Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Write in the ROMANCE genre (04/19/07)
-
TITLE: The Ordinary Love of Dixie and Jay | Previous Challenge Entry
By Dee Yoder
04/21/07 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
Dixie had given in to Jay when his Dad died and his mother couldn’t care for their farm alone. Living in her mother-in-law’s house, playing second fiddle was not easy for a newly wed girl of nineteen. And Dixie worried over every little thing Jay did. She wasn’t happy when he went coon hunting because he stayed out all night. But when he didn’t have any “shenanigans” brewing with his friends, she grumbled that he was underfoot too much. Right now she was standing at the kitchen window watching Jay gather up his latest batch of hunting hounds, which he planned to trade with Ike York for a gun.
“Dixie, he’ll probably get what he wants in the trade and then that’ll be one less thing you’ll have to buy. He’s pretty good at it. Don’t worry so much.” Her mother-in-law said.
“Uh huh, and then next week he’ll be trading something else and then something else and it will never stop. I wish he’d put as much thought into our marriage as he does those old dogs.” She threw down the dishtowel and stomped to the door.
Jay turned her way as the screen door screeched open and grinned when he saw her on the porch.
“Honey, I’m going to out-trade that York fellow this time and come home with the grandest gun you ever did see!”
“Jay, why do you have to go on out there tonight? You know I’d planned to fix supper in a while. I plucked that mean rooster this morning and he’s all but jumping into the dumplings right now. By the time you get back, the gravy will be like wallpaper paste.”
“It’ll be the best tasting paste I ever did eat, too, Dix.” He walked up onto the porch and tried to kiss her on the neck but Dixie pulled angrily away. She turned on her heel to head back inside as he landed a flat slap on her backside and then laughed.
“Dixie girl, if I didn’t take to you so much, I know I’d have to drop you like a hot potato, you’re just that grumpy.” He called the dogs to him and went whistling on down the road.
As Dixie watched him go, part of her longed to be right beside him. His old brown cover-alls were grimy from the dirt he’d been eating while he was down under the ancient tractor he worked on every morning to get it to start. His work boots kicked up dry Kentucky dust as he walked. It puffed behind him like smoke with each step. The back of his neck was burnt to a crisp and his soft black hair was ruffled out under his cap. She sighed. She didn’t always want to, but she couldn’t stop herself from loving that fellow. For an old country boy, he could sure be romantic.
She thought about their wedding just the Christmas before. He’d asked her to marry him, gotten the license and the minister all in one week. They’d married on Christmas Eve at midnight and rode to their new home in a borrowed hay wagon he’d filled with warm, fluffy quilts. She frowned as she thought of his rowdy friends and the belling they’d given them later. They’d carried Jay off into the woods and he hadn’t gotten back to their little house until nearly three in the morning. He’d come in shaking the snow from his hair, smiling at their teasing. That was just the beginning of her troubles with him and his ornery pack of friends.
She‘d found him and his pals down at the milking gate flirting with Mary Wade Hess just last week. She’d lit into him the minute they got home and was so angry with him she’d taken her belt off and made to hit him. He’d caught her wrist and rolled her down onto the bed, laughing all the while. She couldn’t best him no matter how she tried and she couldn’t stay mad at him either.
They’d shared sweet memories in these few short months; she prayed there’d be many years more. But, if she could help it, no more with that flirt Mary Wade Hess.
She smiled as she dropped the chicken into the pot. Jay would be home again and she’d better be ready. With him, she just never knew what might happen next!
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.