That Girl Named Ruth

Chapter One

I stared at the open field of sharply cut grass. I remembered, when I was a young boy, how I would cut my neighbors lawn with my brothers. I smiled at the old memories that seemed black and white. I'm not a young boy anymore, in fact I'm as old as anyone can get. I'm just a sad and lonely old man with no loved ones to keep me company. And the agonizing truth of it all is that I used to have loved ones who loved me. I used to have a family with brothers and sisters and a mother and father. I used to be a husband, a father even but all of that is buried in the past.

A young woman- maybe in her early twenties -walked up the path on a small green hill. She was breathtakingly beautiful and even the sky cleared of its gloomy clouds. She wore a knee length lavender sun dress and wore her brown braided hair on her shoulder. She smiled as she walked closer and I instantly thought of one name. A name I thought I would never think of again.

Ruth.

"Hello sir, my name is May-Rose and I will be taking care of you from now on." She beamed as she kneeled and took my hand. I reached out to her, grazing her cheek as I brushed away a stray strand of hair. My hand was shaking, either from old age or nervousness but I will never know.

"May-Rose, have I seen you somewhere before?" I asked to see if she truly was the Ruth I knew. And if she wasn't, she sure looked like it. May-Rose thought about it for a moment, her breath almost stopping as she concentrated. She shook her head, frowning a bit.

"I don't believe so, sir. Oh, I forgot! What is your name, I would rather call you by it than 'sir' if you don't mind." She said shyly as a nervous sweat started to form between our still conjoined hands. She seemed embarrassed that she forgot and looked a little scared. Had she dealt with an old geezer who was rude to her? I wouldn't know why a man, or even a woman, would be rude to a nice young lady.

"My name is Peter, and to be frank I would rather you call me by my name instead of 'sir' too." I smiled and she shared my smile. We laughed and stared at the open field for quite a while in silence. My mind wandered and drifted to the past when I married Ruth. She had looked so beautiful in that old wedding dress. It was her mother's and grandmother's but she insisted on wearing it. Her father was long past dead so she walked down the isle with one of my brothers, Eric. The bastard had his eyes on Ruth and hated the fact that she was getting married to me and not him. May-Rose had never heard the story and I honestly loved to tell people. But not too many people actually believed it happened and others thought I was insane and needed help. But May-Rose was different.

"May-Rose?" Her head shot up and she looked towards me, waiting for me to finish. "Would you like to hear a story?" I asked and May-Rose raised an eyebrow. It was quite obvious that she had no clue what I was talking about and showed it all with her facial expressions.

"Well, what is this story about?" She questioned and I laughed lightly. She was also oblivious like Ruth was, and she was oblivious to anything and everything. I flirted with her, didn't suspect a thing. I confessed, was confused. I proposed, thought it was a birthday gift. But I couldn't help but love her, she was charming and optimistic and very quirky.

"It's a true story that happened long ago." I answered and May-Rose nodded as she smiled and urged me to continue wordlessly. Maybe I shouldn't tell her, but there was no use backing out now. I stared into the distance, forcing those God awful memories to resurface.

"It all started one summer day in 1939. I was born that year, and that's when our story starts." I closed my eyes as I slipped back into the past, leaving the present and future behind.