Randy And Sarah “Over here, quickly.” Randy shouted as he ran across the beach. “Are you sure?” Sarah puffed as she ran. “I’m pretty sure.” He responded. Randy and Sarah ran out of the rain into the cliffs caves. They looked around and Randy happened to notice some dry drift wood at the entrance of the cave. Being the handy wild kid that he was, he grabbed the wood and started a little fire. The little fire lit up the cave. Sarah looked out of the cave and watched the rain fall upon the beach. The tide waters rolled up the sand and back down. From the stand point Sarah could see the whole bay. Shaped like a crescent moon, the bays beach stretched from the cliffs to the rocky point at the end of the cove. The rain pored on steadily and calmly without any lightning or thunder. It all looked so romantic in the eyes of Sarah. Just reaching her 15th birthday she felt a soothing power flow through her. She felt happy and warm like she wanted to be there at that time forever with Randy at her side taking care of her. She wanted to be with him and didn’t know why. The 15 year old boy who had lived by himself for most of his life worked hard at everything he did. After all those years by himself the daily life felt heavy and sad. But when ever he was with Sarah he felt life change. With Sarah around he became happy and care free. Randy, at that moment in time, was watching the shadows dance across the cave walls. The walls were smooth with a rugged look about them. The cave was no bigger than a small room but was warm with an arched roof. At one end of the room there was a tunnel that looked adventurous and filled full of mystery. “Hey Randy,” Sarah, almost thinking out loud, said. You could tell she was full of thought. But as she talked the words just came out, driven by what seemed to be pure emotion. Being a growing woman she was experiencing these new emotions and didn’t know what to do about them. “What is it Sarah?” Randy said responding to her. She was thinking hard trying to think of something to say. After a moment of silence, “Tag, your it!” She laughed as she tapped Randy on the back. Randy jumped up and started chasing Sarah around the fire. They laughed and giggled as they jumped around the cave. Sarah, still running from Randy, decided to run down the tunnel on the other end of the cave. Not really fully noticing it they ran about 20 feet through the dark tunnel. When they reached the end of the tunnel they stopped suddenly. There jaws dropped and there eyes widened as they stared ahead at a room that sparkled with gleaming glory. In the walls were bits and chunks of diamonds, sparkling about and lighting up the room. There were several holes in the ceiling. Each hole had water flowing out of it. From some holes the water ran down the walls, crossing over the diamonds. The holes more towards the center of the room had water dropping like a waterfall into a large stream. The stream traveled in a circle around the center of the cave. A small bridge made out of wood allowed passage over the stream. The two kids were not staring at the holes in the ceiling or the diamonds on the walls but directly in the center of the room. On top of a sand dune, in the middle of the cave, stood two glass figures. The first glass statue was that of a man dressed in a Knights suit, and holding his hand was a long haired woman wearing a flowing dress. Around the necks of the two statues were stones, one red and one blue. The blue stone was around the man’s neck, and the red stone was around the woman’s neck. The rope that went around the neck and held the stones at the top of each one was dark leather. Each stone was shaped in a half heart with jagged edges that obviously fit in to each other. “She’s so pretty.” Sarah said, almost completely entranced. “She looks like your mother.” Randy said in a tone. “Actually she does.” Sarah chuckled as the two kids stepped across the bridge. Randy began to walk in circles around the glass figures and Sarah looked at the facial features of each one. After a couple seconds of checking the statues over, they noticed the two necklaces. The kids stared at the stones and were enchanted by the way they shined. For a short moment Randy and Sarah thought they heard a whisper coming from the stones. It seemed that they had no free will at all as they slowly lifted the necklaces off the statues. Randy taking the blue stone felt almost like he was infatuated by it. Sarah took the red stone off the woman, she immediately felt a sense of ownership to the necklace. They both stared at there stones and from a third persons few they would have looked like idiots just staring at some pretty stones. Without thinking at all they just walked out of the cave. It had stopped raining and the two kids just started playing, as if nothing had happened at all. The rest of the day was spent chasing each other, swimming, and collecting seashells. When it started getting dark Randy and Sarah walked home. Now Sarah lived on a horse training stable kind of like a modern day horse ranch. Her father raised and trained horses for nobles. Her mother grew vegetables and spices that she sold at the trade market in the nearest town. The house they lived in was on the edge of the Giant Grass Fields, next to the forest. It was very far from the nearest town. When Randy and Sarah reached Sarah’s house it was already dark. They had laughed the whole way home. “Sarah, you will come over tomorrow won’t you?” Randy asked “Of course, I had a great time today.” Sarah responded. “You promise?” “I promise. I know lets