By the Potomac

Chapter Twenty

I waited two hours for John to pick me up. It was fun for a while to chat with Jack and Annalise, but after a while the time seem to creep by slowly. To make things worse, I also really wanted to start writing again. But maybe that was actually a good thing.

Once I got home, I ran up the stairs as fast as I could and started writing. It took me exactly twenty-four tries and several hours to finally perfect a story plot. Then, I could finally start writing.

"Liesel! Are you okay?" Margaret called. I shook my head. I had been predicting this.

"Yes! I'm just...writing!" Silence. I could almost hear them whispering with joy. I was finally writing again.

~

"Mr. Hathway?" I stood waiting at his doorway, freezing my skin off.

"Liesel! It's you again," he said as he winked.

"I've come to return Meredith's story. And to tell you my manuscript is ready."

"Well! Congratulations! Do you have your material with you?"

"Yes, I have it with me." I handed him my novel, gazing at it as if it were an old friend. Months of writing, polishing, and writing again.

"Perfect, I'll give it to them right away!"

"Thank you, sir. And, if I may add, I think it would be nice if we started an actual writing group... with other people."

"It was always an 'actual writing group', Liesel." He winked and went back inside. I smiled. This whole writer's club was very peculiar.

All the leaves had fallen off the trees by now. As a red maple leaf fell into my hand, I grinned. I could finally be myself again.