Chapter 01
"Karen! Get me another beer, an' put it on my account!" barked Mr. Miller. This would be his fifth mug of beer. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was obviously drunk.
"Your account is already over the limit," Karen objected. She knew she had better be extremely cautious in what she said to this man, or else this one could turn very ugly.
"You blooming dare defy me?! Git me that beer blooming now or I'll have you blooming sleep with the chickens tonight!"
Karen Turned from Mr. Miller and rolled her eyes in exasperation. He knew as well as she did that they didn't have any chickens. He hated chickens. He was very obviously drunk. "Yes father," Karen mumbled as she reluctantly walked over to the bar counter, and began to prepare a drink.
"Your father doesn't have enough left on the account to buy another drink. Karen, what are you doing?" Duke asked. Karen and Duke had been good friends for as long as she could remember, and seeing as she loved to come here, he hired her as a bar tender.
"I'm taking it out of my pay check," Karen replied. "If I don't do it, he'll come after me, or worse."
"Karen," Duke groaned. "When are you going to learn? It doesn't matter at this point anymore whether or not you get him a drink. He's just going to get drunker and drunker, and if you stick around, chances are that something, or someone is going to set him off, and he will still come after you." As much as Karen hated to admit it, he was right. Just last month a scenario similar to this one had occurred, and like Duke said, something set the man off.
"Well then, what do you recommend that I do?" she inquired.
"Take the rest of the night off. Go home or something."
"But-" Karen began.
"No buts," Duke cut in. "as of right now I'm relieving you of duty."
Karen let out a long sigh. "All right." Karen put on her white Jacket and swiped a Pepsi from the fridge. "See you tomorrow," Karen called as she walked out the swinging door.
"Hey!" yelled Mr. Miller as he stumbled up from his chair. "Karen! What about my beer!?" he yelled as he stumbled out the door after her.
Duke shook his head and groaned. "Oh dear, maybe I should have let her buy that beer."
Karen ran down the dark streets of the village as fast as her slender legs would carry her, which surprisingly enough, just wasn't quite fast enough. She knew the only place she could possibly lose her father was in the forest. The trees offered obstacles that the husky man couldn't navigate through easily due to the amount of fat that he had on him. If she could just make it to the forest. Karen glanced behind her, and the sight was enough to make anyone want to vomit. Great gobs of fat jiggling every which way as her father ran. She vowed not to look back again. She was absolutely positive that her tendons would tear, or that her heart would detonate within her chest. However, none of the following came to pass. At last, she reached the creek. All that was left was to leap over it and she would be in the trees. Unfortunately, before she could attempt this, she was caught by her father's huge hand.
"How dare you! How dare you! You blooming prostitute. You have brought shame on out family! Why I ought to rip out your beating heart," yelled the big man.
"What are you talking about?!" Karen yelled as she struggled futilely to free herself from her fathers grasp.
"Don't play stupid with me. You know exactly what I'm talking about."
Then it dawned on Karen why he thought she was a prostitute. He was watching Jerry Springer this morning, and it had to do with young, teenage prostitution. In his drunken state, he thought that she was the prostitute. He father began to beat on her. The last thing she remembered was her father's fist coming towards her face. She toppled off the shore and fell into the creek.
The creek itself was shallow, but the sides were steep, and went up about a meter. When wet, they were slippery, and nearly impossible to get out of on your own.
Karen's father marched home, grumbling to himself. It began to pour. Karen was drenched, and there was nothing she could do about it.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Karen's head hurt like, possibly the next closest thing to hell, or so she thought. She was running a blazing fever. It was still raining, and she was felt as if she were colder than ice. She tried to get up, but slipped, and in the process, sprained her ankle. "Arrrgh!" she yelled. "Could things possibly get any worse?" she wondered aloud. "Help!" she cried as she nursed her ankle. "Somebody please, help me, anybody." her voice trailed off. "Anybody." she whispered. Karen tried to get out of the creek but in the process, she slipped down the side of the bank, and hurt her ankle even worse. "HELP!" she screamed, although she was sure nobody had heard her. "God, please, help."
"Hello!?" came a reply. Jack couldn't get any sleep that night, so he felt like taking a walk, in the rain, to the forest. He figured that perhaps, if he indeed heard the plea for help like he thought he heard, then perhaps God had caused him to not be able to sleep so that he could possibly help whoever was here, or something.
"Over Here!" Karen screamed. Her heart raced. Someone had actually heard her plea for help. Jack ran over to the creek. "I can't get out."
