“Maybe we should cancel the trip John,” I told him. “After all, if she knew what we would say, she may be telling the truth about the curse.”

“Mary,” he told me. “She’s just messing with you. Probably 'cause she doesn’t want to watch our house.”

“Well John,” I asked, a little pissed off. “If you’re right about her not wanting to watch the house, explain to me how she knew what we would say.”

John’s face went blank. I assume he couldn’t think of anything to say until finally, “Word travels quick around neighborhoods. Maybe that’s how she knew.”

I folded my arms in disbelief thinking to myself, my husband has it all wrong. I went upstairs to gather my thoughts. In my room, I stared at my suitcase, thinking. Should I go through the field and risk being cursed, or should I stay here? I looked down and thought of how happy the family would be when I announced the baby. The thought made me grin; I had made my decision. I went downstairs and told John, “Let’s go!”

Looking back at the house, I wondered if I made the right choice and decided that I did. A couple of minutes of walking and I felt a bit sick. I knew it was because of the baby, so I tried to hide it by walking a little slower. John eventually noticed and asked me why I was walking so slow. I lied to him and said, “I’m just getting a little tired is all, no need to worry.”

He responded to that with, “Okay honey, we’ll just rest right here until you get your strength back.”And that’s exactly what we did. Once I felt a little less sick, we continued onward. This stop and go period was repeated three times each day. When the sky darkened each day, we would clear an area to lay down in. The journey exhausted me, but I kept moving.

It had been three days since we started our journey and I noticed something strange. Every morning, something was stolen. It was small stuff like some cheese or a couple slices of bread, nothing major. The third morning I woke up, it was awful. Not only did I have pains from the baby, but most of our stuff was gone. The robbery was as silent and quick as a light breeze. I woke up John, “John, we’ve been robbed!”
“That’s impossible!” He yelled, but I shook my head and pointed to where our stuff used to be. All that was left was enough food for each of us to have one meal. He stared in disbelief for a minute, then stood up straight, looking for something.
“John,” I asked. “What are you looking for?”
“I’m looking for the dirty thief that stole our food!” He answered harshly. I joined him. I looked around, but didn’t see anyone.
“John, maybe Mrs. Cadevar was right. Maybe this field is cursed.” He then turned and looked at me. By now he had turned into a red tomato.
“Mary!” He yelled at me, “Just because some old woman says it doesn’t mean it’s true!” I was disgusted by his behavior, but I agreed anyway. After all, he was my closest family, for now. After that, I went silent. I quickly made a basket from some nearby wheat. Then I gathered the food, put it in the basket, and started walking.

The day was brutal. I had grown very hunger and had drank small amounts of water. The sun beat down on me as if trying to make me faint. The night was freezing, and I had nothing to keep me warm except the yellow sundress I was wearing. The next day, I was so desperate for food that I started to eat the wheat stalks. Then the most amazing miracle occurred. I saw someone and their carriage. I was so excited that I started running toward them. John called after me, but I couldn’t hear because I was so far away. Once at the carriage, I looked for the owner. Low and behold, a well dressed man stepped out.

“Greetings madam,” He said. “How are you on this fine day?”

“I’m fine,” I responded.

He looked at me, and said, “Madam, it appears as though you have spent the night in this field.”

“I have. I also haven’t had much food for the past day.”

“Well, I think I can fix that.” He jumped into his carriage for a minute and then came back out with some corn and apples. I looked at the food, my hunger growing. “Here, have it.” I took the food and practically inhaled it.

“Thank you,” I said, mouth full. “Dear sir, my husband and I have run out of food and are getting very tired. Do you think you could let us ride your carriage out of this cursed field.”

“Sure I can,” He said, “I don't believe the field is cursed, but I can do something for a woman like you. It is the least I could do.”

By now John had caught up to me. “Oh, sorry,” I said embarrassed that I forgot my husband. “John, this nice man has offered to take us out of here.” John nearly jumped for joy, but settled for a hand shake of approval with the man.

“By the way,” I asked. “What is your name?”

“It is Robert Rich. And you my dear?”

“I'm Mary.” Then Robert started the carriage.

It was nightfall by the time we got out of the field. Robert continued on until we were at his house. “Please,” He politely said. “Join me for dinner.”

“That's very kind of you. Do you think you could also spare two rooms?” I asked politely. He nodded and then helped me off the carriage.

When we entered the house, it was like entering Michelangelo's art gallery. Everywhere you looked, there were wonderful paintings or careful sculpted figures. It was amazingly beautiful. “Clara,” Robert yelled. Then a young lady came running. “Tell the chef to prepare a special dinner, we have guests.” Clara nodded and ran off. The meal was fantastic. The potatoes were boiled to perfection, the corn was always steaming hot, and the chicken sent my taste buds to heaven. Dinner was quiet, which was fine with me. I decided to turn in early while the two men talked about who knows what. Clara showed me to my room. It was very decorative. Tapestries hung on the wall, and a nice hand woven rug lay on the floor. The bed was shadowed by a large canopy. I was instantly hypnotized by the room. Clara pulled me out of the trance by saying, “Miss, If you need anything, just call my name.”

“Thank you,” I replied, then she left. I was so exhausted from the past two days that as soon as I collapsed on the cloud-like softness of the bed, I instantly fell asleep.

