A Fine Line

Finally, We Meet.

The meetings with his Father's law firm were always particularly boring. Austin rarley paid enough attention to even comment his opinions. And while he deeply respected his Father and the business he would one day inherit, he often found himself depressed by dull conversations that would go own between the old men who ran it. Sometimes it would even get to the point of no return. Meaning he'd stare at his hands, fiddling with his own fingers while thoughts whipped across his brain. This would usually result in his Father's openly expressed annoyance at the behavior. Which resulted in another dull lecture about his duty as a young man in society. His duty to provide for this family and his future family. The duty to marry a woman that could bare his children, and his son, who would one day take his estate as Austin is taking his Father's.

Nothing bored him more than this prospect. Not the having a family part. He was quite excited to have children some day. It was the marrying part that he didn't like. Woman never interested him. Not as much as his schoolboy friends had, anyways. Over the years, impatience grew each day Austin wasn't married. By now, most of his friends had wives and most even had their first child.

"Austin!" A hand slammed on the table, waking him from his stupor.

"Yes, Father?" he blinked dumbly.

The man gave him a stern stare, "You're doing it again."

"Doing what?" he asked innocently, knowing full well what he was doing. He was trying not to have an existential crisis.

The man sighed dramatically, "Does your Father's job really bore you this much?"

"No!" he quickly regained consciousness, "of course not! I'm sorry, I didn't sleep very well last night. Just a little out of sorts." It was a lie. But it seemed to work because usually, by now, the old man would be lecturing him on his inability to be a Lassiter.

"I'll let it slide one more time. But I swear, next time you better come into this room ready to follow my lead. Otherwise you'll never learn. And we can not have another failure in this family." his father said while pointing his finger at the boy.

"Yes, Father." he answered obediently, unsure of what else to say. Austin didn't want to be a failure, not like his grandfather had. He truly didn't. He cared about his family, and what would happen to them if Austin didn't take over.

His father sat back in his desk chair, rubbing his eyes tiredly while waving the boy off. Austin didn't miss the opportunity to leave as fast as possible. That room was suffocating.

The front door closed behind him, leaving his cheeks greeted by the crisp autum air. Fall was his favorite season. The yellow leaves, the cool breeze making his room all the more cozy at night. It was only mid day and he was already dreaming about curling into the soft sheets, the fireplace slowly dying in front of him.

Austin began his walk down the dirt path that was lined with looming green trees, that began to turn yellow as the seasons changed. It took him only a half hour to walk to the only convenience shop in town for the midday paper, which was right in the middle of the town square, where most did their shopping. There were many shops in their small corner of the world. The most popular being the dressmaker and the postmaster.

The convenience shop door opened with a cheerful ring, announcing his presence. An elderly man and his granddaughter sat behind the counter. He tried to ignore the young girl's cheek blush as he walked up to the counter with a newspaper in hand.

Marcy, was her name. She was younger than him by a couple of years, and had taken a liking to him recently. It wasn't like she was unattractive. Quite the opposite. Marcy March was everything a well brought up girl should be in this society. Polite, kind, beautiful, and nurturing. Still, she wasn't what he was looking for. Although at this point, what was he looking for?