Claire sighed as she kicked open her apartment door, arms laden with briefcases and file folders. Not even bothering to make it to the table, she dropped her burdens and flopped onto the floor, rubbing her gray eyes wearily. Her fiancé, Drake, looked up from the newspaper, his handsome face twisted in a scowl. "You worthless girl," he growled, starting towards her. It was like this every night. He would always get drunk before she came home and have some complaint or another. "You stupid little blonde. I wake up this morning and you know what I saw? Nothing, that's what I saw! You up and left again and didn't even bother to leave me beer money! You know we only had one case left!" he raged in a slur. Drawing back his foot, he kicked her sharply in the gut, this also being routine. Claire recoiled and groaned, bracing herself against the wall, trembling. She couldn't believe that in just 24 hours, she'd be married to this terrible man, and she couldn't back out now, being under a terrible threat. At this thought, she couldn't take any more. The abusive words, the blows, the trauma. With a surprising burst of energy, she leapt to her feet, dodged Drake's grasping hands and fled from the apartment, leaping desperately down the stairs and out the front door. She didn't stop running until she was half way across the city, and there she collapsed, gasping for air. A newspaper fluttered in front of Claire's face.
"Tired of city life? Need a getaway? Call MT Realtors today!" The ad showed a picture of a beautiful farmhouse, small but still quite cute, a huge field, a Chicken coop, a Livestock barn and – Claire's heart jumped at this – a horse stable! She had always loved horses as a child, and whenever she had the chance she would admire their great beauty and not come back to Earth for quite a while afterwards. Groping in her pocket, she found a dollar and, forgetting her exhaustion, ran to the nearest payphone. This was her chance to live the life she had always dreamed of living, AND to escape Drake!
Her eager fingers punched the silver keys and, hardly daring to breathe, waited for an answer. After many rings, someone finally picked up. "Hello, MT Realtors," said a coolly efficient voice on the other end of the line. Claire hesitated and swallowed determinedly. "Hello, this is Claire Daune, I'm calling about your farm ad…?" she began in an unusually high voice. "Oh!" she heard, the speaker quickly cheering. "We can arrange for you to move in immediately! Do you need directions?"
Claire had to grab the phone cord to stop herself from dancing in relief and joy. "Oh, yes please!" She listened carefully, and then with a hurried word of thanks, hung up and ran into the sidewalks. The humidity broke as rain poured down, and Claire turned her face up to it, dancing ecstatic circles until she became dizzy. Hailing a taxi, she rattled off the directions eagerly and settled in the back seat for the long ride.
Three hours later, the driver pulled up outside Mineral Town. Claire paid the main rather generously and leapt out into the late afternoon sunlight. Dashing into the town, Claire stopped and realized just how poorly off she was. She had no clothes and not the faintest idea of where her farm was. Taking a deep breath, she looked around and spotted a faded sign. "Mineral Farm, South," she read aloud, a grin lighting up her face. She ran down the red brick road, blonde hair flying behind her. A new beginning, a new life.