Contest Entries
One day I woke up and I realized that I had an extra 300 dollars in my checking account. I had to pinched myself that I have not fallen prey to one of many jokes that some of our students try and play on us. It was true I did have an extra three hundred dollars. I am going to buy a soda fountain machine for our room. I would have it only in the back room where the sane and normal adults would have access to it and not those students that whine and complain all day. Every time she would feel stress(which pretty much is the entire day) she could go back there and get herself a cold refreshing soda.
My story begins toward the end of the past year, October 14, my wife's birthday. Then we have Halloween costumes for three kids, then Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, My 1 yr old daughter's birthday 1-1, then 1-3 my other daughter's 6th birthday, followed by my anniversary 2-7 and Valentine's Day 2-14. By this time the truly romantic holidays were a bust. I would buy my wife something very nice to make up for the low-budget-10th-anniversary that just past. I would like to send her to a day of pampering on a Saturday afternoon. I would spend the $300 for the whole package, massage, hair, nails, facial, mud, everything, and whatever she wants for an entire day of comfort and Chuck-e-Cheese for the kids. My wife, she’s my best friend.
My best friend Is getting married on March 17, she and her fiance have paid for most of the wedding on their own. He was in the hospital for 2 weeks and then on bed rest for a month, his company offered no compensation for his time off or even a little help. She has been struggling to work over time and has asked both families for financial help. She can no longer afford the necklace she dreams of wearing at her wedding. If I had an extra $300 I would surprise her at her shower with the necklace that was made to be around her neck.
My best friend Timolyn at one time owned an African American art gallery in Louisville. Unfortunately, she had to close after a few years due to poor sales (she didn't have alot to invest in advertising and her location wasn't well known). However, Timolyn still has a love of art and her dream is to start a website for African American art sales. She has been saving for a computer (her old one broke). If I were able to buy her a new computer, she could try her business online and I believe she would be successful. Presently, she hasn't been able to save much as she is living with her retired mother and helping her mom out. I know $300 wouldn't get her a computer but it sure would help to move her closer to achieving her dream.
My best friend is my sister, and I would take her out for a girl’s night out. Originally I would say I would give her maid service so she can have some free time. Being married to an active duty Naval Petty Officer; working full time (just because she loves to work not because she has to); the best mother to two wonderful children; maintaining a beautiful home; and a very dear friend to several people – leaves her no time for herself. You see I couldn’t get her maid service though because my goodhearted friend, sister, would decline the generous offer.
I would have to scoop my sister up from her home and whisk her away on a girl’s night out. We would first take a limo and get our hair and nails done. Not because we like to look or act girly, but because we never have a moment to spend with ourselves. The feel of looking beautiful at dusk alone is an incredible treat. I can’t think of more than 30 minutes we’ve had to ourselves since marriage and kids. Just to sit back and get pampered while we let our minds bleed out like ice cream on a hot day. We laugh about what tomorrow might bring; concern for her husband potentially getting shipped off to some remote location; tears for our past; but most of all we share our souls and savor the conversation for it is so far and few we get to talk.
Next, after getting all dolled up, we would have dinner together. Not only do we like food, but we like to sit around and ponder how unique other people’s lives are. We don’t sit and gossip, but use our imaginations as to who is who or where they are coming from or going to. We would savor every bite of having someone else’s fine cuisine and no mess to clean up and we would then laugh that we didn’t get our fine meal from a talking box or the microwave.
Then we would go and see a sad movie so we could sit and hold hands while we cried through the whole thing. Normally, we are the goofy people in the back of the theater who every so often, you can hear a crinkle of a bag, or a pop of a soda can, because we won’t spend the small fortune the theater charges for their limited selection of stale candy and salty popcorn, so we elect to “sneak” our treats in. Not this time! We get the whole kitten caboodle! We splurge on candy, tell them to load the butter and salt on the popcorn, and super size our drinks! This time, this special treat, the candy doesn’t taste so stale, but given the theater never has given in to abandoning the “yester years” candy, it brings back flavorful memories which make the movie even more bittersweet. The popcorn doesn’t taste so salty or buttery, but a treat that due to age we seldom allow anymore. It’s amazing how when charged for something at such an elaborate price one can only be the most elite food critic with high expectations. However, when the treat is given to one, such as in this case, one can fully enjoy every taste without being so skeptical or fastidious.
After our movie we would have to go to an ice cream parlor. You see I say have to because ice cream is not a dessert in our home, but a food group. We could spoon the lavish dessert in our mouth and as we savor the flavor it would calm us to open up, to each other, the day’s events. My sister always picks Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and for me it is Pecan Praline. We would sit at the counter with the stools that spin and subconsciously swing our legs under the stools. We wouldn’t really say much, but the stillness of our silence would convey a since of reminiscing between us.
Once we finished our ice cream I would take her to one final place. We would have the limo driver take us to an open empty ball park. By this time the blackness of the air has engulfed us and the quiet chirping of the crickets have placed us in an unspoken hush, like the sense when you walk into a library. I’m sure the limo driver thinks we are insane, but this is my treat, my free treat to her and I am going to spend it without care to the driver or anyone else. We would get comfortable on the big plush limo seat and open the sky light. Above us the stars are crystal clear and interlinking an internal connection. The stars go on forever and seem to never fade. We would lean on each other and look up and be amazed by the beauty and tranquility the evening sky has to offer.
When the evening has ended we would embrace and hold each other’s gaze. We savor the evening because with her husband in the service serving overseas and me serving in the service here in the states, it is difficult to guess when one will see each other again. The evening must end, but it has been the best $300 gift one could ever give.
Jill K. Leigh
