Comfort Zone Fiction

This is a novel I wrote for Nanowrimo in 2007.  It's not highly polished.  I keep thinking I should go back and edit it.  Thing is, it's now 2010 and I still haven't gotten "round to it".  I'm figuring, it can sit on my thumb drive and never be read.  Or I can publish it here and hope that someone gets a small amount of enjoyment out of reading it.  Feel free to leave feedback (but please be gentle - I know I'm no "author"). :-)



Tiny droplets of water trickled down the window. As the sun tentatively broke through the clouds, it lit up the droplets like sparkling diamonds. The weather seemed to do strange things lately. It was hard to know from one day to the next what to expect. Showers of rain during November were unheard of once upon a time. Now it seemed best to expect the unexpected.

Kaitlyn stretched out her legs in an effort to make herself more comfortable. It had only been 5 hours and yet she felt like she had been on this bus for a lifetime. Outside the scenery remained unchanged. Small scrub-like bushes with a slight blue tinge to them dotted the landscape for as far as she could see. How anyone would choose to live in such a barren place was beyond her.

She closed her eyes and allowed her mind to wander back to the events that had led her here. Kaitlyn had just arrived home from a day out celebrating her freedom with her newfound university friends. Exams were over and it was a whole 3 months before they had to think about study again. The days were getting warmer and there were plans to spend lots of time lazing on the beach together.

Her parents were early birds so even though the hour wasn’t overly late, Kaitlyn wasn’t expecting them to still be up. As she entered the kitchen she stopped when her parents both looked up at her from the table where they were sitting. The sight of her mother’s bloodshot eyes alarmed her. It was obvious she had been crying.

“Take a seat Kaitlyn”, her father had said to her. “We need to talk to you about something”. Kaitlyn had sat down opposite them at the table, her palms damp with nerves. Her father looked so serious. It HAD to be bad news.

“We’ve had a call from your grandmother”, he said to her.

Kaitlyn’s eyes widened in shock. Her mind raced with all the possibilities. What could possibly be wrong with her Grandmother? Then she realized that if Grandma were the one calling, things couldn’t be too bad. In a matter of a split second the emotions of shock, fear and then confusion crossed her face.

“I don’t know if you’ll remember your mother’s cousin Ben”, her father said to her. It had been a number of years now since they’d actually seen Ben and his family. Kaitlyn had tried to remember just how long. They had been in town because his wife had had trouble giving birth to their first child. It had to have been at least 5 years ago she thought.

“Ben’s wife Jennifer has just been diagnosed with Breast Cancer”, Kaitlyn’s father told her. “She needs to start treatment right away”, he explained, “and they need someone to help them look after their 2 children”, he said to her.

“Given the sensitivity of the whole situation, your Grandmother thought is would be nice if they could have family around rather than hiring a stranger”, David told his daughter. “And she knew you were saving up for this trip you want to do when you finish uni”, he said. “Naturally, you were the first person she thought of”, he continued.

Kaitlyn looked at her father in shock, trying hard to absorb all of what he was telling her. “But they don’t even know me”, she said to him. “Surely there is someone local that could have the children. Someone that they know”, she added. Kaitlyn didn’t have the first clue about how to look after children. After all, she was an only child and didn’t have any cousins of her own.

“You don’t have to do this”, her mother told her. “No-one wants to force you into anything”, she explained. “Your grandmother just thought you might be the best one for the job”, she added.

“Me?” Kaitlyn said, her voice conveying her disbelief. “I don’t know anything about looking after children”, she said to her mother. Her mother smiled at her. “I think you’re selling yourself short”, she told her. “I’ve seen the way children are drawn to you”, she added. Kaitlyn’s huge blue eyes widened even further. “They are?” she said. Susan nodded and smiled.

“Do you remember holding Rory as a baby?” her mother asked her. Kaitlyn took a moment to recall the last time she’d seen her mother’s cousin Ben. “Just vaguely”, she admitted. “He was a very unsettled baby and yet every time you held him in your arms, he would stop crying”, her mother told her.

“I don’t remember that”, Kaitlyn admitted. “Well you were only 13 at the time”, her father explained to her. “You guys really want me to do this, don’t you?” Kaitlyn said to them.

“What we don’t want”, her father responded, “is for you to feel pressured in any way”, he said. “I think your grandmother was hoping it would be a solution where everybody wins”, he explained to her. “You would get some money for your trip and Ben and Jennifer would have family around to help them through this time”, he told her.

“We realize that you have made plans with your friends for the summer”, he told her. “But they only really need someone to be there until Christmas” he told her. “Ben is busy getting the harvest off and can’t always be around to help Jen with the children. Plus they have to go away several times in the next few weeks for the treatment”, he explained.

Kaitlyn nodded her understanding. It didn’t seem so hard to her if she were only to be away for 4 weeks of her 3 month uni break. “Okay, I’ll go”, she agreed, knowing how much it would mean to her mother and grandmother. “When did they need me to come?” she asked them.

“Straight away”, her father told her. “There is a bus that leaves at 1pm tomorrow”, he told her. “Do you think you could be ready to go then?” Kaitlyn’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “Tomorrow?” she asked them. Her mother nodded. “They want Jennifer to have surgery as soon as possible”, she explained to her daughter. “If they can make arrangements with the children, there is an opening in a couple of days time they could take advantage of”, she went on.

“But I’m a complete stranger to them”, Kaitlyn said. Susan smiled at her only daughter. “I think that’s why they’re thinking tomorrow’s bus would be a good option”, she explained to her. “That way you’d be there for a little over a day before they had to leave”, she went on. “Young children are pretty amazing at how quickly they’ll accept someone new into their lives”, she told her.

And so it was that less than 24 hours later, Kaitlyn found herself taking a 10 hour bus trip to meet up with family she barely knew. She had no idea what awaited her at the other end and whether or not she’d be able to cope with whatever was thrown at her.

But Kaitlyn wasn’t one to back away from a challenge. She lifted her head and tried to convince herself that she was capable of whatever the next 4 weeks were to throw at her.