I began this story on:
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
12:42 AM


♥ Tomorrow Is Forever ♥
One Anniversary Story by Ora Lea Harrison


      Joanna walked beside the creek that ran close to the house, enjoying the early day before the sun had risen, even.   She loved this time of day and was out in it whenever possible.   She could dream her dreams, solve her problems and make her plans for the day before her.
      As she walked, she noticed a large stone in front of her, beside the creek.   She didn't remember seeing it before and thought how odd it was to suddenly show up like that.
      Walking towards it, she noticed funny markings on it.   As she got closer, she realized that the markings were letters.   Getting right in front of it, she saw that engraved on the beautiful brown rock were the words, 'Tomorrow is Forever'.
      She was so amazed at the phenomenon that she was frightened and began to run back to the house.   As she was opening the front door, she awoke.
      Sitting straight up, she jumped from the bed and hurried to the bedroom door, breathing hard.   She stood still at the door and wondered what she was doing there, where she had planned on going.
      Adam woke up and said,   "Joanna, are you alright?"
      Walking back to the bed, Joanna said,   "I'm alright, just a bad dream I guess.   Sorry I woke you."
      She lay back down and put her arm across him as he began to drift off again.   Soon, light snoring was heard and Joanna smiled, envying his ability to go to sleep so easily.
      She lay in bed, unable to go back to sleep, until the room began to lighten.
      Being as quiet as possible, she left the bed, once more, and began to take clothes from drawers and the closet.
      Stepping into the bathroom, she laid out her clothes and realized that nothing matched, laughing to herself that it would even matter.
      Walking onto the front porch, she looked across the field at the creek.   Even though she knew that it had only been a dream, it haunted her still.   She began to walk in the direction that she had seen the rock with the writing on it.
      What did it mean?   she wondered.
      The day was brightening and as she watched, the sun began to show it's golden face, announcing another beautiful day.
      She couldn't be leery in the midst of this, she thought and headed back to the house.
      She sat on the porch swing and Kitty Carol, her Calico, came and sat beside her.
      Feeling drowsy from the movement of the swing, Joanna went back into the house and took off the pants, socks and sweater that was covering her night shirt.
      Lightly pushing Adam over, she enjoyed the warm place where he had lain and went to sleep.

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      As she slept, she dreamed that she and Adam were camping out, like they used to do.   She could smell the breakfast as it cooked on the camp stove and woke to see Adam standing at the door, smiling.   "If you get up now, your breakfast will still be hot,"   he was saying to her still groggy self.
      "You made breakfast?   What's the occasion?"   she asked, wondering, and went to brush her teeth and comb her hair.   Splashing her face, she picked up her hand towel and rubbing her face, she went into the kitchen where Adam was standing at the stove, making scrambled eggs.
      He had his barbeque apron over his p.j.'s, the red plaid ones that she had given him for Christmas.   Turning to her, he said, "Take your place, M'Lady, today's your day."
      Baffled at his behavior, she sat down at the breakfast nook by the window and turned off the radio that he had been listening to.
      Putting her plate in front of her, he said,   "Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart."
      Joanna couldn't believe that Adam, who hardly remembered major occasions, remembered their anniversary and she hadn't.
      Shaking her head, she smiled, saying,   "This is too weird, you remembered our anniversary!?"
      "But, of course, don't I always?"   he quipped.
      Still smiling, she began to eat her breakfast.   "This are so good, have you been practicing when I wasn't looking?"   she teased.
      "There's more to come"   he said, keeping her interest.
      "I was dreaming that we were camping and you were cooking like you used to,"   she said between mouthfuls.
      "Oh, yeah, you did wake up with a dream last night, didn't you?"
      A shadow crossed her face and she related the other dream from the night.
      "Why did it frighten me?   It should have been a good thing, seeing the words, 'Tomorrow is forever',"   she wondered aloud.
      "Our subconscious is a strange thing,"   he answered and not liking the look of fear on her face, quickly changed the subject, as was his way.   "I have some errands to run in town, are you up to going with me?"
      Normally she would jump at the chance to spend time with Adam in the car but remembering things that she, herself, needed to do, declined.

