(Author's Note: It can get mighty lonesome living in a one-room cabin. You’d be surprised how much time you have without a TV or a computer at home. To fill my time, sometimes I talk to myself. When things get bad, I take the opposite view on an issue just so I can argue with myself! But really, I do a lot of reading and sometimes I even write short stories. Hope you enjoy this one.)

She lay restlessly alone on the feather-tick mattress, a wedding gift from long ago. Sleep would not come. She waited impatiently, fretting about her beloved husband who was out later than usual. It was spring, so perhaps a difficult calving somewhere on the ranch was keeping him so long, she prayed that he was safe. He worked so hard, from sunrise to sunset, and sometimes like tonight, much later into the evening. She hated to be apart from him even for a minute, he felt the same way. They had a perfect love, one built on trust, faith, giving, and compassion....it grew with every new morning....they were one in body, mind and spirit....everyone could see that this was a match made in Heaven.

They had been married for just over twenty-five years and never once, during all this time, had they ever spent a single night apart. They were blessed with six strong children. Yep, six robust children in all, ranging in age from mid-teens to early-twenties, each healthy, strong and wise like their parents. Strong bonds grew within this group between each family member...some though, might have thought that the good-natured teasing, competition and rivalry between the energetic children would end in a real family feud. These people didn't realize that the bond between them was actually deep-inside and as strong as iron.

Finally, she heard the jingle of his spurs on the front porch...ah, she could relax now. The slam of the screen door and the muffled sound of his rifle being placed above the door. She continued to listen to the comforting sound of his spurs as he walked across the plank floor to light the coal oil lamp that sat on the long, hewn table in the center of the room. Then came the squeak of the pitcher pump, and the splashing of water from washing his face and hands with her homemade soap. Soon clanking sounds were heard...a spoon and tin plate were being removed from the gingham-hidden shelves of the Hoosier cupboard and then the scraping and knocking sounds as he filled his plate with the hearty beef stew she had left for him warming on the cookstove in the black dutch oven.

Eventually he made his way to her side, where he crawled under the large, warm eider-down quilt on their bed. Almost automatically she slid her hand around the crook of his arm.....the feel of his rock-hard bicep sent shivers to the core of her very being....for her this feeling made her content, it made her complete. As she placed her head on his shoulder, she whispered the obvious, "My love." The feel of her curves on his arm and her warm, moist breath on his ear gave him more joy than anything he could imagine. With these overwhelming feelings, he whispered in reply, "My heart." As one person, they slept deeply having the assurance of each others eternal love and devotion.

To be continued.....

(If there is any interest, I will post the next segment on Monday. There are five parts in all)

-- Cabin Fever (cabinfever_mn@yahoo.com), February 01, 2002

Answers

You are very talented Mr Cabin!!!

-- Grizz in Western Maryland (southerneagle@yahoo.com), February 01, 2002.

Very Nice CF. You seem to be a gentle man. I look forward to Monday. By the way, I like happy endings. Give me fair warning if a segment contains tear jerk material so I can be prepared. Carole

-- Carole (carle@earthlink.net), February 01, 2002.

Ahhhh---do we have to wait for the next part??? :) Seriously though-- that is just as well-written as any of the books I looked at when I was at the library this week--have you published any of your stuff?

-- Lynn in Wash. (crabbyfiddler@earthlink.com), February 01, 2002.

Cool. I guess we need to come up with a new catagory.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), February 01, 2002.

Jay; Soaps....tear jerkers

Good stuf......you mean there are some happily married's out there?

-- Jim-mi (hartalteng@voyager.net), February 01, 2002.

scratching head....

down several posts..... didn't you post a pix of your girlfriend?

-- LurkyLu (LurkyLu@yahoo.com), February 01, 2002.

LurkyLu, yes I did include a photo of my girlfriend in my introductory post. This story is purely fictional, dontchaknow. --Happy trails, Cabin Fever

-- Cabin Fever (cabinfever_mn@yahoo.com), February 04, 2002.