Texas Stars ✓

Chapter 17 - Love's a Game

        Debbie

        "No Debbie, you do small stitches like this," Julia showed me her tiny, delicate stitches, making mine look like fish netting in comparison.

        I groaned, "I'm never going to become a seamstress, I'd rather be outside roping cattle."

        "Ladies do not rope cattle," Julia copied a snooty voice, then burst out laughing, "I'd rather be doing something else as well, but Ma says that sewing is a very nice skill to have if you're going to have your own home."

        "Hopefully it isn't too necessary, because my stitches look so bad that it isn't good enough for a fish net," I laughed as I studied my uneven stitching.

        "You'll get better with time," Julia squinted her eyes at her stitches, "But I must admit that it's tedious."

       "What do you plan on doing when you're older?" I proceeded to interrogate her as we sewed.

       "Oh, I don't know. I suppose marry someone, have children, get old and die," She kept her eyes on her stitching.

       "Don't you want to be remembered for something?" I asked, "Be someone important?"

       "I don't know. Ma isn't anyone special, and she's happy. I don't see the need to go out and be heroic to be happy."

       "You'd be content to just sit in a house and sew all day?" I accidentally stabbed my finger, "I've always wanted to be someone, or do something great. Be remembered for something."

       "Why?" She looked up at me with round eyes.

       I thought about it for a minute, "Well, I guess I want to be special; someone out of the ordinary."

      "What if it's God's will for you to marry someone, have kids, and sew all day?" Julia grinned.

       "Then I guess I'd do that," I trailed off.

      "Besides," Julia continued, "Aren't you already special? Other people think you are. For instance, your parents think you are, Alex does, Ma and Pa do, I'm sure Isaac does, Zeb does, Annie does, and I do. We all think you're special, so why do you have to go save the world to be special?"

       "Well," I thought about it for a minute, "I guess I want to be out of the ordinary. Not your average person."

       "You have Hawkeye," Julia commented, "That makes you different."

       "True."

       "Your attitude is different than most girls' now days. If you make a mistake, you laugh it off, if you don't know how to do something, you ask. Most girls just cry if they blunder, and if they don't know how to do something, they make something up and botch the whole thing."

       I just sat there contemplating her words of wisdom.

       "Everyone has unique features about them, you just have to look for them," Julia smiled, "Now are you content to marry, have kids, and sew all day?"

      I laughed, "Not sew, but I don't have to save the world."

        "Do you know what you're going to wear to the barn raising?" Julia changed the topic.

        "Nope," I put down my sewing, "What about you?"

        "I don't know, I was wondering if I could wear-"

        "If it's mine, you can wear it," I interrupted, grinning.

        "Thank you!" She squealed, "Maybe I can help you find something to wear."