Duty and Sincerity

“Now sit and get comfortable, I am going to tell a special story today.” I heard the familiar velvety voice of the ageing woman, Ms. Betty Ruth, the lady I visit every Saturday as a sort of community service act. She lives all alone in a giant house with her cats, Jasmine and Jade. The best part of the visits are her excellent stories, she always has a story to tell and they are always interesting. Every week she tells me that one day she will enlighten me with the most adventurous story of all, her own. Finally, this week, I think she is ready.

“Okay, Janette, are you all set? This is going to be a long one.” She was always considerate. Every week she supplied me with an abundance of cookies and a large glass of milk, knowing that her stories sometimes run long, and this week was no different. With a plate full of my favorite kind of cookie, oatmeal raisin, and an open mind, I nodded, and she began her sure to be amazing memoirs.

“This looks like a good spot.” Madeline said in her soft, loving voice as we all sat down for our picnic. We had been walking for a great deal of the day and had gotten extremely hungry and parched.

“Looks pretty nice to me.” Vitany said as she pulled the blanket out of the basket and began shaking the wrinkles out of it. Seeing as this area was nothing but a rocky alcove next to a dirty, green pond, I did not think it was anything spectacular.

“I guess this is fine.” I said with a sigh, feeling a little put out that we just spent most of the day roaming and exhausting ourselves just to settle for some grimy little niche.

“You are always so discontented, Evelyn. I just do not understand you. You have the perfect everything, the perfect boyfriend, the perfect clothes, the perfect life. I just do not get why you are never satisfied.” Vitany had a special way of getting to me better than anyone else. She was the youngest, born only about a year after me. Madie did not have the gift of constructive criticism like Vitany; she was more of a supporter.

Knowing she was right, the only thing I could do was look away as I slowly shook my head up and down. I really was dissatisfied, and I was not sure why.

“It’s probably just a phase you’re going through, I mean it happens to all of us. It will pass, just like they have before,” Madeline mused. She always had something nice to say, no matter what.

“I just feel like there is something more, waiting for me out there. I just need to find out what. I’m really sorry, and you’re right, Tawny, I should be happy with my life. Jack is great but I just don’t think he is what I’m looking for right now. I just don’t know.”

We came from a prestigious family, all of us with long, stuck-up names. Madeline Marie, Evelyn Nicole, and Vitany Christine Fransaul. Our father was the head of the Supreme Court. My boyfriend, Jack Knighen, was the son of a very prominent lawyer. It was “meant to be”, or so everyone said, I mean, it’s not that he wasn’t nice enough, I just did not feel a spark between us.

Just then, Tany yelled, “Oh no! We’ve set our things down in ants. I guess we’ll have to move.”

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, I saw a sort of sparkle in the corner of my eye. When I looked to see where it came from, I noticed a rather comfortable looking patch of tall grass.

“Look there, that looks wonderful! I bet it’s nice and warm from the sun. Let’s go over there.” Happy to hear me sounding chipper, we gathered out things and set off to the other side of the pound, bound for the destination of my choosing.

If grassy areas were diamonds, this one would be the shiniest and most perfectly cut that I had ever seen, by far. It was just as nice, if not nicer, than what it looked like from a distance. I threw myself in the grass before they even had a chance to lay the blanket down.