| Jenny Campbell walked slowly down the long stretch of sidewalk, the damp chill of late-January brushing against her cheeks. Strands of auburn hair peeked out from beneath her beige knitted hat. The glow of the setting sun behind distant trees was muted by a swirl of gray and white clouds. Jenny clutched an envelope in her gloved hand, deliberately taking her time to reach the mailbox at the far corner of the park. Waves of tired snow banks guided her along as several cars passed by, their headlights aglow in the encroaching twilight. © Copyright 2008 Thomas J. Prestopnik Jenny had counted down each day until her senior year of high school would be over, especially today, but mailing this letter would finally put an end to the anxiety she endured because of him. At least she hoped it would. Surely what her friend Loretta Mason had implied was correct–that it was time to grow up. Mailing this college confirmation letter would go a long way toward proving that. Jenny pressed her fingers against the envelope and scanned the address, wondering if this was the correct decision. Her eyes veered over to the five-cent stamp she had hastily pressed upon the envelope depicting Mary Cassatt’s oil painting The Boating Party. Jenny gazed at the mother holding her child upon that small boat, wondering where life’s current had taken that woman, scanning her face for any hint of instruction or guidance. Jenny slowed her already agonizingly slow stride while gazing at the mailbox ahead, wondering if she was mailing the correct letter after all. Maybe the alternative was yet possible. Maybe she still had a chance with… Jenny shook her head, chiding herself, and picked up the pace. What’s done is done, she kept repeating in her mind. And after what Loretta had confided to her in school today, it was definitely time to move on. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ “Is that meeting next Thursday?” Loretta Mason asked while eating a steaming bowl of beef barley soup, cold milk and a BLT. Amid the clatter of forks, knives and spoons and the scraping of chairs upon tiled floors, the students in the East Oaks High School cafeteria droned on, involved in at least two dozen separate, but equally crucial conversations. © Copyright 2008 Thomas J. Prestopnik Jenny Campbell sat opposite Loretta, gazing across the room at a corner table packed with senior high boys. Her eyes were fixed upon Charlie Murdock, who was currently engaged in an animated discussion about last night’s basketball game against Clover Lake High. Pale sunlight seeped through the lemon-orange swirls upon the thin window drapes behind him. Jenny continued to stare, not hearing Loretta’s question for the second time. “I think she’s gone deaf,” Amanda Spruner said, sitting next to Loretta. She slid a pair of owlish glasses up the ridge of her nose. “I think you’re right,” Loretta muttered, waving a hand in front of Jenny’s face. “Earth to Jenny Campbell. Are you with us, dear?” “Huh?” Jenny turned quickly, her cheeks flushed as she looked upon her two friends. “I’m sorry. What’d you say, Loretta?” “Just wondering about that prom committee meeting,” she replied while glancing back at the corner table, noticing Charlie Murdock. “But I see that your thoughts are– elsewhere.” Amanda peered over her shoulder and also noticed Charlie, clicking her tongue as she did so. “Jenny, now don’ t take this the wrong way because I am your friend after all, but…” Jenny scowled. “But what?” “Well, isn’t it about time you got over Charlie? He broke up with you last spring after all.” Amanda looked at Loretta, searching for support. Loretta nodded in agreement. “Yeah, Jenny. I mean…” © Copyright 2008 Thomas J. Prestopnik Jenny sighed, twirling a finger around her shoulder length hair. “I know what you girls are thinking. He’s been dating Alice Greenfield for eight months. Snap out of it!” Amanda snickered. “Actually I was thinking lose that skunk!” Loretta and Amanda laughed for a moment, then Jenny went quiet. Loretta noted a genuine sadness in her classmate’s watery eyes. “We’re just joking around,” Loretta said. “Yeah. And Charlie’s not really a skunk,” Amanda added. “I was just trying to make you feel better.” “I know. But I still miss him. I still…” Jenny looked down and stirred her soup. “Maybe if Charlie and I had time to get reacquainted with each other, we might…” Amanda shook her head and grumbled. “You’re not still thinking about going through with that horrendous plan, are you, Jenny? College is too important, especially for someone as smart as you. Don’t treat it like a toy. You can go anywhere you want. What did you get–six acceptance letters?” “Seven.” “Then what are you thinking?” Loretta chimed in. “Following Charlie to the