ! "
" Maybe I can come another time. . . . . "
" JUST GO IN THERE ! NOW ! GIT-R-DONE ! GIT-R-DONE !!! "

Caravelle swallowed hard, and swung open the door. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone else in the lobby. A long open window with a counter top, and with a computer in the corner of the counter, occupied the entire far wall. Beyond the counter top was an office complex with many desks and equipment arranged into cubicals. Caravelle walked up to the counter. Surprisingly, there was only one person in the office, a woman in her thirties, guessed Caravelle. She was at her desk, but when she got up, Caravelle got the astonishment of the century ! The woman had on the very same baby doll/maternity top that she had on, except that it was a light orange colored background with the flower print. And she had on a black knee-length pleated skirt, similar to her own mini-skirt, but worn with black pantyhose, and black high heels. The woman was a bit chubby, and since she nicely ' filled out ' her baby doll/maternity top, appeared to be pregnant. However, Caravelle thought that she looked cute, very attractive and was dressed very nicely.

The woman came up to the counter and said, " Hello. How can I help you, young miss ? "
Caravelle noticed that her name tag read ' Charity ' .
" Uh ! I mean. . . . Hi ! ", stammered Caravelle as she was trying to get around the clothing astonishment, " My name is Caravelle Axxe, I'm thirteen, and I am new to Vacation Wonderland. Can you tell me who owns something on the beach ? "
" I'll do my best. " , replied Charity.
" Just outside Vonder Beach, just beyond the end of the boardwalk, there is a cabana. Who owns
that cabana ? " , asked Caravelle while she was wringing her hands.
" Less see. " , said Charity as she moved over to the computer on the counter and began to boot it up.
After a little while, Charity spoke again.
" Hmmmm, Vonder Beach you say. Is it on the resort hotel side or the marina side of the boardwalk ? ', asked Charity.
" On the marina side. " , remarked Caravelle.
" Less see. Between the end of the boardwalk and the marina boat storage. Yah ! That would have been Henry Mathisson's property. But everything there was torn down when the marina expansion was done about a year ago. " , stated Charity.
" But there's a cabana. . . . " , began Caravelle.
" But it's not there now. " , broke in Charity, " Like I said, the local government took his property by a process called 'eminent domain', then moved him off of the property, then gave it to the developer that was contracted to redo the marina. Less see. . . . that would have been WE WREC U *. They demolished everything to make room for the expanded boat storage area. " . proclaimed Charity.
" But I . . . . " , began Caravelle for a second time.
" No but's about it, young miss " , Charity said sternly, " You must be confused ! There are cabanas by the boardwalk near the amusement park, and also by the water park, but not where you are describing to me. There might have been a cabana there at one time, but it's not there now. It's gone, ka-put, zilch, curtains, end of story. ! "
" Well if you say so. " , offered Caravelle.
" Is there anything else that you want to inquire about ? You know that you are going to need a place to stay in Vonderland, don't you ? " , observed Charity.
" Can I ask about a room for myself in the Home for Little Wanderers ? " , asked Caravelle.
" You can apply here for that. " , said Charity, " Anything else ? "
" Even though my mother no longer wants me, she is still my legal guardian. And Mr. Burl Iverson is my attorney. So can I have an advocate/mentor and a trustee appointed to watch out for me in Vacation Wonderland ? " , asked Caravelle."
You can apply for that, too. " , said Charity, " Anything else ? "
" I know that I am a minor, but since I have an attorney, and when I have my advocate, can I have semi-autonomous status in Vacation Wonderland ? " , asked Caravelle.
" That sure is a mouth-full for such a young lady ! " , remarked Charity dryly, " Haven't you ever heard of the old saying,
' Be careful of what you wish for, you may actually get it ?'
Anything else ? "
" No, I guess that is all for now. " , said Caravelle.
" Then take this blank form, go sit down over there at the desk, and fill it out completely, Put down all that you want done. If you don't have a temporary residence yet, put down where you can receive mail or e-mail. Then put the form in that plastic tray on the counter. Your requests will be presented to the appropriate people for consideration. If anything is approved, it will either be posted on that bulletin board over there on that wall, or be posted on the e-mail that you specified. Or it will be posted on Vonderland Cable TV Channel 369. Don't call us, we'll call you ! Have a nice day ! " , proclaimed Charity with a note of finality as she strolled back to her desk.
Caravelle wanted to ask Charity if she was actually pregnant, but was embarrassed to do so.

