Created: 5-8-03Kim woke up when the train came to a halt. Mr. and Mrs. Possible gathered their luggage and went towards the train door. The twins pushed their way out of the tall grown-ups, anxious to get off the train to check out the scenery. Kim got off the last. She looked around the station, trying to admire the scenery around her. It was autumn in the quaint little countryside of Ireland. She inhaled deeply, enjoying the autumn country air.
Suddenly, at the corner of her eye, she saw someone standing there watching her. She turned around and saw that it was a luggage-carrier boy. It was obviously a country boy by the way he dressed: old long-sleeved shirt and an overall. In his chest pocket was something small, like a rat. He had blonde hair and the cutest pair of hazel-brown eyes. He was pretty fair and had freckles.
“Kimmy dear, come along!” Mr. Possible called as he took Kim’s hand. “No time to bother with people of lower classes than us. Let’s go!”
Kim sighed as she followed her father. Her father was quite status-conscious. He was a rocket scientist and one of the most important people of NASA, which earned him a status and a huge amount of wealth. He constantly reminded his children not to mingle around with commoners, especially those who less than he did. Only Mrs. Possible was the only one in the family who wasn’t so etched about being around normal people. Brain-surgeons like her deal with people from all walks of life, whether it’s the poor or the rich. Luckily Kim did not inherit the haughtiness of her father.
She took one last look at the blonde boy before hurrying along out of the train station with her family.
Kim looked around the train station. There weren’t many passengers today, so she would most likely not meet anyone she knew. She rushed towards the station postboxes and slipped a small scented envelope into a postbox labeled ‘C21’. She had done a few researches of her own (behind her parents’ back, of course) and found out that the blonde hair boy usually gets his mail at that postbox. She hid behind a corner and waited for the boy to appear.
Moments later, the blonde appeared, massaging his tired arms and shoulders. He reached to open his postbox and was surprised to see an envelope in it. He took it and smelt it. He smiled. He loved that scent: cinnamon and peach. He opened the envelope and read its content:
HELLO, STRANGER. REMEMBER ME AT THE TRAIN STATION THAT DAY? YOU STARED AT ME LIKE I WAS A PRINCESS OR SOMETHING. YOU’RE QUITE INTERESTING. I’D LIKE TO GET TO KNOW YOU. CAN WE MEET?
FROM: Kimberly Anne Possible
The blonde held the letter to his chest like it was a precious stone. Kim giggled and came out of her hiding place. She wore exceptionally pretty for this occasion: a belly-button black body-fit T-shirt and a pair of khakis. The blonde almost fell over when he saw her appear. Kim giggled even more.
“You really are an interesting kind of guy,” Kim said as she went near the boy. “What’s your name?”
“The name’s Ronald Dean Stoppable. You can call me Ron,” the boy replied after adjusting himself. He blushed through his freckles really hard though.
“You can call me Kim,” Kim shook his hand. “Your accent. You don’t sound Irish at all.”
“I was an American. My parents here in Ireland adopted me.”
“Oh, OK.”
This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Ron and Kim sat together in the luggage booth of an abandoned train playing cards. They were now in an abandoned railway where no train ever crossed. It had been a month since they’ve met and they have been together almost everyday after school. After Kim’s school hours, that is.
“Don’t you go to school, Ron?” Kim asked as she took another card from the deck.
“Only at night,” Ron replied, arranging his deck of cards. “In the morning, I have to work here to earn some money for myself. My foster family is not that well-off, really.”
“I’m sorry,” Kim apologized. “I didn’t know…”
“It’s OK. I’m used to it. It must be queasy for you to hang around poor kids like me, huh?”
“No! Of course not! I’m not at all like my father! I don’t care about whether they’re rich or not. Nothing about you bothers me, really!”
“Chill out, Kim. I get the point,” Ron chuckled, relieved to know that she wasn’t a person that judge people by their looks. “Why are you here anyway?”
“Ugh! My dad has got this ultimate project about some new version of Sputnik. He always had this kind of stuff. We don’t stay put much. We’re practically a traveling family. All my school stuff is taught by this boring tutor who also travels along with me. Mom also gets calls everywhere to perform surgeries, which makes our traveling even more serious.”
“Wow! You get to travel? That is so cool!” Ron exclaimed in admiration. “I wish I could travel. It’s not fun just looking at people traveling while you yourself have to stay behind and help with their luggage.”
