North Dakota Dreams
By Sydney Mashburn
Pegasus Phillips watched her world fade away as she rode in the back seat of
her family’s brown station wagon. She thought about her playhouse in the
backyard with its purple shutters and little flower boxes. She missed it already.
“Mommy, will the new owners mail my playhouse to me?” she asked hopefully.
Her mother in the front seat sighed, they had discussed this before. “Sweetie,
daddy promised to build you a new playhouse even bigger and better in our new
yard, just as soon as we get settled.” Pegasus hoped it would have purple shutters.
Her sister Serenity had not said a word since they left. She had been the last to get in
the car and the last to look back at the house they had loved and lived in since birth.
It had hurt to watch their belongings being packed into boxes and to see the house
slowly stripped of its treasures. Their mother had said that there was more work for
daddy in North Dakota. She said all their dreams would come true there. So far, Pegasus had only seen grass and a few
signs in the shapes of arrowheads. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine her bigger better playhouse.
Pegasus opened her eyes when the station wagon came to a stop. It was dark outside but she could make out a
light coming from a covered porch. It was like a beacon to a passing ship, if it was a warning or a welcome she was not
yet sure. “This is it guys” her mother said cheerfully, “We’re home.” It did not look like home to Pegasus. Even in the
dark she could tell the house was much smaller than their old one. It didn’t have very many windows and it was
surrounded by huge trees with branches that seemed to reach out with sharp fingers. The light on the porch lit up a sadly
sagging set of steps, an antique wooden front door with chipped paint, and a swing that was hanging unevenly from two
small rusted chains. “Mommy it’s ugly” Pegasus said as she got out and smelled wood burning. Her daddy obviously
had built a fire to stave off the cold November air. He had come ahead of them by five days to get the house ready. The
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