Caravelle filled out the form, signed it, and left it in the plastic bin. She walked out of Room Service, used the ladies room, then walked out of the office building into downtown Vonder Village.

It was now late afternoon, so Caravelle thought that there would be enough time to do some light shopping before she went back to the cabana.
" For now, it looks like the cabana is going to be my home, at least until the application that I just turned is approved for a room in the Home for Little Wanderers. And the cabana DOESN'T LEGALLY EXIST. " , Caravelle gleefully exclaimed to herself.

__________________________________________________ _______________________________

* W.E. W.R.E.C. U.---( pronounced-We Wreck You ) An acronym that stands for Wonderland Enterprises / Wonderland Regional Economic Consultation and Underwriting. One of the largest land developers in Vonderland. They are ' plugged in ' politically with the mayor and the local government officials so that they can do things that are not necessarily strictly legal, kosher, or proper.
_______________________________

( Chapter 2--- " Hiding . . . . " continues . . )
Xylo,TheCarouselPony
Xylo,TheCarouselPony
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Another Short Story About a Teen's Survival Empty Re: Another Short Story About a Teen's Survival

Post by Xylo,TheCarouselPony Sat Jan 20, 2018 8:42 pm

( Chapter 2--- " Hiding . . . . " continues . . )

Location---Vacation Wonderland Mall, downtown Vonder Village

Digging out the map once again from her purse, Caravelle looked to find the Vacation Wonderland Mall in downtown Vonder Village.
" Here it is. ", she said looking at the map, " And it is not that far away, I can walk to there from here. "
But after walking a few blocks, Caravelle became confused as to just where the Mall was. She found herself in front of a parking garage, and she noticed that a young mother and two children were just getting out of their car and locking it up. She could hear the mother talking with her daughters about going shopping for new shoes at the Vacation Wonderland Mall.

As the three were leaving the parking garage and walking along the sidewalk, Caravelle hurried to catch up to them.
" Excuse me, ma'am. My name is Caravelle Axxe, I'm thirteen, I'm new to Vonderland, and can you tell me how to get to the Vacation Wonderland Mall ? " , implored Caravelle.

" My, you startled me ! " , exclaimed the young mother.
The young mother had on a pretty blouse and a voluminous knee-length circle skirt. Her two daughters were both wearing pretty dresses. The youngest child looked to be about 5 years old and was held by the hand of her mother as she hid behind her mother's skirt. The older child seemed to be about 9 years old and stood near her mother, looking at Caravelle.
" The entrance to the Mall is just around that street corner. Just turn left at that corner, then go down one block and turn left again. You will then see the entrance. " , said the young mother with a nervous demeanor.

" Hi ! My name is Lilyanne Turner. And that is my mother, Ariel, and my sister, Sophie. " , said the older child,
" You seem to be a big girl, so I want to ask you a question. Why are you here alone ? Where is your mother and father ? Why do you get to go downtown by yourself ? "

Well, Lilyanne, to answer your questions, " , replied Caravelle as she squatted down and leaned on her toes to speak to Lilyanne face to face,
" My father is no longer around, and my mother no longer wants me to be with her, so I was taken to Vonderland to stay by myself. I came downtown to ask about a place to stay, and to do some shopping at the Mall. I can take care of myself. Really ! Thank you for asking, though."

" Oh, my. . . ", said Lillyanne.

" If you need anymore information, you can go and ask the guard at the Mall. " , interrupted the young mother with a sour voice, " Now please leave, RIGHT NOW, you are scaring my children. "
" She's not scary at all, she's just a big girl. " , said Lilyanne.
" PLEASE GO NOW !!! " , the young mother said in a raised voice, " And come with me, children. "

" I have to go now, too ! " retorted Caravelle, " I am in a big hurry to get my shopping done before sunset. Thank you for your directions. "

Caravelle turned away from the young mother and her daughters and crossed the street. As soon as Caravelle had her back to them, she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. As she walked the rest of the way to the Mall, silent tears streamed down and wetted her cheeks. Nobody noticed, or if they did, they did not say anything to Caravelle.