Kim and Ron laughed heartily. Kim felt so relaxed and happy when she was around him. She never felt more blissful than this. Somehow, she felt quite attracted to him. It was like she couldn’t do anything without him by his side to ease her nerves. While she was still halfway through her thoughts, she saw Ron’s chest pocket move, revealing a cute little naked mole rat the size of one and half a palm.
“Hello, Rufus,” Kim greeted as she tickled its throat. Rufus the naked mole rat giggled and nibbled gingerly on Kim’s finger. She got the cue and fished out a bag of cheese slabs from her backpack. Rufus cheered and dived into the open bag, munching away delightfully.
“It’s really weird that a naked mole rat would enjoy eating cheese slabs,” Kim said as she eyed at the naked mole rat in fascination. “Normal naked mole rats eat bugs and stuff.”
“Well, he’s been with me ever since I was a child in the orphanage, so I guess I house-trained him with human food,” Ron grinned, taking another card from the deck. He grinned even wider and said, “Hah! Straight Aces! I win!”
“Not so fast,” Kim said as she laid out her cards. “You can’t beat the Royal Flush!”
“Oh man! You win again!”
They laughed heartily at each other’s antics. Slowly they found themselves staring at each other’s eyes: Ron staring at Kim’s dark forest-green eyes and Kim staring at Ron’s magnificent hazel-brown eyes. Both of them blushed as they looked away shyly.
“Kim, tell me the truth,” Ron said, gathering all the cards back into the deck, “what am I to you?”
“Well,” Kim said as she took out a card from the deck and laid it on the floor of the train, “you are the jack of all trades. What about you?”
Ron blushed through his freckles again. Kim loved to see him like that; it made him look very cute. He fiddled through the cards and laid his card on the floor of the train, saying, “You are the queen of my heart.”
Kim was quite taken aback at first, then she smiled sweetly and took Ron’s hand. Ron smiled back and wrapped his arm around her waist. Both of them sat close together in the luggage booth and laid their heads on each other as they enjoyed the setting sun. Slowly Ron came to Kim’s ear and whispered, “I like you…a lot. I think I’m…”
“Shh. I know, Ron, I know.”
Kim sulked all the way to the train station. She didn’t think that her father would finish with the new version of Sputnik so fast. He announced it just last night, which left Kim no time to say goodbye to Ron. She begged her mother to let her see Ron that late night (of course, she didn’t tell her who Ron was) but Mrs. Possible shook her head apologetically and said, “Sorry, Kimmy. My hands are tied.”
Kim felt utterly angry and hurt about everything. Why did she have such a status-conscious father? Why was her mother so static about everything? Why her twin brothers had to take up her father’s habit and be such total jerks? Why was she born in this kind of family? Why can’t she be in a normal family? Why, why, why??
Finally she couldn’t stand it anymore. She ran off from her family, far away from the train, out of the train station and into the road. She refused to turn back at her mother’s frantic call. She didn’t want to have anything to do with Mr. Possible’s stern yell. She just kept on running. She wished she would just disappear out of the face of the earth. That way, she will have no more connection with this woeful family that has a vain father, a careless mother, a pair of twin brothers who acted like jerks just like the father and a boring tutor who has nothing to do with the family.
Soon she found herself at the abandoned railway. She slowed down her pace and dragged her tired body towards the luggage booth of the train—the usual spot where she and Ron always met. As she sat down, she started crying. She hated the cruelty of life. She hated everything that is going on right now in her pathetic family. She knew that sooner or later, her parents will find her and take her back, which made her hate her life even more.
“Kim, are you alright?” Ron popped out from below the train, a concerned look on his face. At the sight of him, Kim couldn’t care less anymore. She threw herself onto Ron’s chest and cried terribly. Ron didn’t know what was happening, but he held her close and waited until she had cried her heart out.
After she calmed down a little, Ron took her face and asked, “Now what seems to be the problem, hmm? Anything you’d like to share with Ron and Rufus here?”
Kim told him between tears about everything. Ron listened attentively, nodding once a while. Finally Kim finished by saying, “I don’t want to go. I don’t want to leave you. I don’t even want to go anywhere. I’m sick and tired of all this traveling. For once, I just want to stay put. I’m not going to move another inch from this spot! Even if they bring the SWAT team, I’m not going.”
“Be reasonable, Kim,” Ron said as he stroked her auburn hair. “Just be thankful you have real parents, unlike me. You shouldn’t make them unhappy.”
