Chapter Six: For Jack
This snow is an awful reminder. The water that leaks through your boots, and into your socks, makes you think of that fated day when the water crept into your shoes When the water crept over your ankles, over your thighs, over your waist. And you run. You run from it. I pick up my pace. I start to run. From what? From it all. Can you run away from your problems. Yes. But can you hide? No. And I've been trying to hide. But I can't anymore. I have to live. This is step one. I don't know what step two is. But I know I can make one. I just have to take another step, and another step, and another step, and before I know it, I'll be back at the mouth of the cave.
I'm at the door of the Old Dawson house now. I got directions from the seamstress. She's giving me free lessons, so that I can make a living for the rest of my life. No. Until I get married. Can I really get married? Can anyone ever take the place of Jack? Could anything really be as fulfilling? No. But Jack wanted me to get married. If someone almost as good comes along, I will say I do. For Jack. Maybe for me too. But mostly for Jack.
I knock. A muffled voice hollers at me from inside. I wait. And the door opens.