Fields of Barley, Vol. 11
(If you want to read this from the beginning, click on the Stories, Short & Otherwise Link above)
“I don’t
understand. Just last week we talked about working through this. Wasn’t it you
that said married couples fight all the time, but they work through the
problems? Didn’t you sit there and tell me that?”
Heidi
sighed and placed her head over her folded arms on the desk where she sat. She
didn’t cry. She had cried all the tears away weeks ago.
“Yes, Mark.
I did say that and I still believe it.” She raised head—her tired eyes spoke
volumes. “I want you to look into your heart and tell me what you really feel.
Do you really think we’re going to make it?”
Mark hated
Heidi when she did this, when she showed maturity that exceeded her seventeen years.
Yet it was one of the things that made him love her even more. And the worst
part was he knew she was right. His heart had known for some time, only his
head would not let go and face the fear of the unknown. After all, she was the
only girl he had ever loved.
Mark
understood from the beginning the couple had lousy odds for success. Heidi came
from a farming community several generations deep. Their family cared for the
earth as if it were a sickly child, in need of constant care. This hard work
and dedication was in their genes—in her soul. She knew that she would work,
live, and die on the same ground where she was born, where she grew up, and
where she learned much more than could ever be contained in any textbook.
Mark,
however, knew this was not where he would stay and live and eventually die. His
plans always included leaving the small town and venturing beyond the potato
and wheat fields, beyond the fields of barley to someplace else, anyplace else.
Only Mark’s plan included having Heidi with him. She would finish high school the
year after him, they would get married, and she would join him in the town in
which he attended college, eventually moving to a large city where money solves
all problems. Mark had applied to (and been accepted by) several universities
in the surrounding states. He had chosen the University of Utah due to the
exceptional reputation of the business school, and the scholarship couldn’t be
beat. Their plan began to fall apart when it became apparent Heidi was having a
tough time accepting the fact that she would be leaving home for the first time
in her life. This was their main problem and the gap became wider and wider as
Mark’s departure drew closer. Eventually, everyone knew no solution existed for
this problem, but no one dared express these obvious feelings. These two
teenagers shared a common bond that if allowed to continue on its inevitable
conclusion would doom their love forever. The drives within them were equally
strong, equally important, and yet undeniably separate.
“Heidi, you
are right,” Mark said finally in defeat. He too was tired and needed closure on
this painful decision. “I know how you feel and I can’t ask you to leave your
home and your family.”
To be continued...
NaNoWriMo Tracker: 2089 words written yesterday, 17616 words total
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