The Letter

Lucy Carnivine huffs as she leans against the streetlight waiting for the light to change and let her walk across the street. New York definitely wasn’t renown for its traffic problems. 16 years of living here from birth till now and never had she saw the streets clear, even at night. She taps her finger as she stares at the 6 story apartment across the street. Charlie, her lifelong friend whom she cares deeply for would be getting his draft results for the war soon. She can’t imagine him being shipped off to another state, much less somewhere in Europe or Asia. The light clicks and allows her to walk across. Just as Lucy was about to reach up and turn the knob to the door to the apartment building, it suddenly swings out in front of her. She is suddenly face to face with Charlie, who’s face is not far from hers.

“Hello, Lucy” Charlie said casually. Lucy blushes and takes a step back outside.

“Hey, um, have you gotten your results back yet?” Lucy manages to say.

“For the dozenth time this week, not yet.” he grins jokingly at her. “Didn’t I tell you I’d let you know when I got them? Besides, the mail hasn't even run yet.” He steps out into the open to face Lucy. He is clad in a dark red sweater with plain blue jeans.

“I’m just worried is all.” Lucy says with a small voice. Charlie stands beside her and wraps his arm around her shoulders.

Just then, a large mail van pulled onto the curb and the mailman stepped out and strode into the apartment. Lucy’s heart speeds up and jumps into her throat. She sways and would have fallen if not for Charlie allowing her to lean against him.

“It’s going to be okay, don’t worry.” He reassures her.

“I really hope so, for your sake.” She replied.

Charlie leads her inside the apartment. In spite of her anxiety, Lucy feels relaxed by the familiar sight of the lobby. The music box is playing soft music in the background as they walk past the U-shaped cluster of couches surrounding a coffee table. A receptionist sips on a drink behind the front desk to their left. Pool balls clatter as two men stand in the far right corner playing pool. Lucy steps away from Charlie, shrugging off his arm.

“It’s okay, I can walk.” she says.

They ascend the old brown carpet staircase to Charlie’s apartment on the 4th floor. As they were walking up the steps, Lucy trips on a step but her fall is halted by Charlie, grabbing her by the shoulder. He pulls her to her feet, and her heart starts to beat rapidly at the touch of his hand. Turning to look at him, all of his facial features seem to jump out at her at that moment: fair black hair, spotless face, deep blue eyes, smooth curved jawline, all of it seemed so prominent. She knew it in her heart she had feelings for him, but she did not know whether he had feelings for her. Suddenly, he reaches out to caress her cheek, angling her head up towards his. Lucy forgets how to breathe as Charlie slowly starts to lower his face to hers, his lips nearly touching hers. Abruptly, the same mailman whom they saw outside bumps into them, startling both of them and making them jump apart.

“Excuse me.” he mumbles as he slinks past the two of them.

As the mailman disappears down the staircase, Lucy looks up and sees Charlie looking at her with a flushed, embarrassed expression

“Um, well, lets go see if he’s delivered the letter or not.”  He starts up the stairs waving with his hand for Lucy to follow her before she could respond. They arrive at a numbered apartment door and Charlie digs in his front pocket and pulls out a small key. He unlocks the bolt on the door and pushes it open. It occurs to Lucy that she had not been in his new apartment yet since he moved out of his parents’. Both of them step inside to reveal a small living room with a gray couch facing an old television set sitting on a on the left wall. On the right wall is a door which presumably leads to the bedroom. On the floor lay a single envelope. Lucy then remembered her earlier anxiety. Her heart began to beat fast again, sweat beading on her forehead. Charlie shut the door and went over to hug Lucy again.

“It’ll be alright, I promise.” He reassured again.

What seems like an year in a minute, Charlie opens the envelope and reads the letter. Surprise overcomes his face as he finishes reading, and a smile pops up on his face.

“It looks like I’m not going to be leaving after all.” He states cheerfully. “They’ve excluded me from the draft because of health issues.”

