Chapter 1. Arrival
I always loved whenever we moved to places where there were mountains. I loved the way it feels to go outside and smell the mountain air right after an afternoon shower. That being said it does get old when it's the fifth time in the last seven years that you have moved to please your fathers "growing adventurous appetite". First it was an corporate office job in Texas which he quickly grew out of as he said it was mind-numbingly boring. This I believed sparked what would become the rest of me and my siblings lives, us moving to different states along the west coast where he would start a new business endeavor like a coffee shop or a pizza parlor in places like San Francisco or Seattle. Once business was going good and coincidentally my dad grew tired of the routine, it was time to close up shop, pack the boxes, and head to the next city for him to reinvent himself again. As we pull up to our final destination "Cherry Creek" Colorado, it's now that he tells us that he has decided to renovate an old motel.
Slightly off the side of the small downtown strip of this quaint mountain town lies an abandoned slightly overgrown motel that my dad somehow thought was an amazing business opportunity. As my dads trusted and storm weathered 1999 hatchback slowly pulls into the loop of the motel he finally speaks up, " Alright kiddos now I know this isn't entirely what you guys expected but-" he started until my older sister Selene abruptly cut him off,
" yeah no dad this is exactly what I'm sure we all expected, another money hole for you to throw all of your savings at for the next couple of months" she huffed out before resuming the work that she was doing of picking at the split ends of her blonde hair and staring out the window. This comment was not a shocker to anyone as for the entirety of the car ride she had made it very clear that it was not in her summer plan to clean up an old motel instead of spending the end of her summer break from college with her sorority sisters. Since she had just turned 21 her original summer plans were to go bar hopping at all of the bars and clubs near her university with her friends and sorority sisters.
My dad pretending to be oblivious to the increasing tension in the car turned to me, my younger sister Arden and younger brother Victor, "Well at least I still have my youngest on my side right?". Victor continued to play with the frayed cloth of the outdated seats while Arden pretended that whatever was in her book at that moment in time was the most interesting thing in the world. Quickly glancing at them and then back at my dad, "no of course dad we will always support you, if you think that dropping everything in San Fransisco to rebuild a motel in Colorado is your life passion then I say let's do it" I say ending with me nudging victor with my elbow to try to gain his attention. "Uuuuh yeah whatever she said", Victor quickly stated as he looked at me with a sour face and rubbed his side where I had nudged him before resuming what he was doing before.
"Thanks Claire I always know to count on you", my dad said with a knowing smile. As I looked to Selene in the front seat, the glare she gave me could definitely kill someone or you know just gravely injure them. I made sure that I was the first to hop out of the car after that. Shutting the slightly dented door of the hatchback, the gravel began to crunch under my feet as I moved to open the trunk and start unpacking the tiny amount of boxes we could fit in our car . I could hear the rest of my family slowly getting out of the car as I reached for the first box. "God dad you need to get a new car that can actually fit all of us because I'm tired of riding for hours with Susie's car seat on my lap" Selene complained as she handed the last edition to the Lodge family my 8 month old sister to my dad.
Looking at my somewhat large family one might wonder how exactly we all came to be, especially with no mother anywhere in the picture. Similar to my dads business adventures, his love life has been one hell of a roller coaster. Right out of college he married his college sweetheart who is Selene's mother, everything between their marriage was great right until she gave birth to Selene and she decided while holding her in the hospital bed that she planned to divorce him and become a nun. A couple of years after their divorce he met my mother and before they married they had me, a couple of weeks after their honeymoon he came home to find her sleeping with his boss from his job at the time. As if my father again did not learn his lesson, more time had passed and he decided to treat himself to a relaxing getaway to Paris that he had won from some magazine mail competition. There he met another woman who had already had Arden from a previous relationship and he decided to bring her back to the states and they had my brother victor, as it turns out she used my father for a green card into the US and once that finalized she was gone with the wind leaving both Arden and Victor with my father.
Raising all four of us was definitely a challenge and I have never viewed anyone in the world to be a stronger person than my dad. Of course the bullying during all of our schooling was a downside, all of us were referred to as the "modge-podge Lodges" due to the complicatedness that is our life. Except Selene was always exempt from the bullying due to the popularity she always seemed to have no matter where we went. The only thing that me and my siblings all share are my fathers warm brown eyes, Both me and Selene have a light pale complexion whereas she has light blonde hair and I have dark brown and curly hair. Arden and Victor share a more tan complexion and black hair from their mother. Of course Susie who my father was "blessed" with from a one night stand that he had last year on a drunken night out with work colleagues only adds to the mess that is our family tree.
"Alright everyone I need us to circle up for a quick family chat so that I can share some good news and bad news...now the good news is that the motel does have power and water but...the bad news is that it only works in the owners bedroom and the uhaul only dropped off one of the mattresses earlier so it looks like all of us will be in tight quarters tonight!" My father started in an upbeat and fast manner in order to try to avoid the frustration and resistance he was about to be met with. "You have got to be joking with me right now! I can't believe any of this!!" Selene yelled. "First of all,you drag all of our family out into this middle of nowhere town in Colorado and away from all of Arden and Victors friends so that you can fulfill some life long dream of running a motel and waste my time with my friends before I'm off to nursing school and THEN, the one escape of sleep we all have is going to be spent with all of us piled on to one mattress?!?!" Selene yelled fuming.
