THIS IS A FICTION STORY

Tanya

by Sophie

Tanya, the smallest kid in her class and the smallest in the 6th grade, was always the one to get picked on. At gym time she was afraid of heights, like the uneven bars, and was always last to get picked for teams. She was a very smart girl in most subjects and was trying to help others always. Most people thought she was a show off, while other people felt sorry for her since her mother died. This left Tanya with no friends.

One of the pleasures in her life was when school was out and she was able to run out of her New York City School, down seven blocks and into the World Trade Center Building where her dad worked. He owned a little cafe that did a fairly good business selling coffee, juice and homemade pastries that were made fresh every morning. Her mother had worked here with her dad before she passed away. Tanya and her mom had made him see how wonderful New York was. But now that she was gone, Tanya disliked everything about New York, mostly the World Trade Center because that was the building that her mother loved the most.

Tanya went to her dad's cafe everyday after school and sat in the back room doing her homework. Each day her dad would ask what she learned and what had happened at school. Tanya was mostly silent at times and her dad understood why. Tanya and her dad had less and less things to talk about in those afternoons at the cafe. Today, Tanya knew she was going to be late becuase Ms. Fran, her English teacher asked to speak to her after school. It had turned out they had to pick a building in Manhattan to do in groups of five and she wanted to know if Tanya might work alone to do the World Trade Center. Tanya really wanted to say no. She hated Manhattan and the World Trade Center, but she felt the terror well up inside of her when she thought what might happen if she said no,so she told Ms. fran that would be finewith her.

And now her dad would worry that she was not there. As Tanya rushed into the lobby of the World Trade Center, she paused to tie her shoe, and set her backpack beside her. A busy, important-looking man rushed by her and accidentally kicked Tanya's backpack to the other side of the lobby, behind the plant pot. Sighing, and once again not being noticed, she ran over to retrieve her book bag. As she bent to pick it up, she saw a small trap door hidden behind the plant. Just out of curiosity, she deided to take a peek. After all, she was already late to meet her dad. What would a few more minutes be? The door opened silently, and all the noise in the background of the lobby faded away as Tanya slipped into the black pit of darkess. "Hurry Hurry", cried a strong voice. Tanya looked around in disbelief. All around her looked like what she had pictured the world trade center had looked like as it was being built. Her mother had been young when it was built, but it looked just like Tanya had pictured it.

"Don't just stand there, fool, GET WORKING!" cried the angry man. A long callused finger pointed at her, and that was when Tanya knew she was supposed to help build.

This shocked her, and she looked around like a lost puppy for help to show her what to do. "I'll help her, Mr. Bunder" said a soothing voice. A hand grasped Tanya's hand and pulled her torwards a pile of long boards.

"Thanks," whispered Tanya.
"Not to worry, it was fine," replied the girl. Tanya looked at the girl, into her green eyes, and then at her shiny black hair, dripping down to her mid-back.
"What is your name?" pondered the girl.
"Tanya - Tanya Shori."
"I'm Yukiko. Did Mr. Bunder put you on duty today?"
" I think so," said a puzzled Tanya. "Well, your job here is to carry these boards to the frame part of the building center."
"That seems like it would be really boring" spoke Tanya.
"It is. It is but if you work then they pay you, so it's not that bad"
"Alright, let's go." All afternoon Tanya and Yukiko worked in the hot balzing sun carrying boards. They worked on it for 26 days until their job time was done. Tanya gave her money to Yukiko to help her family with money problems. Then Tanya said goodbye to Yukiko.
"Where are you going?" pondered Yukiko.

"Somewhere I think," and that was goodbye.

Tanya sat and thought about what to do next. I want to go back, "I love NY, my dad, and what my mom loved the most in NY - the WTC." cried out Tanya into the ink black night. Then, Tanya felt herself spinning, numbers running past: 1976, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2001 and stopped suddenly at 2001.

She looked up and saw the back of a plant potter and looked down to see her back pack in her hands. She had the letter Yukiko had given her before she left. It was real. Tanya raced to her father's cafe and waited silently as he served the customers. "Tanya, I was worried, you're 40 miuntes late."

"Daddy, I wanted to know if we could do more things together, like start out by visiting the sights in NY. We haven't done that since mom died." Tanya waited for a full minute before a smile spread across her father's face.

" I would love to do that. We could have a father-daughter day."

Great dad!" As she said that, a customer came up to the counter, a customer who looked a lot like Yukiko.