For the National Girl Hugs Boy Day Challenge
1,589 words
The Misunderstanding
“So today is some kind of holiday?” Almanzo said; his smile a mile wide as he wrapped his arms around his wife.
Laura nodded. “It’s called National Girl Hugs Boy Day, Manly. I’m supposed to be placing my arms around you.”
He grinned, the smile becoming wider. “We don’t have to tell everybody I did it first, do we?”
“No, we don’t, Manly,” she answered as he drew her closer to him. “I kind of enjoy it right now, but later on…”
He kissed her and then released her. “I know, Beth, I know. I guess, we have to do everything by the book.”
“Are you gonna get the kids involved in all of this?”
“Of course,” she said, looking into his blue eyes. “Everyone has to get involved. The idea for this holiday is to get all everyone together and show how much love you can spread just by hugging. And the best thing about it is that you can hug any boy, whether he’s your sweetheart or your father or your brother.”
Almanzo frowned. “How are you gonna do that? “
“Well,” Laura said, as she held up a tablet. “I gave the kids time to make paper hugs. They’ll bring them in this morning and before they pass them out, we are going to vote on the best looking one and that kid will get a small prize and a hug. Then the girls will hand them out to the boys. Now my idea was to get some of the adults to come in and participate like you and Ma and Pa, maybe Nellie and Percival and Mr. and Mrs. Oleson. I’m not counting on the last two, Manly, but I am counting on you and Ma and Pa. You don’t have to stay long, just long enough to feel that hugging one another is not limited to the children. I am hoping that some of the kids will even hand their hugs over to some of the adults as well, whether they know you or not.”
Almanzo stared at her, that shy smile of his beginning to form. “Is this gonna be done on our lunch break?” he asked.
Laura nodded. “During their recess and your lunch breaks. Just enough time to exchange some meaningful hugs. As soon as that’s done, I’ll send the kids home with the remainder to give out to their immediate family. The next day, we’ll discuss hugs, pros and cons, understanding what they mean and how it made you feel to receive and give one out. I think it should make for an interesting lesson.”
“Meanwhile,” she said handing him some, “on the way to school this morning, we are going to drop some off at Ma and Pa’s and have supper with them later tonight. We’ll see how many hugs we can give out to our immediate family and find out who gave out the most hugs and who gave out the least. No prizes or anything, just recognition.”
“How many paper hugs will there be?” Almanzo asked. “Seems like an awful lot of paper…””
“The limit will be five, Manly. The rest will be free hugs to anyone they want, including their own family.”
“So they’d be hugging me too?” Almanzo asked, his smile getting wider.
“And here I thought you loved kids,” Laura said, shaking her head.
“I’ll be there, Beth and I am sure your Pa and Ma will be there too.”
Almanzo hugged her, kissed the top of her head and released her. “And I’ll walk you home too.”
Laura smiled. “And you’ll carry my schoolbooks?”
They both laughed and Almanzo nodded his head. “You got it, Beth.”
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
“I can’t do this, Ethan Perry,” ten year
old Ellie Taylor said, “Mrs. Wilder says that I have to give my hug to a boy.”
“Well,” twelve year old Ethan answered smiling. “You gave me one.” He held up the paper one she gave him earlier. “I’m sure that even though she gave Mr. Wilder one this morning, she can still hug her own Ma.”
“She probably didn’t get her mother all mad at her,” Ellie answered.
“Stop it, Ellie,” Ethan said, “She just heard us talkin’ is all. It was both our faults and we need to tell them that we still want my Pa to marry your Ma.”
“But my Pa just died, Ethan,” Ellie said. “Don’t you think it’s too soon for her to get married again?”
“Maybe we should ask Mrs. Wilder?” Ethan said, “I heard that she’s willing to listen to us kids and she’s willing to help out.”
“I don’t know,” Ellie said, “Mr. Wilder is still inside. I heard him say that he wanted to walk Mrs. Wilder home when school was over. He had some farm work to finish up so he had to leave his job earlier than normal.”
