I circled wide around my beanstalk, trying to decide how best to test its powers. Clearly Walter's presence changed it somehow, but how exactly, I didn't know. So I did the only thing that made sense to me.
I pushed him again, this time into the beanstalk, and, again, it disappeared.
He yelled in frustration, but I didn't hear what he said. I dropped to the ground, pushing his feet to the side, searching for any indication of the beanstalk' presence. There was nothing. No tendrils like on sunny days. No hardened or clumped ground where the stalk met soil. It was empty.
I heard my name hugged from above me and peered up to find Walter looking at me in utter bewilderment. Poor guy. But I had to know. Putting on my kindest voice I asked him to take a few steps backward.
"What is this about, Jessa? First you run off, then you push me around for no reason, now you're acting like a nutter. I know you try to be different from the other girls in town, but this is a bit much, even for you."
I couldn't help but laugh. I cackled, really. But how else do you cover pain? He was right. I was different from all the others. I didn't want to spend my days making butter or patching clothes. I didn't want to marry Peter Feffelhurst and produce baby after baby until I was old and dried up and coarse. I wanted my own adventures. Was that so wrong? My cackles turned to hysterics and my hysterics turned to tears. "I'm sorry" I whispered. I didn't know what I was sorry for, exactly. Sorry for not being like everyone else. Sorry for pushing him. Sorry for being crazy. Sorry for having this fit. Sorry for being trapped in this world. Just sorry.
My heaving sobs abating, I rested my head on my knees, trying to calm my heart. This never would have happened if I had stayed in the clouds, I thought. I needed a way to stay longer. I had never tried staying past sunset. When my white world turned golden, I always returned home. But this time, the next time I went up, I would see what happened when the gold turned black.
Steeling myself, I looked up, but was surprised to find Walter kneeling in front of me, his eyes level with mine. "I like that you're different from them, Jess. I like your stories and your drawings. I'm sorry that I upset you. I didn't mean to. I just worry about you when you disappear. I..." he stammered, "I think maybe that I love you."
Walter loved me? I blinked. "But I'm weird," I blurted stupidly.
Walter laughed. "And stubborn and bossy." I cocked my eyebrow at him. This is really how you tell a girl you love her? But then he put his hand over mine gently and said "and that's what I love about you. You see things differently than any other girl I've met. You are smart and funny and creative. Do you know every day that you don't come into town I spend trying to come up with new ways to impress you? But half the time I fail because you already know what I've spent weeks trying to learn or you come up with a better way to build what I design."
I chuckle at this, remembering the well pulley he created for the Leibovitzes. After only two weeks I had adjusted it to pull enough water not only for their kitchen needs, but also for their two closest neighbors, and had laid troughs to carry the water out for them.
I bite my bottom lip, sucking it in as I make a decision. Walter quirks a smile, like he knows he's about to win. He wants to get out of this town as much as I do. He's talked about it almost as much as I've thought about it. Perhaps, sharing my world wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Walter," I take a deep breath and squeeze my eyes shut. Here goes. "Can you keep a secret?"
No comments:
Post a Comment