First Page Of My Novel

Leo had slept in his new bed, an early birthday gift from his aunt and uncle from Chicago, all night and very peacefully, despite the circumstances.  His country, which he loved with all his heart, was at war in Vietnam, John F. Kennedy, a great president had been shot and killed, the moon had been stepped on by Neil Armstrong, and Leo had seen the hippies who lived down the street walking on ice the past winter in their bare feet.

Strange times indeed, for Leo, who was seven years old today.

As he tumbled out of bed, Leo scratched at his scalp with both hands, ruffling his bright orange hair as he did so.  Leo liked to think the orange matched the red stripes in the American flag which was prominently displayed in the corner of his room, but deep down, he knew the color came closer to the orange crush t-shirt he sported in the summer time, his favorite article of clothing to wear.

Leo stepped over the toy trucks, army men, Lite Brite and ouija board that littered the floor of his room to the air conditioning vent.  He opened the thing and whispered into it...'Lara, are you awake?'  'Lara, are you there'?  Lara was Leo's older sister, the oldest child in the family, four years his senior.  No answer.  She must be asleep, he thought, and decided to go to the kitchen and fix himself a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast.

Leo's parents were asleep in the next room over from the kitchen.  Their bedroom was situated in the middle of the house, between the living room at the front and the kitchen in the back, with the rest of the children's bedroom branching off from theirs.  Leo could hear his father snoring loudly, and thought he heard his mother murmering in her dreams, but was not sure.

After eating his sandwich at the table, being careful not to get crumbs everywhere, and washing the peanut butter down with a tall glass of cold milk, Leo stepped out the back door to look at the sky.  The wind was blowing into his pale white face from the west and Leo could smell the air was pregnant with rain.  Were there going to be thunderstorms?  Leo hoped so.  He loved it when the sky was deep and dark in the midday, the wind whipping through the leaves of the big oak situated in the center of the backyard, and liked to imagine seeing ghost faces reflected in the windows of the garage.

When Leo turned around to go back inside, he looked through the glass pane of the door and saw that Lara had come in to the kitchen and was sitting in her chair opposite dad's which was at the head.  Her long brown hair had already been brushed and she was crouched over a bowl of what Leo was sure was her favorite breakfast, Cheerios with sugar sprinkled on top and doused temperately with milk.  He made his way to the table and sat in his chair, first to the left of dad's.

'Hey' he said.  Lara did not look up.  She was not a morning person.  Instead, she got up and walked to the television with rabbit ears sitting on the kitchen counter and turned it on.  Saturday morning cartoons.  Loony Tunes. 

Lara returned to her seat and dove back into her Cheerios.  Suddenly she looked up, here eleven year old face now bright and shiny with the September sun pouring through the kitchen windows.  'Someone has a birthday party today, don't they', she said.  Leo beamed a bright smile back.  'Yeah' he replied, 'I'm seven today'.