Once inside the Mall, Caravelle dried her cheeks with a tissue from the pack that she had in her purse. Silently, and with a low self-esteem, she did her shopping. She saw a warm electric blanket on sale, so she bought it.
" I'll need it for when the weather turns cold, which should be very soon now. " , she thought to herself.
She also bought a pack of Super Puff girls' paper panties, a box of teen personal napkins, and a tube of lip gloss. At the grocery discount outlet, she bought a few more snacks and a six pack of Dr Pepper, a can of spray foam cleaner and a roll of paper towels. Soon she had to stop shopping, as she could not carry all the things that she wanted to buy.

Caravelle carried her two large plastic bags to the downtown trolley stop. After boarding the trolley that was going to the transfer station near the marina, she sat down, looked out of the window into the evening twilight, and almost began crying again.
" Why did that young mother think that I was scary ? Is a thirteen year old tween girl really all that scary ? I wasn't carrying a gun, knife or a bomb with me. I wasn't dressed like a terrorist. I was dressed very nice, a lot of young girls wear baby doll/maternity tops these days. Fer Real. Was it because I was wearing a mini-skirt ? I don't think so, her daughters both had on short hemline dresses just like little girls wear nowadays. Sophie's dress even showed her rhumba panties. Did I talk nasty to her or Lilyanne ? No ! Did I say anything that was gross or improper to them ? No ! What is wrong with me then ? I thought that maybe they would make the offer for me to walk together with them to the Mall entrance. I wanted to be friendly to them. Why was I treated like a bad girl. Why was my presence so unwanted ? Seems that I have always been unwanted. Seems that I have always been
alone. Seems that I have always been a throwaway girl " , thought Caravelle with much anguish.

When she finally got back inside her new place on the beach, her cabana, she immediately dropped her packages on the floor, then collapsed on the floor herself and began crying her heart out, in the darkness of the cabana, and in the darkness of the night.

( Chapter 2--- " Hiding. . . . " concludes )
Xylo,TheCarouselPony
Xylo,TheCarouselPony
Equestria Pony

Posts : 193
Join date : 2012-10-03
Location : Rye Beach, Ohio, USA / Equestria-Village of Merry-Go-Round

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Another Short Story About a Teen's Survival Empty Re: Another Short Story About a Teen's Survival

Post by Xylo,TheCarouselPony Sat Jan 20, 2018 8:45 pm

Chapter 3 " A Clean Sweep "


Location---Caravelle's Hideaway Cabana, near Vonder Beach

The next morning the sun arose to a clear, bright cheerful sky, but when Caravelle finally awoke she was anything but bright and cheerful. She lay awake where she had been sleeping and did not feel motivated to move for about an hour. When she had finally begun moving about and selecting her clothes for the day, the exotic odors of the cabana once again assaulted her nose. Wrinkling her nose, she started dressing. She selected a pale gray polo shirt worn under a light blue denim short-hemline jumper dress, white anklets, and white athletic shoes. Opening the front and back doors as she did the previous day, she let the place ' air out ' for a second time.

Eating her breakfast of potato chips and yogurt, and looking around the front room, Caravelle remarked, " What this place needs is a clean sweep, all around. "
The front and sides of the outside of the cabana were now mostly free of trash, however she could do little about the overgrown grass and weeds. So today she decided to concentrate on the inside of the cabana. Tearing off several plastic trash bags from the roll that she found yesterday, she began cleaning in the front room. After a couple of hours of gathering trash, empty beer cans, moldy pizza in pizza boxes, and moldy chicken bones in cardboard tubs, the odor was reduced considerably. One by one, she took the full trash bags out to the back of the storage shed. Just getting the loose trash gathered up was a major accomplishment, a more thorough cleaning would have to wait for later. In the little kitchen, a myriad of used paper plates, empty food boxes, and beer cans were bagged up and removed. The little refrigerator had to have all of the moldy food removed and thrown away. Most of the cupboards were empty, except for a few canned goods.

