Illusion Confusion

There once was a girl form Peru. Her name was Betty-Lou. She had long wavy brown hair and eyes like the bluest seas; well as far as 13-year-olds go. She loved to play and laugh with her friends. They would jump rope and ride bikes. On bright days they’d go swimming at the park and on dull rainy day they’d watch movies at her house. Betty-Lou loved the summer time, it made her very giddy. But one early Saturday morning, Betty-Lou had awoken.
She had an unhappy feeling rushing through her body. She was very anxious, so she jumped out of bed and wondered to her window. She could not believe her eyes. The ground was covered in white fluffy snow. Betty-Lou was astonished! Of course she had seen snow when her family went to visit her Grandma and Grandpa in Patagonia, Argentina. But she never saw snow in Lima, Peru.
That Monday all her friends at ELHS were acting weird, like there was always snow on the ground. Betty-Lou was scared, in a tense kind of way. When she got home from school her mom took her food shopping. Everyone there was acting just like the kids at school, perfectly normal. Betty-Lou just didn’t know what to do. On the way home she asked her mother, “Mon, how come no one is noticing the snow?”
“What do you mean dear?”
“Never mind.” Betty-Lou thought that she should just ignore the snow like everyone else. The next day at school, Betty-Lou found it hard to ignore the snow. Her friends thought she was acting weird but every time they asked, Betty-Lou answered the same thing. “I’m fine.”
After a week of this new white world, Betty-Lou couldn’t stand the fact that nobody noticed the snow, so she made it very obvious that the snow was there. After a minute of making a snowman, she realized how ridiculous she looked, why? Because all of a sudden the snow just vanished. Then her and her friends just laughed it off and continued walking home.
When Betty-Lou got to her room, she took a long while to just think to herself. This doesn’t make any sense, she thought, One minute it was there, and the next…gone! On this empty thought she went downstairs to get a snack. Her mother could tell that something was wrong.
“What’s the matter dear?” Her mother was a very caring and concerning lady. She was a third grade teacher. She got voted best teacher of the year.
“Nothing Mom, I’m just tired.” Betty-Lou replied. And from that day on she never thought about that dreadful time again.
One morning Betty-Lou woke up, she felt giddy and giggly. She new what day it was, so she went downstairs and she could smell chocolate and maple syrup…PANCAKES!! Pancakes were Betty-Lou’s favorite breakfast meal. As she walked quickly towards the kitchen doorway, she was suddenly stopped in the middle of the living room. This little white fluffy rodent ran underneath the couch making little grunting noises. Betty-Lou bent down and looked; it was a little white fluffy guinea pig. She was surprised and she didn’t know what to do. So she picked it up and walked to the kitchen. Her mother of course busy with the pancakes.
“YOU FOUND HER!” Her mother shouted. What, Betty-Lou thought. “The guinea pig! Can you put her back in her cage dear, its right over there? I lost her over 30 minutes ago but I was so caught up in your…HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOU-LOU!!”
“Thanks Mom.” Betty-Lou said while she gently set down her new fluffy guinea pig which she named Snowflake.
“Hear you birthday breakfast dear, I’ll be home by 3:00.” This was a Wednesday so her mom had to go to work but she let Betty-Lou take the day off. As Betty-Lou sat there eating her chocolate chip pancakes and staring at Snowflake, she began to think. She started thinking about how white and fluffy her new friend was and started thinking about snow and that one time were there was snow on the ground.
When her mother got home she asked her and her mom just said, “There hasn’t been snow on the ground in Lima, Peru since the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.” Betty-Lou hated when her mom went “Pearl Harbor” on her, but right now it didn’t matter because her mom was taking her bowling for her birthday. She loved to bowl so she ran upstairs and got dressed and they headed out the door. But wait, what’s this? Is this snow on the ground? But not just any snow on the ground, snow on the ground on her birthday, in July? “Oh my god.” Betty-Lou cried out.
“What dear?” her mom stopped suddenly.
“Snow…on the ground…in Lima, Peru…in July Mom, do you not see it?”
“Lou-Lou what are you talking about?”
“Suddenly I don’t feel like going out anymore.”
Her mother was very shocked and surprised about what just happened, but she figured she’d give Betty-Lou sometime to herself.
After awhile her mom went up to Betty-Lou’s room and Betty started spilling. She talked about everything from waking up that morning to the whole world acting strangely to her making a snowman. Her mom what astounded. She didn’t know anything about snow and then it disappearing. Betty-Lou told her that she tired to just forget about it but it just didn’t work. Her mother thought this was strange so she decided to get help for her Lou-Lou but Betty didn’t want any.
Once again Betty-Lou tried to just pretend that the snow was never there but it was very hard for her. It felt weird to ride bikes through all the snow. It felt weird to jump rope in the snow. She never knew when it was going to hot or cold. This confused her.
So little Betty-Lou who lived in Peru, just lived her happy days watching the snowfalls out of her window and going swimming the next day. She never got accustomed to this new way of living but sometimes it was interesting for her. She would keep track of how long each snow fall would last and then how long it was summer. She soon realized that it was very different every time. Her mother, onto this day, still does not understand her poor little Lou-Lou.