Jealousy is an ugly word and to carry out this word in action can ruin a good friendship that has taken years to build up.
Keeping a secret to yourself is the hardest thing to do in the world. You always want to tell someone, and you keep looking for signs of loyalty in others who you could possibly confide in. You only hope to find someone you can trust to keep the secret with you. You wonder what would happen if that person then betrayed you and told someone else about your secret. Then it would no longer be a secret when a third person hears it. Only God can tell what that third person would do.
Grandma Annie held onto her secret for as long as she could, fearing that if she told someone they would think she has gone crazy and perhaps, they would even take away the dresser. She couldn't let that happen. At her age, the dresser is her only enjoyment in life. Every time she steps into the dresser, she would become young again, meeting all of her old friends and living her life all over again.
Sometimes, she wondered if she could just stay on the other side of that mirror and never come back. The last time she was there, she met Bobby. They were both teenagers and were there to celebrate the New Year dance.
The townsfolk had been preparing and putting up decorations in the Town Hall for the dance. Farmers had been preparing all kinds of pies and treats for the celebration well ahead in advance. Families were invited to attend the festival. Each family would bring in the food they had prepared for the party.
Annie's Ma had made 20 pumpkin pies, and 20 apple pies, and some butter tarts for dessert. At the end of the party, Ma would take some back home if there were leftovers. Annie loved leftover food! Sometimes, Ma would take all those leftover food and make a giant pot of something the following day. It would give out an awesome flavour that was out of this world! Everyone would feast on the giant pot of mixed food for another two days before it is no longer desired.
It was at the party at the Town Hall where Annie would meet Bobby for the first time. Bobby was a stranger from another town who had been invited to the party by his friends.
When Bobby and his friends entered the room, Annie was almost immediately smitten!
Bobby was so handsome! He had dark wavy hair, parted in the middle of his head, ringlets flipped to the sides of his temples, almost reaching to his blue eyes. The dark hair made a favourable contrast with his blue eyes.
Bobby was tall, the tallest compared to all his friends so it was easy to notice Bobby's presence. He wore a white shirt with a brown vest on top, fitting brown pants that showed his long legs that contributed to his height.
When Bobby came in, he scanned the Hall with his eyes, seemingly searching for a beautiful young woman to dance with. His eyes rested upon Annie, who, at this time, was a beautiful blossoming young lady of 17.
Unlike Bobby, Annie had blond hair, permed and styled for the occasion. She had creamy smooth skin and peachy blushed cheeks. She was shy and beautiful, dressed in a floral Sunday dress that fits to even attend church with.
Now, that's a beautiful girl! Bobby thought. He went over to Annie, stood in front of her, but said nothing. He simply reached over and held her hands, lifting her from her chair. Their eyes locked. Both were mesmerized, unaware of the world, and everyone surrounding them.
There was no need to exchange words, they just began to dance. In this magical moment, one where it seemed that the world only consisted of the two of them. No one and nothing else was important.
Tommy watched in horror as Bobby just strutted into the Hall, snatching away his girl. Even though he was 19 now, he could not bring up the courage to tell Annie how he feels about her. Just when is it an appropriate time to tell her that? Annie had been there as a playmate ever since childhood, they had always been together and there never seemed to have been an appropriate time to tell Annie how he felt. He thought it was understood by Annie that they would eventually be married one day.
Now, all of a sudden, this unknown man comes out from nowhere, and suddenly Annie seemed so distant to him. He did not know how to explain his feelings, and does not know how to relay his inner feelings to Annie. Worse yet, Annie seemed to like this stranger a lot. She seemed to have completely forgotten about Tommy - the one who had accompanied her to the party.
After an awful lengthy dance between Bobby and Annie which seemed an eternity to Tommy, he could no longer tolerate it. He would not let “his” girl to be stolen by a stranger. He walked up to them to break the dance.
"May I?" He asked.
Annie turned around, dazed, and embarrassed. Suddenly, realized that Tommy was there. She turned around and held Tommy's hands and began to dance.
