Chapter 1- When You Return
Elli sat down at her desk in the Clinic with Doctor Tom looking at her with constant concern.
"Yes?" Elli said, looking up at him. He flushed.
"Elli, will you marry me?" He asked, trying to put a blue feather in her hair.
"No. Doc, look." Elli said lamely. She didn't want to tell Doc she had promised her foot in marriage to a boy she hadn't since she was seven. Her heart jerked. "Just stop." Elli felt the white-hot tears burning in the back of her eyes.
Doc looked away, embarrassed. He began to choke out words. "But Elli, you-"
"I know. You like me." Elli turned away. It was real sweet of Doc to treat her like this, but she had loved that boy since forever, and she wasn't prepared to give up soon.
"No. Elli." Elli looked up. "I love you Elli." Doc stammered. Elli dimly registered that if Doc's face got any redder, it would turn purple or blue.
"Look, Doc, its awful sweet, but I don't love you." Doc looked away.
"Oh." He left the room, footsteps quiet. The only thing that proved Doc had ever visited her office was a single trail of tears, dotted along the floor. Elli sighed.
Doc was one of the few people Elli trusted with her life. And now he was totally peeved at her.
With Grandma sick, Doc mad, and Stu being his usual pain-in-the-butt self, Elli had enough stress as it was.
The hot, sunny day proceeded normally, and strangely fast.
By the time the sun was perched high in the clear blue sky, the temperature had reached almost 100° F, and Elli was worried that Grandma would have a heat stroke.
Munching on her turkey sandwich, Elli was reflecting on the time spent with that mysterious boy, Jay. He had had wavy brown hair, and bluish-brown eyes. He wore a baseball hat, and a funny orange backpack. She had a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. What if Jay had changed? What if he didn't remember her? What if…?
"Elli!" A voice interrupted Elli as she picked remnants of lettuce from her teeth. Her head shot up, to see Stu, making a weird face. He was holding an envelope.
Elli's imagination took over. Grandma was dead and that was her will.
"Stu, what happened?" Kneeling down, she shook Stu by the shoulders furiously. What if something had happened to Grandma?
"Uhuhuhl." Was all Stu said.
"Maybe if you stopped shaking the poor boy, he would be capable of telling you." A cool voice behind Elli said. She looked back, getting off her knees. Doc. He was glaring at her, brown eyes cold.
"I found a letter for you in the mail. And it's from a place called GobbleyGeck City." Stu said triumphantly.
"GobbleyGeck City, huh?" Elli knew that Stu couldn't read very well.
"Uh-huh. GobbleyGeck City." Stu said proudly, handing Elli the fancy envelope.
Scanning the return address, Elli chuckled. "Stu, that says Great Green City, not GobbleyGeck."
"Oh." Stu said, slightly crestfallen. "Well, who's it from?" Stu asked eagerly.
Elli skimmed the short letter written inside. "It's from my friend, my friend from the city." She fell silent, rereading the letter.
"Okay. I'll be at the Church with Carter and May if you need me." Stu said brightly, running off, oblivious to Elli's troubles.
Sitting down in her office chair, Elli read the letter yet again.
Shocked, Elli stared at the neat printing. Jay was coming. To visit her.
"Yay!" Elli jumped up. Maybe she was telepathic. Maybe because she thought about Jay during her lunch break, he had to come!
If the letter had taken about three days to come, and Jay was due to arrive in three days, Elli realized that Jay was going to show up tomorrow morning!
Leaving a note on her desk, Elli wrote that she had a sudden case of the flu, and would be going home.
The brick path cooked under the blazing sun. Most of the villagers didn't even bother leaving the air-conditioned interior of their comfortable houses. And why should they? Only Elli was crazy enough to run the short way home from the Clinic.
Panting, Elli collapsed on her four-poster bed in her medium sized room. The white ceiling reflected the hated sunrays, and Elli rolled over. She faced the powder blue walls. Grandma had painted them ever so carefully when she had been younger, and healthier.
The wall color reminded Elli of what she needed to wear. She already had decided to try to impress him. She'd wear the only option- an ironed, baby blue dress, with her only jewelry, her mother's diamond necklace.
All Elli wanted to do was relive what they had together in childhood. Elli wanted to reminisce with him, and laugh at what they had done.
They'd live in a big house, and have two kids, one boy, and one girl. Elli would be a home mother, and she'd forget about the Clinic. Jay would work the fields and animals all day.
He'd come in at night and they'd talk, and laugh over some of Elli's famous Wild berry Pie.
Then Elli's logical side intervened. It was a dream life, just a dream. She'd never earn money, and nobody had ever even tried her cooking. For all Elli knew, she could be worse than Karen!
But Elli smiled. It could happen, couldn't it? Jay could be filthy rich! He was the dream husband.
Sighing, Elli turned to the seven-thirty sunset, and watched the vivid reds, glowing oranges, valiant yellows, and soft lavenders slowly change to night, warm and breezy.