Jack leaned over the edge and gave Karen his hand. "Grab my hand." She grasped it and he slowly pulled her out. The two remained seated on the ground for a moment, as Jack caught his breathe. "My name's Jack, what's yours?"
It was a moment before Karen responded. Oh wow! She thought to herself. Time seemed to slow down, and for the first time she believed in love at first sight, but why hadn't she ever seen him before? Who would just show up on this pathetic excuse for an island for no apparent reason. "Karen." She replied. She felt dizzy, and she couldn't hide it either.
"Are you okay?" Jack asked. Karen could hear some worry in his voice.
"Sure," she replied. "I'm fine." She and Jack stood up, but Karen nearly fell, fortunately for her, Jack caught her.
"Careful. Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine," Karen insisted. There was a note of agitation in her voice, and Jack's instincts told him that he had better back off, but he ignored them. He put Karen's arm over his shoulder so that he could help support her. Karen didn't fight it. As much as she hated it, and wanted to fight it, she knew she needed his help.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Karen groaned as she woke up. She was feeling much better. "Where am I?" she wondered to herself. She looked around. The room was rather small. It was a squarish room. It had a hardwood floor, and wooden walls. In the centre of the room was a small table and a couple of chairs around it. In the far corner of the room was a television set, a wood burning stove, and an inflatable couch. On the floor lay a sleeping boy. She stopped to think for a few minutes. Then she remembered what happened last night, and suddenly everything made sense. That boy was Jack, the man who had more or less saved her life. The sun's rays began to peek through the window. On the table was a steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup, and a note beside it. The note read: "Dear Karen, The soup is for you, if it's cold, just warm it up in the microwave in the kitchen. Jack." She smiled to herself. Jack must have been up all night trying to take care of her. She sat down and began to eat. It was delicious.
Jack stirred from his sleep, and saw Karen eating. He smiled to himself. Looks like I've made myself a new friend, he thought to himself. "Good morning," he greeted. Karen jumped in surprise, spilling a little bit of the broth in her lap.
"Aaah! You startled me." She said. She returned to eating her soup, and began to literally inhale it. "This is good soup."
"Thank you. It's my mother's recipe," Jack replied. "There was a moment of silence. She was, beautiful. No, the word beautiful didn't do her justice. The epitome perfection. Now that better described her. Karen finished her soup. "I suppose we had better get you home. Where do you live anyway?" Jack asked.
"The vineyard," Karen replied.
"And where's that?" Jack asked.
"Um, a few miles from the forest's entrance."
Jack went over to the window and stared at the thermometer. Minus Seven. That's awfully cold, Jack thought. It was only the month of August after all. There was a thin layer of frost on the grass. Jack grimaced as he thought about his tomatoes. Well, they were probably already ruined, so he tried not to worry. Karen got up and wandered over to the fireplace where her coat was hanging to dry. Jack looked at it, then back at the thermometer. "Is that jacket going to be warm enough?"
"Why? How cold is it outside?"
"Minus 7 degrees," Jack replied.
"Is that Celsius, or Fahrenheit? 'Cause Fahrenheit doesn't make an ounce of sense to me."
"It's Celsius," Jack answered.
Karen thought about it for a moment. Her jacket was rather thin. It was more or less a spring jacket. "No, I don't think it will be."
Jack opened his closet and dug out a thick, blue winter coat. "Here." He handed it to her.
Karen smiled. "Thank you."
Jack returned the smile. "No problem."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Jack sucked the cold air in through his nostrils. It made him feel so alive. It gave him ideas of new things to do around the farm, or, at least it felt like it. He couldn't quite grasp what these ideas were. Oh well. The warm sun felt good against their backs. The air was full of activity. The robins were singing, and sparrows were flitting every which way.
The two walked up Karen's driveway. In the windows of Karen's house, Jack saw Mrs. Miller, Karen's mother. Mrs. Miller was a lady in about her mid forties. Her hair was curly and grey. She was tall, and rather slender. She looked extremely worried. Mrs. Millers face lit up when she saw Jack and Karen walking towards the house. Within about two point five seconds she was out the door and running towards Karen.
"Karen!" she shouted, tears pouring from her eyes.
"Mom!" Karen ran towards her mother. Karen ran into her mothers arms and they hugged.
"Oh Karen. My baby. Where have you been?"
"I was at Jack's house," she replied.
"Jack, who's he?"
"Mom, I'd like you to meet my new friend, Jack. Jack, this is my mother."
