Strawberry Savior
"Hey, Miss Lynn!” said Ryder hopefully.
"Yes?” replied Lynn mildly annoyed.
"Can you please tell us a bedtime story tonight?” Ryder
asked while the other children giggled and agreed in the background.
Lynn hesitated, knowing she had way too much paperwork to get
done. She could not possibly spend the time to tell the children a story. The
babies would surely be up by six which gave her hardly five hours of sleep
anyways. Add in story time and she might barely squeeze in four! She looked
around at their begging faces and, as usual, she gave in saying, "Okay, but
just one!"
The children all cheered. She blushed and took a second to
rejoice in the moment. She loved when she got that butterfly feeling. The same
one she had when she first started this orphanage. Helping children is not
always easy but it is moments like these that keep her going each day.
"What story would you like to hear?” Lynn asked the
group.
Molly's hand quickly shot up in the back. She was one of the
eldest children here. She had heard all of Lynn's stories.
Molly replied, “Can you tell the one about when you knew you
were going to marry Mr. James?"
Lynn smiled- this was one of her favorites. She and her
husband James had been married for 25 years now. He always supported her and
her dreams. Without him this orphanage would not have been possible. She always
knew he was going to be hers for life.
"Of course, I love this one,” Lynn replied. The kids
all cheered and then quickly settled into bed for their story.
Lynn began, “I met James in the Farmer's Market back in
1989. I was looking for strawberries and he was looking for potatoes- or so he
said. I will never understand why he thought potatoes would be next to
strawberries. Oh well, that will be a question for you guys to ask him!"
She rolled her eyes and giggled a bit as the children all
looked at her with eager anticipation.
She continued, "We hit things off immediately. First we
grabbed coffee, then dinner, then started seeing movies. We fell so madly in love
and everything was moving so fast! I was in school at the time and he was
working a couple towns over from me. We did not get to see each other as much
as we liked but we were so in love that it did not matter. We were determined
to make things work. All was going well until one day a few weeks out from my
graduation."
Lynn paused and looked around at the small faces all
wide-eyed and full of anticipation.
She started in a softer tone saying, “We had plans one
weekend- a big date out on the lake. We had rented a cabin and it was going to
be beautiful and romantic. I get to his house and find a note on the door
saying, 'Sorry, went to the lake with the boys see you next week sometime!’
Obviously I was furious. We had all these plans and he just finds something
better to do! I felt so unimportant. I decided I would wait for his return
until I heard rumors about there being other girls on the trip but I was just
not invited. I then felt so betrayed. I convinced myself that he wasn't worth
my time and returned back to school. The next few days went by. He called and
called but I never answered. One day I got a letter. I opened it not realizing
it was from James. It claimed he had totally forgot about our trip and how
sorry he was and he wished I would just answer his calls so he could explain.
Being the stubborn woman I am I still did not call him. The next day I received
a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I still did not call. The day after that I
received a gorgeous necklace. I put a return stamp on it and sent it back. Then
I received a human-sized teddy bear! I gave it to my dogs to play with. All of
his efforts were wonderful but I was still not ready to forgive him. Then the
very next day I received a massive bouquet of chocolate-covered strawberries
with a note saying, 'Without strawberries I would have never met the woman of
my dreams'."
All the girls giggled and the boys just rolled their eyes at
such a corny line.
Lynn smiled and continued, "With that last gift I was
done. All the old feelings came flooding back and I knew he deserved
forgiveness. I ran to my door to get in my car and to my surprise he was
standing there! I wrapped my arms around him and told him how much I missed him
and he was forgiven. He apologized over and over and we just hugged. I knew
right then that this man would do anything for me. I knew in my heart that he
was the one."
Lynn stopped and looked around smiling at the children. They
all started to clap and exclaim about how beautiful the story was and they
wished for a love like Lynn and James have.
Lynn looked lovingly at the kids and said, "You all
will find loves. You just have to wait for the right one and then never let
them go over silly fights! If you do fight, don't be afraid to make up and be happy again... so you can enjoy the strawberries!"
 |
| My Favorite |
Author's Note: The inspiration for this story came from a
Cherokee tale about how strawberries were invented. In the tale a husband and
wife fight and the wife leaves. The husband tried to chase her but can't catch
up. He receives help from a god who places fruit in her way to try and get her
to stop. Nothing catches her eye until the god places a never before seen
fruit, the strawberry, in her path. Then she stops and she and the husband meet
back up and solve their problems.
I know I went a bit off track for this story but I kept the
overall concept of a couple fighting and being resolved with the help of
strawberries. I made these strawberries chocolate-covered because that is just
always better. I then added more background to the story with how the two met
and their lives now at the orphanage. My first thought was to do a bedtime
story but instead of going with once upon a time I decided this direction would
be more fun. I also pulled this story from a real life situation. A similar
event happened with me and my current boyfriend. I thought it would be
interesting to put my real life into my fiction short story.
Bibliography: Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900). Tobacco and Strawberries.
Bibliography: Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900). Tobacco and Strawberries.
