by Remember Me
Margaret turned around to find the face of one of her good friends and classmates.
Richard Nelson and she had known one another since they first met in the fifth grade. She had
always considered him a friend, but felt shy around him, perhaps because she wished he were
more than just a friend.
Richard Nelson was the type of guy she could get dreamy about. Not a loud and
conceited guy, but rather quiet and shy. He had a rugged look about him, yet soft, warm eyes.
Strong, but not an athlete, he always seemed compassionate. Richard was smart, an intellectual
of sorts, and could melt her with a glance. The only thing about him was that he had never shown
any interest in Margaret, and she always felt he was beyond her grasp, and would always remain
a dream.
“Oh, hi Richard,” Margaret answered, trying to fight back the tears. “I was just
wandering around a bit.”
“So, it’s all over, do you feel any different?”
Margaret looked at him for a second, trying to figure out how he already knew about her
and Jeremy, then she realized that his reference was to graduation. A smile came over her face as
she realized her mistake.
“I don’t know, I don’t think it’s hit me yet,” Margaret yelled over the noise of the crowd.
“Do you have any regrets?”
“Yeah,” Margaret confessed. “I wish I wouldn’t have spent the past year dating Jeremy.
In fact, I wish I had never dated him at all.”
A funny look came over the face of her friend as she finished her sentence. She could tell
that he found a certain amount of humor in her remark. She pressed him to find out what he
found funny about it.
“Why?” she asked. “Do you have any regrets?”
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“Yeah, I regret never having the courage to ask you out.”
Margaret suddenly forgot about the scene she had witnessed a few minutes earlier. She
had always had a crush on Richard Nelson, but had never thought he would want to go out with
her. She couldn’t believe what she had heard, but the remark was just the thing she needed to
hear to lift her spirits.
“Well, why didn’t you?”
“I never thought you liked me, you always ignored me.”
“I never ignored you.”
“I sat behind you all year in Algebra,” Richard reminded her. “I can only recall one or
two times that you really talked to me. You hardly ever even turned around to look at my. I
figured you were too serious with your boyfriend to even bother.”
“I know. I really wish I hadn’t got that serious with him.”
“I wish I wasn’t leaving to work in Nevada for the summer.”
“What are you doing in Nevada?” Margaret asked, amazed at how comfortable she felt
around him.
“I work as a hand at a cattle ranch down there.”
“Do you ride horses?”
“Since I was five,” Richard answered. “My parents have four horses that they keep in the
town stables. Have you ever ridden before?”
“I love riding,” informed Margaret. “In fact, I’ll probably leave soon to visit my aunt up
in Harrison. They have a ranch up there where I ride.”
“Will you be home at all in August?”
“Yeah,” Margaret answered. “I won’t leave for school until the second week in
September.”
“I’ll be home for a week at the end of August. Would it be all right if I gave you a call
while I’m home. We could take a ride in the mountains.”
“That sounds great,” Margaret exclaimed with a bashful grin on her face. “Do you have
my number?”
“I know where you live.”
“Great. You have a nice summer, Richard.”
“You too, Margaret,” he answered, looking into her eyes. She noticed something about
the way he smiled at her, something she had never seen when she looked at Jeremy. It made her
feel good about herself.
Before he realized what had happened, Margaret reached up and gave him a long kiss.
She stepped away and noticed him staring at her with a confused and surprised look on his face.
She smiled softly back at him.
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“Thanks Richard, I really needed a talk like that.”
“My pleasure,” he answered with a grin.
Margaret lifted her camera and snapped a picture before he could look away. She smiled
at him and turned around, running off to find her best friend. She knew that it would take some
time in the large crowd.
Margaret returned home quite late that night. Her evening had received one final damper
when Amy informed her that she would leave to look at several campuses for the next couple of
weeks. Margaret didn’t look forward to spending the first two weeks of her summer alone. She
felt incredibly tired, but wanted to write her thoughts down in a quick journal entry. She sat
down and took a minute to empty her feelings onto the paper.
“...Graduation finally arrived. I thought I had learned as much as I ever would in high
school about a week ago, when my teachers finally quit giving lectures, and allowed us to start
celebrating, but tonight, I learned a final lesson from my years in school.
I learned a lesson I won’t ever forget. I placed too much trust in a friend whom I have
dated for over a year now. After discovering him rolling around in the bushes with another girl, I
started to ask some of my friends about him and found that he has been seeing other girls
throughout the year.
