Sarah spun around laughing, her chain of flowers waving in the air. Dancing across the green field of daisies after her pet sheep, Rose, she sang happily. Today she would be leaving this village. She’d met a man the night before who told her of a great city down the path into the valley below. Great and wonderful things were in that city, he told her. She would be a fool if she continued to linger here in this pitiful village looking after her sheep. Sarah eagerly agreed to meet with him today and follow him to this mysterious place.Now she waited.
A voice shouted from the mountain, and Sarah stopped singing to look up.
Samuel, her least favorite person in the village, was running towards her. His face sweaty; blue eyes glowing.
“Sarah, we must get the others! Wait till you hear where I have been!” He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the village, causing the chain of daisies to drop underfoot.
“Samuel, stop!” she snapped, trying to jerk her hand away.
“No you must come, I’ve seen the king,” he said in a rush of words.
“Samuel, what on earth are you babbling about?” Sarah asked in irritation as she bent to retrieve her fallen flowers.
“You know the king who is always sending us gifts,” Samuel explained very patiently.
Sarah rolled her eyes,” That is very nice Samuel.”
She picked up her flowers and began walking towards the village, eager to get away from him. Samuel followed her, but she ignored his jabbering nonsense, sighing with relief when another group of children appeared and he went running towards them.
Nothing was going distract her from getting out of this village. Not even the king. A king she had never seen, a king she did not care about. All of her young life she had lived in this village. She had been completely happy, completely satisfied, for the village was a lovely place. But then she had met the man in the woods, the man with the entrancing green eyes and comforting deep voice.
Suddenly her entire life had seemed like only meaningless euphoria. The words he spoke opened an entire new world to Sarah. Adventure, danger and discovery awaited her below the mountain. Longing was stirred in her heart...she knew there had always been a bigger world than her tiny village.
As Sarah passed the excited group gathered around Samuel she glimpsed the man standing in the fork of the path at the edge of the village.
Sarah skipped towards him, dropping her chain of flowers yet a second time. His tan face split into that entrancing smile that had so captivated Sarah the second she had met him.
“Are you ready, Sarah?” he asked as she approached within earshot, he held out his hand.
“Yes,” she replied softly, slipping her small hand into his large one.
“Than follow me,” he said turning back down the path. For only a brief second, doubt lingered in
Sarah’s mind as she glanced back over her shoulder. The houses of the village stood strong and straight, their bricks covered in flowers, the children’s voices echoed with laughter and song, she could see their familiar forms weaving in and out of the gardens and pathways and across the meadows. She quickly turned away, they were all trapped here.
One day they would want to leave themselves as she was doing now. Turning her face quickly away, Sarah’s eyes stuck to the path. She had made her choice.
to be continued...
