Chapter 5
Maria gently pushed the spaghetti around her plate and sighed. Life, for her, had been dull and repetitive for the past several years. She simply didn't see why her father insisted that she be the librarian. Virtually nobody visits the library much anymore. Well, that wasn't one hundred percent true. There was Jack who was relatively new to the island, and he hasn't read all of the books that were there. And then there was Harris... She smiled weakly as his handsome image flowed soothingly across her mind. Harris visited the library quite frequently now. For the most part, she enjoyed his company.
"Maria, dear, is everything alright? You've hardly touched your spaghetti," asked Mrs. Thompson.
Maria was torn from her thoughts and thrown back into the real world. She looked up from her plate and into her mothers eyes. "Yes mum," Maria answered. She sighed and went back to looking into her plate for a few moments. "Mum, may I please be excused from the table? I'm not really hungry."
Maria's mother smiled and nodded as Maria pushed back her chair and took her dishes over to the sink, and set them on the counter right next to it.
"I'm going to go out and get some fresh air," said Maria just before she exited through the back door.
"Poor kid," Mrs. Thompson remarked. "She looks so depressed... and lonely..."
"Hmm..." said Mayor Thompson as he shoveled another forkful of spaghetti into his mouth. "I haven't noticed."
"Don't you pay the least bit of attention to your daughter?" exclaimed Mrs. Thompson.
"No. After all, as I recall, she's not 'my' daughter. Remember?"
"You shut up!" demanded Mrs. Thompson, her temper flaring. As much as she hated to admit it, her husband was right. He wasn't the father. And she absolutely hated being reminded of this fact.
"Fine!" snorted Mayor Thompson, finishing off his plate of spaghetti. He patted his full stomache in satisfaction. "Really, I don't see why you insist on hiding this from Maria. She does deserve to know."
"Shut up!" shouted Mrs. Thompson. She was on the verge of tears. Having had enough of this, she got up and stormed out of the house. As she was doing so, the phone rang...
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The bushes rustled slightly. Maria turned to see if she could identify whatever was causing them to do so. "Hello?" she called out as she slowly approached them.
"Meow?" came a reply from the bushes. It obviously was not a cat. Afterall, what kind of cat actually said the word 'meow'?
Maria approched the bushes. "Hello? I know your not a cat. So just come out, okay?"
And thats exactly what the meowing somebody did. Once Maria was within several feet of the hedge, the 'meowing somebody' sprung from the bushes and pounced on Maria. Maria screeched as she fell backwards onto the lawn, the 'meowing somebody' on top of her. The 'meowing somebody' kissed her playfully on the cheek and took off, laughing.
Maria sat up. She recognised that laugh. "Harris..." a second later, she was on her feet, pursuing him. It wasn't too terribly difficult to follow him in the bright moon light. Within a minute, she had caught up to him. Without thinking, she pounced on him from behind, knocking Harris to the ground. "I've got you now..." Maria whispered into his ear, trying to restrain herself from bursting into fits of laughter.
"No, you don't..." replyed Harris, arching his back and letting Maria slide down. He began to trudg towards the forests edge, still laughing. He had only gone a few feet when he collapsed in a fit of laughter.
At that point Maria's restrain failed, and she too burst into a fit of laughter. She couldn't remember ever having laughed so hard. A few minutes later, after they had both calmed down, Maria slid herself along the ground, right next to Harris. They looked into each others eyes, and began to laugh again.
Harris slowly reached out for Maria's hand, and firmly grasped it in his own hand. For the first time in her life, Maria felt like she was truely loved. She tightened her own grip on Harris's hand, never wanting to let it go, ever.
They looked up into the heavens, and gazed at the beautiful vastness of it. It wasn't perfectly clear because of the moons brightness. But that was something that they could live with. Just then, a shooting star streaked across the sky.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Harris awoke to a sudden knocking on his cabin door. He looked around the dimly lit room. The only two sources of light were coming from the cracks of a boarded up window, and the blank screen of his television set. He found Maria curled up with him on his love seat, and a bowl of spilled popcorn on the floor. The night before, they came here after an hour or so of star gazing and watched a late night film. They must have fallen asleep near the end.
"Harris!" called the mayor from the front door as he knocked again. "Harris, wake up you lazy oaf!"
Harris tried gently wiggling his lap out from under Maria, so as not to wake the black haired, sleeping beauty. He got so his feet and stumbled to the door.
