Four
Logan sat quietly watching the wind blow through the leaves of the large Oak tree in his back yard. From his kitchen table he imagined a world where people would love each other. Where they could be loyal. Aunt Tulla had taught him all about love and loyalty. She had been his guardian for all the life he could remember. She took him to church on Sundays and made sure he went to school.
She had an Oak tree too.
When he was a naughty boy she’d make him sleep under that Oak tree with boxer, her half-blind German shepherd.
Boxer was a good boy. He was loyal.
Aunt Tulla had tried to teach Logan about Alpha Mu Epsilon.
Under the Oak Tree.
In Logan’s back yard a dry leaf succumbed to the power of the wind and fluttered down to the grass. It let go of the tree and fell. When it held down the winds could whip it around and smash it in to branches, the trunk and other leaves. But once that leaf had the courage to let go the wind could carry it and gently carry it to the soft grass.
He knew how the leaf felt. There were many times when he wanted to give up and let the winds carry him wherever they wanted. He could shrivel up inside and let the winds of the world blow him off of the Oak. Away from Tulla. Away from Alpha Mu Epsilon.
During those times Boxer was there to teach him. The cold winds would blow across his bare arms and the dry leaves would flutter down in the moonlight. They would blow away. Boxer would lay close to Logan and keep him warm.
Aunt Tulla taught him about following the rules. Boxer had taught him about loyalty.
Aunt Tulla wanted him to grow to be a good boy.
“Is fo yer own good, chile. Gotta get the wicked out cha.”
Aunt Tulla wasn’t fond of spanking. Said hands were made for loving. Love was very important to Aunt Tulla. Each night whether he slept in his bed or with boxer under the Oak she needed him to be sure and say “I love you.”
Only time Aunt Tulla really tanned his hide was the day he refused to say “I love you.”
It was the day boxer died.
It was the day he wanted to blow away.
A siren blaring down the road startled Logan out of his memories. Memories were good things. They showed you where you came from. They were a person’s strength. Don’t know where you came from and you won’t know where you’re going.
He was going to Rachel.
He drank down his glass of white milk and set it in the sink. He always drank white milk. Chocolate Milk was for gluttons.
Alpha Mu Epsilon was about persistence. It was about avoiding excess.
It was about Rachel.
Her name warmed his insides. God had brought Rachel to him.
The way they had connected. Things were moving along faster than he could have hoped they would at that first meeting but then he had a feeling Rachel had been waiting for him all along too.
She had been created for him like Eve for Adam.
Theirs would be a love story for the ages.
He’d see her again in a couple of days but the time drug when they were apart.
That was how he knew she was the one.
You are reading A Face in the Shadow by Tiffany Colter.
Tiffany is a writer, speaker and writing career coach. She is a frequent contributor to print and online publications in addition to her regular marketing blog at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
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This story is copyright Tiffany Colter. 2007. It may not be copied, distributed, sold or included in any larger work without the expressed written permission of Tiffany Colter.
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