“Come on,” Ethan said, taking her hand. “Let’s go in and talk to them. I’m sure that they’ll be able to clear everything up.”
XXXXXXXXXXXX
“Thanks for staying to help me clean up, Manly,” Laura said, as Almanzo straightened up the rest of the paper hugs and placed them in her carpet bag.
“No problem, Beth,” Almanzo answered, snapping the bag closed. He picked it up and looked it over before placing it on the teacher’s desk in the front of the room.
Almanzo walked over to where she was standing, put his arms around her shoulders and swayed her back and forth. “Isn’t that the bag that we let go to Radnor three months ago?”
Laura nodded. “It’s the same one, Manly.”
“I knew it looked….”
“Mrs. Wilder?”
Almanzo and Laura broke apart and stared at the entryway to the schoolhouse. Two children were standing there holding hands.
“Ethan, Ellie, is something wrong?” Laura said, “Is there anything we can help you with?”
“Is it okay if we speak to you and Mr. Wilder for a minute?” Ethan said.
Almanzo looked at Laura, but she took his hand in hers.
“Of course you can,” Laura said and they all sat down in the front row.
XXXXXXXXX
“Beth, we did it,” Almanzo said, looking into his wife’s eyes. “We got Ethan’s and Ellie’s parents back together. I don’t know how we did it, but we did.”
They were sitting by the footbridge that went over Plum Creek, Manly’s arm around her shoulders. They were waiting for darkness to fall, so they could point out the constellations and watch out for fallen stars as they streaked across the prairie sky.
“I didn’t know you even knew Archie Perry,” Laura said, looking at him, newfound love in her eyes. “What you did tonight was pretty amazing.”
Almanzo turned to look at her, touched her cheek and smiled. He shook his head. “Archie’s another farmer, like me. We’d see each other around town, he’d come into the Feed and Seed like every other farmer. We always talked about horses, farming, crops and family, especially if it wasn’t busy or at lunchtime. When he couldn’t make it to the store, I’d make deliveries out that way. He told me about Alice and how childbirth took her and their last baby. He was lonely, Beth. Ida Taylor was the first pretty woman he’d seen in a while. It took him a long time before he even looked her way. He knew that she loved Lou Taylor, they had been childhood sweethearts and he was Archie’s best friend.”
Laura smiled. “That’s why he kept away from her?”
“He kept away from her because he loved Ida before Lou did.”
Laura looked at him. “He told you all of this?”
Almanzo nodded. “He’s a talker, Beth, and I’m a good listener. It was last year that Lou caught pneumonia. He was only thirty six. Archie told me that he promised Lou to look after Ida, Ellie and the farm if anything should happen to him. And he did. And they fell in love all over again.”
“What broke them up was one night, Ida heard the two kids talking. Ethan and Ellie are very close, Beth. Ethan was saying if his Pa married her Ma, they’d be brother and sister. And Ethan didn’t want that to happen and Ellie agreed with him.”
“So you told Ellie to give Archie a hug and that Ida should give Ethan and Archie a hug, too, didn’t you?”
Almanzo nodded. “It worked, didn’t it? They had it all straightened out by the time we finished supper with your folks.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Laura said, looking up at him. “Archie told the two of them that if they felt the same way about each other when they were old enough, they would decide then.”
Almanzo nodded. “In the meantime, the wedding is back on. I guess giving out free hugs really does work.”
“And a little love and understanding to go with it,” she said, meeting his eyes.
“Look, Beth,” Manly said, pointing. “There goes another shooting star.”
“And another,” Laura pointed out, as they turned their heads to watch. They waited for more, but when none showed up, they turned to look at each other.
“Thank you for today, Manly. You really helped out quite a bit.”
Almanzo smiled. “Anything for you, Beth, all you have to do is ask.”
“I love you, Almanzo James Wilder,” she said, snuggling up to him.
“And I love you, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder,” he whispered as he bent down to kiss her.
No comments:
Post a Comment