Jack extended his hand to Mrs. Miller. "Pleased to meet you."
"Why didn't you let me know you weren't coming home last night?" Mrs. Miller asked.
"Perhaps," began Karen, "we should go inside, because it's a long story."
Mrs. Miller brought them inside. "Would you care for some tea Jack," she asked, trying to make him feel comfortable.
"Only if it's not too much trouble," he answered.
"No, no not at all. Is Earl Grey all right?"
"Yes, that will be fine." Jack and Karen sat down in opposite chairs. Mrs. Miller returned from the kitchen a moment later with three cups of tea. "Thank you," Jack said as Mrs. Miller distributed the tea. Jack took a sip, and then set it down. It was just the way he liked it, not too strong.
"So Karen, what exactly happened?" Mrs. Miller asked.
Karen explained everything, from how her father had beaten her up, to when Jack had gotten her out of the creek, and treated her fever. Her mother tried her best not to bawl, but near the end, she couldn't help herself. Karen got out of her chair, and sat down beside her. Then she put an arm around her crying mother.
Jack felt really uncomfortable, or out of place in this instance, with Karen's mother crying and all. He took another sip at his hot tea. Karen's mother turned to Jack a few minutes later when she had finally calmed down.
"Jack, I would like to thank you for all you have done for my daughter. It really means a lot to me. You are welcome to come here and see her at any time." She smiled warmly at him.
"Thank you Mrs. Miller. Well, I suppose I had better get going. I must get home and tend to the chores." Just as Jack got up to leave, Karen's mother halted him.
"Wait. Wouldn't you care to stay for lunch? After all you've done, it's the least I can do." Mrs. Miller asked hopefully.
"No thank you," Jack replied as he put his cap on. Whenever he did this, there was a tuft of his brown hair sticking out the back, and it looked rather comical, so Karen thought. "The animals back home haven't had a bite to eat all morning, so I don't think it would be fair to keep them waiting much longer. Perhaps some other time." Jack smiled at her.
Mrs. Miller sighed. "Yes, well, perhaps. We'll see you later then."
Jack waved as he walked out the door. Inside of him, he felt a warm glow. He could over hear mother and daughter laughing quietly together about something or another, which he figured was good. He knew life around the farm just may get a whole lot better now that he had a friend.
"Karen! Get me another beer, an' put it on my account!" barked Mr. Miller. This would be his fifth mug of beer. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was obviously drunk.
"Your account is already over the limit," Karen objected. She knew she had better be extremely cautious in what she said to this man, or else this one could turn very ugly.
"You blooming dare defy me?! Git me that beer blooming now or I'll have you blooming sleep with the chickens tonight!"
Karen Turned from Mr. Miller and rolled her eyes in exasperation. He knew as well as she did that they didn't have any chickens. He hated chickens. He was very obviously drunk. "Yes father," Karen mumbled as she reluctantly walked over to the bar counter, and began to prepare a drink.
"Your father doesn't have enough left on the account to buy another drink. Karen, what are you doing?" Duke asked. Karen and Duke had been good friends for as long as she could remember, and seeing as she loved to come here, he hired her as a bar tender.
"I'm taking it out of my pay check," Karen replied. "If I don't do it, he'll come after me, or worse."
"Karen," Duke groaned. "When are you going to learn? It doesn't matter at this point anymore whether or not you get him a drink. He's just going to get drunker and drunker, and if you stick around, chances are that something, or someone is going to set him off, and he will still come after you." As much as Karen hated to admit it, he was right. Just last month a scenario similar to this one had occurred, and like Duke said, something set the man off.
"Well then, what do you recommend that I do?" she inquired.
"Take the rest of the night off. Go home or something."
"But-" Karen began.
"No buts," Duke cut in. "as of right now I'm relieving you of duty."
Karen let out a long sigh. "All right." Karen put on her white Jacket and swiped a Pepsi from the fridge. "See you tomorrow," Karen called as she walked out the swinging door.
"Hey!" yelled Mr. Miller as he stumbled up from his chair. "Karen! What about my beer!?" he yelled as he stumbled out the door after her.
Duke shook his head and groaned. "Oh dear, maybe I should have let her buy that beer."