"Who's that guy?" Tommy asked as if both Annie and Bobby had done something wrong.
"I don't know. I didn't catch his name yet."
"I have not seen him around here before. He's probably not from around here. Be careful! You don't talk to strangers." Tommy suddenly sounded like Annie's Ma and Pa.
"That's okay, Tommy! It was just a dance. Besides, don't you think he's good-looking?"
"Don't know!" Tommy sounds a bit annoyed now. "Looks can be deceiving, you don't know if he's a good guy or not. Just be careful anyway."
What in the world is with Tommy today? I thought we were here to have fun. Annie thought.
Bobby retreated to where his friends were. Now, they were all joking and laughing, enjoying themselves. Annie watched them with the corner of her eyes. She wished Tommy would be more opened to welcoming new friends. She noticed Bobby's friends were busy checking out every girl in the Hall, inviting them to dance, but Bobby only had eyes for her. She would glance over at him, and Bobby would wink and smiled. Annie would smile back, showing off the beautiful dimples on her cheeks. This went on for quite some time, until...
"Let's get out of here!" Tommy snapped suddenly. He held Annie by her arm and proceeded to lead her out of the dance hall.
"What's the matter, Tommy? Is something wrong?" Annie asked in bewilderment.
"Listen!" Tommy sounded serious, "I do not want you to dance with that clown anymore, he is up to no good.”
"Which clown? Who are you talking about, Tommy? Why are you so mad?"
"That clown who has been winking at you!” Tommy said angrily. “Don't think I didn't notice that? How dare you dancing with me, but flirting him with your eyes!" Now, Tommy seemed angrier than ever.
"Tommy! Why are you acting like that? I hardly knew this man, and he hasn't done anything that would harm me. Can we not accept him as a friend?" Annie was now almost in tears. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes. She was supposed to be having fun this evening. It's frustrating to see how Tommy changed from being gentle into a seemingly angry beast when no one has provoked him. She hasn't seen this side of Tommy before and it scared her.
She couldn't understand what was happening. She thought Tommy and herself were like siblings to each other. Since childhood they had been together like brothers and sisters, doing everything together like a brother and a sister would do. They took care of each other and being 2 years older, Tommy was like her protector. But enough of the protection already! He cannot stop her from making new friends, especially someone like Bobby, whom she liked so much!
What's wrong? Just what is Bobby's sin? What has he done wrong so far? - Nothing! Tommy is being unreasonable! Thought Annie.
"He seems like a nice guy! Can we accept him into our group, Tommy?"
"Nope! Haven't seen him before! He's not from around here! We can't accept anyone who is from out of town. We accepted George and Suzy, Amy and Brady, Laura and John because they live in this town too as we do. Now, I don't want you go making friends with people from another town who will take you away from us."
"Oh, Tommy! B...but I'm not leaving this town! I just want to make some new friends! Can we not be friends with them, Tommy?"
By now, tears were welling up in Annie's eyes. She doesn't know what to say but knew that her whole evening has now been ruined. She has just seen the side of Tommy that she had never seen before, and his controlling is frightening her. She just wanted to run home and forget about the dance. Annie rubbed her eyes and began to sob.
Unbeknownst to them both, Bobby had followed them out of the dance hall. He stayed well from a distance and hidden behind some bushes, listening in on their conversation. He suddenly appeared out from behind some bushes.
"Anything the matter, my dear young lady?" He asked, pretending to be casual, trying to calm down the sobbing young lady.
"Listen!" Tommy said angrily, pointing a finger at Bobby, "... now you listen, and listen well! I don't ever want you to come near this young lady. Ya hear? She's my girl! Ya hear? She's my girl!"
Annie felt embarrassed. How could Tommy act like that? When had they made a vow to belong to each other? They were just playmates as far as she is concerned!
She was now so upset by Tommy and completely embarrassed by him. The tears just flowed down from her eyes. She went from sobbing softly to now crying out loud uncontrollably.
