Summer Soap (Episode One): Life at a crossroads... Natalie chooses Cork

EchoLive.ie, 19 Aug


Welcome to The Echo’s annual feature - Summer Soap. Now in its ninth
year, Summer Soap is a daily fictional serial run over 12 parts, which
starts today and runs till Saturday week. Called Hop, Skip, And
Stumble, the story is about a woman arriving in Cork from America to
study, and slowly adjusting to life here. It was written by Abigail
Johnson, from the MA in Creative Writing Programme at UCC. Catch up
with previous episodes at echolive.ie. In the first episode, we meet
the main character Natalie as she reaches a big life decision
Summer Soap (Episode One): Life at a crossroads... Natalie chooses Cork

Natalie stared at the small collection of acceptance letters, dread
sinking low in her chest. Picture iStock/posed by model
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Natalie sat at her desk late into the afternoon, staring at the small
collection of acceptance letters, dread sinking low in her chest.

As graduation drew ever closer, a feeling of dissatisfaction was
growing more and more insistent. Her eighteenth birthday was a week
away and she hadn’t once left the state of Virginia

Generations of her family made their lives in this small town two hours
from the sea. Her family had connections and a successful business
here. Her spot in the community college and her pick of internships
were quietly guaranteed.

Her brother Gregory decided he would attend the University of Virginia
to study engineering. The family called him ambitious. Her father would
always joke that “the prodigal son’s returned” whenever his car rolled
down the driveway every weekend.

Whenever she was asked what her plans for college were, she told them
she planned to study marketing at the local community college.

It was comfortable. She was comfortable.

But was this really all there was to life? Following footsteps?

Most of her classmates had agonised over their choice of college and
for years Natalie considered herself lucky. She hadn’t needed to worry
about her future, with so much of it laid out for her already.

But that was back when college and adulthood were distant
eventualities, too far away to fathom. Now that the reality of it was
marching closer, Natalie began to feel like it was a mistake to take so
much of her life for granted. The ease of it felt dangerous.

The more she thought about it, the more foreboding the whole thing
felt. As tempting as it was to take her first steps into adulthood with
her parents holding both hands, she knew that if she did, Natalie would
be stuck in place for the rest of her life.

She had one chance. One perfect opportunity to circumvent this
stagnation before her feet became stuck in their place.

She reached for the letter furthest from her, sent by University
College Cork. She’d sent the application on a whim, a dream more than a
genuine expectation of getting in. She hadn’t even told her parents she
was applying. It seemed too long a shot.

Now that the letter was in her hands, it seemed like a real
possibility. Could she really do it? Natalie was nervous just thinking
about it. She wouldn’t just be attending college for the first time,
she’d do it thousands of miles away. She couldn’t run back home if
she’d forgotten something, or just to taste her mom’s cooking again.
She’d have to do everything on her own.

There was a knock at the door, but her mom opened it before she could
answer.

“Natalie, honey, come up for dinner!”

Natalie looked at her with a raised brow. Her mom seemed oddly excited
for mashed potatoes, her smile wide and eyes bright. Maybe her brother
made it home early this weekend?

“Right behind you,” she said, and her mom left, leaving the door ajar
behind her. Natalie sighed, but decided not to comment on her mom
leaving the door open behind her, despite her repeated requests to
leave it closed.

Natalie was about to close the door behind her and walk down the hall,
but something made her pause. She turned and grabbed one of the letters
before heading down to dinner.

Natalie had been right about her brother coming home early, as he was
already seated at the table, giving her a smile and a nod as she sat
down across from him. What she hadn’t quite anticipated was the letter
from Virginia Tech.

“I remember that being one of your reacher schools!” her mom said as
she set the mashed potatoes on the table. This was news to Natalie. As
far as she remembered, she applied to Virginia Tech because everyone
else in town applied, though very few actually attended. It seemed more
for bragging rights than anything else.

“Actually, I wanted to talk about that,” Natalie replied as she sat
down. She still wasn’t sure if this path was really the right one, but
she needed to follow this momentum wherever it took her.

“I was thinking I could try to study somewhere else?” She placed the
acceptance letter on the table, pushing towards the centre. Her father
picked it up and looked for a university seal, her mom peeking over his
shoulder.

“University College Cork? Where’s College Cork?”

“I think it’s in Massachusetts.”

“One of my golfing buddies mentioned heading to Cork this summer. I’m
pretty sure it’s down south.”

“It’s in Ireland,” Natalie blurted out. A moment of stunned silence
hung in the air.

“Like, in Europe?” Gregory asked, incredulous. Natalie nodded, holding
a breath while she waited for their reaction. Studying abroad had never
been considered in their household, so she had no idea how they’d
react.

To her relief, her mom started screaming. In delight, of course,
wrapping her arms around Natalie in an ecstatic hug before the family
finally settled down to dinner, chatting away about Natalie’s upcoming
adventure.

Read More

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