--OUTSIDE THE
LAURENCE HOUSE--
“Thank you for
walking me home, Franz. I had a
wonderful time this afternoon.” Becky
smiled up at Franz, as they stood side by side at the back door of the Laurence
home.
Franz caught his
breath. Wow, he thought to
himself. What a gorgeous smile she
has. “So did I.” He said out loud to
Becky. “We must do that again sometime.”
“Yes, we must,” Becky
turned to walk inside the house. Before
shutting the door behind her, she turned back to him. “See you at church tomorrow.”
“Yes, see you
tomorrow.” Franz said wistfully. He
stood at the door for a few minutes just staring at it. Franz turned around and looked at his horse. “Did this afternoon really happen?” he asked
the animal.
The horse whinnied,
as if to say, “yes, it sure did. I saw
everything.” Franz climbed back onto
the horse and rode back to Plumfield.
Completely forgetting what he was heading to town to do in the first
place.
--INSIDE THE LAURENCE
HOUSE--
Becky walked inside
the house and headed into the parlor to find Amy and Laurie. What she found, however, surprised her. Sitting in one of the chairs was Aaron
Jacobs.
“Um, hi.” Becky
managed to squeak out.
“Well, hello, again
Miss Laurence. I hope you don’t mind me
paying you a visit. I thought that
maybe we could get to know each other a little bit better. Amy let me in. She figured you’d be home soon.”
“Yeah, I went for a
walk.” She said, not quite sure what to do.
Becky sat down, and they began to talk.
Small talk mostly, until Aaron began talking about himself. She then realized why she felt uncomfortable
in town earlier today. He began talking
about his rich family and about his money.; the one thing that impressed Becky
the least.
After about 15
minutes of listening to him arrogantly go on and on about his money, Becky had
had enough and decided to make an excuse.
“Mr. Jacobs? I’m sorry to interrupt, but I really am tired. I don’t think I’ve completely rested up from
that long trip here. I think I’m going
to head up to bed. Please accept my
apology.” Becky faked exhaustion.
“Oh, OK, I suppose
that must have been a long trip.” Aaron said, looking very disappointed. Becky kind of felt bad that she had just
lied to him. Anything, though, to stop
hearing about his money.
After Aaron left,
Becky went up to her room and sat at her desk for awhile just thinking; about
Aaron Jacobs this time. He seemed like
a nice enough guy. If he just wouldn’t
talk about money so much, he might be OK.
One thing that Becky got from the conversation, other than that he had a
lot of money, was that he always seemed to get what he wanted. Sounded like he was a little spoiled too,
she thought.
--ONE MONTH LATER--
A month passed from
the time that Becky had first arrived at Concord, and it passed way too
quickly. Becky was having the time of
her life visiting this friendly little town.
The only thing she was tired of
was Aaron Jacobs coming to call on her all the time. Becky kept hoping that he would take the hint and leave her
alone, but he never did.
Becky would spend
almost every day out at Plumfield helping Robby learn to read, and he was
progressing very quickly. Rob loved
learning just as much as Becky loved teaching him. He could already read “The Three Little Pigs” to Becky. During the kids’ recesses at school, Becky
would give Rob a break to spend a little time with his mother. At this time, she would go out and watch; or
sometimes join in with; the kids at recess.
Most of the time, Franz would go out and watch as well; something he
never did until Becky arrived; and Becky would go over and talk to him for a
little while. In fact, it wasn’t hard
to tell at all that there was a very close friendship between them; if not more
than that. The children began calling
Becky “Teacher’s Pet”. Neither Becky
nor Franz minded that nickname.
Actually, deep down inside, they both loved the nickname.
One Monday morning,
Becky went into the schoolroom to talk to Franz while the kids were out at
recess. She wondered why he wasn’t out
there waiting for her like he usually was.
She walked over to Franz’ desk, pulled up a chair, and sat down beside
Franz. Franz looked a little nervous,
though, for some strange reason.
“What’s wrong, Franz? You look a little nervous.” Becky asked him,
a worried look forming on her face.
“Oh, nothing,” he
began. Then he looked over and saw Becky’s worried face. “Just a big test this
afternoon.” Franz shrugged, not even thinking about what he had just said.