same college won’t get you back together with him. You’ll ruin your studies using him as a distraction, moping around, feeling sorry for yourself. And like Amanda said, you can go anywhere. You have other good choices.” © Copyright 2008 Thomas J. Prestopnik “Charlie’s going to a good school,” Jenny said, taking slight offense at the remark. “Besides, Alice won’t be there, so maybe he and I could start over again.” She stared at her two disbelieving friends. “You never know!” “Tell me you didn’t mail your confirmation letter,” Amanda said. “Did you?” Jenny shook her head as she picked up half a sandwich. “Not yet. I was planning to by the end of the week. And though I value both your opinions, it’s still my decision. Nothing you can say will make me change my mind.” She took a bite of her peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich and sipped from a carton of milk. The cafeteria was a beehive of conversations. “Now can we change the subject?” “I guess,” Amanda replied with a defeated shrug. Loretta simmered for a few moments, silently debating whether or not to speak with Jenny further on the subject. She couldn’t help but recall the words her brother Jack had whispered into her ear in the front hallway last month on Christmas night. She raised her eyes above a spoonful of soup, feeling she now had no choice. “Oh, by the way, Jenny, I need to talk to you about something later. Are you free last period? I can meet you in the library.” “About what?” © Copyright 2008 Thomas J. Prestopnik “Nothing important,” Loretta said as she ate her soup. “Just something I need to tell you in private.” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Jenny took the late bus home after school that day, preferring a solitary walk back to her house along the wet gray sidewalks. After closing the front door behind her and calling out I’m home to her mother, Jenny marched directly upstairs to her bedroom. She locked the door, turned on a radio and flopped down on the bed, still bundled up in her winter coat. Jenny pulled off her hat and stared at the sky- blue walls adorned with Beatles posters as the notes of a song filled the room. © Copyright 2008 Thomas J. Prestopnik She recalled the words Loretta had spoken to her an hour ago in the school library, not wanting to believe them, but in the depths of her heart and soul, Jenny knew they must be true. After all, she had seen Charlie and Alice walking hand in hand through the hallways in school lately, happier than ever, and sensed that her own time with Charlie was irreversibly over, though loathing to acknowledge it. The notion that there might still be a chance had always flitted about on the edges of her thoughts. But now that Loretta had spoken… Jenny wondered whether to believe her classmate, though Loretta Mason had never lied to her before. They had been close friends for many years, yet while they sat at the back table in the school library, whispering to each other near the ebony bust of Columbus, Loretta had refused to reveal how she had come across such devastating information. Jenny grilled her repeatedly about the surprising details, but more importantly, asked to know who had told her such a story. But Loretta refused to budge on that point, having already broken her promise to her brother Jack to keep the information between them. Though Loretta felt that she had to let Jenny Campbell in on the secret for her own good, she vowed never to reveal that Jack was her source. © Copyright 2008 Thomas J. Prestopnik “And remember, Jenny, you can’t tell anybody that you know this!” “I already said that I wouldn’t.” “Not for at least–five years!” “I promise, Loretta! Besides, why would I want to spread the word? Charlie caused me enough misery, so why add to it?” Jenny sighed, recalling that conversation in the library as the song on the radio ended, realizing that a part of her life was now ending too–if she had the courage to let go. She turned her head and glanced at the seven envelopes stacked on her desk just as The Lovin’ Spoonful began to croon Do You Believe In Magic. Jenny sat up and removed her coat, grabbed the pile of college acceptance letters and scoured through them, finally pulling one out as if she suspected it were trying to hide from her. She stared at the envelope for a moment, leaving the letter inside, and then ripped it in half. “Charlie, go to your own college!” she said, flinging the torn halves aside. Jenny fanned out the six remaining envelopes like cards in a poker hand and closed her eyes, waving them in front of her face. She snapped up one of the envelopes by its corner and took a deep breath. Jenny held the envelope as if it were glued to her fingers, letting the other five fall to the floor. She