Chapter 1: September 7th, 1978

It was the beginning of the afternoon in the suburbs of Mira Mesa, California, several miles from San Diego. It was a partly cloudy day as Gary slapped the heavy box down in his new bedroom. The older child felt tired and exhausted. He moved the box a little bit as he heard the shifting sounds of toys in the box.

“Gary!” his mother called out to him. “Did you get all the boxes from the van?”

“I did, mom!” he replied. He breathed hard as the child was doing his best to catch his breath.

“Good! Come down and get dinner. I made your favorite; Catfish, Kale, and Marconi and Cheese.”

Gary’s eyes lit up as he heard his mother’s words. He couldn’t hold his excitement from the near exhaustion. His room was filled with unopened boxes after moving everything from the moving van.

“I will be right down, mom!” he said as he stepped out of his room. He looked down the hallway that led to the bathroom. He walked down the hall as he needed to use the toilet. After relieving himself and flushing the toilet, he walked up the mirror and began washing his hands.

The reflection of the mirror depicted a child of 12. He wore his favorite blue and green colored t-shirt that had Kirk and the starship Enterprise on it along with his simple blue jean shorts. His facial features depicted a child that was born from a family of mixed heritages while still carrying a light skin complexion along with short black hair. He finished up, scrubbed his hands as he wiped his hands dry, and left the room.

The house was not exactly big. With it being a two-bedroom home, there was his room, his mother’s room, the restroom, and the kitchen and living room. There wasn’t much else to it, but it was a cozy place to be at least. Gary walked out of the restroom and proceeded through the small hallway that led to the kitchen. He could already smell his favorite meal as the aroma perforated the area. He felt drawn to it as he reached the kitchen.

His mother sat down at the kitchen table. She already had the meal ready for him as he smiled and walked to sit down beside her on the table. The dinner plate looked appetizing, along with the silverware already prepared for him to dive in to eat.

Gary’s mother seemed distracted as she always was. She had one hand holding her fork, while her other held an open newspaper. She was busy reading what was on the news, along with any additional relevant information she could find.

“Gary have a seat,” she said. “We have everything inside now after the move. I want us to relax in our new home. You earned it.”

“Thank you, mom,” he told her.

His mother looked like a typical working single mother of her time. She had a pale complexion and wore a simple shirt and dress. Her hair was long and partially curvy as it flowed from her head to her shoulders. She sighed a little bit as she put down her newspaper. She needed to concentrate on her son and eating. She then picked up her other silverware as they began to eat.

“Are you ready for school tomorrow?” she asked him as she used her knife to start cutting into the fish she cooked.

Gary frowned a little bit. He almost didn’t even want to answer her question. “I ... don’t know, mom.”

“Hey... , “ she tried to console him. Her voice was soothing to him as she could see her son was nervous. “I understand how you feel about coming to a place with new people. I know that things have not been easy since the move. Ever since my job being moved here and your father passing away, ... things have not been easy for both of us.”

“I miss dad,” Gary said, almost quietly to her. It was enough for her to hear.

“I know, baby,” she said. She reached her hand across the table and touched his hand. This hasn’t been easy for us, but I know that we will get through together. Your father left an impact on us. The life insurance he left behind ensured we could get this house to ourselves relatively easy. I don’t plan on moving anytime again soon, and hopefully, we will never have to again. This is the opportunity for you and me to get to know the people around this neighborhood. It is an opportunity to learn about the city. School will be good for you tomorrow. I promise you that you will have many friends.”

Gary seemed partially convinced. His mother released his hand as she went and started eating as he went and started cutting up his fish and used his fork to take his first bite of the meal. It was delicious as she always made it.

“Pretty good?” she asked him.

“Yes, it is, mom.”

“That is good. I was worried about the fish. It was just a little bit old, but it is still good.”

They ate for a little while when his mother spoke up again.