“Since when does the
teacher get nervous before a big test?”
Franz looked
away. Becky knew he had something on
his mind. In fact, it’s like she knew
everything about him. “OK, so you
caught me. That’s not it.”
“Didn’t figure it
was,” she said with a smile, then became serious again. “So what’s up?”
Franz turned to look
at her. She wasn’t going to give up
until he told her why he was so nervous.
OK, he thought to himself. I
might as well go for it.
“Alright,” he
began. “Here it is. You heard about the
Sweetheart’s Dance on Saturday, haven’t you?” he said getting more nervous by
the second.
“Of course I have. Why?” Becky asked innocently. Secretly hoping that Franz was about to say
what she thought Franz was about to say.
“I was wondering…” he
paused a few seconds, then continued. “Would you go with me?” Franz felt like he was about ready to pass
out.
“That’s what you’re
nervous about? No need to be nervous.
Of course I’ll go with you.” Becky answered that fateful question.
Franz heaved a huge
sigh of relief. “Really? That’s great!”
--THE NEXT DAY--
Becky left bright and
early Tuesday morning to head out to Plumfield for the day. Excited as always to get back to a new day
with Robby. As she rode along on her
horse that Laurie had purchased for her to use while she was at Concord, she
began thinking about the new day ahead of her.
It was a beautiful day outside.
The sun was shining, the birds were singing, everything was
perfect. Or so it seemed.
Than out from behind
a big thicket of bushes, way up ahead of Becky, came Aaron Jacobs. It wasn’t Aaron that caught Becky’s
attention, though. It was what Aaron
was holding up in his hand.
“A gun!” Becky couldn’t
believe her eyes. Aaron was pointing
the gun right at her.
“Get down. NOW!!!”
Aaron yelled up to Becky. Becky got
down off of her horse. As frightened as
she was, she tried to stall him from doing something that he would possibly
regret.
“Aaron? What are you doing?” Becky said, her voice beginning to shake.
“Oh, so now it Aaron,
and not Mr. Jacobs. Since when did you start calling me by my first name.” Aaron’s voice was slurring.
Oh, my, he’s drunk,
Becky realized. “What do you want?”
“You, my dear Becky. There’s something going on between you and
that schoolteacher isn’t there? Well,
if I can’t have you, then no one can.”
Becky heard the gun click.
Becky was so scared,
she didn’t even know how to stall him.
She wouldn’t have had time anyway.
Soon she heard a gunshot, and that was the last thing that she heard
before she blacked out.
--BACK AT PLUMFIELD--
The kids had just
finished their morning chores and headed into the kitchen for breakfast before
school. Franz had just finished eating
and was headed out to the schoolroom to get things ready for the new day.
“Asia? Breakfast smells great.” Nat said as he
walked into the kitchen and sat down.
The other kids followed him.
“Pancakes!” My favorite,” said Emil excitedly.
“Everything’s your
favorite, Emil.” Dan said as he sat down beside Nat.
“Pancakes and bacon,
actually, kids,” said Asia as she put a huge stack of pancakes down in front of
the children.
“Yummy.” Nan started
to reach out to grab something to eat.
Jo lightly slapped
Nan’s hand as she walked by to sit down at her seat. “Not yet, Nan. We pray
before eating, remember?” Jo said a
short prayer for breakfast, and then the kids dug in.
Outside, Nick stopped
Franz to talk to him for a little bit.
“Hey, Franz, come
here.” Nick waved Franz over to the horse pasture where he was grooming the
horses. Franz walked over to him.
“Yes, Nick.”
“I was just wondering
if you were planning on going to the Sweetheart’s Dance on Saturday?”
“Um, actually yes, I
am.” Franz began to blush.
“So you asked her?” No names mentioned, but Franz knew exactly
who they were talking about.
“Yes, I did.”
“And she said yes?”
“Of course she did,”
Franz replied, as if that was the stupidest question. “So, you going with Aunt
Jo?”
“Of course I am,”
Nick answered, as if that was even more stupid than the question he had asked.
Just then, they heard
a loud gunshot that sounded as if it was just down the road from Plumfield.