slowly exhaled, opened her eyes, then examined the return address. Jenny smiled, bobbing to the music. © Copyright 2008 Thomas J. Prestopnik “So this is where I’ll go to college,” she whispered, pleased with the outcome of her decision-making process. “It’s as good a school as any–and who knows what awaits me there.” After rereading the newly chosen acceptance letter and filling out the confirmation form attached to it, Jenny galloped downstairs to the den to get an envelope on her father’s roll top desk. She carefully addressed it in blue ink, folded the form and placed it inside, then rifled through the top draw for a postage stamp. She tore one off, licked the back and pressed it firmly on the upper right- hand corner of the envelope, feeling as if she were about to sail away like the woman and child shown in the boat on the five-cent stamp. “Mom, what time’s dinner?” Jenny asked a few moments later, popping her head through the kitchen doorway while slipping on her winter coat. The scent of simmering tomato sauce and meatballs filled the room. “Five-thirty, sweetheart,” Mrs. Campbell said, looking up as she tore open a head of lettuce over the sink. “Going somewhere?” “Just have to run out and mail a letter,” Jenny replied as she yanked a knitted hat over her head. “I’ll be right back!” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The glow of the setting sun brightened slightly as the swirl of winter clouds thinned. Jenny picked up her pace as she walked along the sidewalk in the park, the mailbox nearer with each step. With this single letter clutched in her gloved hand, a new direction in life would be launched, one she had not foreseen until after that talk in the school library with Loretta Mason. But Jenny felt better now because of that conversation, felt a tightness evaporating from her shoulders and her thoughts as she stepped up to the metal box coated with frozen water droplets. Without a second of hesitation, Jenny grabbed the handle, opened the mailbox and dropped the letter inside. Her decision was final. © Copyright 2008 Thomas J. Prestopnik When Jenny released the swinging door, the slight groaning of metal against metal dissipated into the damp evening air, punctuating both a heart-wrenching conclusion and a brand new beginning. Jenny Campbell turned around and headed home, standing a bit taller as she smoothed out the sleeves of her coat and enjoyed the sweet, cold air of late January. The passing cars shimmered in the thickening twilight. She wondered where they were going and where they had been. Jenny contemplated her own road out of East Oaks, now having taken her first step upon it with the drop of a simple letter into a mailbox. As soon as autumn prepared to reveal itself in a vigorous palette of gold, red, purple and orange, the journey would continue. She envisioned the people she might meet and events that would shape her existence, though Jenny knew that life, as she had learned so well today, would ultimately unfold in its own manner and at its own pace. How you dealt with it was what mattered most. © Copyright 2008 Thomas J. Prestopnik So much could depend upon a snap judgment or a chance encounter, such as a last-minute decision to attend an off- campus Halloween party during sophomore year, or hastily donning a yellow Hawaiian shirt and placing a plastic tropical flower in one’s hair for a spur-of-the-moment costume, or weaving through a household of boisterous goblins, pirates, stewardesses and gangsters for a breath of fresh air in a moonlit backyard, or an amused hello to a young man nursing a beer among friends on the back deck, who also happened to sport a Hawaiian shirt and an orange plastic lei. So much could transpire after a three-hour conversation over pretzels and drinks, after long, leisurely strolls hand in hand through the side streets of a college town, after a special long walk down a church aisle one year removed from the flinging of graduation caps, or during a drive through the countryside two years later as the Beatles sing The Long and Winding Road on the radio while a young couple gleefully decides upon the name Gloria for their first child. Jenny couldn’t help but smile as she strolled down the snowy sidewalk. The mailbox receded in the distance as she headed home, and with it, a handful of her youthful perceptions. She felt as if she had scaled a steep hilltop after a struggle of a climb and now stood gazing out upon a breathtaking ocean vista. Jenny Campbell was ready to dive in, once again looking forward to whatever life had to send her way. © Copyright 2008 Thomas J. Prestopnik |
| ~ CHAPTER 10 ~ |
| A CHRISTMAS CASTLE |
| by Thomas J. Prestopnik © Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved. |
