Through the Berry Thicket

“Mary! Mary, wait!” I ran after her, her dress hem bouncing against her long legs. She could easily beat any boy on our track team. I became breathless, panting, but I couldn’t let Mary get too much of a lead on me. I needed her to stop, to slow down. To let me talk. “Mary! Please stop!” I bent over, cheeks red and flushed, my head pounding with my heart. My breaths came short and ragged, a stitch forming on my side. My shoes were full of dust, my hair was too. My chest was practically soaked in sweat, and my eyes were stinging as bits of sand kicked up by Mary’s feet rained in. “Mary!” I yelled again, my voice cracking as I panted. I pulled myself up to a standing position with the help of a nearby branch. I looked over the hill, my pants ripped at the bottom, breathing like I could never breathe again. I saw her, she had slowed to a walk, her dress blowing around her. If Mother Sarah knew she would have a fit.

I decided to sneak up on her, maybe if I was quiet enough she wouldn’t hear me and I could grab her before she could take off again. I started down the hill, wheezing all the way, each breath coming in quick short bursts. As I got closer and closer to Mary, I could see that she was barefoot, having abandoned her fine shoes in the bushes ahead. Her dress was tattered and torn from running through thickets of berries. Her legs stained purple from blackberry juice. “You can just sit down. I’ll come to you.” I jerked my head up with a start, was she talking to me? “Yes, you, John. Just stop, I’ll come to you.” I panted, taking a seat on an ant infested log, as she turned around and trekked back towards me. “How’d you know I was coming?” My words came out in between much needed breaths. “Well, of course I knew you were coming. You were panting like a hound dog in the middle of summer!” Mary skips up to sit next to me on the log. “Oh gosh. You look like a mess.” I control my breathing and reach up to wipe my face. “What do you expect? I’m not used to racing through forests after run away girls.” I looked up at Mary. Her green eyes shone, a hint of mischievous hidden behind her framing features. Her strawberry blonde hair was miraculously dust free, and her hands seemed as gentle as ever as they reached out to take mine. “C’mon, I know a place where we can wash you off.”

I stood up, following her lead as she ducked under berry bushes and through foliage, barely getting caught despite the thorns sticking through. I couldn’t move an inch without getting caught on something. Finally, Mary burst through into a grove. The trees reached so high, higher than I’ve ever climbed before. “Wow.” Was all I could manage to say. The elms, a tree Mary is fascinated with, dip together at the very top, creating a sort of enclosure. In the center of the enclosure, there is a small pool at the end of a stretching river that escapes through the trees that appears to be maybe 5 or 6 feet deep. A small waterfall shoots from a large boulder inside the pool, spraying mist through the air. “Come here!” Mary shouted. I blinked and saw that she was almost already at the pool, her apron and mouth equally full of berries. I trotted over to where she was, and helped her untie her apron, leaving it on some rocks to hopefully lose some of the berry smell.

Mary climbed up to the top of the waterfall boulder and jumped into the small pool. I panicked for a moment, scanning the water trying to spot Mary’s bonnet full of her hair. Dread fills my chest as I worry that her bonnet strings could have caught on a rock below, trapping her head underwater, or she got caught on a rock, or perhaps forgot how to swim. As I pull off my shoes, preparing to jump in and save her, I see the water start to bubble as Mary shoots her head above the surface, streaming water out of her mouth like a fish as she flips onto her back. I feel relief settle in my chest as my breathing falls back to normal. “Mary! You scared me half to death!” I yell at her. She replies with a short laugh yelling back, “C’mon Johnny, live a little!” She knows I hate when she calls me Johnny. I grumble miserably as I stick my toe into the water. A shiver sends up my spine as the cold pierces my toe. “Mary! It’s freezing cold!” Mary laughs, throwing her head back, “You just have to get used to it, John. It’s really not that cold!” It is really that cold, but I don’t tell her that. I don’t want to make her upset or something.

I stand up, and climb up to the tallest rock. I hold my hand over my nose, and shut my eyes, then I jump out as far as I can from the rock. I land hard in the water, and my eyes burn as I realize I opened them last minute. My body stings, my face feels numb. I resurface and tread water over to the shore where Mary stands giggling. A stream of water spills from my soggy hair into my eyes as I breathe sweet air. “Gosh, Mary, why didn’t you tell me I was going to hit so hard?” I wheezed. Mary giggles sweetly as I climb onto the bank.

“Do you remember when Murphy and I got into a fist fight over you?” I sit down, water streaming from my face. Mary laughs lightly, “I remember. I thought it was awfully sweet of you.” I feel a warm blush flowing up my cheeks, and I quickly wipe my nose on my sleeve. “That’s how my face feels right now.” Mary laughs and jumps back into the water, graceful, like a dolphin somehow. I watch Mary as she swims around and around the pool, carefree like a child.

“Mary, wait!” I shout out to her, reminded of what I came to tell her in the first place. “I need to talk to you. About why I came in the first place.” Mary stands up in the shallows and walks over to me. Her dress wet and nearly see-through. “I, um, I have important business to tell you from Mother Sarah.” Mary nods her head as she sits down on a log. “Yes, yes. I’m aware. Mother Sarah is ill, and will no longer be able to care for me, or any of the other children in her care. I’ve known for a while.” I feel a wave of relief swarm over me as I breathe gently. “If you already knew, then why did you run away when I tried to talk to you earlier?” Mary seems nervous as her face turns pale and sweaty. “Listen John, there’s something I need to tell you.”

To Be Continued.