trade these necklaces, you take the red one I was wearing and I’ll take your blue one.” Sarah proposed. “Well o.k.” Randy answered. “That way I’ll have to come over to give back your necklace.” Randy traded stones with Sarah and then walked home. Randy lived in the forest about half a mile from Sarah’s house. A couple of yards in front of his house was a nice little river that Randy caught Steelhead and other sorts of Trout in. Randy had lived by himself since he was seven. His parents died from a terrible disease that Randy was very lucky not to have caught. Before Randy’s father died he taught him how to fish in the river. Randy’s mother taught him how to hunt for deer and rabbits. He lived in a small cottage like house with three rooms. The roof was made of strong wood. The rest of the house was made of thick stone. Out of the roof stuck two chimneys. From the outside the house looked damp and dingy but on the inside it was warm and cozy. When you walked in, the first room was the living room. It had a big fire place that lit up the room at night. Randy’s parents made a big couch out of the animal skins his mother had hunted down. There was a desk that sat next to the kitchen door. Randy kept his fathers sword hung up over the fireplace. He kept his fathers old fishing nets under the desk. The kitchen was very common, with a fireplace specifically designed for cooking food. Randy kept his cups, dishes, and utensils in cupboards. Randy loved to spice up his food so he had lots of spices stored in the kitchen. He also had mushrooms stored in big baskets on the counters. Randy had a very nice bed room. His bed was a mountain of animal furs and Randy used the top layer of them as a blanket. He kept his mothers bow and arrows near his bed. He had lots of shelves that he kept his rare stones and miniature items. In order to light up his room, Randy used lots of candles. When randy got home he was exhausted, but he had had a wonderful day. He ate some mushrooms and lit a fire in the living room. He then plopped himself on the couch. Randy pulled out the red stone necklace and started looking it over. He moved it around in his hands feeling it over. He noticed the smooth edges on the round side and the raggedy edges on the straight side. Before he knew it, Randy was tired and had to go to bed. While lying in bed he thought about the cave were Sarah and he found the necklaces. He thought to himself “why didn’t I take any of the diamonds on the wall, why did I take the necklace, and why did Sarah also take the other necklace?” With a yawn and a long sigh he fell strait asleep. The next morning Sarah came over. The two kids went fishing up stream from Randy’s house. They had a special place to go fishing, they also swam there. This place was special because it was a pool at the base of a waterfall. The falls were not more than 20 feet high. That whole part of the river was made up of large smooth rocks. This made the water a crystal clear blue color. At that area of the river it was very narrow. Randy used this to his advantage by stretching his fishing nets across the river from one side to the other. Randy and Sarah swam up stream, under the water falls, hoping to scare the fish into the nets. After swimming around for about an hour they lied out in the sun and told silly jokes to each other. They didn’t spend that long lying there because all of a sudden it began to rain. The clouds had rolled in out of no where. The kids got up, grabbed the fishing nets and started running to Randy’s house. Randy’s house was a lot closer than Sarah’s. They ran inside the little hut. “Not again! It’s just like yesterday.” Randy said, seeming quite mad indeed. “Only this might be a little worse than yesterday.” Sarah said. “I don’t have much food to eat, but I can start a fire.” Randy said. “Oh, that’s fine by me. I just hope this weather dies down before sunset. If it doesn’t I might have to stay over night.” Sarah exclaimed. Sarah had spent the night many times before. Her parents didn’t mind at all. They knew if it was too bad for the kids to travel back to her house then they would be safe at Randy’s. At this moment the wind was picking up and it was pretty bad out side. For a short while it began to hail but that didn’t last long. The next morning Sarah woke up to an empty house. She wondered were Randy was. She decided to pick flowers while she waited for him. Sarah went along side the house and picked Wild Purple Gladiolas, which she had planted last spring. It was stile very early in the morning. And Sarah was still a little tiered so when she saw her necklace glowing she really didn’t pay it any thought. Then it hit her, she quickly toke the necklace off and threw it on the ground. After a few seconds it stopped glowing. She brought it in side with the flowers. Sarah put the flowers in an old vase. She then put her necklace on the table and watched it. After a couple minutes of nothing she decided it must have been her imagination. Sarah started picking up the house and making it look nice. “Sarah!” Randy shouted from outside. “I need some help.” Sarah ran out the door and was delightfully surprised to see Randy had hunted down and killed a wild boar. “O my goodness, it’s really big.” She helped him drag the animal up to the house. Even with Sarah helping the boar was still hard to move. It probably weighed 100 lbs, if not more. After the kids placed dead boar were they wanted it, they quickly got all the supplies needed to clean it. Sarah grabbed the water and liquids that they would use to preserve the