"Harris! Open up!" It was at this point that it fully sunk in who was at the door. Mayor Thompson, Maria's dad.
"Crap!" muttered Harris, figuring that the Mayor was here regarding Maria. What would he think if he found out that Maria had spent the night here? What would he do? Harris, being a rather honest person, mentally resolved to tell the truth if he was asked. It would most likely save both him and Maria a lot of unnessisary grief. "Hello..." Harris muttered groggily as he opened the door a crack.
"Harris. Finally. I'm here to inform you that we are having an emergency meeting at the town square right around noon. That'll give you about an hour to get ready."
"What's the meeting about?" asked Harris.
"The survival of our town," replied the Mayor. Harris raised an eyebrow. "Look, everything will be explained at the meeting. See you there." And with that, the Mayor left.
Harris sighed with relief. The Mayor hadn't asked about Maria. Although they had absolutley nothing to hide, Harris had been hoping, even praying, that the Mayor wouldn't bring up Maria in their conversation. And he hadn't.
Maria walked up to Harris and wrapped her arms around Harris's chest, resting her head on his shoulders. "Goodmorning," she whispered. "Who was that at the door?"
Harris gently gripped Maria's arms and sighed. "Your father..."
* * * * * * * * * * *
"Now, I know you are all wondering why I called this emergency meeting," said Mayor Thompson. He looked out over the crowd that sat on the chairs set up in the town square, and as far as he could see, everyone was here. "As you may know, the village is in severe debt. Nearly 550 000 dollars in debt. For the past 25 years, we have made no progress in paying this off. We have only been able to pay off most the yearly interest. As most of you may know, this debt is about as old as the village itself. We had to borrow this money in order to purchase this island from the mainland government. The bank has been extremely patient with us, but their patience has growing thin. They want this debt paid off within the next three and a half years. Other wise, the island, and everything we own on it will be taken. Our homes, our belongings, our livestock... everything..."
There were some gasps that come fourth from the citizens as the mayor said this, and the people began to murmer.
"Ahem... Can I have your attention please?" asked the Mayor as he banged his small gavel on the pedistal at which he stood. "We have been offered an easy way out. I got a phone call last night from a vacation resort development agency. They have offered to buy the land from us for 1 million dollars. I almost said yes, but I asked the representative of the company that had called me to give me some time to decide. And that is why I bring it to you. For this is not my village alone, but it is equally yours as well."
"Well, if we are that far in debt, what good does it do trying to get out on our own?" asked Duke, the local bar tender. Duke was one of the oldest men still living in the village. He wore a purple vest, black pants, and a black streak up his grey hair.
"Yes, it will be very hard, and risky. At least with the development agency, we have a way out without losing everything. But... I have done considerable thinking... and I have concluded that if we all pitch in every cent that we earn and limit our spending, we can pull it off. It would involve selling just about all of our produce, save for the ammount that we need to sustain ourselves, and everything that we can spare," said the mayor.
"Will it still be enough to pay it off?" asked the plump Mr. Miller.
"I don't know," replied the mayor solomly. "It is at the mercy of the weather, and... Jack"
* * * * * * * * * * *
Jack walked up the concrete steps of his parents house, and rang the doorbell. He hadn't been here since the day he left for his grandpa's funeral. It must have been at least two, maybe three weeks ago. Jack found it difficult to keep track of time at the island. There seemed to be very little point in doing so. Jack waited for about a minute, and after a moment, a startling revelation dawned on him. 'This is my house, well, sort of. I don't need to knock...' Suddenly the door opened up, and there was his father. Ed Davis. "Hi dad," said Jack.
"Jack...? What in the blazes are you doing here?"
"Can I come in?"
"Ah yes. You run away to that island there and stay without telling us, and then you come crawling back home, and ask to come in. Yes, well, might as well... considering you actually bothered to come all of this way..."
"Er... thanks," said Jack as he walked in after his dad. He sniffed the air as he entered the building. It smelled sort of stale, and had the faint aroma of second hand smoke. "Not exactly the warm welcome I was hoping for..." said Jack as he looked around the messy living room. There were empty pizza boxes strewn about, and empty beer cans and bottles stacked in every nook and cranny. "Where's mom?"
"Uh, she's on one of her buisness trips," replied Ed as he sauntered over to the old, yellow fridge and took out a couple bottles of beer. "You want one?" he asked, looking over his shoulder to Jack.
