The Purple Children (Book 1 of the Purple Chronicles)

Prologue (Proposed prologue for the revised Purple Children)

“I know right. Now what do you think is a great name for a baby?” Teresa brought out while she read a magazine. ‘What not to name your baby’ was the header of the article and included names such as Cougar, Martini, Isuzu and Dick.

“Baby names?” Matt questioned with a perplexed looked. “Are you finally thinking about it?” he excitedly said while slowly wrapping his arms around Teresa’s hip and kissed the back of her ear. “I thought were not considering it for another year.”

“Well yeah, you know, a storm is coming, and we’ll probably be stranded at home, and we have this bottle of tequila to finish.” Teresa giggled as Matt caressed her brunette curly hair. “And the AC would probably be down so it’s going to be really hot.” She gave emphasis on the word ‘hot’.

“Sounds like a great plan.” He added and checked the long line that still awaited them. “This is going to be a long wait.”

Teresa giggled and flipped over the remaining pages. “Lavender sounds great,” Teresa commented as a field full of Lavenders occupied a page.

“Lavender sounds perfect for a girl.” Matt complimented and studied the page of advertisement. He already pictured it in his head, Lavender, a baby destined for greatness. Part of the USA or Great Britain team for the Olympics where she’ll win gold and Matt and Teresa would be proud parents. To be an athlete was his obsession but not much motivation and support to actually be an athlete was his downfall.

“Lavender,” Teresa repeated in a hush voice. The ballet dancer like she was, her daughter that will fulfill her dreams for her. Teresa stopped at the age of fifteen when financial crisis struck their family, and even though a few years passed and her family recovered, she never went back to dance, a big regret that she hadn’t share with Matt yet.

“And for a boy?” Matt continued, a girl will be just fine for him but a boy was what he really wanted.

Teresa flipped over the pages as if that magazine was destined to have all their answers. A pile of names was written but none came into her liking. Flipping over, none was as great as Lavender or as perfect for her.

“Teresa,” a hush whisper slid through her ears which caught her attention. It wasn’t Matt’s, it wasn’t British but more like an old person somewhere from Italy where the accent was really hard.

“Tesa?” this time it was Matt who called out with the nickname he gave her. Teresa no longer listened, the whole noisy grocery scene was no longer relevant, her eyes were already fixed with this man on a navy pin striped suit that wore sun glasses and hair jet blacked styled like those from a mafia. He stood in front of isle 2, he wasn’t human as people passed by him but Teresa didn’t quite figure it out yet, she just knew she needed to listen to this man.

“Teresa,” the man’s voice echoed through her ears. “Come with me,” he walked away through people and Teresa had the urge to follow.

“Honey, are you alright?” Matt questioned. Teresa dropped the magazine on the floor and broke the hug Matt had.

The voice that echoed faded out and the burst of people complaining filled her senses, she was back to reality but still had the instinct to follow the man. Like a GPS, Teresa knew where the man was going, a few miles away from the grocery but she knew it was really important to be there.