One Temporary Hope: Redwood City, California 1969

You are kicked off Fitch Mountain and don't know anyone in town to stay with. If you are being honest, you know very few people at all anymore. You are still being punished by your father for marrying David and he won't allow you to call or visit, much less stay with them. There is no plan beyond bringing the baby into the world, but there is one temporary hope. Your in-laws are out of town on their annual summer vacation and David's big plan is to break in, lie low and have the baby before they come home. 

You pack what little you own into bags and stand at the top of the twenty-five steps to your new, unknowable life, hoping not to fall down these stairs one more time. In your favor, it was summer and the moss had dried up. You'd also had a lot of practice going up and down those front stairs with your growing belly over the past nine months. You are sure footed on the staircase, if not at all in life. 

You gaze out the passenger side window of the blue panel delivery truck as David drives the 100 miles from Fitch Mountain to Glennan Drive. You turn your head to see the rainbow tunnel like you always do. The colors and familiarity of this image feel like home inside your heart and you continue to hold this vision until it fades from distance and tears.