Come on, Ayleen

Book Clubs

After Mr. Wentz left the office, Ayleen looked at her journal a little longer. She thought about ripping the page out and throwing it away, but instead, she decided to keep it. She figured it was a good reminder of how far she had come in life. She turned to the next page and started writing. She wrote about all the people she had met and all the things she had done thus far that were new experiences for her. While she was writing, she lost track of time, and before long, Haven entered the office. "Hey! Are you ok? You left in such a rush this morning that you left your book, and I noticed you hadn't even finished your coffee. I was a little worried, but when I got a minute, I stepped out and saw that it looked like the office was open, so I assumed maybe you just lost track of time and ran over here, so as not to be late or something." Ayleen smiled sheepishly and said, "No. It wasn't that," but then she paused. She wasn't sure that she should admit to basically stalking a customer to see what nefarious acts he would get into once he left to start his day. She didn't think Haven would judge her, but she might think that she followed the man due to an attraction and try to get them to meet or something. She couldn't actually meet a man whom she thought was actually a criminal mastermind. After all, he didn't have any noticeable prison tattoos or anything, he looked relatively normal, for the most part, which made him the perfect criminal due to his chameleon like abilities to blend in with society. She decided to go with a partial truth instead. She told Haven how Mr. Wentz had been waiting for her in the office and had found a journal where she had written the start of a story that she figured no one would find interesting, since it wasn't very exciting. His interpretation was that it was a cry for help, and an outpouring of emotions. She told Haven how she felt closer to Mr. Wentz now and was shocked how he seemed to care so much. She also told Haven what she had been doing the last several hours, writing about all the things she had done and the people she had met since that day she first started writing.

Haven was pleased to hear that Ayleen had had such a lovely, albeit uncomfortable chat with Mr. Wentz, and saw a little more of the sincerity and genuine nature that she had already seen that Ayleen held within her. She wasn't sure what had made Ayleen rush out of the shop, but decided that it didn't matter. It seemed that Ayleen was breaking through her barriers and that was a milestone to celebrate indeed. As Ayleen finished telling her about what she had been writing, Haven took a seat and scooted it toward Ayleen's desk to look at the journal as well. Ayleen took a few more minutes to finish up what she had been writing before Haven had come in and then she turned the page. She looked at Haven and said, "So I wrote where I was, and then I wrote where I am, now we should write about where I am going." Haven loved the idea and they discussed things they would both like to try in the future and made a list. Ayleen added things like write a book, travel abroad, and go bowling with friends. Haven added other, more adventurous activities, like take salsa dancing class, learn Italian, and go parasailing. As their list grew, they began to add outlandish ideas to their list. Haven thought they should take a weekend trip to Las Vegas, find a man to marry in a casino, rush to a Chapel O' Love and then immediately walk them down to the courthouse and say they had been duped. Ayleen said they should go to Paris to take a cooking class, like Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina (which was now one of her favorite movies), and then come home to find a rich, grumpy, older man to marry if they were going to make plans to get married in some strange manner. They spent the next several hours discussing silly ideas that would never be plausible in real life, and each would make the other burst into a fit of giggles the more their imaginations ran wild. The day had started off quite strange for Ayleen, but it had turned into something wonderful. Plus, they were two wild and crazy young ladies ready for a Friday night out on the town, which really meant two gals eating pizza in their pajamas and something new for Ayleen to watch on the television based off Haven't must-see list.

    Ayleen enjoyed her weekend, and even found a plant at the market on Saturday. She had never tried to do anything with gardening or plants, so she was excited to see if she could keep this plant alive and thriving. She found some books on plants and Haven did some research on the internet, so they could make sure that they were taking care of it correctly. The ladies decided to hold an initial book club meeting with others in the community the following weekend, so they made flyers and posted them around town. People were invited to come to the coffee shop the following Sunday afternoon after the shop was closed, at 2:30. They were told that this would be a meet and greet, and if you wanted to join, there would be three books available to read. They had considered only reading one, allowing people to take turns choosing what the group would read, but wondered what they would do if a large group showed. There would be no way that everyone would be able to get involved in the conversation or the choosing of books. One person might choose a book and then they wouldn't get to choose again for several years if the group only met once a month. They also considered having people sign up to read books so they would know how many people were actually reading that book. It would be all too easy for twenty people to want to read one book and one person to read another, leaving that person with no one to discuss the book with, but then again, what if they did that and evened out how many people were reading each book and then a whole cluster of people decided they didn't like the book they had, didn't have time to finish it, or got sick and couldn't attend to discuss. They also were uncertain how often to meet. While they could both easily consume a book in a matter of a week, they realized that some people had responsibilities that limited their free time. Life easily gets in the way, and there were many logistical things they didn't know how to solve.