Felitsa, the very memory of her name took him back through the years. He was a young man of twenty and she was a mere seventeen. Never in his life had he encountered such a beauty as that which she possessed. The long, wavy black hair, dark as coal, brown eyes that were richer and deeper than the darkest chocolate. Her lips, the color of a pale red rose and just as soft. Her skin, never had he felt anything as smooth as when he touched her. She was lithe as a young willow, and moved with such grace and poise, it was watching an angel move. Her voice was melodious and he could listen to her talk all day back then. “Ah, you old fool,” Aloyouis Hunter, grumbled to himself as he tried to shake the memory of Felitsa from his head. “No sense reliving the past.” “What was that you were saying?” Buck questioned entering the jail where Teaspoon had been sitting lost in thought. “Huh? Oh, nothing. Nothing of interest, just some ramblings of an old man,” Teaspoon told him, sighing. Buck grabbed a chair and brought it close to where the older man sat and made himself comfortable. “Looks to me like you could use someone to talk to, Teaspoon. I’ve got the time if you’d like to tell me what’s bothering you.” Letting out another sigh, the man got a distant look in his eye as he began to tell a tale of young love. “She was the prettiest little thing I had ever laid eyes on. Only seventeen at the time,” a smile crossed Teaspoons face, lighting up his countenance like Buck had never seen before. ‘She sure must have been something to put a look like that on his face,’ Buck thought as the tale continued. “I was working on a ranch down in Texas at the time, near the Gulf. She was the sister of one of the other ranch hands. She was of Mexican descent. That didn’t matter to me. All I seen was the beauty that she was. I fell in love right then and there when we were introduced at a party. All my spare time was spent in the company of the fair Felitsa. Her family tolerated me, but didn’t fully accept me as a suitor which caused some problems.” “That name, Felitsa, doesn’t really sound Spanish to me Teaspoon,” Buck stated. “I’m surprised you noticed that Buck. It’s actually Greek,” at the young man’s confusion, he explained. “It comes from a country called Greece and it’s far across the oceans from Mexico. No one could say how it came to be a name passed down from family to family but somehow it did.” Teaspoon stopped speaking and fetched himself a cup of water from the barrel by the door. After taking a sip, he looked at his deputy who was watching with mild interest. “Well, are you going to finish your story? I’m anxious to know what you did to win the fair Felitsa,” Buck mentioned, trying to spur Teaspoon on. Returning to his seat, Teaspoon cleared his throat and looked Buck in the eye. “See, that there is the whole problem. I never did win her.” “What do you mean you didn’t win her?” Buck asked confused. “Didn’t she feel the same way about you?” he questioned, disappointment written on his face. “Felitsa did have similar feelings but back then, a young girl obeyed her parents. Though they allowed us to see each other, we were always under the watchful eye of one of Felitsa’s siblings. Whenever I would take her walking along the Gulf shore, her younger sister usually was following not far behind. If we went to a dance in town, her brother went with us. We were never left alone, which made it difficult to express exactly how we felt to each other with someone always listening in.” Massaging a kink out of his neck, Teaspoon looked tired to Buck. “If you don’t want to go on with the story Teaspoon, I’ll understand,” the younger man said quietly, seeing how the memories of Felitsa were taking a toll on his mentor and friend. “No, no. That’s all right Buck. I’m just surprised at all the feelin’s that are bein’ stirred up after all this time by talkin’ about her is all…” The clock chimed five, reminding Teaspoon that he’d have to get home to Polly soon or there’d be hell to pay. She had planned a special meal for him and she wouldn’t want it to be ruined. “One day, I had finally had it with all the chaperons and such so I marched right up to where her father was working out in the field and told him that I’d like his permission to marry his daughter. Without hesitating, the man looked me directly in the eye and told me a firm, “NO.” “I was not surprised and began to argue the matter, but he would hear none of it. Finally, he told me that under no terms would a gringo be allowed to marry his precious Felitsa. Just like that, the matter was settled in his mind.” “What did you do?” Buck asked quietly. “I went directly to Felitsa’s home and begged her mother to intercede on our behalf, but she would not go against her husband’s wishes, even with Felitsa pleading to change Papi’s mind.” Felitsa cried, begged and pleaded with her mother, telling her how much in love we were that, we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together but she would not listen. Her mother told us, ‘you are to young to know what real love is, one day you will thank us for keeping you apart.’ I was struck speechless for a moment. I told Felitsa that I must speak to her outside, out of anyone’s hearing. She followed me out to a bench under a tree in the front yard. Her mother was able to see us from inside so we were not interrupted by one of children come to watch us. I begged her to leave with me, that night. I told her that we would leave Texas; go north where we could get lost in all the open space. She was crying, begging me not to ask that of her. She loved her family and she loved me, but she didn’t want to make a choice on losing one or the other.” Teaspoon looked at the clock once more and noticed that it was almost dinnertime. “I’d best finish this story or Polly will be telling you a new one about my demise! Felitsa refused to leave with me, so I went to my horse, which was tethered nearby and got up on it. Looking over at her, I told her that she would never see me again. I don’t think she believed that I was really going to leave. When I returned to the ranch where I worked, I packed up my belongings, told my boss that I was leaving and collected the remainder of my pay to date and rode out of there like the devil was at my heel’s.” As Teaspoon stood up and stretched, Buck wondered out loud, “So, you never seen her again? Really?” “Nope. I never looked back when I rode away. I left a piece of my heart in Texas that day, but I survived.” As Teaspoon reached for the doorknob, Buck stopped him with another question. “What made you think of her today and tell me your story?” “I just remembered that it was thirty-five years ago today that I last seen her. Don’t know why I thought of it, but I did…” Then he was gone, leaving the young deputy to sit and ponder the man he thought he knew and wonder of all that had happened in his life that Buck was unaware of. Drop me a note and let me know what you thought!