The Challenge:
In 3000 words or less, write about a young woman who decides to run away from home instead of marrying her the man she has been betrothed to. What happens when she decides to join a gang of thieves?
In 3000 words or less, write about a young woman who decides to run away from home instead of marrying her the man she has been betrothed to. What happens when she decides to join a gang of thieves?
The Author:
Sylvia Stypa
“Okay. How stupid is this?” Tamara Winston carefully tugged at the pocket
of her pants, trying not to rip it. She
raised herself up on the tips of her toes and then unhooked herself from the
drainpipe that she had snagged herself on.
“It’s just one thing after the other,”
she grimaced.
So, maybe it
hadn’t been a smart idea to crawl down the drainpipe from her bedroom
window. Maybe she could have quietly
exited the house from the back door. But
this had seemed to be the quietest way
to leave the house. It had seemed like a
good idea until she had gotten her pants caught on the drainpipe. Actually, there had been a moment where she
thought she might fall and she had to gather her breath and her thoughts before
continuing the climb down. Wouldn’t it
have been easier to just leave from the back door, she cursed herself. But no, this was definitely a more dramatic
exit. Her parents had forced her into a
position she just could not live with.
“I can’t
believe my parents would do this to me.”
Tamara tried not to let the tears pour down her cheeks as she dusted
herself off and quickly ran towards her car.
She sat down on the cold, damp ground at the base of the large maple
tree in the front yard and turned to look at the house she had grown up
in. She wiped the tears from her cheeks
with the back of her hand and sniffed defiantly at the red brick house.
Tamara had
always been a good kid growing up. She
loved the horse farm that her parents now ran.
It hadn’t always been a horse farm.
Her grandparents had tried to make a go of it with the farm. But they didn’t have much luck with the
cattle. For some reason or another, one
or two cows always seemed to escape. Or
one of them would pick up a disease that the others would catch and her
grandfather would either have to spend a fortune medicating or make the decision
to slaughter them.
Tamara’s
father, Sam, always said that his parents got into cattle farming for the wrong
reasons. Sam’s father had gotten into it
after a bet that he had lost at a poker game one weekend. Sam’s parents were clueless when it came to
farming. Tamara wasn’t sure of all the
details and wondered how someone could get into cattle ranching or farming or
whatever it was called from a poker game.
But there it was. It was an
interesting story but something her father avoided telling.
At least Sam’s
father had picked up the farmland at a real steal. It was at the end of nowhere and the previous
owner had been extremely eager to sell it off.
The previous owner had restrained a laugh when Sam’s father had shook
hands after purchasing the land.
Tamara’s father had tried to unearth the reason for the cheap price, but
could never establish the reason. At any
rate, Sam had inherited the land from his father when he had died unexpectedly
five years ago and had decided to turn it into a horse farm.
People were
very eager to board their horses at the barn which was called Winston’s Wish. Sam had been very accommodating and had put
in a very nice indoor arena with stalls by converting the old cattle barn into
stalls with tack rooms for horses and had put in a wonderful outdoor arena with
jumps.
The barn was
now filled to capacity. Tamara had grown
to love the horses and had one of her own.
She rode Gizmo, a beautiful bay American Quarterhorse, almost every
day. The farm would be hers one day or
so it had seemed. She had gone off to
college to earn a business degree and was keeping the books for the barn and
helped regularly with the chores. Life
had seemed almost perfect.
Well, until
her parents started nagging at her to get married. Their daughter was getting up in years. Don’t you want a nice man to take care of you? They kept asking. Tamara had managed to hold off on their ideas
for a while but it seemed like they were getting desperate. They wanted to become grandparents and Tamara
was their only child.
It had been humorous
when they had first started bringing home different men from the surrounding
area. Tamara had felt like an item at an
auction. She had to smile at her
grandmother. Nan would stand at the
door, warning her.
“This one is
awful. I don’t know what your parents
are thinking.” Or she would wink at
Tamara with a glint in her eye and say,
“I think I’ll keep this one for myself.”
Tamara would
respond with, “You go for it Nan.”
Dinners at the
Winston house had become painful. Tamara
never knew what to expect or who would be there. More often than not, Tamara would avoid
dinner and would pretend to have meetings or work outside or try to meet with
friends. But it was difficult to avoid
being at the house altogether because she never knew if someone would be there
visiting.
Until the day
when the new neighbor from the farm behind the Winstons arrived to visit. John Allington was a newly divorced man and
had just inherited his parent’s farm. Tamara’s
parents had latched onto him with great delight. How perfect this would be. If Tamara and John would marry, the two farms
could be combined.
The only problem with John was that he was
two inches shorter than Tamara, who herself stood at five foot seven. Okay, that wasn’t the only problem. John had a horrible lisp. When he talked very quickly, he tended to
send saliva spewing to the side of his mouth.
He also had some kind of nasal congestion problem which made him snort
at very inopportune times and he was probably as wide as he was tall.
