Suburban Peoria Creative Writing

It was a cool summer morning, the sun just barely peeking over the edge of the horizon, the dew still fresh on the blades of grass. The sky was a shade of pale cobalt blue, the birds were chirping sweetly overhead in the oak trees, and everything was perfectly serene in suburban Peoria. At the the at the end of the cul-de-sac on Pennsylvania street, A sleepy family of six was climbing into a coffee-coloured station wagon, settling themselves into the seats amidst coolers and pool noodles. Among them was nine year old Janet, the youngest of them all. Janet was a quiet child, who did not complain nor boast, and she spent her free time reading or teaching herself new songs on her piano. She was the solitary kind of girl who would not usually ask for help if she needed it. Instead, she

Janet inspected her hand, and found a tiny barb stuck in her skin, the area around it swelling rapidly. “Dad…” she said tearfully, her voice wavering. “ Be quiet, Janet. Your mother is trying to sleep” her dad answered gruffly. He was busy glaring at the depth finder, daring a log to scratch the bottom of the boat. “But dad,” Janet replied, “A bee stung me, and..” “So pull out the stinger and be done with it!” The skin on the back of her hand was now pulled taut, and Janet could feel her blood pulsing through the sore. The pain was excruciating, but Janet did not want to make her dad angry again. Her top layer of skin on the back of her hand started to split, and her fingers had grown to twice their size already. “Dad..” Janet cried, unsure of what else to do. “What?” Her father said, finally looking to see what the crisis was. He saw her hand, and his face went blank. He calmly told the boys to stow their fishing poles, woke the mother, weighed the anchor, and went back to shore. They canceled their rental but did not get a refund, and quickly drove to the nearest hospital for medical