“You know I ... I am thinking of getting a VHS,” his mother spoke to him. “It’s been a good year since it’s been out, I figure that we go ahead and get one for ourselves now don’t we.”

“VHS?” Gary asked.

“Videotape cassette player. My friend ending getting one and they are so nice. We wouldn’t have to go to the movie theater all the time to see movies. You would be able to see one here at home.”

Gary’s eyes wandered as he thought about it. “You mean ... we would be able to see Star Wars?”

His mother took her fork and pointed it to him. “That will be the first movie that I will get for it.”

The kid smiled as he thought about it some more. “I would love to!” he exclaimed.

“I figure it would be staying with the times. Especially with seeing where our technology is going to.”

“I will finally get a chance to see it again!”

“I knew that would get you happy. You just make sure that you get yourself to school and make some friends, alright.”

“I will, mom.”

They would continue eating for a little while until they finally finished up. Gary looked outside and could see the sun getting lower and lower. In another hour, the sun would set. The kid patted his stomach a little bit, feeling full. His mother saw how he reacted.

“Pretty good, wasn’t it?” she asked him.

“It was.”

“And what do we say after we get done eating?”

“Thank you for the meal,” he replied with a smile.

“Good, good. I will go ahead and start cleaning things up. Oh!” she said, remembering something. “Gary, can you go get the mail while I get started with washing the dishes. After that, I need you to help your mom get these dishes dry.”

“Alright, mom,” he responded as he got up and walked out of the kitchen. He heard the sounds of plates being picked up as he reached the living room. The living room was small but enough to hold a couch and a couple of chairs along with a Panasonic 1975 Television set. There were still boxes partially open strewn about in the living room. The place was being moved into, and the area showed constant signs of it.

Gary put on his flip flops as he reached the front door and opened it. It was still bright enough outside as he stepped out and closed the door behind him.

The front door simply led to the cement pathway that led to the front lawn and main road that connected to the various houses throughout the neighborhood. As Gary walked on the cement walkway, he looked to his left to see his mother’s red 1975 Cadillac Sedan parked in the driveway. The vehicle was new and in good condition so far. He continued his walk to see the mailbox’s flag was down, indicating that the mail lady had left mail for him to pick up.

Gary had a chance to look at the road by the front lawn of his house. There weren’t many trees around him except for two trees in his backward. The front yard had a little bit of green grass. The house he had was nothing big but was adequate for his childhood, assuming his mother would stop moving. The house was painted a light green. It had a window that connected to his bedroom that oversaw the front lawn. The window by the front door connected to the living room. The roof was in moderate condition with one of the shingles that were cracked. Some houses were the same size except for the large house on the other side of his.

The boy went and popped open the mailbox. He reached his hand into it and pulled out one envelope. He went and closed up the mailbox when he heard a commotion behind him.

He turned around to find himself gazing at a girl on the other side of the road from the large house. She appeared to be about around his age and was seemingly pretty and adorable looking. She had Asian like features on her face. She wore a small pink and white kimono, something that didn’t seem to be commonplace in the neighborhood. She was watching him intently like she was noting everything about him.

Almost at the same time, they lifted their hands to wave to each other. It surprised the girl so much that she giggled a little bit. Gary was surprised by this girl. She had black raven hair, almost like what he had. It was long and flowing, in which she did not have it tied down in a bun. The distance between them prevented Gary from gaining any further knowledge from her as she heard a voice come from inside her home, which made her turn her head to it. She smiled again to Gary and then ran back into her house. The last thing he saw was a woman that put her hand to the girl’s shoulder that was most likely one of her parents.

Gary snapped out of it as he looked at the home. It was similar in size to his but had a new floor to it. The house had a garage in it, and it seemed way better maintained and lavish than his home. With the mail firmly in his hand, he turned back to his house and ran back inside. The girl or, in this case, his neighbor would have to wait till later.

Upon opening up the door to his home, he could see his mom in the kitchen washing dishes. He entered back into his house and closed the door.