my book

My computer is acting up. I have the beginning of a story written and stored in Word. I'm afraid of losing it and thought I'd post it here. It is loosely autobiographical. It came very easily to me one evening. It was very therapeutic. :-) I have ideas for the rest of the book but haven't sat down to write them yet.

CHAPTER 1

Jeannie sat on the log. The sun was warm on her face and shoulders. This was

her spot to wait for him. In her sixteen years on this earth there was no one she loved

more. She was a typical teenager in that she didn’t see eye to eye with her parents. Her

father hadn’t paid attention to her in years. He said not one word to her after a fight they

had when she was thirteen. She couldn’t even remember what the argument was about.

She knew that she had pretty much blocked the memory of it out of her head. She didn’t

want to think about it. Why the father that made her feel like a princess when she was

little could not so much as say hello to her now. She was grateful to have her best friend

Pat, and her family living nearby. They were a Christian family. She knew they acted

much different than her family. They seemed to truly care about each other. She would

never forget the day they wanted to go shopping but Pat said she didn’t have money.

Pat’s older sister, Darci, rolled her eyes teasingly and said, “Oh Pat, you are such a brat!”

as she handed her twenty dollars. That made quite an impression on Jeannie. Her family,

even she could admit, she herself, was not giving towards each other, especially where

hard earned, scarcely seen money was concerned. If she did not have their home as a

place of refuge when things got rough at home, she got a chill and caught her breath as

the sight of him made her forget to think.

He was Will Allen. He was also sixteen but three months younger than Jeannie.

They grew up together. They were best friends before Jeannie realized that she had fallen for

him. He was crazy about her. With her blonde hair and striking blue eyes he felt as if he was the

luckiest boy in the world. He had been in love with her for months before she would tell him the

same. He was not what other girls would say is cute. His nose was a little bent and he had a

crooked smile. He won her over with all of the kindnesses he showed her. They took walks

through the woods. He would pick her flowers off of his mother’s prized rhododendron bush. He

would write her poetry and letters proclaiming his undying love. If ever she was in trouble she

knew all she had to do was place a phone call and he would be right there for her, tissues in

hand. He was smart too. He had German ancestors and would tell her sweet nothings in

German. When they would look at the stars at night he would point out the constellations to

her. They had let their love go further than maybe it should have. Her mom wanted her to wait

until marriage because it was what she was supposed to do. That’s it. That was the only

reason. She had no problem giving in to him on a cold day in February when his mom wasn’t at

home. Besides, they loved each other and would eventually be married.

She rose to meet him. As soon as he was close enough she put her arms around him,

hugged him, and planted a kiss on his neck. It was his favorite way in which to be greeted by

her. When she let go she could see he was holding something. It was a package wrapped in

shining silver paper. He handed it to her and as he did kissed her lips. It was not her birthday

but he had taken a job in a local diner and regularly spent his check on gifts for her. He had taken

the job because she told him she was bored and he was afraid of losing her to someone with a

car.
“Hey babe. I bought you something I know your gonna like.” She thought she knew what

it was and smiled at him. Just a few days before they had gone window-shopping. They had

stopped in front of the local jewelry store. There was a set of mizpah necklaces for couples to

wear. She carefully unwrapped the box and he mentioned something about how girls open their

packages as if to save the wrapping. From inside the box she pulled the two necklaces out and

put them together. They fit like puzzle pieces. She read out loud “The LORD watch between me

and thee, when we are absent one from another. Genesis 31:49.” He had their names engraved

on them. She quickly took his half and put it around his neck. He was hers and she was happy.

He took her half from her hand and clumsily unhooked the latch and put it on her. She looked

even more beautiful and he was proud of the special relationship they shared.