“But what about me? For years, I’ve been trying to make them happy, even when I’m not happy about it. Never once they paid any attention about what I want! All they care is about status and socializing with people of our ranking and…”
Ron stopped her short when he leaned forward to kiss her deeply on her lips. He wrapped his arms around her, bringing her closer to him, kissing her passionately. Kim didn’t attempt to fight it. She loved Ron too much to stop now. Time seemed to stand still between them as they kissed some more, not wanting to let each other go. It was beginning to drizzle outside but they didn’t care.
When they finally parted, Ron said, “Let’s run away together.”
“What?” Kim was surprised.
“I had a lead on where my real parents are. My friend in my night school, Wade, had a knack of investigating things and he got a clue about my real parents’ whereabouts.”
“But…But what about your foster parents here?”
“They’ll understand. Come, let’s go.”
So, hand in hand, Kim and Ron walked down the abandoned railway towards the train station. They hid to see if Kim’s family was there looking for her. So far, so good. They sneaked into one of the running trains and found a place to sit where it’s secluded enough for them to hide from the train conductor. They traveled quite a while and got lucky in averting the conductor’s attention. They fell asleep in the train, their heads laid onto each others’. Rufus snored peacefully in Ron’s chest pocket.
Luck wasn’t on their side. Soon a young conductor woke them up and told Kim to come with him. Kim refused to budge.
“I’m not going anywhere! You go back and tell them that I’m not going to follow them anywhere anymore!”
“I’m sorry, miss. I have my orders. Please don’t make this hard on me. I’m only doing my job.”
“Go, Kim,” Ron said. “Don’t make things any worse. I’ll find a way to contact you, I promise.”
“But, Ron,” Kim begged, her eyes filled with tears again. “I don’t want to leave you. I love you. I want to go with you to find your parents. I want…”
“Please, Kim. Go. If you don’t go, God knows how we are ever going to meet. I’ll find you again. I swear. I love you, Kim, but for now, I’m not worth your sacrifice.”
After a momentary silence, Kim let out a trembling sigh and followed the conductor. She still had her hand on Ron. She held on for dear life. She wished she would never ever let this loving hand go. She didn’t want to part with this special person who taught her more about appreciating people. Rufus popped out of Ron’s chest pocket and whined. He, too, was reluctant to his friend go.
“I love you, Kim.”
“I love you too, Ron.”
Their tightly grasped hands finally parted. Kim gazed at Ron sadly for the last time before getting off the train at the next stop.
Kim stretched herself out of her tired bones as she got off the train. She looked around. It was still the same autumn air. 10 years had passed and still nothing much has changed.
She walked slowly towards the postbox she always sent her letters to whenever she wanted to meet Ron. It was still there: C21. She ran her fingers through the dents and gaps of the postbox. Although a bit rusty, there was not much of a change it either.
10 years had passed since that fateful month. After she had returned to her parents, she, as expected, got a sound scolding from her father. Usually she would just sit there taking everything in, but this time, she fought back. She yelled at him for being so inconsiderate of her feelings, about being like a total jerk over status when everyone is just the same god damn human being like he was, about being sick and tired of traveling around all her life and never staying put and about all other things for that matter. The whole family was shocked at her sudden outburst. Her stubborn father insisted that she was corrupted by that ‘Irish luggage boy’. He sent her to an exclusive boarding school at Finland so that she’ll learn some respect.
He had no idea that this was Kim’s gateway to paradise.
She tried to find where Ron was throughout her days in boarding school but his foster parents knew nothing about his whereabouts and he left no form of contact. Her only hope was the train station in Ireland, where they first met.
Now that she was here, she still found no sign of him. She strolled towards the abandoned railway (which was still abandoned) and sat at their usual spot. She waited and waited but he didn’t show. The sun finally set and still he was a no-show. She finally accepted the fact that she’ll never see him again. Probably he even forgot about her after meeting his real parents. She sighed and got off the luggage booth, walking hopelessly towards the train station.
When she reached the train station and was about to board the train back to Finland (where she was now staying and working—she still refused to go traveling with her family), she saw someone familiar at the corner of her eye, standing there watching her. She turned around and saw that it was a man in his 20’s. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and an overall. He has long shoulder-length blonde hair and a pair of hazel-brown eyes. He didn’t have freckles anymore, but he sure had the same naked mole rat in his chest pocket.
The man smiled sheepishly as he held out the age-old card and whispered, “Queen of my hearts.”
Kim has finally found who she was looking for.
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