The Last Dream of the Meadow

The sun shone through the trees, as if it was the last time that the dear star would ever give us light. I never thought I would see this meadow in its beauty again. My darling friend Caroline and I kept our silence as we left our families off at their picnic. All they see are children in their pink and blue dresses, not knowing anything about the world and all its splendor and also all of its horrors. The buds and the tulips were barely starting to bloom, and the trees were putting their fresh coat of green leaves on their branches, welcoming mid-spring and getting ready for the heat of summer. Still blowing around us was the gentle wind. This is what childhood was to us, nothing that could touch us except for our Mother Nature. All was gentle and peaceful.

Caroline never talked except only when she was asked a question. Her brown hair, long and flowing, standing out from her pink dress that ended at her ankles. I could only think how her dress was about to change color tomorrow on her seventeenth birthday. I knew her too well. The woods would no longer be her escape from the constricting corsets, heavy dresses, and tied-up hair. And no more running off to the trees with me. Instead, She would soon have to socialize with the other young ladies in her circle of society and young men that would compete for her hand in marriage. At that moment, I realized that I may never see my friend again after today.

I think now that this day was a dream that I was revisiting to the best of my recollection. Everything now is a blur in my memory about the last time I saw my sweet Caroline. I was only a puppet. We both were beautiful little puppets trying to cut our strings. I looked at my dear Caroline.

“Caroline?” I muttered.

She was looking out the meadow. Just then, she turned slowly, and I could tell that she was hiding something from me, and I knew what it was, of course. Caroline wouldn’t tell me as she knew that her news would be like a knife stabbed into my heart.

“Yes?” She said.

“Is this the last time I am seeing you?” I asked,

She let out a heavy sign. She was older than I was at that time. “Yes, as a girl, but we will be with each other again soon enough.”

“When?” I pressed.

Caroline always had a shy and contemplative demeanor. When I asked my question, she flinched. “Well, I do not know, but I know that we will see each other a little differently than as we are in our time now.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well,” I could tell that she hated being asked questions, especially the ones that she did not have a straight answer for. “When our families have gatherings; Christmas, Easter, Birthdays, many times throughout our lives to come, my Dear.”

I looked down, the words flooded out of my mouth, “But it won’t be the same.”

She sighed, “Yes, it will not be...but the only way to be happy now is to cherish this moment that we have right now, can you do that for me….”

I didn’t look up at her, I kept my eyes on my fingers, playing with the green grass, and it was warm and soft.

“For my sake, at least?” She begged.

I looked up at her. I was young but too old to throw a tantrum even though I really wanted to rip up the entire grassy field to prove my point. I wanted to stay a girl forever and yell at Mother Nature to demand our eternal youth.

“How will it be different?”

She looked down, “Well, we must start acting like adults. I may be a mother the next time I see you, and you might be engaged-...”

“Blah!” I spat out. “I do not wish to never to get married….”

“What do you want to do then?” She asked. Usually, she acted like a big sister to me, asking me the questions that she already knew the answer to and only asking me to understand her point. Still, this time, it sounded like pure curiosity. And for the first time, I didn’t know.

I thought. I closed my eyes and scrunched my nose. What would I do? What could I do, other than marry? All I wanted to do was play with Caroline for of all my life. Even if we were old hags with crouched backs and white stringy hair, we would be happy together. Maybe we could live in the meadow together for the rest of our years. I looked at her, and she was waiting for my answer.

“Do you remember those books that we used to read in your father’s library about the Goddesses Artemis and Adalenta?”

She smiled, “Yes.”

“Well then, that is what I will do. I will join the group of huntresses that hunt at night in the wood. I will never have to marry and you can come with me.”

She smiled, “I would love to.”

That is when I knew this never happened. This was all a dream in my head. The day was too perfect. If only Instead of pulling me back from the grass and telling me to think reasonably for the first time in my life, she would agree to run away with me, fleeing to the woods to be mine forever.

I looked at her. I knew this was all in my imagination. And the trees and grass had started to look like a painting with soft strokes of green. The blue sky started to fade from the canvas. Caroline’s face started to disappear as she looked away as her brown hair veiled her face.

Suddenly, it faded quickly. I was woken up in my chamber by a baby crying in the other room. The meadow was now gone, replaced by a factory. My heart sank when I remembered that my dear Caroline was no longer here in our town. After her third child, she left me. And I never found Artemis, but I found Charles Henderson, who was an explorer that had asked for my hand a total of seven times before I agreed. I, too, had a child of my own. But I still longed to go back to that day. I thrust my head back onto the pillow and closed my eyes, trying to remember that last dream of the meadow.