Around one o'clock, Caravelle stopped for a lunch of vanilla pudding, cheese curls, and warm Dr Pepper. Then turning her attention to the tiny bathroom, she gathered up the trash that was in the bathtub, and more empty beer cans on the counter top and liquor bottles in the sink. Nothing was in the medicine chest above the sink. The toilet was dirty, but dry, with no water in the bowl or in the tank. As she was trying to clean up something that was spilled on the counter top with her paper towels and foam cleaner, she noticed for the first time that there was a small handle on the wall above the counter top and to the right of the medicine chest.
" Why would someone put a handle here for no obvious reason ?" , she thought.
Looking at it again, she became even more puzzled as to it's purpose.

Instinctively, she reached up and pulled on the handle. Nothing.
" What the ? ? ? ? " , said Caravelle as she pulled again. Nothing.
" This is so stupid ! " , remarked Caravelle as she pulled on it for a third time.
Suddenly, and to her shock, a rectangular panel pulled away from the wall, frightening Caravelle as she dropped it. It made a loud clang as it hit the floor. She moved the wooden panel into the bath tub for the time being. Peering over the counter top and into the space now visible, Caravelle took note of what she saw. Behind the panel was an enclosure housing a tall, thin tank, a short squat tank, a pump mechanism of some sort, and a shiny metal box with a metal handle on the side. There were many pipes and wires around these items. There was a dull gray plastic box next to the shiny metal box. She thought she knew what the metal box was; it would be an electrical junction box with fuses and circuit breakers inside. One time her father had shown her the electrical box where they lived, and had shown her how to reset a circuit breaker. The metal handle on the side was set to the ' OFF ' position. With a firm grasp, Caravelle pulled up on the metal handle to move it to the ' ON ' position. Nothing.
" Well Snoop, Doggy, Dog ! " , blurted out Caravelle. No sooner was the exclamation made, however, then a plastic panel on the gray box moved down to reveal a small computer screen. It was blank for several seconds, but then lit up with a series of messages. As intensely as she was staring at the screen, one would have thought that Caravelle was watching a multiple Oscar-winning movie, including best picture ! A little cartoon wizard walked out to the center of the screen, and waved his magic wand. The smoke created became the words,
" Norton-Thiacall Solar Energy Management Systems ". The cartoon wizard walked off the screen, then the screen lit up with the words---
" Program Awakening " , then,
" Program Execution ".
" If this means what I think it does. . . . " , Caravelle hoped as she held her breath.
A series of screens and commands lit up one by one, each one replacing the previous one.
" System Activation "
" System Reconfiguration, stand by "
" System Scan and Report "
" Voltage Discrepancy at voltage converter " in red letters, and
" Insufficient Amperage for System Operation " in red letters.
" System Back-Up Check "
" Battery Reserve Storage Capacity-- 4 % available / 96 % discharged "
" Insufficient Reserve, No Battery Back-up available at this time " in orange letters,
" System Reconfiguration, stand by " , and finally, after about a quarter hour,
" Conditional System Operation Instituted " , with flashing orange letters at the very bottom of the screen that read one after another,
" Low voltage, Low amperage, Limited Use Advised ".
With that message, the cartoon wizard appeared once again and took a bow and waved his hand. The screen then divided into eight rectangle blocks, with each block having a gauge or a digital readout in green, orange, or red letters and numbers. Most of the numerical values Caravelle did not understand.

Suddenly, the lights lit up on the sides of the medicine chest, the bathroom overhead light lit up, and a whirring noise shot forth from the pump. In a moment, water came flowing out of the faucet of the little sink. Caravelle's heart was pounding as if she had just seen the climax of a horror movie. She reached out and turned off the faucet. But there was still the sound of gurgling water. It took a few moments for Caravelle to figure out that the toilet was filling with water. She pulled down on the toilet handle and it flushed. With all of the regal and splendor of a princess surveying her kingdom, Caravelle quickly went through the cabana checking to see what was and was not working.
" My cabana has electricity and water ! " , she cried with joy !

