Today's Title: Stars Blazed in the Night Sky
Josiah looked up at the night sky, and sighed. Ana looked to him, "What are you thinking?"
"If I could buy you a star, I would."
Ana laughed, "And why would you buy me a star? What would I do with a star?"
Josiah began singing Bing Crosby's "Swing on a Star"
"Would you like to swing on a star
carry moonbeams home in a jar
and be better off than you are
or would you rather be a mule"
"So what does that have to do with buying me a star?" Ana turned around and walked into the house. She went into the kitchen, and began taking meat and vegetables out of the refrigerator. She took her favorite iron skillet out of the oven, and put a spray of oil into it, and turned the burner on low. Josiah followed her in, and took the chicken, and cut it into smaller pieces.
"Well, I got thinking about it the other day, what is the one thing we can't take away from eachother?"
"I don't know, our love, our hearts, our trust." Ana said, as she chopped onions and celery and bell peppers into a bowl.
"No, actually, those things can be taken away, either by each other, or others, or certain situations. Our dreams, and what they stand for. You want to be a writer, and I want to be a computer programmer, but because of upbringing, and money, and other things. I am working at Walmart, and you are a nurse. Not that either of those are bad things, the money give us this home, the food, the things we need. And true, you love being a nurse, but its not our total passion. No one can take away our passion for the things we love. No one can take away the spirit that guides us towards those dreams. So if I could buy you a star, and bring it to you, I would." He put the chicken into the skillet, and turned the heat up just a tad, and added salt and pepper, and some soy sauce. Then he went to the sink and washed his hands, turning to her, leaning against the counter, as he dried his hands.
"Okay, so how about, we buy eachother a star, and thats what we work for?" She asked, as she stirred the chicken.
"What do you mean?"
Ana tilted her head looking up to the ceiling as she thought about how to word what she was wanting to say. "We each get a box, it looks like a star, and then we begin adding things to it. You add things to mine, I add things to yours. Money for school, or supplies, love notes, encouragement, whatever you want. It would be our way of helping eachother to get where we would want to go in life." She added the vegatables to the chicken, and turned the burner down a little bit, and added some garlic to it. She stirred it around to let the aroma surround them.
"So in other words, we would be buying eachother's dreams, and giving eachother the encouragement to work for them?" He got the plates down, and got silverwear out for them. Taking them to the little nook off the kitchen, that they had made into a dining area.
The nook was post likely supposed to have been an area where a washer a dryer once went, but since those were out in the garage now, they had put a small round pub table and stools they had found at a flea market. It fit perfect in the nook, and was perfect size for the two of them.
He put the plates and the silverware down, and then went and got napkins and glasses.
"What do you want to drink?"
"Mountain Dew, of course." She grinned, remembering a time when she wouldn't touch Mountain Dew for anything, and Josiah had introduced it to her.
She dished up the meat and veggies,
onto the meat platter, grabbing a bottle of soy sauce, and bottle of
sweet and sour sauce, and a spoon to dish it up with, bringing it to
the pub table.
She hitched her short self up on the
stool, and grinned sheepishly as his chuckle. Josiah was Six foot
two, and Ana was four foot ten. Her mom always teased them that they
looked like Mutt and Jeff.
When they had gotten married, she had
worn 4 inch heels, and nearly broke her foot in the process, and he
had to literally carry her down the aisle after wards.
They dug into their supper as they
continued their conversation on the star idea.
“Well, I was thinking it could both
be a planned thing, and a surprise thing. So lets say, each of us
put like ten dollars or some agreed upon amount in an envelope each
paycheck. And then, whenever we want, we put like a note, or card,
or an advertizement for something we want, or whatever appeals to us,
that we know encourages the others dreams. That way we would always
feel close to each other, and not only realize our own dreams, but
buy each other that star.”
“So if I buy you a star, you will
help me build my work room out back?”
“Oh, if I have to, just remember, I'm
short, so no stepping on me when you pretend I'm not there!”
Josiah let out a bark of laughter, at
remembering their last home improvement project.