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      After Adam left, she tidied the kitchen and fixing a cup of tea, took it to the back porch to enjoy the morning view of the back garden.
      Looking forward to early retirement, a decade ago, the house had been purchased and improvements made over the years. They were pleased with the results of the efforts that they had put in.
      Hearing a small aircraft overhead, Joanna realized that it had begun sputtering and putting her cup on the table before her, she stepped from the porch.   Looking skyward, she watched as the plane seemed to float in an uncertain direction and disappeared behind the woods in back of the garden.
      Running to put on her shoes and pants, she was halfway down the driveway when she realized that she wasn't really dressed, she still was wearing her night shirt.
      As she returned to the house, the thought came to her that she should have phoned the sheriff department and did put in the 911 call.   They said that they had already received several calls.
      Changing her top, she heard the emergency vehicles approaching.   She went back out the door, noticing that she had left the house keys in the front door in her hurry to get back in the house.   She took them from the lock and pocketed them, continuing down the driveway.   Driving out onto the road, she went just around the corner to Dave and Laurie's house, where she had seen the plane go down.
      Dave was on the auxiliary sheriff department and was assisting the deputies.
      Seeing the plane this close up with the unconscious men inside was too real for Joanna.   She walked over to where Laurie was standing and quietly shook until Laurie noticed and put her arms around her.
      "I was sitting on my back porch, when I saw it go down."   Joanna said.
      "We were inside the house and we both heard the loud thump and ran out here to see what it was."   Laurie replied.
      People and vehicles continued to come as close as possible until Dave, seeing the problem, went out on the road to help manage the congregation on the narrow, country road.   He allowed that cars could park in the pasture as long as the emergency vehicles were able to come and go easily.
      A helicopter was heard coming and everyone backed up so that it could land.
      Feeling calmer, Joanna was looking around her and noticed two men, just inside the woods, close to Laurie's house, the same woods that extended to her property.   They were barely visible and didn't look familiar to her, not that she knew everyone out here.
      She decided that she didn't want to watch any more and told Laurie that she'd see her later and made her way back to her car.
      She was tempted to just leave it, it was so crowded in by now but managed to maneuver it back to her own road and to her house.
      Going into the den, she got the remote and turned the TV on and changed channels until she saw breaking news about the plane crash.
      She realized that she was seeing the aerial view of her own house and heard the helicopter overhead that was doing the live news shot.   It was strange seeing her property on TV.   After a few minutes, she got up to put on a load of washing, feeling the need for the everyday in the midst of trouble.
      Loading the clothes in the washer, she turned and was startled to see Adam standing there.
      "Oh, Adam,"   she went to him.
      "What's going on, Joanna?   I could hardly get in our own road,"   he asked her.
      She took him to the den where the TV was still going and described her experience while they watched together.
      When regular programming came back on, they stood up.
      "When I was in town, I saw where the college is having an outdoor music program this evening.   I had planned on taking you to the seafood restaurant for our anniversary so if you'd like, we can go over there afterwards."   Adam told Joanna while he was getting ready to go back outside.
      Forgetting about tragedy momentarily, Joanna was pleased that he would think of something like that to change the mood.
      "We haven't done that in a while, have we?"   she showed her delight.   "I'll have to get a quilt and put it in the car so we can sit on the ground.   I like that much better than the benches there, don't you?"
      Adam went to work in his shop out back and she began their lunch.
      Taking her tray with the sandwiches and tea out to the table on the back porch, she called out to Adam to come eat.   Seeing the cup of tea that she hadn't finished that morning, she tossed it onto the grass, barely missing Adam, who was coming up.
      "Almost baptized with green tea, I guess that'll make me healthy,"   he chuckled.
      While they were eating, Joanna remembered seeing the men in the woods at Laurie's house and related it to Adam.