"Sure," replied Jack. Jack caught the bottle that was tossed to him. He put the lid of the bottle between his teeth, and promptly tore it off.
"So... hows the farm?" asked Ed. He leaned against the kitchen counter, and also removed the bottle cap in the same manner as Jack had done. It was a sort of tradition that he and Jack used to have. Jack would used to Joke about Ed getting dentures, and having to switch to a bottle opener.
"It needs work. Lots of it. Although the house is still in prime shape," replied Jack.
"Ah, yes. Good, very good." Ed took a swig from his bottle. "I suppose I should get around to asking, what brings you here?"
"Well, I figured that I should let someone know where I am. And... I did leave my stuff here."
"Hmm..."
"Anyway, it's great living there. The people are really friendly, the air is so clean, and it's rather quiet..." Jack sighed happily as he thought about the island. Then he frowned. "Dad, why didn't you come to Grandpa's funeral?"
"I didn't know the man."
"What do you mean, you didn't know the man."
"Exactly that. He may have been my father, and we may share similar genetic trates, but thats where our similaritys end." He took another gulp of his beer, and looked over to Jack. "You haven't hardly touched your beer," said Ed, changing the subject.
Jack looked down at it. "Oh, right." He took a small swallow.
"Oh come on now, thats hardly even worth all the trouble of swallowing, you got to swallow in large quantitys, like this." Ed chugged the last half of his bottle down.
Jack chuckled at his dads interesting logic. He set his nearly full bottle down. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get a little rest. It's been a long day," said Jack as he headed towards the staircase that lead towards his room.
"Yeah, what ever." Ed rubbed his beer belly and groaned. "Maybe large quantities isn't such a hot idea..." he murmered as he made his way over to the large easy chair that sat in front of the television set.
A/N: I am really sorry that it took something like three or four months to get around to doing this chapter. I will try and get more up more frequently from now on. Anyway, I have a special thank you to hand out. Thank you "I am Me" for your reveiw. If that review hadn't come in, chances are that I wouldn't have gotten around to continuing on this story for quite a while longer. I also want to thank all of those who listened to me tell my story at camp, and give me thumbs up and other encouragement. And I'd also like to thank Jesus for everything he has done for me. I was thinking about writing a history of this chapter, but I don't think I will. So, until next time, please read and review.
Maria gently pushed the spaghetti around her plate and sighed. Life, for her, had been dull and repetitive for the past several years. She simply didn't see why her father insisted that she be the librarian. Virtually nobody visits the library much anymore. Well, that wasn't one hundred percent true. There was Jack who was relatively new to the island, and he hasn't read all of the books that were there. And then there was Harris... She smiled weakly as his handsome image flowed soothingly across her mind. Harris visited the library quite frequently now. For the most part, she enjoyed his company.
"Maria, dear, is everything alright? You've hardly touched your spaghetti," asked Mrs. Thompson.
Maria was torn from her thoughts and thrown back into the real world. She looked up from her plate and into her mothers eyes. "Yes mum," Maria answered. She sighed and went back to looking into her plate for a few moments. "Mum, may I please be excused from the table? I'm not really hungry."
Maria's mother smiled and nodded as Maria pushed back her chair and took her dishes over to the sink, and set them on the counter right next to it.
"I'm going to go out and get some fresh air," said Maria just before she exited through the back door.
"Poor kid," Mrs. Thompson remarked. "She looks so depressed... and lonely..."
"Hmm..." said Mayor Thompson as he shoveled another forkful of spaghetti into his mouth. "I haven't noticed."
"Don't you pay the least bit of attention to your daughter?" exclaimed Mrs. Thompson.
"No. After all, as I recall, she's not 'my' daughter. Remember?"
"You shut up!" demanded Mrs. Thompson, her temper flaring. As much as she hated to admit it, her husband was right. He wasn't the father. And she absolutely hated being reminded of this fact.
"Fine!" snorted Mayor Thompson, finishing off his plate of spaghetti. He patted his full stomache in satisfaction. "Really, I don't see why you insist on hiding this from Maria. She does deserve to know."
"Shut up!" shouted Mrs. Thompson. She was on the verge of tears. Having had enough of this, she got up and stormed out of the house. As she was doing so, the phone rang...
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The bushes rustled slightly. Maria turned to see if she could identify whatever was causing them to do so. "Hello?" she called out as she slowly approached them.
"Meow?" came a reply from the bushes. It obviously was not a cat. Afterall, what kind of cat actually said the word 'meow'?
