To Love Another

Chapter 1

The town of MacLeod was a small town, no more than thirty people, half of them being an elite group of wealthy men. A group of men that had no morals. After a night of drinking and gambling, they would parade around town being as loud as they possibly could, having no regard for other’s who were sleeping. They lived as they wanted, with no regard for the laws of the country. The only laws that were in place in the Town of MacLeod were for the poor, with Mr. MacLeod being sheriff, judge and jury. He owned fifty percent of the land in town, making him the one in charge.  The properties were divided into fourteen 5 acre sections, a 5 acre section to be used for farming, and one 65 acre section, the latter being owned by Mr. MacLeod. On ten of Mr. MacLeod’s acres was a general store, a saloon, the newspaper office, two abandoned buildings, and a paint factory.  It had just enough supplies to keep people from having to leave town.

Five years ago, it was much different. The town was called Haven back then. The land had been farmland, a small community of simple people. Each of the homes were rested on one small acre of land, with an outhouse and a pond, to be used for bathing. The rest of the land was used for crops. At the time, the land was owned by a banker in the next town over. They were happy then, the banker only coming into town once a month to check on things, unless there was a problem. But problems back then were few and far between. When he passed away, his family sold the property to the group of elite men, leaving many people homeless. There were a lucky few who were allowed to stay on a portion of the land, for a price, of course.

                Jack, his wife Kadie, Becca and her husband, Thomas were two of the lucky ones, or not so lucky, depending on how you looked at it. Jack and Thomas worked together at the paint factory and Kadie had just lost her job at the newspaper.  Jack was in his early thirty’s, a rather average looking man. Kadie was a young, somewhat naïve, twenty-five year old. Her hair was a light red that came down to her waist.

Jack and Kadie's house was located on the property of Ryan McDoud. The house was small, only consisting of a bedroom, living room and kitchen. It was at the bottom edge of the property. The yard was filled with plush bushes, a small garden and cattails surrounding a small pond, with a single staircase leading to the main house. It was private enough, but the huge mansion was still in sight, reminding them every day of the person who owned their quaint house.

"I don't know what we are going to do." Jack said to Kadie in a bit of a panic. "We are short money this month and there is no way for us to make payment for the house. I just don't know what we are going to do." Jack hated burdening Kadie with this, but she had made him promise that he would never keep her in the dark about anything.

"Can't you go talk to him? See if he will give us more time to come up with the money?" Kadie asked.

Jack responded, "He won't. He gave us more time three months ago and he was not happy about it. I'm afraid that if I ask again, we will be homeless."

                They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Kadie got up to answer it.

"Becca, Thomas, what a pleasant surprise!" Kadie beamed, trying to hide her anxiety.

"Hello, Kadie." Thomas replied. "Is Jack home?"

"Thomas, where are your manners!" Becca scolded him, turning to Kadie, she continued, "We were out for a walk and saw the light on. We aren't intruding, are we?"

"No, of course not. Please, come in."

                Becca was not much older than Kadie. She was twenty-seven, but wise beyond her years. A plain looking young lady, shoulder length, dark brown hair. While her husband Thomas was extremely rough around the edges. He was also very opinionated and frequently angered people around town, speaking freely about whatever he was thinking. Kadie never knew what Becca had seen in him.