Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Write a Coming OF AGE short story (11/20/14)
-
TITLE: Hunting for Happiness | Previous Challenge Entry
By Sharon Eastman
11/27/14 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
The hunter was consumed with exhilaration, but calmness had to exist before the hunter could carefully and artfully shoot. The rifle’s scope enlarged the target. With a forceful hand, the trigger was pulled, and a bullet reverberated through the cool atmosphere.
The deer was struck and staggered about thirty yards until it fell. Joyful screaming and cries of ecstasy resounded. It was the highest intoxicant for the hunter, the rush of the kill.
The mighty dying deer would never know that it fell by the hand of a petite, sixty year-old grandmother. When she, Karen, and Ken, her fiancée, arrived at the sight, they found a huge nine point buck shot in the rear with the exit bullet escaping through its heart side. It was dead.
Karen loved the hunter’s rush, the high of a met challenge and achievement. Times like this in her life had been rare. Unlike her hunting skills, her life was really not on target until her late fifties and early sixties.
Her roots grew from a dysfunctional alcoholic home with a besotted father and a neurotic, enabling mother. Her mother tried to keep a normal home by hyper-housecleaning, faithful church attendance, and hiding the alcoholic problems. But, her efforts were in vain; chaos ruled this environment. At least Karen had four sisters to cling to.
When Karen met Bill in high school, she thought she had met her knight in shining armor, her rescuer. They married as soon as possible, before graduation, and within months she was pregnant. She bore three sons, and Bill was as proud as an Olympic champion. He showered Karen with chivalry, charm, and kindness.
But, the stress of raising a family and paying bills on his meager income drove Bill to seeking solace in drinking and drugs. He became very abusive, physically and mentally, to Karen and their sons.
Although her children were young, Karen went to work to help with the family finances, but, most of all to escape the horrors of home. She worked hard and tirelessly at menial jobs. Her childhood Christian faith dissolved until later due to all the stress. Drudgery and heartache ruled her days. She was alive but wasn’t living.
Unexpectedly, Bill died an untimely death at age 51. They claimed the cause was COPD, but in reality it was the physical abuse of drugs and alcohol. Bill left Karen widowed and in large debt. Karen grieved properly then dove into her work and absorbing mystery novels to camouflage her problems and bad memories. Her boys were concerned.
One night she received a surprise phone call from a man, a mutual friend of a thoughtful matchmaker. This man, Ken, had been abandoned by his wife of 35 years and was in desperation and depression. When they finally met face to face, they both knew chemistry had clicked, and they would be fast friends forever.
Karen was consoling, empathetic, and helped Ken through his abandonment and divorce issues. Ken, on the other hand, treated Karen like the lady she deserved. With his vibrant, jovial personality, he cracked the shell of Karen’s loneliness. Her friends and family were delighted.
Through the years, Ken has given Karen many gifts monetarily and emotionally. Most of all he gave her confidence as demonstrated in her new love of outdoor sports and hunting. She has felled so many deer that she is considered a sharpshooter, a modern day Annie Oakley.
Karen and Ken eventually grew into an agape and romantic love. They love and support each other unconditionally as God loves his children.
Like a jigsaw puzzle, Karen’s life never came together until she was sixty. Her joy is real; her laughter is hearty; and she looks forward to the future. Her cup overflows. God restored to good the years that the cankerworm destroyed.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
Thanks for sharing.
God bless~