Relief and warm joyful bliss washes threw Lucy like a warm bath. Without even thinking, she runs up and throws her arms around Charlie, and they both hug each other in a tight embrace.

“Thank the Lord that you don’t have to go. I thought that I might lose you. That you might be out in a field getting shot at and that you might actually be...”

“Shh, shh, enough of that,” he interrupted, “no need to worry about those thoughts anymore.”

Lucy leans back out of their embrace to gaze into his eyes. She had hid her feelings from him for a long time without telling him because she was afraid he might not return her feelings. But now, she was sure of herself.

“I... I love you.” She confessed to him.

“I love you, too.” He smiles so big it reaches his eyes.

Tears flow into her eyes at the sound of those words she longed to hear. Charlie caresses her cheek and tilts her head towards his again. Lucy’s breathing became erratic, and it felt as if her heart might punch threw her ribcage an out of her chest. And so he kissed her. Lucy had not kissed anyone before, and never had she dreamed it would be this romantic. The soft touch of his lips against hers sends electrifying pulses throughout Lucy’s body. After what seems far too short for Lucy, Charlie pulls away. He smiles at her with the same familiar warm smile Lucy has known for all her life.

“By the way, for what health reason did you get excluded from the draft?” She inquired.

He chuckles to himself before answering, “I have flat feet.”

Lucy stares at him, dumbfounded. After a short pause, both start laughing until they were holding their sides. After they finish, they hold hands as they left the apartment to go spend the rest of the afternoon together. It seems as though they would be very happy together.

Compare/Contrast stories.

Stories can bring much joy to people and can be compared or contrasted to everyday life or even other stories. Stories like Cinderella(story 1), The Hypocritical Cat(story 2), and Beauty and the Beast(story 3). These stories can have their themes or morals linked to the real world to teach a lesson, and not indifferent to parables.

For those who haven’t read The Hypocritical Cat, (and you probably haven’t) long story short,its about a cat that has grown old and must trick the mice to catch them by pretending to make up for  eating them in the past while still eating them behind their backs.

Stories 1 and 3 have very similar sounding themes that both mean along the lines of, “Treat all people equally and look past appearances to the worth of people that counts.” Both stories also resolve with two of the most unlikely people getting married and living happily ever after. Story 2 does not have its story resolved, rather, it presents its moral lesson, “don’t fool others for personal gain”, to readers so that the same conflict does not arise.

Stories 1 and 2 have their antagonist throughout the story, beginning to end,  while story 3 eventually has its antagonist turn good guy towards the end of the story and another antagonist surfaces. Story 2 and 3 both have their antagonists as animals in their story.

All of the stories though have this in common: animals played some sort of role in the story, whether it was a small part or a major role to the whole story. Each story was fiction but can be related to real life situations.

Violent acts

Last week, I witnessed a fight in my cafeteria, and the two people showed no restrain, pushing, shoving, and hurling perverse language at each other. Why are kids so violent these days, and how is it caused? There has been some debate over what we can point at and say is a problem. Blame has been put on our media and what it shows, but if the media is the problem, wouldn't we all be aggressive and violent? I mean, haven't all of us watched our fair share of violent shows? The blame should be placed with the ones who are responsible with the behavior of the children: the parents.

I myself have watched many upon many of violent shows and movies and despite that, I'm not aggressive at all. So, putting blame on the media for violent children is irrelevant. Children may get their ideas of violence from the media, but it all boils down to how they were raised. Parents should take a stronger hold of what their children watch and for how long because if not, the television and computer start raising the children instead of the parents. Parental abuse on the children also increases the chances of the kids themselves to be violent in ways, be it toward their own children or their peers. Peers that are violent or aggressive may spread their behavior to their fellow peers or at least their friends.

It's time to stop blaming the mass media and start looking at the real influences of the kids violence. If we start addressing the real causes of violence, like bad or lack of parenting, we can begin to prevent it. And a quote to remember for readers, "The moment we raise our voices to start a fight, we've already lost."