You know, I’m not really one for writing, putting my words on paper. And you know I don’t like talking about feelings, but I figure I can make an exception so’s you don’t make the same mistake I did.
Yep, that’s right–I’m admitting I made a mistake, which bystanders to my marriage might recall I have a hard time doing. Well, that and saying I’m sorry.
Anyway, some of you might recall that time our barn burnt down and we lost the crop. Alice wanted to work at the post office and I put my foot down, had to be the man and all that. That’s how it was–I was the man, Alice was the woman. I always believed in keeping a certain order. I even bought her that hat just to show her what her place was. Boy, we almost nearly split that time, we did. It’s a good thing Charles was there to fix it by laughing. I guess you could say we were able to really laugh it off that time, huh?
Now that I think on it, though, maybe I was a little hard on her, considering she was only about two years from going up in smoke.
Then there was that time that I learned she had been married before. Boy, that was something else. I really had a hard time forgiving her on that one. If I had known that just months later she’d be ablaze, maybe I would have spent less time looking in the past and more time looking to the future.
I guess what I’m saying is that all of us have a time, and none of us know when that is. People die all sorts of ways, and I’ve seen it. Maybe you’ll be in a wagon accident, or maybe you’ll narrowly escape death by a millstone. People get attacked by bears, have accidents with shotguns. And, as I now know, you might be set on fire by adolescents smoking in the basement of the blind school.
I could have been nicer, and if I had known, surely I would be. Heck, maybe I would have even spent more time with her instead of chasing dreams like that time I boxed Milo.
Maybe I could have even let Alice keep the phone so’s she could talk with her Ma instead of just getting rid of the phone all because we had one bad experience with it.
Anyway, I needs to be going now. I’m helping Charles track down Albert even though I just learned he had a hand in Alice’s death just days ago.
Jonathan Garvey
Walnut Grove, Minn.
