Storytelling Week 10: A Piece of Her Mother

Alice always dreamed of what her mother was like. She wondered if she had her nose or sense of humor or what else they might of shared. She had seen pictures of her mom before but she felt like she could never really tell what they shared. Her dad, Tom, didn’t like to talk about Alice’s mom, his late wife, because it was too hard to talk about the accident.

It has been Alice and her dad since she can remember, just the two of them against the world. Well, her Grandma Mary lived an hour away, but they didn’t visit her much in the nursing home. Alice felt bad about that, but it’s hard to see her with the dementia.

Alice was about to leave Connecticut where she had lived her whole life to attend college in New York City. She was so nervous because it will be the first time she has been away from her dad for such an extended amount of time. But, as the momentous occasion in her life was approaching, Alice couldn’t help but think about her mom and what she would be saying to her before she left. Alice never met her mom so she just has to imagine what her mom would say.

Alice was leaving tomorrow for school and her nerves were growing as the time past. She didn’t know what she was going to say to her dad. Was he going to cry? Was she going to cry? What was he going to do all alone in the house? Who would watch over him?

They woke up early to drive in to the city. All of Alice’s memories and belongings were packed in the back of her dad’s car. They both were nervous as they entered into the state of New York. Alice looked back in the window as she was leaving Connecticut and began to cry. Alice told herself she could do this. She would be strong so he dad wouldn’t cry either. As her dad continued to drive and keep his eyes on the road, Alice could she his eyes tearing up as they pulled up to the dorm.

They both got out and started unpacking. Box after box, unloading the car until her dorm was completely filled with her stuff. Alice and her dad stood in the middle of her tiny dorm ready to start saying goodbye. As they both sent in to hug before Tom left, he handed Alice a small box. She opened it up and her dad told her it was her mom’s necklace she wore in college. He had been waiting for the perfect moment to give it to her and he felt like this was it. Alice cried as she put it on and watched her dad walk away back to the car. Finally, Alice had a piece of her mom to start this new journey with.

Author’s Note: This week I read The Song of Hiawatha. This reading section is in poem form and uses a lot of imagery and description. This section of reading focus on Hiawatha’s life, where and how he was born, his wedding and multiple other events in his life. I did find this section hard to read and understand in the sense of forming a whole story but I did enjoy the imagery and the beautiful scenes these poems described. While reading this I was having trouble coming up with a way to write my own story so, I decided to just take one element of this story and create a completely different tale. Hiawatha’s mother died right when he was born in the woods so that is what I am going to use in my story but in a completely different way.

A pearl necklace. 

Bibliography: The Song of Hiawatha. Henry Wadsworth (1855).