aondaneedles

A few weeks later, it was Josie’s birthday already. Time had just flown by.

She was an adorable toddler, too. She looked a lot like me, which I was very thankful for.

The party moved to the living room, where things got weird pretty quickly- there were very public displays of affection and I was sure that the couples that found each other over the evening weren’t the ones that came there together. Well, I guess that explains how the adults of the town kept themselves entertained.

Eventually, the host approached me and started flirting with me, his wife looking on pretty amused, I didn’t hesitate for long. I was incredibly drunk, at an all-time low, and craving for some kind of affection.

We quickly ended up in his bedroom.

The name of the woman was Opal. She and her husband Edward appeared to hold dinner parties quite regularly. Their house looked like it hadn’t been renovated for the past few decades, much like most of the other houses in the neighbourhood. The neighbours fit the picture, as well. Apart from the teens, everyone dressed like it was still 1955. Still, it was quite nice to get outside for once.

It was an entertaining evening. The food was good, conversation very conservative, but not boring…

… and there was plenty of booze.

Plumbbob, I drank way too much that night.

Josie was a cheerful little baby. She always spent most of the day in a little bouncy chair I bought for her at the local toy store.

It was just the two of us and I must admit that I felt a little sorry for her. I grew up as an only child and had always envied my friends who grew up with siblings. I wanted nothing more than for her to have a real family and siblings, too, but our current situation was so far from the normal family I had always dreamed about…

For a long time, the scheduled phone calls from my friends were the only outside contact I had. Caring for Josie was nice, but after a few weeks, I got cabin fever. So when a local woman invited me to a dinner party (I later found out that she was the mother of the boy I met at the store), I gladly agreed.

And a few moments later I held my daughter in my hands.

I named her Josie. I had always loved that name. From that moment on, we became inseparable.

I spent the rest of my pregnancy at home. I was close to the due date and slept most of the time.

Until one night in fall, my water broke.

One thing I immediately noticed was the weirdness of the local architecture. It was very artistic, like someone asked himself “how could I make this quirky?” and then did. The local grocery store/ clothing store also featured a model train on the first floor. I never figured out why.

One one of my rare trips to the store I met this young boy. He knew the town’s architect and tried to explain the reasoning behind those weird quirks, but I quickly lost interest.

He was actually very nice to me and even invited me to come and have dinner with his parents if I wanted to. I almost agreed, as my curiosity got the better of me. I actually hadn’t seen a lot of adults around. No one seemed to go out other than the boy, a girl around his age and a young woman. What did the adults of Desiderata Valley do all day? 

But I came here for a reason: to get some peace and quiet after the events of the past months. I made up some excuse and waddled home. Those walks became more and more exhausting each day.