For some unexplained reason, Caravelle began looking through the metal lockers in the front room. In the last locker she opened, she found a small weather radio on the top shelf. The radio also had an AM/FM band, plus one short wave band.
" If this radio works, I can use it to see which electrical outlets have electricity. " , she said.
After checking the outlets, and hearing the radio hiss with static when there was electricity from the outlet, she placed it on the breakfast bar and scanned the AM band. From the overpowering strength of the signal, she found what must have been a local AM radio station. It was a " beautiful music / easy listening " station .
" I remember when other older teens or adults would make fun of me or yell at me for listening to this kind of music. " , she thought to herself, " They would treat me as an unwanted freak because I did not listen to the Hard Rock/Heavy Metal or Hot Country/Super Hillbilly stations. But now I can listen to anything that I want to ! "

" . . . . Beautiful Music, for your modern lifestyle, anywhere in Vacation Wonderland. . . . [ traffic noises and car horns honking ] . . . . Radio on the go. . . . WCTM, Eaton Ridge. . . .TIME 1:46. . . . TEMPERATURE 54 degrees and rising. . . . " , was being sung from the tiny radio as she sat down on one of the folding chairs next to the card table.

( Chapter 3---" A Clean Sweep " continues )

__________________________

( Chapter 3---" A Clean Sweep " continues . . . )

Location----Caravelle's Hideaway Cabana, Vonder Beach

Caravelle next decided to clean the tiny, squat refrigerator so that she could store her meager food supply. After she had cleaned it, and as she was placing the items in the refrigerator, a thought came to her.
" Since this cabana has a solar powered electrical system, where are the solar cells, and doesn't the sun have to shine on them to make electricity ? "

She went outside and began to look around. Again she noticed the unusual round shingles, and noticed for the first time that there were round solar cells in the center of the shingles. However, the shingles were coated with a film of scum, dirt, and decayed leaves. So she went back inside, and looked again at the digital readouts on the solar management computer. She copied down the numerical reading for the gauge that showed the
" voltage input ". Returning outside to the shingles with the roll of paper towels and the can of foam cleaner that she had purchased recently, she began to clean the first cell on the first row. She could only reach the first two rows of solar cells, to reach the other cells, she would need a ladder. After an hour, Caravelle had only cleaned four of the cells.
" This may be more difficult than what I had imagined, this curd seems as if it had been baked on. " . she thought to herself.
By time sunset was approaching, she had cleaned most of the first row. She went back inside, and checked the gauges. The warning messages of " Low Voltage, Low amperage " were still flashing, but the input voltage and amperage had gone up by one tenth of a point, and the battery reserve had gone up by one percent.
" Yippers ", she squealed.
However, the electricity only stayed on for about a half hour after sunset.
" I guess that is what that message means that said, " No battery back-up available at this time ", Caravelle mused.

Over the next couple of weeks, the daily routine that Caravelle experienced changed little. When she awoke, she would turn on the little radio and listen for the weather report. She would also walk out to the beach sand and water's edge to look at the sky. If the day was going to be sunny or somewhat warm, she would spend the morning cleaning the solar cells. If the weather was going to be overcast or cold, she would spend time inside the cabana cleaning and re-organizing her things. As she worked, she would think about what was needed to be purchased, and would stop to write down these items on a shopping list. In the afternoon, she would either walk to the marina shopping district, or ride the trolley to downtown Vonder Village or the big mall on the outskirts of the village. Early on, she had found out that she could only buy what she could carry back to her cabana by herself. So she had to be careful what she bought, not buying a lot of junk and stuff, and make every daily shopping trip count. As the weather began to turn cooler, and as November turned into December, it became a race against time for Caravelle to clean the solar cells, so as to have electricity to heat the cabana. Thankfully, she thought, the batteries in the cabana were slowly charging up, so that she had electricity for longer and longer times after sunset. There was a small baseboard heater in the front of the cabana, but it did not put out much heat. So Caravelle bought a small electrical space heater to plug into a front room outlet. Later, she looked through the marina " junkyard " , and had found a ladder propped up next to a long abandoned boat. She promptly dragged it to the cabana and set up on one side of the A-line roof. Now she could continue to clean row after row of the solar cells.