Maria approched the bushes. "Hello? I know your not a cat. So just come out, okay?"
And thats exactly what the meowing somebody did. Once Maria was within several feet of the hedge, the 'meowing somebody' sprung from the bushes and pounced on Maria. Maria screeched as she fell backwards onto the lawn, the 'meowing somebody' on top of her. The 'meowing somebody' kissed her playfully on the cheek and took off, laughing.
Maria sat up. She recognised that laugh. "Harris..." a second later, she was on her feet, pursuing him. It wasn't too terribly difficult to follow him in the bright moon light. Within a minute, she had caught up to him. Without thinking, she pounced on him from behind, knocking Harris to the ground. "I've got you now..." Maria whispered into his ear, trying to restrain herself from bursting into fits of laughter.
"No, you don't..." replyed Harris, arching his back and letting Maria slide down. He began to trudg towards the forests edge, still laughing. He had only gone a few feet when he collapsed in a fit of laughter.
At that point Maria's restrain failed, and she too burst into a fit of laughter. She couldn't remember ever having laughed so hard. A few minutes later, after they had both calmed down, Maria slid herself along the ground, right next to Harris. They looked into each others eyes, and began to laugh again.
Harris slowly reached out for Maria's hand, and firmly grasped it in his own hand. For the first time in her life, Maria felt like she was truely loved. She tightened her own grip on Harris's hand, never wanting to let it go, ever.
They looked up into the heavens, and gazed at the beautiful vastness of it. It wasn't perfectly clear because of the moons brightness. But that was something that they could live with. Just then, a shooting star streaked across the sky.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Harris awoke to a sudden knocking on his cabin door. He looked around the dimly lit room. The only two sources of light were coming from the cracks of a boarded up window, and the blank screen of his television set. He found Maria curled up with him on his love seat, and a bowl of spilled popcorn on the floor. The night before, they came here after an hour or so of star gazing and watched a late night film. They must have fallen asleep near the end.
"Harris!" called the mayor from the front door as he knocked again. "Harris, wake up you lazy oaf!"
Harris tried gently wiggling his lap out from under Maria, so as not to wake the black haired, sleeping beauty. He got so his feet and stumbled to the door.
"Harris! Open up!" It was at this point that it fully sunk in who was at the door. Mayor Thompson, Maria's dad.
"Crap!" muttered Harris, figuring that the Mayor was here regarding Maria. What would he think if he found out that Maria had spent the night here? What would he do? Harris, being a rather honest person, mentally resolved to tell the truth if he was asked. It would most likely save both him and Maria a lot of unnessisary grief. "Hello..." Harris muttered groggily as he opened the door a crack.
"Harris. Finally. I'm here to inform you that we are having an emergency meeting at the town square right around noon. That'll give you about an hour to get ready."
"What's the meeting about?" asked Harris.
"The survival of our town," replied the Mayor. Harris raised an eyebrow. "Look, everything will be explained at the meeting. See you there." And with that, the Mayor left.
Harris sighed with relief. The Mayor hadn't asked about Maria. Although they had absolutley nothing to hide, Harris had been hoping, even praying, that the Mayor wouldn't bring up Maria in their conversation. And he hadn't.
Maria walked up to Harris and wrapped her arms around Harris's chest, resting her head on his shoulders. "Goodmorning," she whispered. "Who was that at the door?"
Harris gently gripped Maria's arms and sighed. "Your father..."
* * * * * * * * * * *
"Now, I know you are all wondering why I called this emergency meeting," said Mayor Thompson. He looked out over the crowd that sat on the chairs set up in the town square, and as far as he could see, everyone was here. "As you may know, the village is in severe debt. Nearly 550 000 dollars in debt. For the past 25 years, we have made no progress in paying this off. We have only been able to pay off most the yearly interest. As most of you may know, this debt is about as old as the village itself. We had to borrow this money in order to purchase this island from the mainland government. The bank has been extremely patient with us, but their patience has growing thin. They want this debt paid off within the next three and a half years. Other wise, the island, and everything we own on it will be taken. Our homes, our belongings, our livestock... everything..."
There were some gasps that come fourth from the citizens as the mayor said this, and the people began to murmer.
"Ahem... Can I have your attention please?" asked the Mayor as he banged his small gavel on the pedistal at which he stood. "We have been offered an easy way out. I got a phone call last night from a vacation resort development agency. They have offered to buy the land from us for 1 million dollars. I almost said yes, but I asked the representative of the company that had called me to give me some time to decide. And that is why I bring it to you. For this is not my village alone, but it is equally yours as well."