Karen ran down the dark streets of the village as fast as her slender legs would carry her, which surprisingly enough, just wasn't quite fast enough. She knew the only place she could possibly lose her father was in the forest. The trees offered obstacles that the husky man couldn't navigate through easily due to the amount of fat that he had on him. If she could just make it to the forest. Karen glanced behind her, and the sight was enough to make anyone want to vomit. Great gobs of fat jiggling every which way as her father ran. She vowed not to look back again. She was absolutely positive that her tendons would tear, or that her heart would detonate within her chest. However, none of the following came to pass. At last, she reached the creek. All that was left was to leap over it and she would be in the trees. Unfortunately, before she could attempt this, she was caught by her father's huge hand.
"How dare you! How dare you! You blooming prostitute. You have brought shame on out family! Why I ought to rip out your beating heart," yelled the big man.
"What are you talking about?!" Karen yelled as she struggled futilely to free herself from her fathers grasp.
"Don't play stupid with me. You know exactly what I'm talking about."
Then it dawned on Karen why he thought she was a prostitute. He was watching Jerry Springer this morning, and it had to do with young, teenage prostitution. In his drunken state, he thought that she was the prostitute. He father began to beat on her. The last thing she remembered was her father's fist coming towards her face. She toppled off the shore and fell into the creek.
The creek itself was shallow, but the sides were steep, and went up about a meter. When wet, they were slippery, and nearly impossible to get out of on your own.
Karen's father marched home, grumbling to himself. It began to pour. Karen was drenched, and there was nothing she could do about it.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Karen's head hurt like, possibly the next closest thing to hell, or so she thought. She was running a blazing fever. It was still raining, and she was felt as if she were colder than ice. She tried to get up, but slipped, and in the process, sprained her ankle. "Arrrgh!" she yelled. "Could things possibly get any worse?" she wondered aloud. "Help!" she cried as she nursed her ankle. "Somebody please, help me, anybody." her voice trailed off. "Anybody." she whispered. Karen tried to get out of the creek but in the process, she slipped down the side of the bank, and hurt her ankle even worse. "HELP!" she screamed, although she was sure nobody had heard her. "God, please, help."
"Hello!?" came a reply. Jack couldn't get any sleep that night, so he felt like taking a walk, in the rain, to the forest. He figured that perhaps, if he indeed heard the plea for help like he thought he heard, then perhaps God had caused him to not be able to sleep so that he could possibly help whoever was here, or something.
"Over Here!" Karen screamed. Her heart raced. Someone had actually heard her plea for help. Jack ran over to the creek. "I can't get out."
Jack leaned over the edge and gave Karen his hand. "Grab my hand." She grasped it and he slowly pulled her out. The two remained seated on the ground for a moment, as Jack caught his breathe. "My name's Jack, what's yours?"
It was a moment before Karen responded. Oh wow! She thought to herself. Time seemed to slow down, and for the first time she believed in love at first sight, but why hadn't she ever seen him before? Who would just show up on this pathetic excuse for an island for no apparent reason. "Karen." She replied. She felt dizzy, and she couldn't hide it either.
"Are you okay?" Jack asked. Karen could hear some worry in his voice.
"Sure," she replied. "I'm fine." She and Jack stood up, but Karen nearly fell, fortunately for her, Jack caught her.
"Careful. Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine," Karen insisted. There was a note of agitation in her voice, and Jack's instincts told him that he had better back off, but he ignored them. He put Karen's arm over his shoulder so that he could help support her. Karen didn't fight it. As much as she hated it, and wanted to fight it, she knew she needed his help.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Karen groaned as she woke up. She was feeling much better. "Where am I?" she wondered to herself. She looked around. The room was rather small. It was a squarish room. It had a hardwood floor, and wooden walls. In the centre of the room was a small table and a couple of chairs around it. In the far corner of the room was a television set, a wood burning stove, and an inflatable couch. On the floor lay a sleeping boy. She stopped to think for a few minutes. Then she remembered what happened last night, and suddenly everything made sense. That boy was Jack, the man who had more or less saved her life. The sun's rays began to peek through the window. On the table was a steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup, and a note beside it. The note read: "Dear Karen, The soup is for you, if it's cold, just warm it up in the microwave in the kitchen. Jack." She smiled to herself. Jack must have been up all night trying to take care of her. She sat down and began to eat. It was delicious.
Jack stirred from his sleep, and saw Karen eating. He smiled to himself. Looks like I've made myself a new friend, he thought to himself. "Good morning," he greeted. Karen jumped in surprise, spilling a little bit of the broth in her lap.
"Aaah! You startled me." She said. She returned to eating her soup, and began to literally inhale it. "This is good soup."
