“What is that, Grandmother?”
“To understand other people.”
“Yes, Grandmother. I must be fair—for if I’m not fair to other people, I’m not worth being understood myself. I see. So as Curdie can’t help it, I will not be vexed with him, but just wait.”
The Princess and the Goblin, George MacDonald
She loves him. He loves her.
She doesn’t even tell him.
Because she has a chance. She has a scholarship.
And because her religious, philandering father will kill her.
Appointment set. Choice made.
The best choice she knows how to make.
She knows this is her baby. But how else can she escape?
She knows poverty. Hungry children. Forgotten women.
Her sister sees the card.
Sickening fear and disbelief engulf her.
Can this be stopped?
Who to tell?
Her teacher, that compassionate man.
He helps her find others who care, who understand.
He helps her confront.
Talking, crying, embracing, praying.
She considers a new choice.
A choice to lose—
Scholarship.
Picture perfect wedding.
Freedom.
Control.
She may never escape.
Her child in poverty, hungry.
Herself, a forgotten woman.
But, upheld in the arms of these new friends,
She risks.
She abandons herself to hope.
