Hidden Beneath Layers

As we grow up, we realize certain things we never realized as a child. In the book, the Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow, Rachel has to face a new life, one she cannot handle by herself. She has to move in with her grandma; a complete stranger to her. As the years go by and she grows older, she realizes she cannot be who she wants to be; she has faced the fact that she is black and she has blue eyes. She has many unwanted realizations that she makes as she grows older.  As Rachel began growing up with 2 female leaders, grandma and Aunt Loretta both are coming from the same blood but they have very different and compelling minds.

In the beginning, Rachel cannot comprehend why she is being differentiated from the other students. She cannot get used to living in Portland with her “grandmother”; a person who she knows nothing about other than her scent.  Portland is the place where Rachel has to stay for the rest of her life. Rachel has learned not to mention her family in the house. Her Grandma was not very fond of her mother, or her father. Rachel’s father was grandmas’ son, something she knows too well to not miss. She also begins to forget what her family used to look like; she cannot remember the Danish words her mom once spoke to her, her mother and father’s face, and Robbie, her brother.

Aunt Loretta begins to hang out with Drew, her new boyfriends/tennis player. Aunt Loretta has a positive effect on Rachel. She helps Rachel when grandma gets moody or tries to offend her parents. Aunt Loretta is more calmed and patient. Rachel as a teenager now looks up to Aunt Loretta.  A young and beautiful woman she is and the luck she has. Rachel wishes she was beautiful and was charming like her aunt, but in her mind she isn’t. Rachel still has not realized it doesn’t matter what she looks like, it matters who she is on the inside, her emotions and her personality tell it all; not her looks. Her beautiful eyes also tell story, one that is hidden inside a blue bottle.

The blue bottle. Whenever Rachel got mad or upset, instead of crying she would place it in an invisible blue bottle. One she kept well hidden inside of her. As a young girl she would always cry because of those who made fun of her, she would hide her emotions and anger as often as she could. As she got into high school, she learned what questions to answer and who to respond too. All her anger and frustration was put into that blue bottle. Now no one would ever realize she was broken, hurt. She was a lifeless soul who lived during the day. She thought she was nothing more than a waste of space. If only Aunt Loretta was still alive to encourage her, maybe she would continue. But this was something she had to figure out by herself, from innocence to experience.