I awoke to the crow of a rooster. After I had gotten to my feet, I looked around for a closet. I found it and threw it open to see what was inside. The array of dresses was amazing. The first one that caught my eye was a mint green dress with sleeves at mid-length. I tried it on and decided I wouldn't wear it. The next one I tried on was a combination of a light blue dress and snow flakes. It looked pretty, so I tried it on. It looked better on me than the last one, but I didn't like. At the back of the closet, a dress caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. It was a red scarlet dress with hints of orange and yellow so that it appeared to resemble the sun. I tried it on and spun around a few times. It fit me perfectly and looked stunning on me. I decided to wear it, hoping that Robert would let me keep it.

When I went downstairs; Robert and John were already down there. John had changed his clothes and now wore a nice gray shirt with blue pants instead of his leather jacket and black pants. “Well,” Robert started. “Nice to see you are up.” I nodded as I went over to a chair to sit down. “I see you found the dresses in the closet.”

“Yes,” I said. “I was wondering, could I keep this dress?” I was nervous that he would say no.

“Of course you can! It looks wonderful on you.”John didn't say anything, but I knew he agreed since he couldn’t take his eyes off me since I came down.

“Well, I don't mean to be rude, but we need to be heading off.”

“Are you sure? You don't want to stay for breakfast.” He asked, possibly puzzled by my wanting to leave.

“We have to get all the way to Lawrence, Kansas, and I think that we should start as soon as possible.”

“Okay,” he said, disappointment in his voice. “But could you let me do you another favor?” I nodded. “Take one of my carriages and some food, for keeps.”

“Robert,” I said stunned. “Are you sure?”

“Quite, I always love to help people. Plus you're going to need some kind of transportation to get to Lawrence by Christmas.”

“Thank you!” I said. Then I rushed over and hugged him. About half an hour of getting food and prepping a carriage, and then we were off.

We were making great time. At the rate we were going, we would be in Lawrence a day early. It was nightfall, and the inevitable happened; robbers attacked us. It all happened so quickly that I didn't know what happened until the dust cleared. Apparently, the robbers had tried to overtake the carriage and toss us out. Unfortunately for them, John has quick reflexes. He punched one of them and knocked out another. A robber hopped out of the ground and continued to fight. One of them was still conscious, but didn't dare fight, so John questioned him.

“Why were you trying to take our carriage!?” John screamed at him.

“No way I'm telling you!” The robber shouted back. John then made a fist as if he were going to hit him, which made him talk. “Alright! I'll tell you. We were going to Lawrence, Kansas. It's my niece's birthday in two days and I just wanted to be there on time.”

“If you needed a ride, why didn't you just ask? We would have let you come with us.” Then John offered him a deal he couldn't resist, “I'm feeling generous today. If you and your 'pals' apologize to us, don't try to robber us later, and are extremely polite, no matter what the situation, we'll let you come with us.”

The robber then nodded, “Yes, yes, whatever you want. Just please help me get to my niece.” After the deal was struck between the two men. We went and put the other two men in the carriage. The interrogated man sat it the back, waiting for his pals to awaken. I still didn't trust them, but I kept my mouth shut, as I almost always did.

By dawn, the other two men had awakened. The third man told them what they were doing in the back of a carriage. We ran out of food half way through the day because we had an additional three people. John had to stop at a local food vendor to get food. The man that made the deal with John insisted that he pay for the food since he was the reason that John and I had no food. By dusk, we had driven out of a tiny village and into a huge field. Luckily, there was a little ditch that we could park our carriage in and easily camouflage it. Laying under the stars, I started imaging the Christmas party. There would be holly, mistletoe, and lots of ornaments all over. Everything was so fancy and shiny that I dozed off to sleep.

I woke up a little bit after the sun had risen. None of the guys were up yet, so I started packing for the road myself. Half an hour later, John woke up and helped me finish packing. When everyone was awake and set to go, we headed off.

By the time we arrived in Lawrence, it was already dark. The three men traveling with us took off before we got into Lawrence. They did this because they didn't want us to be seen with them. I assume it was for our safety. But anyway, John eventually found his way to the a well-known hotel; the Elysian hotel. We stayed the night in the hotel. Most of what happened after that is a blur. When I woke up, John had already got up, paid the fee for one night, and had everything ready to go. So I got up, got ready as quick as I could, and headed out.

Locating the house for the family Christmas party wasn't that hard. It was the only house that was bright and festive. The party was awesome, not just because all my family was there, but I finally got to announce that I was going to have a baby soon. Sometime after the night sky had turned black, I got everyone's attention.

“Attention, attention everyone,” I yelled. “I have some very big news.” I could already see some of them waiting, excited for the news. Then I said it, “I'm pregnant!” Everyone burst out into screams of joy. Girls came over to congratulate while the guys congratulated John.

“So,” My aunt Lily asked. “What's his name going to be?”

“I haven't consulted with John, but I was thinking Matt, after Grandpa Matthew.”

“Oh how lovely, Matt Wesson!” Just hearing it made it sound even better.

Later, I took John aside to see how he felt. “John. Are you mad at me for keeping this a secret?”

“Of course not! You're my wife, and I see that it gave you great joy to announce it now.” Then he whispered to me, “Besides, I already knew.” I was surprised at this, but I didn't question it. Instead, I just danced the night away. This night I remember as the best night of my life.