A Stolen Kiss

July 19,18951

Dear Diary,2

I am not certain if I can even begin to tell you how I am feeling at this moment. These feelings swelling inside are so overwhelming I am not sure if I can put them into words. Right now at this moment I am sitting on the back veranda looking up at the midnight sky with the same stars that were here yesterday, but tonight somehow they just are not the same. I should be snug in my bed with the covers pulled up to my chin, but sleep seems to be eluding me as every time I close my eyes visions of the day's events send my heart to race with an excitement I have never known before.3

I have waited all my fifteen years for this day to come and now that it has it was everything I ever dreamt it would be. You know that I have had my heart set on getting Jimmy Parker to notice me ever since we have been young. I remember in the school yard hiding behind a tree, peeking around the corner every few moments just waiting to get a glimpse of those dark curly locks of his and those deep blue eyes. Oh, those deep blue eyes are brighter than the sky on its brightest day. Every once in awhile he would catch me watching him and I would duck back behind the tree real quick with my heart racing so fast in my chest. Of course, I was just a kid back then and really didn't know what true love was.4

Now that I am a woman I see things so much differently than before. Now I just sit off to the side like he doesn't even exist and every once in awhile when he glances my way I will shyly turn my face away and let out a small giggle before getting up to walk away. Of course, a girl can not let a boy know she is interested in him and must play hard to get to keep his attention but how much I enjoy it when I make a trip into town with my mother. Hiding around the corner to watch him working at his father's store sweeping the front walk free of dirt or unloading sacks of flour from the buggy in front of the store. Especially in the summer when the heat allows him to take off his shirt and I can see his muscular arms glowing in the sun light. Arms I can only dream of holding me one day. Definitely thoughts a lady should not have. 5

Today was the County Fair! The day the town waits for all summer long to be able to set up and show off their talented crafts. Mother and I entered the pie contest, as we do every year. We spent all week baking pies to enter in the contest and pies to sell. Mother bakes the best apple pie this side of the County, winning first place, every year since I can remember and of course she won again this year too.6

But the most exciting part about the fair came after all the festivities were over and I had sat all day under the shade of our booth, fanning myself and watching Jimmy Parker and all the other boys playing baseball after all their work was done. 7

Jimmy Parker and a few of the boys got the honor of pig wrestling. Jimmy Parker took first place, but I really thought it should have been the pig that won the prize as each boy came out of the pen looking none the worse for the wear covered in mud from head to toe. I couldn't help but laugh at such a meaningless sport it would seem to me. I caught Jimmy Parker steal a glance at me with a look of pride glistening in his eyes and it only made me laugh harder, which caused him to saunter off with his head hung low and his bruised ego in his hands.8

When the boys were finished they got to go down by the pond and swim for awhile to get cleaned off. It was not lady like for the womenfolk to go to the fishing pond for a dip although in the sweltering heat I might have enjoyed it. But when the boys returned they began their games of baseball and I got to watch Jimmy Parker as he played with the sun shining off his bare chest and shoulders that were perfectly tanned from the summer sun. My heart skipped a few beats every time he hit a home run and ran around the bases. Mother caught me staring at him a couple of times and busied me with other things. It wasn't lady like to stare at the opposite sex either, especially at someone of Jimmy Parker's stature, but I just couldn’t help myself.9

I was happy when the sun fell and the evening festivities of dinner and barn dancing afterwards began. All the adults fell into their own socializing so I wandered down by the pond to sit and relax now that a cool breeze was in the air. I perched myself upon a rock fixing my skirt as a lady should and mindlessly began picking up stones to throw into the water as I reflected on the day’s events and Jimmy Parker's wonderfully tanned shoulders. I could only let out a sigh at just the mere thought of him wrapping those arms around my waist and gazing deeply into those deep aqua blue eyes. 10

I was lost in my reverie when I was startled by the crackling of a twig under someone’s footstep next to me. I looked up from my seat on the rock and there stood Jimmy Parker looking down at me with a twinkle in his eyes and a coy smile playing on his lips. I felt an instant rush of heat flush my cheeks as I had to turn to look away from those mesmerizing eyes. Just as I went to look away Jimmy Parker caught my chin with his hand and gently turned my face back to his lifting my chin upwards so our eyes met once again. I was drowning in the sea of his gaze as he bent ever so slowly and softly brushed his lips against mine. As soon as our lips met an electrifying feeling shot down my spine and my heart leapt in my chest. I could only sit in an awestruck silence as he pulled away and disappeared back into the darkness in which he had came. 11

As quickly as he had come he disappeared again, but leaving me a different person than the one I had been before I had taken my seat on that rock. All of a sudden the stars shone brighter in the sky than ever before and they felt as if they twinkled just for me. The air became sweeter and I felt so much lighter as if I was floating on the sweetness of the air itself as I made my way home tonight. I think the feeling of that kiss will be forever on my lips and the look of longing in his eyes will be forever etched into my brain.   12

If only I can find a way to have him invited to my Debutante Ball next summer when I turn sixteen then all my dreams will come true. But how to do that is another problem when I know my father will never agree when I come from such a prominent family that founded this small town where Jimmy Parker’s family runs their store.  Everyone already knows that we only attend the Fair because it is hosted by the town’s Social Elite Society as a charity fundraiser.  I have spent my whole life training on the etiquette of how to act like a lady just to prepare myself for the Debutante Ball, as ladies in my family are not expected to have a formal education. Their sole purpose is to gracefully decorate the arm of their husbands. My father would never agree for me to marry anyone other than a rich suitor of his choice. He would be so disappointed if he even knew that I had been spending all these years wandering down to the schoolhouse to entertain my afternoons.13

Oh, Diary what am I going to do? I hope to someday change the traditions of my family but as for now all I can do is dream and stare out at the stars with the lingering feeling of Jimmy Parker’s lips brushing against mine. I do not even think I could possibly love another man.14