hide of the boar. Randy got all the big bowls in his house and the knifes he would use to cut the meat up. The kids looked so organized. It was amazing how quickly and easily they had skinned and cleaned the animal. It was obvious they had done this before. Only a few minutes had passed by before they were sitting on the couch in the living room. Randy rolled up his pants to reveal a very nasty bruise on his right leg. “Where did you get that?” Sarah asked. Apparently Randy was slammed up against a tree by the boar. It hurt but Randy could still walk fine. As it came closer to noon Randy brought Sarah home along with 40 lbs. of fresh meat. Sarah’s parents were so grateful to Randy for the meat. “How would you like to go with us to the market tomorrow?” Sarah’s mom asked Randy. They agreed and decided that Randy would be there early in the morning. When Randy got home he put together some things he would bring with him to the market. He gathered a few furs and special items he could trade. He thought about bringing some boar meat but decided he could get a better use out of it. After he put everything he wanted to take with him into a big shoulder bag he went to sleep. Sarah’s Dad had rigged up three horses for the trip. Sarah and Randy rode on the same horse. It took them awhile to get to town but well worth it. It was a place Randy had only gone to a couple of times in his life. The market was amazing. There were so many people, with all kinds of things to buy and to sell. They had everything from food and spices to armor and weapons. These people were from all over the world with different religions and customs. This was because the town was real close to a port city on the coast and it was on the route to the capital city of the country. Sarah’s parents let the two kids wonder off by themselves with there trading goods and money. Randy bought some spices right away. He loved the felling of the crowd, mostly because it was something he rarely got to experience. Although he wasn’t good at haggling he enjoyed doing it. Sarah took her time when deciding what to buy. First she asked her self whether it was affordable or not. Then she asked if she really wanted it. So she never got a whole lot of stuff when she was in town. While walking around the kids spotted a story teller, not to be mistaken for a bard. He looked only three or four more years older than Randy. He was dressed in a gray cloak with a blue sash. There were about 30 kids gathered around him listening to his story. Randy and Sarah decided to sit down and listen to him. “…and then the true King will reclaim his throne and the stars will move to form the first letter of his name. The King will then kill the evil man who tried to steal the stone from the lovers. Then the lovers will unlock the secret of the stone and receive a treasure straight from God himself. The king will return to his lovely wife and they will live happily ever after.” Randy and Sarah only got to hear the end of the story, but they sat down and rested anyways. All the other kids that were listening to the story got up and scattered themselves into the crowd. Sarah watched some little kids run to there mommy and help carry some food they bought. Randy dug through his pack filled with the stuff he had bought. While they were sitting there the story teller came up to them. “I’m sorry you missed the story.” “O, I’m sure it was lovely.” Sarah responded. “Well to make up for your loss, I’m going to give you two something.” He reached in to a bag he had mounted on his horse, which he walking by his side. The Man pulled out of the bag a really big book. “This book has several good stories. It also has the story I just told. Please enjoy it.” The storyteller then walked away. As the man was walking away Randy jumped up and shouted, “Thank You!” “No, Thank you, for everything you’ve done!” the man yelled back. “Well that was odd.” Sarah said to Randy after a moment of silence. “Come on lets go find your parents.” Randy suggested. The rest of the month was real normal. The two kids went swimming, fishing, and every other day they would sit down and read out of the book they received. They would each read a page in turn to the other. They loved it. They would read next to the waterfall and out in the plains next to Sarah’s house. On rainy days they would read inside the houses. Randy wasn’t very good at reading and it took him awhile to complete a page. Sarah on the other hand could read very well. She helped Randy when he needed it. All this reading gave them even more bonding time than before. Part of the reason they hung out so often was because they were the only two kids in ten square miles. Sarah’s parents enjoyed watching the kids play together. It insured that Sarah had company. Although the kids didn’t think about it, Sarah’s parent thought about how they would grow up and marry each other. It was pretty obvious, besides whom else would she marry. Of course Randy didn’t fully understand what a marriage was at that point in time. The days soon became shorter. It was getting colder at night. The snow had not come yet, but the leaves were beginning to turn orange and brown. The kids spent less time out by the river and more time inside there houses. It began to rain a lot, especially because the ocean was so close. Do to the geography of the land the sea breeze blew heavily at Sarah’s house. One very cold night, when it was pouring down rain, Randy was awoken suddenly. Randy’s necklace was glowing bright and shaking quite forcefully.
Copyright © 2003 Z E S Carothers |