"Thank you. It's my mother's recipe," Jack replied. "There was a moment of silence. She was, beautiful. No, the word beautiful didn't do her justice. The epitome perfection. Now that better described her. Karen finished her soup. "I suppose we had better get you home. Where do you live anyway?" Jack asked.
"The vineyard," Karen replied.
"And where's that?" Jack asked.
"Um, a few miles from the forest's entrance."
Jack went over to the window and stared at the thermometer. Minus Seven. That's awfully cold, Jack thought. It was only the month of August after all. There was a thin layer of frost on the grass. Jack grimaced as he thought about his tomatoes. Well, they were probably already ruined, so he tried not to worry. Karen got up and wandered over to the fireplace where her coat was hanging to dry. Jack looked at it, then back at the thermometer. "Is that jacket going to be warm enough?"
"Why? How cold is it outside?"
"Minus 7 degrees," Jack replied.
"Is that Celsius, or Fahrenheit? 'Cause Fahrenheit doesn't make an ounce of sense to me."
"It's Celsius," Jack answered.
Karen thought about it for a moment. Her jacket was rather thin. It was more or less a spring jacket. "No, I don't think it will be."
Jack opened his closet and dug out a thick, blue winter coat. "Here." He handed it to her.
Karen smiled. "Thank you."
Jack returned the smile. "No problem."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Jack sucked the cold air in through his nostrils. It made him feel so alive. It gave him ideas of new things to do around the farm, or, at least it felt like it. He couldn't quite grasp what these ideas were. Oh well. The warm sun felt good against their backs. The air was full of activity. The robins were singing, and sparrows were flitting every which way.
The two walked up Karen's driveway. In the windows of Karen's house, Jack saw Mrs. Miller, Karen's mother. Mrs. Miller was a lady in about her mid forties. Her hair was curly and grey. She was tall, and rather slender. She looked extremely worried. Mrs. Millers face lit up when she saw Jack and Karen walking towards the house. Within about two point five seconds she was out the door and running towards Karen.
"Karen!" she shouted, tears pouring from her eyes.
"Mom!" Karen ran towards her mother. Karen ran into her mothers arms and they hugged.
"Oh Karen. My baby. Where have you been?"
"I was at Jack's house," she replied.
"Jack, who's he?"
"Mom, I'd like you to meet my new friend, Jack. Jack, this is my mother."
Jack extended his hand to Mrs. Miller. "Pleased to meet you."
"Why didn't you let me know you weren't coming home last night?" Mrs. Miller asked.
"Perhaps," began Karen, "we should go inside, because it's a long story."
Mrs. Miller brought them inside. "Would you care for some tea Jack," she asked, trying to make him feel comfortable.
"Only if it's not too much trouble," he answered.
"No, no not at all. Is Earl Grey all right?"
"Yes, that will be fine." Jack and Karen sat down in opposite chairs. Mrs. Miller returned from the kitchen a moment later with three cups of tea. "Thank you," Jack said as Mrs. Miller distributed the tea. Jack took a sip, and then set it down. It was just the way he liked it, not too strong.
"So Karen, what exactly happened?" Mrs. Miller asked.
Karen explained everything, from how her father had beaten her up, to when Jack had gotten her out of the creek, and treated her fever. Her mother tried her best not to bawl, but near the end, she couldn't help herself. Karen got out of her chair, and sat down beside her. Then she put an arm around her crying mother.
Jack felt really uncomfortable, or out of place in this instance, with Karen's mother crying and all. He took another sip at his hot tea. Karen's mother turned to Jack a few minutes later when she had finally calmed down.
"Jack, I would like to thank you for all you have done for my daughter. It really means a lot to me. You are welcome to come here and see her at any time." She smiled warmly at him.
"Thank you Mrs. Miller. Well, I suppose I had better get going. I must get home and tend to the chores." Just as Jack got up to leave, Karen's mother halted him.
"Wait. Wouldn't you care to stay for lunch? After all you've done, it's the least I can do." Mrs. Miller asked hopefully.
"No thank you," Jack replied as he put his cap on. Whenever he did this, there was a tuft of his brown hair sticking out the back, and it looked rather comical, so Karen thought. "The animals back home haven't had a bite to eat all morning, so I don't think it would be fair to keep them waiting much longer. Perhaps some other time." Jack smiled at her.
Mrs. Miller sighed. "Yes, well, perhaps. We'll see you later then."
Jack waved as he walked out the door. Inside of him, he felt a warm glow. He could over hear mother and daughter laughing quietly together about something or another, which he figured was good. He knew life around the farm just may get a whole lot better now that he had a friend.