"Dad like Claire said earlier we all love you but don't you think that maybe you should have thought this through more?" Arden said as she tried to maintain whatever peace Selene had left. "How come that was like one piece of good news and two bad...that doesn't seem fair at all!", Victor groaned and stomped his foot sending a couple of pieces of gravel flying towards the car and dinging off of it.
"Look I appreciate all of your willingness to move out here but I just need a little bit more patience and soon enough everything is going to work out perfectly! Tomorrow I'm going to get all of the electricity and plumbing worked out and the other uhaul with the rest of the furniture is going to be delivered so it's all going to work out" my dad stated as he tried to reason with us. All of us kind of stood there silently during his speech none of us really having much to say on the matter as we had been driving all day and now it was too late into the night leaving us with no other options. The drive by on the tiny strip that this town calls "downtown" was absolutely dead with all of the little stores lights off and no one in sight. Victor seeing how desperate my dad was for any sort of positivity, was the first to speak up as he said, " well I guess Arden better shower then because I'm not sleeping next to someone that thinks deodorant has too many harmful chemicals to wear".
Me and my dad laughed as Arden began to chase Victor around the car and into the motel all the while yelling about how harmful deodorant is and how it's probably the reason why he hasn't hit puberty yet. "Don't think that just because you somehow you got all of them to warm up to this that it means that this wasn't a dumb idea, I still think everything was perfectly fine where we were before" Selene huffed our before grabbing a box from the trunk in one hand and Susie's car carrier in the other, and than began to walk towards the motel entrance all the while grumbling about how her skin was not made for the dry mountain air.
Before I could grab one of the other boxes to start unloading the trunk my dad stopped me, " you know that I appreciate everything you do for me right Claire?".
"Of course dad...I just want you to be happy" I say back genuinely. My dad sighed and then looked towards the motel with a solemn face.
"Selene told me you were thinking about taking a year off instead of starting your freshman year this fall and...I just want to let you know that while I appreciate that gesture that I can handle this. You have done so much to help me raise Arden and Victor over the years when I was busy with running different businesses but, now I want you to go out into the world and find what you are passionate for. I am no longer going to take advantage of your kindness and hard work, I want you to do something for yourself for once and not have a single worry about how life is back at home. I know how hard you worked to get a scholarship that covers your tuition and into the journalism major that you love so much and you deserve to be able to do that". My dad said, making sure to add one of his famous bear hugs in at the end for added measure.
I smiled as he hugged me tightly, " well I guess there really isn't any room for argument now is there" I laughed.
"Absolutely not... now why don't we go and bring the rest of these boxes in now and go and make sure that Arden hasn't killed your brother yet" my dad laughed. As he headed off towards the motel, boxes in hand, I stood there for a little bit staring at the beautiful woods that surrounded the town and motel. All of it looked so mysterious and somewhat terrifying with all of the shadows being reflected by the light from the moon. I wondered if there was anything in those woods worth writing a story about, anything in there worth exploring. The yellow flickering light of the fireflies brought me back to reality and I began to walk towards the motel.
....
Somehow I was chosen to be the last to take a shower so all I was left with was ice cold water alongside the terrible showers pressure of the slightly rusted old shower head. As I towel dried my hair in the bathroom, I heard Selene open the door quietly and the proceed to close it. "You do know that there is something called knocking that people normally use when entering occupied spaces" I say annoyed as I don't even look up from the lotion that I'm rubbing on my legs. "Look I don't have time for your sarcasm here...I thought you said that you would talk today before we left you know...to make him reconsider..." she whispered quietly.
Begrudgingly I looked up from what I was doing, " this doesn't even concern you Selene, I mean now that you are in college in a different state might I add none of this has anything to do with you...I'm sure we all appreciate your lovely opinions that you like to insert in every conversation but I think that this might finally stick for dad" I whispered back. I did really think that this motel was a good idea for him, it was going to require a lot of work so I figured even though it would be financially draining at least it would keep him busy. "You do know that there was a point in time that I was in your shoes Claire. I mean hell I even took a gap year so I could help make sure you were all doing well in school! Now it's just that you are leaving soon and I need to make sure that dad doesn't do something that is going to screw over Arden, Victor, and now Susie" she whispered flustered before kneeling down to where I was sitting on the toilet seat rubbing lotion.
Despite how often Selene could rub everyone the wrong way I did see that she had kind intentions. Everything that she gave up to be there for when I was younger inspired me to want to help out just like her, "I know" I responded back to her. She gave me a sad smile back and then both of us headed back into the bedroom where everyone was sleeping. While I was in the shower my dad made a pallet out of blankets on the floor next to Susie's crib so that the rest of us could all squeeze onto the mattress. I quietly laid down next to a passed outVictor on the edge of the mattress, and silently sent out a prayer into the universe that everything was going to work out, and that coming to Cherry Creek was not going to become something we all regretted. Even if we did regret it, maybe I could find a thing or two to write a good story about.
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Eeeeeek! Hey guys I'm so excited that I have finally worked up the nerve to start writing! I have always been too afraid to publish anything until just recently, when I finally worked up the nerve to just let go of any insecurities that I had in my writing. So I hope that you enjoy and stay tuned for the story! Lots of love💕💕💕