They had been wanting to turn an area
in the garage into a laundry room, and computer room, since they had
run out of room in the house. It was just a tiny bungalo, they had
bought it two years after they had gotten married. It had been the
right size then, but between their jobs, hobbies, and other things,
they had outgrown it by leaps and bounds. So they had turned the
back ten feet of the garage into a laundry room, and office, but they
were already outgrowing that.
Josiah continued to chuckle as he took
their plates to the sink.
“You dry, I wash?” He asked as he
began filling the sink with hot soapy water.
“Go for it, its always easier to dry
them and put them away.”
Ana hopped down from the stool, and
ducked behind him and got a tea towel from the basket below the sink.
Grabbing the plate as he finished washing it, and handed it to her.
She dried it, and put it in the rack above the sink.
The finished doing the dishes, and
cleaned up the rest of the kitchen, then flipped a coin as to who got
to watch tv that night. They both had a show on at the same time
they enjoyed, so when that happened, instead of arguing, they would
flip a coin. Josiah won, so he took off for the living room, while
Ana decided to go into the office, to check email, and her book club.
Ana turned the radio on that was on the
shelf above her computer, and stood listening to the song that was on
at that moment. It just happened to be her and Josiah's song.
Worried Eyes by Eagle Eye Cherry. She hummed along with it, as tears
came to her eyes, she knew something was going on with Josiah, but he
was being evasive whenever she asked. They had promised five years
ago to always be open and honest with each other, but he was so quiet
and hesitant lately, she just didn't know what he was thinking. She
looked over at his computer, but knew that getting on his computer
would be the biggest sign of no trust. She sat down in front of her
own, and hit the power button, wondering if she could maybe figure
out what was going on with him.
Two hours later Josiah came into the
office, finding Ana lost in a conversation with one of her book
buddies in her book club. He looked over her shoulder.
“Tell Iento hi for me” He said as
he went to his computer. He looked at his computer, and looked back
at her. “Did you get on my computer?”
Ana shot him and look, and said no.
“I have no reason to, have my own
computer, duh!” She turned back to her conversation with Iento, one
of her book club buddies. They had been friends for about 4 years
now, and were reading the same book, and discussing whether they
liked it or not. They had been reading “The Kite Runner”. Ana
had read it about the time she and Josiah had gotten married, but she
had enjoyed it so much, she was willing to read it again.
“Well, someone has been on my
computer, its on, and I remember shutting off before I left for work
this morning.” He muttered under his breath. He sat down and
pushed the mouse around to get the computer warmed up, and then
gasped.
Ana looked over about to ask him what
was going on, when she herself gasped. There was a grotesque picture
of Ana. It had her in a very skimpy bikini, one she had never owned
or worn, and she was in a horrible position, it didn't even look like
she was alive. There was blood everywhere, and it even looked like
she had been gutted.
Ana jumped up “What in the world,
what is that?”
Josiah turned around, “You didn't do
this?”
“Are you kidding? Why on earth would
I do that? Thats disgusting! Shut it off!”
Josiah stood up and faced her, “Are
you sure you didn't do this?”
“You think I am lying about this? Who
do you think I am, why would I lie about something like that? Hell,
why would I even do something like that?” Ana waved her arm at his
computer.
“Oh, I don't know, maybe because you
are wanting to piss me off, and if you piss me off enough, I might
leave.”
“What are you talking about? Why
would I want you to you to leave?”
“Well, thats what I have been
wondering myself. Ever since I got that email from you last week, I
have no clue what you are thinking. You act like nothing is going
on, and we have been doing all the same routines, and yet, there are
so many little things that just don't make sense.”
“What email? I haven't sent you email
in weeks.”
“Of course you have. Here, I will
prove it.” he got on his computer and got rid of the bloody
picture, and brought up his email, scrolling through the ones from
the past week.
“Here you go,” he turned his screen
towards her. She bent over and read the email, and then she realized
something.
“Josiah, this isn't my email.”
“of course it is, its your name, and
thats your email.”
“No, it isn't, its one letter off.
Mine is AmericanGypsy1973 with a y, not an I. Here, I will show
you.”
She went over to her computer, and
opened her email account, and showed him her email.
“What the hell?” he exclaimed,
“this doesn't make sense. Where did this email come from?”
“Someone trying to make you think I
don't know what I want anymore.”
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