__________________________________________________ __


Money was not that much of a problem for Caravelle, thanks to the trust fund that was set up for her by Burl Iverson, the attorney. In her purse, she had a plastic card that would work in the various ATM machines that were all around Vonderland. She also had several fast food cards that would have a monetary amount loaded onto them once a month. However, she still had to be careful because she was told that there would only be so much money, and no more. Caravelle would recall that her father and mother would always give her money and tell her to go away and spend time by herself ! On her daily shopping trips, she would buy food items and clothing, in order to supplement the meager things that she brought with her on the day she was dropped off at the front gate of Vonderland. The marina had a coin-operated laundromat, so about once a week she would take as many dirty clothes that she could carry in a trash bag, and walk to the laundromat. Her mother almost never did Caravelle's laundry, so she always had to do her own washing to have clean clothes.

On the days when Caravelle would leave to walk to the marina, she would grab a full trash bag or two from the mound that was in back of the small storage shed behind the cabana. There was a large construction dumpster near the front of and to the side of the marina " junkyard ". As she walked by the dumpster, she would non-chalantly toss the full bags in.
" I wonder what someone would think if they were to see a tween girl dropping a trash bag full of beer cans and liquor bottles into a dumpster ? ", laughed Caravelle.
During a weekend day's rummage through the marina " junkyard ", Caravelle found a pile of milk jug boxes made out of heavy plastic. They were originally made to hold four one gallon milk jugs. She took several, one-by-one, so that when placed next to the wooden bench in the cabana, and both covered with several blankets, made a usable bed. Adding two pillows, as well as a little girl's " Hello Kitty " baby doll style pajama outfit that she bought, Caravelle rejoiced that she did not have to sleep on the cold floor anymore.

( to be continued . . . . )

____________________________

( Chapter 3---" A Clean Sweep " continues. . . . )

Locations-----Caravelle's Hideaway Cabana, Vonder Beach, Vonder Village

Caravelle had never been close to her mother or father. Her mother had made it clear to her that she never had wanted to have children. Children were too much of a burden on her and her self-centered lifestyle. Caravelle's father was a " workaholic ", who never had time for her or her interests. Her father was abusive to her and her mother in a mental or emotional sense. He always wanted his wife and daughter to dress and act in a provocative manner. Mrs Axxe enjoyed doing that, but Caravelle never understood why her father, or people in general would look at her in an unnerving way. As such, Caravelle always kept to herself, did things by herself, and never had any friends. Everybody thought that Caravelle looked very, very cute, but nobody would be her friend. Living in the cabana, and doing things by herself, for herself was very much the norm for Caravelle.

__________________________________________________

One day in December, Caravelle made a trip to downtown Vonder Village, as she had done many, many times already. She was going into the grocery store near the downtown mall, when a somewhat familiar person was coming out of the store. The person was Keerna Wellman, the mayor of Vonder Village. She was again dressed very nice, in a ladies business suit, and recognized Caravelle immediately.
" Hey there young lady ! Your name is Caravelle Axxe, isn't it ? ", asked Keerna.
" Yes, ma'am." , said Caravelle.
" You need to go to the Room Service building, there is a message from me waiting for you. " , said Keerna.
" Can I go after I do my grocery shopping ? " , asked Caravelle.
" Yes, you may. But be sure to do as I have instructed you to do in the letter. I want everything to be correct and proper with MY village ! ", extolled Keerna.
" Yes, ma'am. " , replied Caravelle meekly.

Caravelle was surprised to find both a letter and a package for her at the back counter of the Room Service department. The package was from her mother, and turned out to be a laptop computer. As Caravelle was soon to find out, the whole area of Vonderland had WiFi internet links, allowing Caravelle to link to websites from the laptop in her cabana. The brief note from her mother stated that she hoped that the laptop computer would be useful to Caravelle, no matter where she was staying. The note said that the laptop was already loaded with " internet filter " software, so that Caravelle would be limited as to the websites that she could visit. "
That is fine, at least I can search for things on the internet. " ,thought Caravelle to herself.