I also feel like I may have made a mistake by limiting myself to only dating one guy over
the past few months. I talked with Richard, a guy I’ve wanted to date since I was in the ninth
grade. It turns out he wanted to date me all along also. I wish I would have known this sooner.
My mistake was remaining so loyal to Jeremy, even though I knew I didn’t want to end
up marrying someone like him. I should have dated some other guys once I knew this. My
problem is that I believe more in remaining faithful to my companion than making sure my
companion is the right guy for me.
I wish I would have taken more chances while I was in high school. I met Jeremy, and I
felt comfortable with him. I didn’t want to lose that comfort. I know now that this was wrong. I
need to start acting on my impulses a little bit more, and not worry about the consequences. I did
that with Richard tonight, and it felt good.
From this day forward, I will not limit myself to a single guy until I find a guy who I’m
absolutely sure is what I’m looking for. I also vow that the next guy I meet whom I find out is a
womanizer, I will make an example out of. I don’t like being used, and I will get even and teach
him a lesson.
Anyway, now that Jeremy is behind me, I can concentrate solely on college and the other
tasks at hand. Tomorrow I’ll talk to my mom about visiting Kate at the ranch soon...”
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“Good Morning, Margaret,” Alice called out as she opened the blinds to Margaret’s
room. The bright light returned life to the dim room. Margaret had her head buried in her pillow
and buried it deeper
as the light crept towards her.
“It doesn’t feel like morning.”
“That’s what happens when you stay out until three in the morning. I let you sleep in until
ten, but that’s all I’ll give you. I’m not going to allow you to sleep your entire summer away.”
“All right,” Margaret spoke as she lifted her head from her pillow. She squinted as she
tried to adjust to the bright lights and rolled out of bed. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and
threw her robe on over the night shirt she slept in.
“Your Aunt Kate called last night to wish you congratulations on your graduation. I
thought you might give her a call back this afternoon. She wanted to know when you planned to
come out and spend a few weeks with her. You are still planning to go out to the ranch, aren’t
you?”
“Oh yes, mom,” assured Margaret. “In fact, I wanted to talk with you about that today.
Amy is leaving today to spend a few days looking over the two colleges she received
scholarships from. She still hasn’t made up her mind where she wants to go, but I figured that as
long as she was gone, I might head out to visit Aunt Kate. I would be bored off my rocker here
all alone.”
“Well thanks,” teased her mother.
“You know what I mean, mom. There wouldn’t be anyone my age around. I’ll be pulling
my hair out by the end of the week. When I call Aunt Kate, can I ask her if I can spend some
time with her right now. I would really like to spend some time in Harrison.”
“What about your friend Jeremy? You used to spend a lot of time with him. Is he out of
the picture now?”
“I decided last night that it was better to end everything. I want to enjoy college, not
worry about him back here.”
“That’s probably smarter anyway, dear. I can’t say I ever really liked him that much, but
I try to stay out of your social life. It’s good to meet people who grew up in a different
environment than your own. I met your father in college, and we were from opposite sides of the
continent.”
Margaret’s mother walked downstairs while Margaret entered the bathroom and started
warming up the water in the shower. She had a lot to do if she wanted to leave for Harrison soon.
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Chapter Nine
Margaret arrived at the small ranch house on the edge of town late in the afternoon. The
warm sun beat down hard against the dry soil of the rangeland. She climbed out of her car and
walked over to the fence where the three horses stood gnawing on some alfalfa stubble in the
field.
She climbed up onto the wooden rails of the fence and sat down to look at the peaceful
animals. One of the horses walked over to her and placed its nose near her face. She reached up
with her hand and gently stroked the top of the massive creature’s head.
“Hi Blaze,” Margaret spoke to the animal. “It looks like you’ve put some weight on since
my last visit. We’ll see if we can’t work that off you during my next few weeks here.”
The horse nodded its head as if it understood her, and Margaret laughed at the wonderful
creature. The familiar odor of pasture and horses drifted slowly through her nose and she inhaled
deeply. She missed the aroma of nature.
Looking out across the endless open range, Margaret felt comfortable. Her claustrophobia
ceased to exist while she spent time here. She jumped off the fence and walked over to the front
door of the beautiful home. The smell of barbecued chicken invited her sense of smell as she
knocked on the door and turned the knob to let herself in.
“Is that you, Margaret?” called a voice from inside.
“Yes, Aunt Kate, it’s me.”
“Just in time,” Kate called back. “We’re just getting ready to sit down and eat. Come on
in and wash up.”
Margaret walked into the comfortable country home and headed down the hallway
towards the bathroom. Her uncle walked out of the restroom with a towel to dry his hands just as
Margaret reached the door.
