WHAT DO THE STARS SAY?
Chapter Six
Rose stared out the apartment
window, thinking of her life so changed. It was a rainy night, filled with
sadness. She looked at the sky and wished she could be a star so she could
shine and have no problems. Jack had once told her that each star was a soul in
heaven, and each shooting star was a soul going to heaven. Rose watched the
rain hit the window. It was a cold night, but Rose didn’t care. Every night
seemed cold and lonely. She had been missing Jack ever since he had left. She
had always had hope in her heart that Jack would come back to Rocksprings and
she could ask him for forgiveness for not understanding him and forgiveness for
not answering his feelings and being a bad friend. But now Jack was dead. She
would never get to apologize. She would never see him again. Since the day Rick
had told her Jack was dead, Rose had started looking at the night sky. She
thought that maybe this way Jack could see her, and maybe this way she would
get a chance to talk to him, since every star was a soul in heaven.
She looked at the bracelet he had
given her. She read the engraved words Look at the Stars. She wiped a
tear from her face. She wasn’t sure if she had ever loved Jack, but she was
sure that he was the best person she had ever known. He was her air. He made
her what she was, and she missed him dearly.
Will this pain and guilt ever
go away, Jack? she asked,
looking out the window. She was leaning her head on the window when her mother
came into the room.
"Rose, honey, you haven’t
eaten all day. Is there something wrong?" she asked.
"Mom, why do you even ask?
You know what is wrong," Rose said.
"Honey, you have to forget
about Jack, about Rocksprings, about everything in the past. We are in a new
city, Washington DC, and you are acting like you just moved to the middle of
nowhere. Rick has been kind and patient with you already. He has offered to take
you around the city, and all you do is look depressed and say no. Forget about
boring old Rocksprings!" Ruth exclaimed.
"No, Mom! I can’t! I will
never forget about Rocksprings. It was peaceful, beautiful, and it was much
better than this dirty city. It’s loud, and I hate how the night sky looks from
here!" shouted Rose. "But I guess I have to get used to this."
*****
The next day, Rick took Ruth and
Rose to a fancy restaurant. They had never been to a fancy restaurant before.
Ruth felt great and excited, but Rose felt weird and out of place. They had a
nice conversation during dinner, and Ruth kept smiling. Rose didn’t know what
was going on with her. After the busboy took the dirty dishes, Rick stood up.
"Rose, I know it has been
tough on you, moving to this city after what happened. I want to make you
happy, and I…" He turned around, looked at Ruth, and smiled. "Well,
Rose…" He got down on one knee. "Rose, I want to make you happy. Will
you marry me?" he asked.
Jack quickly came to Rose’s mind.
Why was she thinking of him right now? Rose didn’t know what to say. She saw
that the whole restaurant was staring at them. She really wanted to stop
hurting. She really wanted to move on and forget a little about Jack.
If I say yes, I might forget
about him, she thought to
herself. "I…yes. I’ll marry you, Rick," she said.
He smiled and took a small box
out of his pocket. He hugged her and opened the little box. It was a pretty
diamond ring. He put the ring on her finger. She didn’t smile at all, but the
room started to fill with applause.
I hope I made the right
decision, Rose thought to
herself.
*****
Days had passed since Jack’s
return. He could not stand being in Rocksprings. It was just too painful.
Memories were in every corner of the town. Rose’s old house was on the way to
his. He would pass it every day and would try to avoid looking at it, but his
eyes always looked in that direction. They were used to looking that way. Jack
remembered the day he had met Rose. They had just been little kids. She
probably did not remember. She had been only two years old, and he had been
four.
Jack sat on the steps of her old
house and started to remember things.
Memories could be painful, but
they could also be good for the heart. Jack remembered Rose’s fifth birthday.
Rose’s mom hadn’t given her a party, so Jack and his mom had given her one.
Ruth had never found out. Jack remembered that Rose had spent most of her time
with his mom instead of hers.
Jack also remembered her first
boyfriend, when she was thirteen--probably when he realized he loved her. He
had felt jealous at seeing her with him. He had told himself not to, because
she was just his friend. As time passed, Jack hadn’t been able to deny his
feelings anymore. He had started to realize that he didn’t think of Rose the
same way. All he could think of was her beautiful smile and eyes. He had
started to realize that he wanted to kiss her every time she would hug him,
that his heart would skip a beat every time he would see her smile. He wished
he had told her earlier, but now it was too late. She thought he was dead, and
she might as well think that, as they would probably never see each other
again.
Jack got up from the steps and
made a decision. He went home and started to pack his clothes and other things.
I know how to forget about
Rose. I’m going to leave this place, he told himself. He bought a bus ticket to Dallas; from there, he
would take a plane to Washington, DC. He had heard it was a great place to go,
even though the peace movement was going on there.
*****
"So, you’re going to the big
city?" Chuck asked. "I heard that people over there are starting
riots and making love to everybody, trying to stop Vietnam. Just my kind of
place," he said, laughing.
Jack laughed with him.
"I’m not going there for
that, which sounds nasty. I’m really going there because I want to get out of
here. Too many memories, and I want to move on. I want to forget about
them," Jack said.
"Why all the way over there?
What is a Texas man going to do in Washington?" Chuck asked.
"I just pointed to a map and
decided to go there," Jack said, laughing.
A few minutes later, the bus
arrived, and Jack said his farewells and left. A few hours later, he arrived at
the airport and headed for Washington.
Little did he know, destiny was
going to give him something he didn’t expect in Washington.