The Write Place

Under The Fruiting Tree: Chapter 14 – The Write Place
Table of Contents

Sarah stood with her husband by the tree, its fruit hanging low above them.  They stood still together in the quiet, hoping their voices only carried to each other.  Rodney looked off into the distance as he leaned on the tree.  He surveyed the valley, listening to the wildlife while deep in thought.

“Only a few days till I leave,” Rodney declared in a voice steeped in melancholy.  “Of all times.  How far along?” he asked, dropping his head.  A whirlwind of emotion settled into heaviness.

“Almost two months; long enough to have little doubt and long enough for him to not beat me, surprisingly,” Sarah said.  She spoke in a voice drained of energy.  Her body sank, hearing her voice speak what she hated.

“Any idea if it’s mine?” Rodney asked with a heavy swallow, visibly weighed down by the question.  He asked, unable to stare her in the face.

“I know the time and my body.  I doubt it,” Sarah said, her eyes tearing up as she did.  Sarah bit her lip, tears began to form in her eyes.  She looked at Rodney, hesitant to speak.  Thoughts of what now, what would the others say filled her thoughts, but also his.  “If it were the old masters, would it make you love me less?”  Fear was audible in her question, louder than her words.  Rodney turned from the valley to face his wife.  Her eyes were welling with tears but both held theirs back.  The hardest moment in his life he thought, and yet this was the easiest thing for him.

“No, no I wouldn’t.  Like you even had a say in the matter anyway.  Whether the child is mine or not, this child is yours. That’s what matters. And you’re free of him, safe with me and Jonathan, safe you and your child.” Rodney said.  He swayed towards his wife, putting his arm around her.  He brought her in closer as she dried tears from her eyes.  She returned his embrace with the warmth of her own body.

“Haven’t seen his son in a long time,” Rodney remarked.  Furrowing his brow he tilted his head upward to face the sky.  “Lucas, that was his name.  He was a bit mad, not violent but mad.  We’re fortunate he’s taking over.  Don’t know what the drama would be with him around.  Club footed, but I can’t hold it against him.  Fortunately he’s staying.  They wouldn’t take him wherever he went.  I’d take him here over his father.”  He could feel his wife’s head nestled in his chest.  She held her position, pressing her ears against his chest where she could hear the breath of life in her husband.  She closed her eyes, soaking in a moment of calm in the midst of a world on fire.

“It’s fortunate the old master’s heading off to war, the wrong side too.  I hope I see him out there.  God willing if I don’t get his head, someone else will,” Rodney said, sighing as he looked at his wife.  “Pardon.”

“I understand,” She replied, making eye contact and rubbing his arms soothingly.  “We’ll be fine.  You worry about your war.  I’ll worry about life here.  You know you have to,” Sarah said as she picked her head up.  “You have to see this through,” Sarah put a hand on her husband’s shoulder.

“I’ll need to.  For that and hopefully to see you free someday,” he said, kissing her softly in the moonlight.  “I’ll write, or send you letters.  I’m sure someone will know how to help me write it out.  I’ll send them to pastor Jonathan.”  Rodney looked forward again to the valley.  The fields of the farms within it were being harvested, the fruit trees were beginning to bear fruit. “There’s good things ahead if we make it.”

“In so many ways.  They found out Sally and Jim,” Sarah said, shaking her head.  Rodney grunted.  They felt their bodies sink.  Both knew, and knew how close the same fate had come to them too.

“Think he’ll ever forgive her?” Rodney asked indignant.  “His own daughter loving a man who’s her father’s property,” Rodney finished, shaking his head.  The absurdity of the thought coursed through his mind.

“He shouldn’t have to forgive someone for what shouldn’t be an offense to begin with,” Sarah said.   She turned to face Rodney.  She wore an exasperated look on her wearied face “and I seriously doubt it.  Probably marry her off to someone worse than himself.  Ugly too, just to put her in her place.  Old, actually.  From what I hear he has a man in mind.”

Rodney placed his hands on his wife and rubbed her shoulders.  The autumn evening was cold.  Sarah had begun to shiver and shake.  Some from the cold, some from anger. “Sounds like him,” Rodney said.

 “Did they ever take Jim down?  Well, I can guess.” Sarah said.

“Center of town.  Some people are disgusted by it, some not.  Country’s divided, town’s divided,” Rodney added the shock still in his voice.

“Apparently when “they come for our daughters,” it’s a disaster but he comes for theirs, like you,” Rodney shook his head, anger shaped the contours of his face.  “The hypocrisy, I’d hate to be him on judgment day.  We can’t run now.  All there is for us is forward,” Rodney added with a sigh.  “At least there’s hope.  Now I can kill them without a problem.  Now I can work towards your freedom. Our freedom really.” 

Sarah looked at her husband in his piercing blue eyes, and brushed back his red hair.  “Make it back to us alive.  That’s all I ask.”

“I will.  You will be free.  Someday we’ll all be free of this mess,” Rodney said, looking at his wife.  As a thought entered Rodney’s mind he looked towards the fruiting apple tree.  Rodney gently broke his wife’s embrace.  “Care for a bite?” he asked as he reached out to the fruit in the tree.

“If you’re offering,” Sarah replied with a gentle smile on her face.  Pulling down two, Rodney handed one to his wife.  Turning her back to him she rested in his arms as they watched the sun.  They ate together for what they could only say may be the last time.  The colors of the sun rising up slowly striped the sky above as the two held one final moment before facing an uncertain future.  Looking off in the distance they thought of things to come, hoping for a brighter day ahead.