“Well hello, Margaret, how was the drive?”
“Enjoyable, Uncle Jeff. It feels great to be out here on the ranch again. The horses look
really good.”
“Well, I think we need you to take out old Blaze and trim her down a bit.”
“I fully intend too,” answered Margaret.
Margaret washed her hands carefully in the sink. She loved the way she could just walk
into her aunt’s house and feel as if she had lived there all her life. Nobody besides her parents
had ever made her feel as welcome as her aunt and uncle.
The couple had never had any children. Margaret remembered very little about them until
she reached the age where her parents would let her ride the horses. Ever since then, she spent at
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least three weeks at their house each year. Her mom told her that they weren’t particularly fond
of babies, but they loved taking the young kids for rides on the horses.
Whatever their reasons were, Margaret always looked forward to the time she spent out
here. Her Aunt Kate was her brother’s and sister’s favorite relative, and as Margaret came of age,
she learned why. She dried off her hands and walked into the kitchen where the couple sat at the
table, dishing up their plates.
Kate’s kitchen had a rustic appearance and a country decor. She had never bought a
dishwasher and still had the same cast iron oven Margaret had always remembered. Her uncle
had finished the pine cabinets and used his handy work to engrave the wood with intricate
designs.
The kitchen caught the morning’s first light, but at this late hour had little direct sunlight
shining inside. The room felt cool and relaxing after the long, hot drive from Margaret’s own
home.
Margaret’s aunt looked up at her as she walked in and a smile covered the entirety of her
face. Margaret knew her affectionate aunt was about to embarrass her.
“Look at you,” Kate began. “You have just grown up into a beautiful young woman. How
was your graduation?”
“It was great,” answered Margaret. “I was more than ready for it to arrive.”
“Got that last year boredom syndrome, did ya?” asked her uncle, waving her to come to
the table and sit down.
“Yeah, senioritis hit me a few months ago,” Margaret answered. “It sure is nice to have it
all over with.”
Her uncle was an easy going guy. Both her aunt and uncle were in their late fifties, but
they had a youthful attitude towards life. Their silvery colored hair had never symbolized their
age to Margaret, but seemed to shine with life and vigor.
Both of her relatives were in good health, with lean and strong bodies, and had never
stopped living life to the hilt. They slowed slightly as the years added up, but they always
seemed younger, and never complained about growing older. Their marriage still had a freshness
about it, and she knew that their romance flourished, even after years together.
“So what are you going to do while you’re here this time?” her aunt asked in a sincere
tone.
Margaret liked this most about her aunt. The first thing the woman asked every summer
is what the kids wanted to do during their visit. One summer, Margaret told her she wanted to
spend as much time riding horses as she could. Her aunt got her up at six o’clock each morning
and put her in the saddle with a packed lunch, and Margaret didn’t come home until dark each
day.
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The couple owned a huge plot of land that seemed to go on forever. They only fenced the
outside perimeter, and the horses could run free through the whole area. When her sister was
younger, the two of them would ride around playing games all day long. She had fond memories
of the times spent out here.
“I haven’t really planned any sort of itinerary,” explained Margaret. “I thought I would
just enjoy the open countryside and take each day as it comes.”
“Well, that’s a change from your usual list of proposals,” noted her uncle as he handed
her some chicken. “I recall you always having a long list of things you had to do while you were
here. We even had to lengthen your trips a few times so you could fulfill all your requests.”
“I know,” answered Margaret, "but I’m sort of in limbo right now. There’s a lot of things
I want to do, but I want to explore some of the other attractions around these parts.”
Once Margaret arrived at the home, it didn’t take long for her to begin talking with the
same ranch accent that her relatives spoke. After many years out here, she had learned to fit in
quickly.
“Want to go into town to pick up on guys at the mall, huh?” teased her uncle.
“Actually, I would like to go into town, but not to look for guys. I’ll have plenty of time
for guys at college. I just thought it was funny that I’ve been here so many times, yet I don’t
know anything about the surrounding area around here. I would like to explore it a little bit.”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” answered her aunt. “Just remember, you still need to
work that excess stomach off Blaze.”
“Oh, I guarantee I’ll be up bright and early for a morning ride,” answered Margaret, "but
I also want to track down a girl I met in school who lives around here.”
“Do you have her address?” asked her uncle. “I could drive you into town tomorrow and
drop you by her house if you know the address.”
“Actually, I didn’t think I would ever see her again after I met her. All I know is her