The letter from Keerna was not as pleasant as was the gift from her mom. The letter stated that Caravelle had not as yet registered with the Home for Little Wanderers in Vonder Village, and needed to do so immediately. It further stated that wherever she had been staying needed to be inspected by the Village to be sure that she was being taken care of properly. The mayor herself, or a person appointed by her, would be locating Caravelle, and inspecting where she had been living, as well as assisting her to relocate to the Home for Little Wanders. Caravelle would be placed in juvenile detention if she did not comply. The inspection would take place this coming Saturday morning.
" Is Keerna going to take my cabana away from me ? " , thought Caravelle with horror.

When Caravelle arrived back at her cabana, she received another shock. A copy of the same letter from Keerna Wellman had been taped to the front door of the cabana.
" Ack ! Someone knows that I have been living here. Does this mean that I am to be arrested ? Am I going to jail ? Will I be taken to the Home, and my cabana be torn down ? " , thought Caravelle.
A hundred other possibilities ran through her mind during the next couple of days. Caravelle redoubled her efforts to make sure that her cabana was clean and presentable, and that as many of the solar cells were clean and working. " I have to show whoever is coming, maybe even Keerna, that I can take care of myself and my cabana, without anyone telling me what to do or where to live. And I have until this Friday night to get as much done as possible.", Caravelle said with resolve.

Thankfully, the weather was cooperative, and was mild enough for Caravelle to work both outside as well as inside. Although it was now mid-December, it had not yet begun to snow. With the deadline approaching, Caravelle's self-confidence began to wax and wane. She kept thinking that all the work that she had done would be wasted, and she would be forced to live where she did not want to, and be around people she did not like. But wasn't that the same story when she was living with her mom and dad, she thought ?

On the Saturday morning of the promised visit, Caravelle arose early. She had not slept well, worrying about what would happen. She ate some Pop-Tarts for breakfast, and then dressed for the visit. She surmised that whoever taped the letter to her door would where her cabana was, and know where she was, and that person, or Keerna herself would come. Caravelle wanted to look her best, so she wore a pretty dress that she had recently purchased at the mall. It was called a "shirt-waist dress " , and was styled like the dresses that women wore in the 1950's. Rather old-fashioned for a tween girl, but Caravelle liked it as soon as she saw it. It was pale yellow with white lace trim around the scooped neckline and the short puff sleeves, and had little white flowers and pale green leaves patterned all over. The dress had an above-the-knee hemline, and Caravelle wore petite adult pantyhose and black mary-janes, and a " Hello Kitty necklace " as accents. She had two yellow bows in her hair, holding the twin ponytails that she always wore.

It was about eleven o'clock when she heard a pounding on the front door. The noise had startled her, as she had not had any visitors at all on the beach. As she rolled the sliding door open, she saw two young adults standing on the front deck. One was a male, maybe in his upper twentys. He was tall and thin, and although he was dressed very nice in a polo shirt and slacks, looked like a regular beach dude with long blonde hair. A young woman was with him, she seemed to be younger, maybe collage-aged. She also was nicely dressed, wearing a black blouse with big ruffles in the front, and a very short, plaid pleated skirt. She also had on pantyhose and black mary-janes, noted Caravelle. She was a bit plump, but very pretty, though Caravelle.
" Please come in. " , said Caravelle.

( Chapter 3---" A Clean Sweep " continues )

Location---Caravelle's Hideaway Cabana, Vonder Beach )