Tamara had
shuddered uncontrollably when her parents had him over for supper the first
time. Even Nan had looked at him with
her jaw hanging open. She muttered once
to her son, “What the heck are you thinking?”
but had been unceremoniously shushed by both Sam and his wife, Nellie.
Tamara had
desperately tried to leave the dinner early by saying there was a horse who
needed her attention, but her mother had clasped her wrist in a stranglehold
that had left a bruise on her skin.
Tamara did wince in pain and cried out with a, “What the, Mom.” But Sam had talked over the outburst and had
smiled brightly at John.
No wonder Tamara
loved her Grandmother so much. Nan saw
the battle going on with Tamara and Nellie, so she quite willingly picked up a
forkful of mashed potatoes and flung them at her daughter-in-law. Nellie’s mouth dropped open and she brought
both hands to her face where the mashed potatoes had landed and wiped the mess
off, giving Tamara time to jump out of her seat and dash into the kitchen. “I’ll get a cloth for that mess.”
On Tamara’s
way out the door, she could hear the commotion in the dining room as both her
parents scolded Nan for her behavior.
She heard her grandmother exclaim,
“Why I thought you wanted John to feel right at home. I’ve been waitin’ for a good food fight
again.”
Tamara ran out
the door after grabbing her purse and ran to her car. She needed to see her best friend, Suzanne. Suzanne had moved into the city after
graduating from college but the two young ladies kept in touch. Suzanne kept laughing at Tamara’s parents
tactics and the two of them devised plans on how to stop the constant
“arrangements”.
Unfortunately,
they could not devise a good enough plan.
Tamara’s parents were on full steam ahead and determined to bind the two
into matrimony. John was at the house,
almost every night for supper. Nan’s
behavior escalated into full out war on her son and daughter-in-law. Her comments about John’s manners and
appearance were consistently expressed but went unnoticed. John seemed to be oblivious to Nan’s remarks
and would chew happily along on all the free food being supplied to him.
After one
particularly distressing meal, Tamara had just barely fled the table in
tears. Could her parents not see what
they were doing? Could they not
understand her feelings? Tamara drove
into town and stopped at her favorite hang out place. A small diner and bar where a live band would
play on Friday and Saturday nights.
Tamara found
Suzanne at the bar and joined her.
Tamara ordered a glass of water and a vodka tonic then grasped her head and
shook it. “Another wonderful Friday
night dinner,” she stated.
“OMG! I don’t know why my parents are doing this! John is totally and utterly despicable. I should be wearing a safety mask just to
avoid all the food that he propels constantly from his mouth. My mother is usually so picky about people’s
eating manners and yet she sits there like this,” Tamara sat back in her seat, folded her hands
into her lap and pulled her lips tight with a frown locked onto her face,
imitating her mother’s posture.
Suzanne almost
doubled over into laughter. “And what
does your dad do?”
“He looks
everywhere but at John and keeps talking.”
Tamara rubbed her forehead and grabbed the vodka tonic from the
bartender and took a small swallow. She
shook her head. “Oh man.”
“Too bad your
parents didn’t pick up on this guy.” She
nodded her head pointing to the lead singer of the band. The band had just finished their set and were
putting down their instruments.
The lead
singer was a tall, dark haired young man.
His black hair was short and shaped his head closely. He looked up from the guitar he had placed
against a stool and smiled at Tamara.
His bright blue eyes were shocking and the dimples in his cheeks were
pronounced as he smiled.
Tamara’s heart skipped a beat and she
quickly swiveled her head to Suzanne.
“He is gorgeous,” she proclaimed.
“That he
is. And he’s coming this way.” Suzanne turned and smiled at the handsome man
as he approached them.
“Good evening
ladies. Are you enjoying our
music?” His voice was deep and
rich. Tamara was enthralled by his
speaking voice.
“I just got
here so I didn’t really have time to hear your songs.” Tamara informed him. Her hazel eyes locked on to his deeply bright
blue eyes. Her heart was beating rapidly
against her chest. Tamara felt her
throat go dry and she took a quick swallow of her drink.
“Are you going
to stay and listen to our last set?” The
young man asked.
“I
might.” Tamara said coyly.
“Let me
introduce myself. Name is Randy
Justice.” He offered his hand first to
Suzanne and then Tamara. When their
hands touched, Tamara felt a tingle race up her arm to her heart. She bit her lips and tried to smile calmly.
“Suzanne and
Tamara.” Suzanne offered. “I don’t know about Tamara, but I am staying
to hear the last set. I’ve enjoyed the
music so far.”
“What type of
music do you play?” Tamara questioned.
“I would call
it folk art.” Randy settled on a chair
beside Tamara and watched her carefully.
Tamara felt
uncomfortable with the scrutiny and she kept looking at her friend to see her
reaction. “How long will you be playing
here?”
“We’ve got a
couple gigs here in the city. We’ll be
here tomorrow night and probably next weekend as well. Then we’ll be at another bar, not sure of the
name offhand, for about three weeks. So
we’ll probably be around for about a month.”
“I see.” Tamara said.
