Plucking the Iris

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Chapter one

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With a town of less than 1000 people who live here, it's easy to know what goes on around these parts in town known as Dejaussie; and it's easy to recognize everyone else's face. In this town, we were 5 hours away from city-life civilization. We were a small prairie town and that's how my family likes I love the rural feeling of this place, I wish for something exciting and enticing to happen. The most exciting thing that happened here thus far is that they built a Wal-Mart here. As a young woman, I believe that I should be getting more excitement out of my life.
My family never dared venture to the city. My parents work as farmers and dare I say... they have a very ardent love for agriculture.
My older siblings, of which who range from ages 18 to 29 years old are also doomed to be in Dejaussie. Altough it is a family tradition to keep our farm going, I personally do not want to be stuck in a rural place for all of eternity.

"Iris," My father said to me at the dinner table. "You're turning 18 in about 3 months... isn't it about time you started working?"

I eyed my dad for a moment and inside I felt utterly disgusted. I could sense it in the bottom of my stomach--the famous lecture he gave to my older siblings about working at the farm.

"I will focus on my school work." I replied. Right then and there, I felt my appetite deteriorate faster and faster. "How can I even think of a job?"

"What's the point? Just drop out." My older brother, Jonathan, said to me. "You're gon' end up working at the ranch anyway."

"How can you even say that to Iris?" Rebecca, my older sister spat out bitterly to Jon. "Not all of us are doomed to work here." Her eyes started to fill with tears. "Now I will excuse myself from this table." Rebecca stood up and left, and the dinner table was silent.

For the rest of the evening, none of us spoke to each other.

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My sister Rebecca, she barely talked much. She's a very beautiful 24 year old woman with lots of potential. She does not work at our family's farm but she works at her boyfriend's parents' shop. I barely know my older sister, but I know she could do much better in her life. Due to the fact she isolates herself from the family, including myself, we barely communicate.
At that dinner table, there was only myself, my mother and father, Jonathan and Rebecca. I had two other older siblings who now have families. My brother, Ezekiel, is a pastor in-training at our local church. My other eldest sister, Lily is a housewife to her husband.
My family is content living in Dejaussie, and they planned it so none of us could ever leave this place. But me... I wanted to venture out somewhere. I am tired of seeing the same people, shopping at the same place as everyone else, going to the same church as eveyone else and never aspiring to go to college. Our schools in Dejaussie were religious, except that one schoolnear the city limits. In this small town, our lives were planned out for us since the day we were in our mother's wombs: go to school until the 12th grade, then work. It was seldom that teenagers here went out to university and became something bigger.

I wanted to be one of those teenagers who did something with their life. I wanted to be one out of the hundred teenagers that actually attempt a post-secondary education and had a career. I did not want to be a house wife all my life. My parents believed in the traditional Christian way: man works and the woman takes care of the children.

Someday--I, Iris Johnson, will escape this conformity and become something bigger. I promise this to myself and I will never break it. I will achieve this by my own means: getting good grades and never give up. I will be damned if I give this dream up. No one can stop me, and if anyone does--might as well kill me now.

No one can help me but myself. No one else can help me. I won't let them.

I will become something on my own means and levels, even if it kills me.

Iris Johnson will never become a house wife--especially to men in this town.