2005-01-22 - 1:01 p.m.

Emmy had never been to New York before. She had never been to any big city for that matter. The entirety of her short life, all 7 years of it, had been spent in comfort and familiarity. She saw the same people every day driving the same cars on the same road in front of the red brick house that she had lived in since before there were memories. She went to the same school, rode the same bus, and followed her mother around in the same grocery store. McKale's grocery store, had been built exactly 5 years before the day Emmy was born. Mr. McKale, who always gave Emmy a free chocolate bar, repeatedly made it a point to tell her about the "big openin' day" of the store and how special she was because she shared its birthday. Emmy liked Mr. McKale, not just because he gave her chocolate, which was her favorite candy, but also because he took time to talk to Emmy. It didnt matter to her that he told her the same story every time because he always told it as if it were the first time. Many grown ups didnt seem to have much time for kids and if they spoke to them at all it was to tell them to do some chore or to stop doing something that the kid was obviously having fun doing. Mr. McKale always greeted Emmy as if she was an old friend that he hadnt seen in years, even though she and her mother went into the store atleast once a week. He often came out from behind the cash register and got down on one knee to talk to Emmy, so that they could be eye to eye. Sometimes, he hid her candy bar in one of the many pockets of his bright green apron and made Emmy guess which one it was in. Emmy always guessed correctly. She never told Mr. McKale but it was because the pockets were too shallow and she could always see the silver wrapping sticking out of the pocket just enough. Mr. McKale would then cheer loudly and tell everyone around them how smart his "friend Emmy" was. Yes, Emmy liked Mr. McKale very much.
One week as Emmy and her mother walked up to McKale's they noticed a brightly colored sign in the window that read "Win a Trip to the Big Apple" Emmy's mother explained to Emmy that the "Big Apple" was a nickname for New York City. Emmy knew where New York was. She studied Geography in school. Emmy had counted atleast 10 states between her home town and New York City. Something so far away seemed to Emmy as if it should be in a different country but her teacher had assured her that New York was indeed in America. Every so often Emmy and her parents would take a trip to a nearby city so that they could see a movie in the 'big theater'. While Emmy always looked forward to these trips, the drive there always seemed to take a thousand lifetimes. She could not imagine how long a trip to this "big apple" would take. Mr. McKale explained to Emmy that with the bag of Apples that her and her mother bought there was an entry form that could be filled out and turned in for a chance to win a full paid weekend trip for 4 to New York City. Emmy's mother new that the chances were slim to none that their entry form would be picked among the thousands and thousands of entries but one of the things she loved most about her little girl was her ability to dream big. So, when Emmy, with a determined face, asked her mother for a stamp and an envelope, her mother gladly obliged. The weeks that followed seemed painfully long to Emmy. She waited patiently every day at school for the bell to ring so that she could run home and check the mail and every day she found nothing there with her name on it; bills for dad, magazines for mom and the occasional shampoo sample which she kept in a bucket in the laundry room to use for the days her mother asked her to give fletch a bath. Fletch was Emmy's dog and best friend. Emmy had asked her parents for a puppy every chance she got since she could speak; birthdays, Christmas, and Easter were all prefaced with weeks of requests for a dog. One year Emmy had declared June 18th as 'National Give your daughter a dog' day. Emmy's parents, while amused by her attempt, did not budge on their decision. They felt that Emmy had been too young to be responsible for a pet

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