“M-mommy…I don’t wanna leave kindygarten!” Charlotte cried.
“Sweetie,” her mother bent down so that she was at Charlotte’s eye level, “I’m sorry that we have to leave Connecticut, but I promise you’ll make lots of new friends in New Jersey.”
“Mmph,” Charlotte pouted, “I’m five now! I can stay here and you can come and visit me!”
Her mother laughed. “Charlotte, mommy can’t leave you here all by yourself. We have to go now, but when we get there, as soon as we unpack, there’s a nice playground down the street, do you want to go?”
Her eyes went wide. “Do I get to play forever?!”
She patted Charlotte’s head. “We’ll see, but for now, let’s get going.”
Charlotte grabbed her mother’s hand as they headed out to her mom’s Volkswagon Bug. They left the driveway with the moving truck following close behind. Within five minutes, Charlotte had dozed off.
“Sweetheart, we’re here.” her mother whispered to her.
Charlotte’s eyes fluttered open. Once everything came into focus she saw a white Victorian-style house with a tower that held a round room. “Mommy!” she gasped, “It looks like a castle! Can I be the princess?”
“Of course, let’s go unpack.”
The house was filled with hardwood floors and old-fashioned staircases and fireplaces. Her mother her showed her up the stairs and down the hall to a large wooden door. “Charlotte, I thought you might like this for your room.”
Charlotte opened the door to the large round room that overlooked the whole street. She ran over to the window to look out, “Mommy! It really IS a castle!”
Just then, she looked over to the house next door to see a little brown hair, hazel-eyed boy in the window.