"Well, if we are that far in debt, what good does it do trying to get out on our own?" asked Duke, the local bar tender. Duke was one of the oldest men still living in the village. He wore a purple vest, black pants, and a black streak up his grey hair.
"Yes, it will be very hard, and risky. At least with the development agency, we have a way out without losing everything. But... I have done considerable thinking... and I have concluded that if we all pitch in every cent that we earn and limit our spending, we can pull it off. It would involve selling just about all of our produce, save for the ammount that we need to sustain ourselves, and everything that we can spare," said the mayor.
"Will it still be enough to pay it off?" asked the plump Mr. Miller.
"I don't know," replied the mayor solomly. "It is at the mercy of the weather, and... Jack"
* * * * * * * * * * *
Jack walked up the concrete steps of his parents house, and rang the doorbell. He hadn't been here since the day he left for his grandpa's funeral. It must have been at least two, maybe three weeks ago. Jack found it difficult to keep track of time at the island. There seemed to be very little point in doing so. Jack waited for about a minute, and after a moment, a startling revelation dawned on him. 'This is my house, well, sort of. I don't need to knock...' Suddenly the door opened up, and there was his father. Ed Davis. "Hi dad," said Jack.
"Jack...? What in the blazes are you doing here?"
"Can I come in?"
"Ah yes. You run away to that island there and stay without telling us, and then you come crawling back home, and ask to come in. Yes, well, might as well... considering you actually bothered to come all of this way..."
"Er... thanks," said Jack as he walked in after his dad. He sniffed the air as he entered the building. It smelled sort of stale, and had the faint aroma of second hand smoke. "Not exactly the warm welcome I was hoping for..." said Jack as he looked around the messy living room. There were empty pizza boxes strewn about, and empty beer cans and bottles stacked in every nook and cranny. "Where's mom?"
"Uh, she's on one of her buisness trips," replied Ed as he sauntered over to the old, yellow fridge and took out a couple bottles of beer. "You want one?" he asked, looking over his shoulder to Jack.
"Sure," replied Jack. Jack caught the bottle that was tossed to him. He put the lid of the bottle between his teeth, and promptly tore it off.
"So... hows the farm?" asked Ed. He leaned against the kitchen counter, and also removed the bottle cap in the same manner as Jack had done. It was a sort of tradition that he and Jack used to have. Jack would used to Joke about Ed getting dentures, and having to switch to a bottle opener.
"It needs work. Lots of it. Although the house is still in prime shape," replied Jack.
"Ah, yes. Good, very good." Ed took a swig from his bottle. "I suppose I should get around to asking, what brings you here?"
"Well, I figured that I should let someone know where I am. And... I did leave my stuff here."
"Hmm..."
"Anyway, it's great living there. The people are really friendly, the air is so clean, and it's rather quiet..." Jack sighed happily as he thought about the island. Then he frowned. "Dad, why didn't you come to Grandpa's funeral?"
"I didn't know the man."
"What do you mean, you didn't know the man."
"Exactly that. He may have been my father, and we may share similar genetic trates, but thats where our similaritys end." He took another gulp of his beer, and looked over to Jack. "You haven't hardly touched your beer," said Ed, changing the subject.
Jack looked down at it. "Oh, right." He took a small swallow.
"Oh come on now, thats hardly even worth all the trouble of swallowing, you got to swallow in large quantitys, like this." Ed chugged the last half of his bottle down.
Jack chuckled at his dads interesting logic. He set his nearly full bottle down. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get a little rest. It's been a long day," said Jack as he headed towards the staircase that lead towards his room.
"Yeah, what ever." Ed rubbed his beer belly and groaned. "Maybe large quantities isn't such a hot idea..." he murmered as he made his way over to the large easy chair that sat in front of the television set.
A/N: I am really sorry that it took something like three or four months to get around to doing this chapter. I will try and get more up more frequently from now on. Anyway, I have a special thank you to hand out. Thank you "I am Me" for your reveiw. If that review hadn't come in, chances are that I wouldn't have gotten around to continuing on this story for quite a while longer. I also want to thank all of those who listened to me tell my story at camp, and give me thumbs up and other encouragement. And I'd also like to thank Jesus for everything he has done for me. I was thinking about writing a history of this chapter, but I don't think I will. So, until next time, please read and review.