Bobby went over to hug her to try calming her down.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a fist had landed on his cheek, almost got his nose. He felt dizzy for a second and realized he had just been punched by Tommy.
"I told you to stay away and never come near her! You won't listen, won't you?" Tommy bellowed and came with a second punch to Bobby's face. This time the punch landed on Bobby's nose, causing it to bleed.
"TOMMY! NO! STOP THAT, TOMMY!!! ARRRHHH!!!" Annie screamed in horror.
How could Tommy turn from a brother-like friend to a barbarian? She was heartbroken. She screamed and cried loudly.
All the people in the dance hall heard the commotion from outside and by now they all rushed out to see what was the commotion about. Bobby grabbed Tommy's shirt and began punching him back. By the time Bobby's friends came out both Bobby and Tommy were fighting and wrestling with each other on the ground.
"STOP! YOU FOOLISH KIDS! STOP THE FIGHTING! THIS IS NOT THE NIGHT TO START A FIGHT!" Tommy's father came out yelling at them both.
He held Tommy back, and Bobby's friends began to hold Bobby back as well.
Tommy was by now black and bruised on the face, and there was blood dripping out of the corner of his mouth.
Tommy was pulled back and taken home by his embarrassed parents while the rest of the townsfolk stayed and continued with the New Year Eve's celebration. Annie cried uncontrollably and Ma and Pa took her home. Bobby was held back by his friends who, later, Annie would learn that they were actually his cousins and Bobby was here in town visiting them.
Wow!!! What a coincident about how your mother had met Bob! Your mom was 16 when she was smitten by Bob, and my character Annie was 17!!! I'm so glad what I wrote had fit well into that era!
Oh, about the secret: LOL!!! I began writing the chapter with the old Annie in mind and then thought of just writing a short introduction on the young Annie and Bobby, then I got side-tracked as I wrote, and wrote them into a whole chapter. So funny! And there's more. The chapter isn't completed yet. Part 2 is coming up.
Lots of familiarity. I remember riding with my grandmother and her cousin. They drove out by the old Redville Town Hall reminiscing about their teenage dances there. And, my mother was smitten at 16 by a guy from another town named Bobby (I never heard him call that, just Bob), a tall dark curly haired guy. Makes me wonder if they met at the Hazlehurst Town Hall at a dance. Dad was a Golden Gloves Boxer and I never saw him lose a fight.
Your story has a common thread to it. Especially in rural communities and small towns where kids grow up together and sometimes feel it's only right to marry. But something happens in the teenage years when young women sometimes find they are attracted to a stranger in a way that you have portrayed quite well. And, when this happens at a dance, fights break out.
The only thing strange about this chapter is that I don't get the secret… Yet. There shouldn't be any secret into how she met Bobby with everyone in town knowing. Perhaps in another chapter.
Sandi, this is the first of this series that I have read... So, if I understand correctly the "Dresser" is a portal into tome.
Your character, Annie is (in real time)your grandmother that becomes herself in an alternate world?
The characters that you've created are, in a sense, rather familiar
along with the situation.
I believe that your paragraphs are too long and could easily be broken into sentences that would be more abet to create a clearer view of the people, their attire and the ongoing situation.
It's ironic that just because people grew up together doesn't mean they are going to be married one day. I have friends who grew up together with their friends but I was surprised to find that when they got married it was not with the one whom they grew up with. Tommy sounds a bit too possessive and controlling. This should serve as a warning to Annie. I hope she knows what to do next, but at 17 she may still need a lot of parental guidance.
Great chapter! I hope to read the continuation soon.
A most engaging chapter, Sandie. You managed to make me dislike Tommy and I do hope that is a warning to Annie as to what kind of character he has. Love, peace, and best wishes to you,
Now in its second edition, To Build a Tunnel is the first book of the trilogy, The Chronicles of Henry Roach-Dairier. This fantasy will be enjoyed by youth ages 10 or 11 and up, as well as adults. Younger readers enjoy the adventure. Adults see the a