" My name is Josiah, and my friend here is named Becky. We have been sent here by the mayor's office to meet with you, and to take you to the Home for Little Wanderers. " , stated Josiah. It seemed like Caravelle's worst nightmares were being realized.
" My. . . My. . .. name. . is. . . . .Axxe.. . . .no, I have an ax, No, an ax handle. . . . .No ! No ! . . . .My name is Caravelle, Caravelle Axxe. ", blurted out Caravelle.
" We are here to make sure that you are well taken care of, and to help you to be a part of our
community. " , said Becky soothingly.
A look of horror must have swept over Caravelle's face, or so she thought, so she began to move around inside the cabana, talking all of the time, to conceal her anguish.
" Look here, I have food in the refrigerator, I have a working microwave, I am not starving. . . . .I sleep right here, I am very comfortable here. . . . I listen to ' beautiful music ' every day on my little radio, not hard rock or trashy telephone talk shows. . . .. "
Caravelle went into the tiny bathroom.
" Look, the toilet flushes !! " , as Caravelle pulled on the handle.
" Look, the cartoon wizard on the solar computer monitor is happy, 'cause I have electricity. . . . I take regular baths, so I am not stinky. . . .. "
Caravele went into the kitchen.
" Look, no dirty dishes, no trash or beer cans in the sink. . . . .There used to be liquor bottles and chicken bones everywhere, not anymore, Fer Real !!!"
" That is all very well and good, but we have our instructions as to what to do. . . . ' , said Josiah dryly.
Caravelle could feel tears welling up in her eyes.
" The mayor told us what we have to do. . . . " , said Becky dryly.
" Your place really looks nice, Caravelle, but we have to do what we were sent here to do. " , chimed in Josiah.
" please, Please, PLEASE. . . . . . " , Caravelle choked out the words, as tears started to stream down her cheeks, " Don't take me to jail, don't make me move, don't put me in juvenile detention. . . . . PLEASE . . . . . "
" You should know, Caravelle, that the mayor told us to remove you from this cabana, and take you to the Home for Little Wanderers. . . . . ' , said Josiah.
Caravelle became ashen, with tears still running down her cheeks, but said nothing.
" But, Ya know what ? I'm not going to do that. " , proclaimed Josiah.
" Your not ? " , questioned Becky.
" No, I am not ! Caravelle probably doesn't know just who I am, but I am the nephew of the person who used to own this cabana, and the house and garage that was torn down. Henry Mathesson was my uncle. I used to spend a lot of time in his home during the summer, and my uncle doesn't know it, but me and my friends had some really cool, kick-but parties at this cabana. I am so pleased to find that the cabana was not torn down, and that someone, namely you, Caravelle, has tried to clean up and take care of the cabana. I just would like to get back at the mayor and her cronies somehow, for moving my uncle off of his property, and then tearing it down." , said Josiah with conviction.
Caravelle could not believe here ears !
" It's funny, but I now work for the person who caused my uncle so much trouble ! I would like to see you continue to stay here, Caravelle, and I will help you to do that, although it won't be easy. " , said Josiah, " Are you with me, Becky ? "
" After seeing what Caravelle has done to the cabana, I'm in !!!" , proclaimed Becky.

Caravelle was still silently crying, but now she was crying tears of joy. She leaped to Josiah and gave him a hug, then bounced to Becky and gave her a hug, too.
" I just want to be happy, even if it means being here in my cabana by myself ", cried Caravelle.
Calmly Josiah said, " I will have to write up a report for the mayor to explain what happen during my visit today, but I will think of something to tell her to allow you to continue to be in your cabana. You will still have to come with us this afternoon, to the Home for Little Wanderers, and register as a guest. But I will try and work it so that you can stay in your cabana. "
" I will write my report to say about the same thing. " , said Becky.
" And I can help, too ! ", announced Cavarelle, " I can call my attorney, Burl Iverson, and explain to him what I want to do. I think he can help get things done, Fer Real ! " , offered Caravelle.
" So it looks like a clean sweep all around ! " , proclaimed Josiah.
" A clean sweep " , said Becky in a silly tone.
" A clean sweep, indeed ! " , said Caravelle as she grabbed her purse and followed Josiah and Becky out the front door, with a smile on her wet face.

( Chapter 3---" A Clean Sweep " concludes )

( This is the temporary end of the short story, " Caravelle, the 20 Ounce Throwaway Girl. "
Look for more adventures with Caravelle and the people of Vonderland, to be posted here at a future date. . . . )
Xylo,TheCarouselPony
Xylo,TheCarouselPony
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Posts : 193
Join date : 2012-10-03
Location : Rye Beach, Ohio, USA / Equestria-Village of Merry-Go-Round

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