      Adam looked momentarily concerned but only said,   "Probably just bystanders, lunch was good but I'd better get back to work.   That lawn mower of Mr. Bender's won't fix itself,"   he smiled at her.
      Sitting at the table after Adam had gone to the shop, Joanna considered what she could salvage of the day, knowing her earlier plans would have to wait for another day since she wanted to begin preparing for their evening out.   She needed to do something special for Adam since he was doing this for her.
      Taking the lunch tray into the kitchen, she went to the sink and looking out the window over the sink, she saw movement in the trees and waited to see if a deer would come out.   She and Adam loved the wildlife out here.
      Not seeing any more movement, she was about to turn away when she saw a mans face looking towards the shop where Adam was.
      She stiffened but managed to reach for the phone and call Adam in the shop.   He said for her to lock the doors and call Dave to bring his gun over in case something was about to go down.
      She quietly locked the doors and called Dave to let him know what Adam had said and then she called 911 for the second time that day.   Taking the gun that Adam had taught her how to shoot, she laid it on the table.   She didn't really think that she could ever shoot anything, man or beast, but Adam had insisted and she felt that now was a good time to have it close at hand in case she had to help Adam defend their home.   She couldn't hardly take a gun out to him and he needed to stay where he was until Dave got there.   Standing back from the windows, she watched and waited.
      Before the men decided to come out of hiding, Dave pulled up in his pickup and jumped out with his shotgun.   A large man, he had a decided presence without the gun.   Going to the back of the house, he called out to Adam, who came from the shop.   Pointing to the men in the trees, they both called out to them to come out where they could be seen, that they were on private property.
      Realizing that they had been seen and were being threatened, they came out with their hands up, saying that they were just hunting and hadn't done any harm.
      Two deputy cars came up just then and seeing Dave and Adam in the back of the house, ran to them and took the men down and handcuffed and searched them.   They took guns and knives from both of them and questioned them all the while talking to the people at the station.
      Deciding that the men were up to no good, they took them to the station for further questioning.
      Adam came to the back door and told Joanna that he and Dave were going into the woods to see if there was anyone else that may be back there.   Seeing the gun on the table, he looked questioning at Joanna and going to the gun cabinet, he picked out another and took it with him.
      The phone rang and it was Laurie, wanting to know if everything was alright.   After speaking briefly to Laurie, Joanna went back to her place to watch and wait again.
      After a while, a gunshot was heard and then another.   Her heart in her throat, Joanna put her head down and began quoting the ninety-first psalm.
      By the time she had finished, she heard Adam and Dave laughing and talking and relieved, went to the door.   Dave said hello to Joanna and said that he needed to be getting home, he'd had enough excitement for one day.
      Adam put the guns away and caught Joanna up on what all had been going on.   When asked about the gun shots, he laughed it off, saying he and Dave had both shot at snakes that were out there.
      "This has been a memorable anniversary, to say the least,"   Adam said, trying to be cool while Joanna collapsed on the couch in the living room.   "Do you still want to go out or would you rather call it a day and go another time?"
      "We have to go now, especially now,"   she said,   "We need a breather after all that's happened."

      After dinner at their favorite seafood place, Joanna and Adam spread their quilt on the lawn and sitting under the stars, enjoyed the music that the college presented.
      Leaning on Adam's shoulder, Joanna reviewed the day and thought about how she'd serve Adam breakfast in bed the next morning in exchange for his gift of making her's this morning.   Remembering the dream from the night before, she saw that it was a premonition.   Turning to Adam, she said, "Tomorrow really is forever, isn't it?"
      Turning to look at her face, he reflected on her words and said,   "Yes, Joanna, tomorrow is forever."

♥ The End ♥

Finished: Thursday, June 09, 2011 @ 5:15:03 PM2011
Property of Ora Lea Harrison   ♥   All rights reserved   Thank you.



I'd love your feedback on my stories.   ♥   You can email me at ora.lea @ gmail.com

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