They chatted
for quite a while before Randy had to join his band members back on stage. Tamara and Suzanne watched them until the end
and then were invited to stay with them for a while after the practice. The band members were interesting and entertaining
so they enjoyed their time together.
Tamara had
gone home that night with a smile on her face.
Her parents were asleep in bed by the time she got home so she avoided
their frustrations with her until the morning.
Her mother was sure to let her know that John had been quite upset with
her sudden departure. She could not
understand what her daughter’s problem was with such a nice young man.
Tamara rolled
her eyes as she thought about her mother and just shook her head. Was her mother that desperate to have her
only child married off that she would just about grab at anything? Tamara’s attempts to let her mother know her
opinion of John, fell on deaf ears. Her
father was the same. She found herself
avoiding her parents as much as possible and keeping herself busy.
Over the next
month, Tamara found herself sneaking out consistently to meet with Suzanne, the
other band members and Randy. Then it
quickly became secret rendezvous with just Randy. She felt herself falling in love with the
debonair young man and realized that she would be heart broken when their band
finally decided to move on to the next location.
Randy’s band
was called the Slippery Fingers and their music was very relaxing yet fun. Tamara enjoyed their music and when Randy
found out that Tamara had a business degree, he joked that perhaps they should
hire her on as their business manager.
At some points, she felt as if Randy was being serious and would tell
him that if he was, she would consider the position, even though she knew the
pay wasn’t great.
Over the same
time period, Tamara’s parents became more and more desperate for Tamara to
spend alone time with John. Every time
they could coincide their meals with Tamara and John, they would leave the
table and drag Nan out of the room as well.
She could just imagine the coaching her parents were giving John and it
rattled her. Tamara had not bothered to
inform her mother about her feelings for Randy.
It would be pointless.
Until tonight, when Tamara had been cornered
by her mother and Nellie had begged her daughter to stay for dinner. Her mother had pleaded and had started to cry
which had knocked Tamara into a guilty frame of mind. Tamara had reluctantly agreed to stay.
John had
arrived with a bouquet of flowers and presented them to her, after
ceremoniously telling her how lovely she looked. Tamara shoved her hands into her back jeans
pockets and looked down at her feet.
There was a hole in the toe of one of her socks and she wiggled the toe while
rolling her eyes. “Sure,” she managed to say quietly.
They sat down
to dinner and before Tamara knew what was happening, Nan was being dragged out
of the room by her parents. Tamara swore
she heard her grandmother call out,
“Don’t do it. Run, Tamara. Run.”
John cleared
his nose and his throat at the same time.
Tamara just widened her eyes at the noise and wondered how she could
escape. She did manage to start to push
herself out of the chair when John again cleared his throat.
“Tamara, I
need to talk to you.”
“Wh,… I mean,
oh?” Tamara did not sit back down into
her chair. Her chances to run were narrowing
down.
“I know we
haven’t known each other for very long.”
John shuffled around in his jacket pocket. “And we really haven’t had that much alone
time together but I’m sure, in time, we can find out all kinds of wonderful
things about each other.” John took out
a napkin and wiped the side of his mouth.
He rummaged in
his jacket pockets again and managed to find a small jeweller’s box which he
pulled out and placed on the table. “I
know this might be sudden but I feel a real kinship with you.”
Tamara’s eyes
widened and her jaw dropped. “I don’t
know what you are talking about.”
“Your parents
have told me that you need a good man like me to take care of you. They have assured me that they have our best
interests at heart.” John opened the lid
of the box and a large diamond ring sparkled at Tamara.
“Crap!” Tamara shouted out. “Are you kidding me? We don’t even know each other. How can you do this?”
At that
moment, Nan rushed into the room.
“Golly! That’s the biggest
diamond I ever did see. But don’t you do
it Tamara. Don’t do it.”
Sam and Nellie
rushed in behind Nan and they both stopped and stared at the huge diamond
ring. Nellie immediately grabbed Tamara
and kissed both her cheeks. “Oh, I’m so
happy for you. We’ll plan the biggest
wedding this neighborhood has ever seen.”
“What! Are you kidding me! I didn’t, I’m not,., No chance in hell I’m
marrying John.” Tamara flew out of the
room and ran up the stairs to her room.
She slammed the door shut and locked it.
So, now here
Tamara was, fleeing her parent’s house and driving to Randy’s hotel room. The Slippery Fingers were finishing up their
last gig tonight and were planning on moving to the next job. Tamara knew where they were staying and drove
quickly to their hotel.
Tamara parked
her car and ran to the door of Randy’s room, knocking loudly. Randy pulled the door open and when he saw
her, he pulled Tamara into the lit room.
Tamara frowned when she saw the other band members sitting on one of the
hotel room beds, piles of money and jewelry spread out between them.
Tamara turned
to look at Randy with a puzzled frown on her face. “What’s going on here?”
“Oh,
sweetheart,” Randy bent and gave Tamara
a kiss. “Did I forget to tell you about
our side jobs? We’re kind of like Robin
Hood. Take from the rich and give to the
poor. Sorta. Kinda.
Welcome to our group.”
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