carryville chapter 3

Six months had passed since the burning of my novel and not much had changed since then. I was about to turn seventeen and I would no longer need school making work my new focus in life. This is the time when the boys became men and the girls became women. I still had the same beliefs as I did before the burning; the government was just after power any way that they could control it. I had not written a single line since then for the fear of a third burning always loomed in my mind, plus with school my days became much more busier and it forced me to put my talent on hold for a little while.
Maggie came over about every night and I know that the committee of gentlemen had their eyes upon us and it wouldn’t be long before I would be assigned a wife and children. But how can these men really know what’s best for me? Or who is must fit to be my wife? It wasn’t like they were inside my brain reading my every thought or were they? Now that would be a scary thought if they we’re.
Gabe was now nine and had grown in height for only six months, none of his friends could see how that was possible since both our parents were short, but once you turn a certain age you realize the truth about your parents or should I call them foster parents? Everybody has to make tough choices once they turn eighteen like which infants we wanted to raise but that was the only real freedom we had here.
I was a little boy when I noticed that the people who were teaching me how to walk and talk we’re of a different skin color than I was. Once I started school that’s when I knew that something wasn’t quite right and it pounder in my mind and haunted me day and night, until I realized that they weren’t my parents or at least my birth parents. I just recently started to notice that Maggie looked nothing like her parents and suddenly none of the children looked anything like their parents, the mayor always talked about different races but never said if we had different races living in our community.
I hadn’t seen the mystery man since the day of the burning, I often peer out my window looking deep into the woods trying to see if maybe I could get a glimpse of him and if I did see him I would ask about the sign and why he wanted to trash them. I had so many dying questions to ask, I even wonder if he thought exactly like me. Why would he come to every burning if he wasn’t even a citizen of our community and what was his motive?
“Ray” a familiar voice sounded from the distance and it took me a few brief moments before I realize that it was Maggie who called my name, my eyes traveled east to west until I saw her riding her bike down the dirt road. “Have you heard?” I wasn’t sure what she was talking about, “heard what?” i couldn’t even imagine what she was about to tell me, “I heard there was a burning tonight on main street at eight o clock and we all must go” it had been six months since the last burning and I was completely in awe that another author was caught in the act in which the government deemed shameful or even distasteful. “I think it was the Henderson’s, not the young couple but the man who was your dad’s best friend, he was also in the committee of gentlemen years earlier until he got banned” this was all coming so quickly I wasn’t sure how to react since Mr. Henderson was once my dad’s best friend and now he would be looked down upon as I do. “Why did he get kicked out of the committee?” Maggie looked around to make sure nobody was even a mile near us, “I heard he veto some bills and disagreed with some of the big topics like the burning and even how he believe that the people should wake up now before it’s too late.” I wanted to know more about Mr. Henderson and why he wrote when he was once on the committee. “Did you hear why he published his work? I asked Maggie who seemed very unsure of the answer, “I figure he was tired of the government having full control so he wanted to expose them for the crooks they are.”
“So I heard that you haven’t wrote anything since the burning?” I had those sad puppy dog eyes, “how did you hear that?” Maggie just looked into my eyes and slowly spoke, “rumors spread fast” there was this long awkward silence “I didn’t want a third burning for the fear of the unknown, but maybe one day I’ll have the courage to write again, maybe one day” Maggie wrapped her arms around me and that forbidden emotion called love settle in and took over, I had to push her away from me because I didn’t want to get into trouble with the government as that was the last thing I needed right now in my life.