Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Passport (07/25/05)
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TITLE: Emily�s Trip | Previous Challenge Entry
By Robert Bronkhorst
07/30/05 -
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A young woman stood by the casket holding a young boy by the hand who bore a strong resemblance to Emily.
"Nice to meet you," she said and held out her hand. Her eyes were red and filled with tears. "My name is Chloe."
Martin gripped her hand.
"Mom always told me about you and how you were one of her closest and most dearest friends."
"Emily was a sweet person," Martin replied.
"This is my son Noah," she said.
Martin looked at the lad and smiled.
Chloe held an envelope in her hand and gave it to him. "My mother told me to give you this," she said, then looked at the boy. "Let’s go see your grandmother," she said and led him by the hand.
It was back at Ridgetop Elementary School when he first met Emily.
She was a brown-eyed girl with her head in the clouds. He was a farm boy with his feet firmly planted.
Emily pulled a book from the shelf. "Someday," she said as she looked at the book that was filled with distant lands, "I will see what the world has to offer."
Martin could only smile. "You have big dreams for one so small," he commented.
Emily let the words roll off her back. "You laugh now," she said again. "You’ll see." She put the book away. "Maybe, someday you can come with me."
"I’m not much of a traveler," he replied politely.
"You might change your mind," she said.
Martin saw how the room was beginning to fill up with all her friends paying their last respects. He tried not to cry as he saw all the people. Emily had made many friends along her way. He pondered for a moment as to how, at this moment of sadness, the room was filled with so much love.
Martin met Emily at the Post Office several years later as she was getting her passport. She had just gotten her Masters in Literature from State College and had married Daniel a few months after she graduated from college. They had a few kids soon after. He got a job overseas. Emily started to write, and to raise their children. Her books became best sellers. She had become a woman of the world, but she stayed true to her roots.
"Still trying to see the world?" he commented with a laugh.
"Yes," she answered. "How about you?"
"Working as a supervisor at the electronics plant," Martin said.
"Sounds rather boring, if you ask me," she replied. "Care to come along? My treat."
"I told you I wasn’t much for traveling," he replied.
"Well, if you ever change your mind, look me up," she said with a wink. "Besides, you never know when a passport might come in handy."
Martin walked slowly towards the casket and looked down at the body of Emily. She looked so peaceful as she lay there with her arms folded across her chest and holding a rose. He was happy that he was able to see her a week before she died peacefully in her sleep at the age of sixty-nine. Cancer had taken her, as it did her husband four years earlier.
Emily’s life was filled with fond memories of the places she had seen and the people that she had met. She had made good on all those dreams. Martin felt it an honor to meet someone like her and bowed his head in a silent prayer. She truly was a gift from God.
That night, he opened the envelope that Chloe had given him.
"My dear Martin;
My treat. Told you, you would never know when a passport would come in handy. Enjoy.
Love Emily."
He looked at the airline ticket and grinned.
Martin showed the woman at the counter his passport, and then boarded the plane to Tokyo.
As he sat in the seat and looked out the window, he smiled because he finally was taking the trip that she had wanted him to. It was Emily’s trip and she would be so proud of him.
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