Laurie woke up that morning, smiling. She had a dream about Taylor. They were at the concert, and Taylor was about ready to sing a song.
"This one's dedicated to you, Laurie," he said as he took her hand and helped her up on the stage. He didn't take her eyes off of her as they played a song. Then, the song ended. Taylor moved so he was facing Laurie. He then reached over and gave her a kiss. Laurie kissed him back, and then she was about to say something to him, but she woke up. "What a great dream," she said out loud. Then she rolled out of bed and got dressed. She put on her blue Adidas shorts and a gray T-shirt. Then she went downstairs and got herself a bowl of cereal.
"Good morning, sweetie. How did you sleep?" She asked.
"Great. You?" She asked dreamily.
"Just fine, thanks." Mrs. Woodman got up and made herself an English muffin. The two of them had a nice, quiet breakfast.
"Where's Dad?" She asked.
Mrs. Woodman paused. "His boss called him into the office this morning. You know how his boss was interested in expanding the company?"
Laurie nodded. Her dad worked for a company called JA Struckel. He had worked there for 15 years, before she was born!
"Well, he called a meeting today with all of his employees to tell them who would be going to the new company, and if so which one they would be going to."
"Okay, does that mean we'd have to move? I mean, if Dad would get transferred."
"It would depend. There's three he could go to, one that is in Oakville, one that is in Indiana, and one that is in Oklahoma."
"Oh. When will Dad get back?" Laurie looked at the clock. It was 11:30 am.
"He should be back around 2:00."
"Okay." Laurie got up and put her bowl in the sink and cleaned up her mess. She went upstairs and checked her e-mail. She didn't have any e-mail. Suddenly, inspired, she typed in "TayHanson" in the Locate Member screen. Surprisingly, it said he was online and not in a chat room! Laurie Imed him with,
"Hi Taylor. It's Laurie." A few moments later, he responded.
"Hey Laurie! What's up? I had you unblocked from people who could and couldn't IM me. What's up?'
"Not much. How are you?"
"Great. We're finally back in Tulsa. Anything new?"
Laurie hesitated for a moment. Then, she typed in her response. "Well, my dad is at a meeting right now for work. He works at a company called JA Struckel, and he might be getting transferred."
"That's too bad. Where could he get transferred?"
"Well, he could be getting transferred to Oakville, which wouldn't affect us at all, Indiana, or Oklahoma."
"Oh. Do you know where in Oklahoma?"
"I didn't ask."
"Oh. What does JA Struckel do?"
"They sell construction equipment."
"Oh. My Dad is an accountant for this one company."
"Cool. How are Ike and Zac?"
"They're fine. Ike is outside rollerblading, Zac is drawing."
"Cool. I have 2 brothers, like you, and I'm also the middle child."
"How old are your brothers?"
"Mike is 11 years old, Andy is 16."
"Cool. And you are……"
"14, going to be 15 in July."
"Cool."
"Yeah. I listened to Middle of Nowhere as I fell asleep last night."
"Did you like it?"
"I loved it."
"Cool. I'm glad to hear you say that. Have you listened to 3 Car Garage yet?"
"It's in my CD player now."
"Cool, what song is it playing?"
"River."
"That was a fun song to make. If you watch MTV, you can sometimes see it on Total Request."
"Cool, I'll do that."
"Well, I gotta sign off. I'll talk to you soon, okay?"
"Sure. See you soon!"
"Bye Laurie *hugs*"
"Bye Tay *hugs back*"
Taylor signed off. He then ran out of his room to go see if his parents needed any help. Laurie picked up the phone and called Halley.
"Hello?" Mr. Green answered.
"Hi, Mr. Green. It's Laurie. Is Halley home?"
"Hi Laurie. No, I'm sorry, she went to her cousin's for the day."
"Oh. Thanks anyway," she said.
"No problem. Bye."
"Bye," she said. She hung up the phone and looked at the clock. 12:15. She decided to go to the movie theater. It was a short ride from her house, and she was allowed to go. She looked at the paper and saw that Armageddon was playing at 1:00.
"Mom! I'm going to go to the movies."
"Bye Laurie! Do you need money?"
"No thanks, I have enough. Bye!"
"Bye sweetie."
Laurie raced outside and grabbed her bike. She rode to the movie theater and got there at 12:40. She bought her ticket and got some popcorn and soda. She went to go find her seat, and she relaxed in it. Soon, the movie started. Laurie was glued to it. She always liked Ben Affleck. Before she knew it, the movie was over. Laurie looked at her watch. 2:30. "Maybe Dad's home." She thought. She ran outside and flew home on her bike. She pulled up the driveway and saw their navy blue blazer.
"Dad? Dad! Hi!" She said as she ran to him.
"Hey, sweetie. How are you?" He asked.
"Great. What's the news?"
"Get everyone in the room and I'll tell you."
Laurie ran around the house getting everyone. Soon, everyone was all seated in the living room. Dad stood up and made his announcement.
"Well, everyone, I was transferred to Oklahoma. A suburb of Tulsa, Glenpool, to be exact. The good news of this is that I have been made the president of that company down there!" he exclaimed.
"Congratulations, sweetie!" said Mom. They hugged each other.
"Congrats, dad," said Andy
"Yeah," said Mike and Laurie.
"When are we moving?" asked Laurie.
"As soon as possible. The latest we would be in St. Louis would be three weeks from tomorrow."
"THREE WEEKS FROM TOMORROW?" Exclaimed Mrs. Woodman.
"Yes," said Mr. Woodman.
"I'm going to go to Sam's and get us boxes to use to pack our stuff in." said Mrs. Woodman. As she grabbed her keys and headed out the door, you could tell she was already mentally calculating how many to get. The boys went up to their rooms to start organizing stuff to be put in boxes. Mr. Woodman ruffled Laurie's hair.
"Don't worry, kiddo. You'll love Glenpool as much as St. Louis," he said.
"Maybe," said Laurie doubtfully. She went upstairs to her room and wrote Taylor a letter.
"Dear Taylor," she wrote. "Hi. What's up? My dad just got home and told us the news. He's being transferred to Tulsa, Glenpool to be exact. He's now the president of the company down there, so we will probably be getting a pretty big house. Wouldn't it be cool if I lived next door to you? I'd love that. Well, just thought I'd tell you what was happening. Talk to you soon! Love, Laurie." Laurie reread the letter and sent it. She hoped Taylor would get to read it soon. She heard a knock at the door.
"Yes?" Laurie asked as she opened the door.
"Here are some boxes for you to use, honey." Mrs. Woodman dropped five of them in her room. "I would appreciate it if you started packing now."
"Okay, Mom." Laurie started taking books off her bookshelves and stacked them in her boxes. After she had a box full of books, she flopped down on her bed. She was already tired of packing.
Chapter 4
Chapter 2
I Knew Them When
Kelly's Hanson Stories
