Finding My Yellow Brick Road

Chapter One - The Farm and the Tornado

"Well good morning, Miss Dorothy, Pops found your dog for you," Ray-Ray says, picking him up, and Chump chuckles.

Dorothy takes Toto from Ray-Ray and sighs. "I told you, you can't come with me."

"Oh, is somebody taking a trip?" Ray-Ray asks, taking a seat on the trailer.

"Or running away from home, again?" Chump mutters.

"You can't run away from home if you're not home to start with." Dorothy replies softly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Chump says, shaking his head.

"Wait a minute, don't she live here? I coulda' swore she lived right here." Ray-Ray asks, pointing at the farmhouse some ways behind us.

Pops nods, agreeing, as Dorothy sits down on her suitcase, Toto in her arms.

"Wait, hold on now, City Girl," I say, "I know you weren't planning on leaving that dog with me."

"Well . . ." she mutters, hiding her face in her dogs' fur.

"Like I don't do enough around here! Girl, you are seventeen years old! It's about time you start taking some responsibility!"

"Gabrielle, why are you always so mean to me?" She mumbles into Totos' fur.

"If you find me offensive, then I suggest you stop finding me." I say, crossing my arms.

My cousin sniffles, then looks up at me with puppy-dog eyes.

I sigh, shaking my head. "I'm your cousin. That's my job."

"Dorothy Gale," my mama comes out of the house with a laundry basket under her arm, and a young man following her obediently, "I am too old to be chasin' you down." She turns to me. "And you, Baby, hush your mouth. You know your poor cousin is grieving over the loss of her parents!"

I bite back a sigh. Of course my mother is protecting Dorothy over me. And yes, I know her parents died in an accident, but so did my daddy! You don't see me moping around the house all day! They were lost on the same day! And, in reality, it's kind of like I lost my mama too, because she pays more attention to Dorothy now. So that's why I'm always outside with the farmhands, usually from dawn until dusk.

My mama turns back to Dorothy. "I swear, I don't know who needs a leash more: you or that dog." The farmhands all take a couple steps back, away from my mother. She may be small, but my mama is a fierce lion; she puts on a fake smile and gestures to the young man beside her. He has light brown skin, and a mustache. "Baby, this here Gil Warren." I can feel my eye twitch a couple of times. Mrs. Warren is my mama's best friend, and she's been trying to get me to meet her son for the longest. Since I've always weaseled my way out of it, I guess she's taken it upon herself to introduce us. My mother is trying to get me out of her house as soon as possible, but only if I'm married. Gil Warren is a lawyer, and she wants me to marry somebody rich, but she doesn't want me to be rich myself.

I nod curtly, then look away.

"Don't worry, Gil, she's just a little shy," my mama tells him.

"I gotchu," he replies.

I am not shy. I just don't want to be married to some random man my mama picked out for me without my consent.

"Uh, mornin' Ms. Gale," Chump tries, smiling.

"Mornin'," Ray-Ray says quietly, trying desperately to look busy.

"Mornin' ma'am," Pops says.

"Well, why are you three standin' around? Can't you see the leaves are turnin' over? A storm's comin', can't you see?"