Gypsy

by Skylar
(USA)

Chapter 1

Eli sat cross legged on her bed surrounded by cookbooks. She was trying to decide what to make for her special Friday dessert dish. Today was Thursday and so she only had one more day to figure it out. Eli loved to cook, mostly desserts and simple lunch items, so her mom gave her every Friday to make whatever dessert caught her fancy. Eli saw a recipe in one of the cookbooks, coconut popsicles!

Eli and her family loved popsicles. And coconut too. This was perfect! When Eli went into the kitchen to tell her mom what she was making, her mom was deeply absorbed in a book called: Stable-Keeping by Cherry Hill. Another horse book, Eli’s mom loved horses. Eli didn’t understand it. I mean, she liked them and all, but she couldn’t understand her mom's obsession. They were just animals.

“Mom?” Eli asked. “I decided on my dessert.”
“Cool,” Mom said. “What is it?”
“Coconut popsicles!” Eli replied.
“Sounds delicious! I am going to make a special dinner tomorrow, I have an announcement to make.”

Eli wondered what kind of announcement that would be. That night she went to bed half worried, half excited.

The next day, Eli woke up with a start, today was friday! She wondered what kind of announcement her mom was going to make. She got up and put on a T-shirt and shorts, pulled her hair into a ponytail and went into the kitchen. She poured some granola and yogurt and ate quickly. After that, the rest of the day consisted of playing at her friends’ house, going to the grocery store, and making popsicles. Eli had to start the popsicles early, so that they would have time to freeze. She looked up the recipe and mixed together the coconut milk, coconut flakes, sugar and other ingredients. Then she poured them into molds and stuck them into the freezer. While she was doing this, her seven year old sister Indigo came into the room.

“Hi Eli,” She said.
“Hi Indy,” Eli replied. “Do you need something?”
“Yes. I want popsicles.”
“I’m sorry, those are for tonight.”
“I want popsicles!”
Eli could see her sister getting mad. “It’s ok, we can do something else. I’m done now. Do you want to play outside?” Indy nodded. Eli scooped her up and they played outside for the rest of the afternoon.

When Eli and Indy finally came back inside, Eli’s mother was setting the table and stirring a pot of something that smelled delicious.
“Hi guys!” Mom said. “Wash your hands for dinner!!”
Eli took Indy into the bathroom and washed hands. Then they went to the table and sat in front of steaming bowls of baked macaroni and cheese. Yes! This was Eli’s favorite! They started eating. After about five minutes, mom cleared her throat. “I have an announcement to make.” Everyone looked up. “You all know how I got money from when grandma and grandpa died. Well, I saw an amazing opportunity to use that money. There was an old horse farm selling for cheap outside of town, there are about 45 horses and some old buildings. It would take some fixing up, but I think that we could get it up and going in no time.” Eli stopped chewing. “You mean you bought a horse farm?”
“Yes!” her mom replied. Oh no, this was going too far. “Where is it?” Eli asked. “About 45 minutes out of town.”
“What? That’s ages away from my friends, my school. How are we going to go to school?”
“You aren’t”
“WHAT?”
“You’re going to be out of school until the ranch is up and going again, then I'm going to homeschool you.”

Well, that was the end of that. Eli slumped in her chair and ate the rest of her macaroni and cheese in silence. She was moving to a horse farm.