Marlene’s Gift

Marlene Smith was an ordinary person in every way. She was of medium height and weight, had brown hair and eyes, and wasn’t bad looking, but certainly not beautiful. No one looked twice at Marlene. She was a good cook, a decent singer, poor in math, like many people, and good at creative writing. But how she wished she had an ability, a talent, to set her apart from others! Just one, so that she could be known for something special.

Marlene’s parents often told her that she would find the talent to make her stand out from the rest. They said they were certain she had one. But Marlene only pretended to believe what they told her; she didn’t really think there was anything special about her, nor would there ever likely to be.

One day, Marlene was walking in the woods near her house. She often took walks by herself to get inspiration for a short story she was writing, or just to commune with nature. There was a path she took, and never veered from it. Today, however, as Marlene came to the familiar oak tree that signaled the turning point which would lead her back home, she saw a sign nailed to it.

“ Continue on straight ahead for once!” it read.

Marlene stood for a while, pondering what to do. She didn’t really want to continue on. She had a tendency to get lost, and besides, it was almost dinner time. But something stirred inside of her. Perhaps it was the sweet- smelling grass of early spring, or maybe it was her curiosity about the strange sign, but Marlene decided to walk on.

As she walked deeper into the forest, the weather got colder and more depressing, but she told herself it was because of the thickening trees. Marlene walked until she came to a clearing. Suddenly, she sensed danger, but she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Marlene stopped dead in her tracks. At first, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Maybe she had hit her head, fallen, and was now dreaming. But, no, this was all too real. All hell had broken loose, with a battle raging around her. People were being killed left and right, and the streets were red from all the bloodshed. Marlene had never seen anything like it except in history books. How she wished she had never listened to that stupid sign! After being in this horrible chaos a little while, Marlene heard the cry of a small child. She turned and saw him: a boy of no more than six, who was scrawny and bleeding.

“Help me, miss!” he begged. “My parents are lost somewhere in this battle, and I need them!”

Marlene was torn between helping the boy and running away to the familiar part of the forest as fast as she could, but seeing how desperate the poor child was, she couldn’t bear to do anything other than to try to help. She asked him where he thought his parents might be, and she carried him along deadly streets and alleyways, with whizzing bullets and bombs exploding all around them. By some miracle, they weren’t killed.

It grew dark, and there was a respite from the warfare.Marlene and the boy ran into what appeared to be a bomb shelter. There were many people huddled in that room, all miserable and undernourished, casualties of the madness known as war. The child looked around sadly for a few minutes, and then a broad smile transformed his face in a way that was impossible to describe. You had to see it for yourself. Despite all the agony and death surrounding him, he had found his parents, sitting miserably in the corner of the shelter.

”Jacinto!” they both exclaimed in unison. Thank God you’re alive!”

“We thought we’d never see you alive again,“ said his father, tears streaming down his face. “How did you get here?”

“This lady brought me here, “ Jacinto said proudly, despite his weakness and injuries. “If it hadn’t been for her...

Jacinto’s parents asked Marlene her name, and told her about the awful war that had been going on for years. It started with a feud that had been building up for quite a while between the king of their country, Marlongo, and the king of the neighboring country, Alberion. It began with the smallest of incidents. The daughter of the king of Marlongo had accidentally stepped on the foot of the son of the king of Alberion. Although she had apologized profusely, Dominguez, the king of Alberion, was furious. “ How dare your stupid klutz of a daughter step on my dear son’s foot!” he exclaimed. As time went on, the situation grew worse instead of better, with insults flying between the two rulers, until Dominguez declared war on Marlongo.”

“Because of this juvenile nonsense, both nations have been decimated, with many thousands of ordinary men, women and children starving and dead. People have been suffering horribly through no fault of their own.”

Marlene was very sad when she heard all this. “I so wish I could help you,”she said.

“You have helped. Tremendously!” Jacinto’s mother exclaimed. If not for your courage, we would no longer have our son!”

“But I couldn’t do anything to stop the war. I couldn’t do anything to assure you and your family will continue to be safe,” she cried.

“ Oh, my dear girl. No one can expect you to do the impossible. You were so brave to accomplish what you did do.”

“But I was so scared when I brought Jacinto through that horrible battle to find you,“ Marlene insisted.

“Courage is not the lack of fear. Courage is doing the right thing despite fear. Not many people have it. It is a gift.”

Marlene was startled. Courage! She never thought she could excel in anything, let alone courage! She was just glad she was able to make a difference, even the slightest difference, in other peoples’ lives.

Marlene kissed little Jacinto, his mother and his father on the forehead.

“You’d better go,” his father said, “before the bombing starts again, which usually commences at first light.” Marlene nodded, and left them with tears in her eyes.

The young woman ran all the way home, miraculously without getting lost once. She was grateful, so grateful, to be living in a place where no war raged. She was grateful for her ordinary, everyday life. She was overjoyed that she had reunited Jacinto with his desperate family. And she could no longer think of herself as boring, as average. For now, Marlene Smith knew she was special in a very important way. She had the gift of courage.