Hope and Faith

FORTY-SIX: HOPE

When she awoke on Monday August eighth, Hope Chamberlain did not feel any different. In fact, waking up to the sound of her alarm clock at seven a.m. on that particular morning was no different than it was any other day.

But today was different. She was another year older, another full circle around the sun. She was seventeen! No longer the sixteen-year-old girl that she was yesterday. Her life was changing! Only three more years remaining of her teens, and then it would be the twenties, then marriage, and children.

Her parents sang happy birthday as they brought her breakfast in bed which consisted of her favourite, of course: banana pancakes and orange juice. Hope was grinning ear to ear as her parents stood there singing to her. She had so much love and peace in her life. What more could she possibly ask for?

Camp made her day even better. The entire staff surprised her at lunch with a customized cake with her favourite bible verse written on it. She blew out the candles and closed her eyes as they all told her to make a wish. But when it came down to it, Hope didn't wish for anything, because everything she ever wanted, she already had.

Some of her fellow counselors even gave her gifts, which Hope attempted to decline politely. She didn't want presents. Simply being surrounded by the people she loved was enough. But still, they insisted and so she opened them. Felicity gave her a brand new journal to write in. Dark brown pleather with a string that tied around the exterior. She couldn't wait to go home and write in it. Noah gave her a homemade picture frame he had crafted himself, and inside the frame was a group photo from last year's final day of camp. She adored it. Sarah gave her a polka-dotted summer dress which Hope fell head over heels for. She could wear it tonight.

While all of the gifts and gestures of the day were phenomenal and special in their own individual way, and they truly made Hope feel over the moon on her special day, nothing could compare to what would come next.

She arrived home after camp to find a note taped on her front door. When she asked her parents, they didn't have a clue as to what she was talking about. She dropped her bag off in her bedroom, then followed the instructions:

Apparently today is your special day,
there's so many things that I could say.
But instead I've created this scavenger hunt for you,
and right now you're reading the very first clue.
You are getting excited now, I bet.
Now go to the place where we first met.
ps. bring a bag.

Hope held the note in her hands, smiling to herself. Faith. Of course. She tucked the note into her pocket and headed out the front door, bag in hand. She knew exactly where she was going.

She arrived back at St. Andrews, which was now cleared out and empty. She had met Faith on the field that very first day of camp, so Hope wandered to the back, walking through the field in hopes of spotting something. That's when it caught her eye: a bright pink gift bag sitting on the grass. She hurried towards it.

Hope knelt down beside the bag which was tied together at the top with a ribbon. She undid the ribbon and opened it up. Inside was a rectangular package wrapped in brown paper. Hope peeled off the paper as gently as she could. It was a book. The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf. And inside the front page was another note.

Congratulations, you've found gift number one,
but don't get excited, you're still far from done.
It's a gift for a girl, a book about beauty,
to honour you with this, I believe it's my duty.
Educate yourself, acknowledge your worth,
know a woman's place on this great, vast earth.
Now for clue number two, you're going to go to the house,
where we tiptoed upstairs, remaining quiet as a mouse.