FAITH & HOPE 6

HOPE

Hope was feeling good. Today was Guy Fawkes Day, one of her favourite days. Actually, Hope loved all Holidays. Christmas, Easter, St Patrick’s Day. Any day that called for a celebration and brought happiness was a good day in her books. But what she loved most about holidays and favourite days was dressing up and getting festive. In today’s case, she would sport her best red and black, bring out the face paint, and find as many Guy Fawkes themed stickers from her mother’s cabinet as humanely possible.

Each and every year, the Charmer’s hosted Guy Fawkes Day supper at their place. All of their closest friends would congregate at their house, mingling in the backyard while they braai and serve food. Hope was busy hurrying around the kitchen, helping her mom with preparations. She was expecting her friends to arrive soon. Laura - Lee and Peyton had gone to the next town over earlier in the day to go shopping. The invitation was extended to Hope, but she wistfully declined to stay back and help set up.

Laura - Lee and Peyton were Hope’s closest friends, along with Daisy and Corral. The five of them had grown up together and developed a sistership of sorts. They knew everything there was to know about Hope, and she knew everything about them. How Laura - Lee was deathly afraid of heights. How Peyton wanted to travel the world. How Daisy was obsessed with everything pink, and Corral aspired to be a musician someday,

The decorations were up, the table was set, and the food was cooking. Joan Charmers was in the kitchen cutting up vegetables and placing them onto skewers while Gabriel was in the backyard flipping veggie burgers. The girls had arrived and were helping Hope set up the tables.

They were expecting about fifteen people at the supper, including families such as the Whitmore’s, the Thompson’s, the Dwyer’s and the Greenburg’s. Every year they did this supper, and every year it was potluck style. They found this worked best, considering the amount of people to feed. Everyone brought something and it worked out perfectly.

It was just after five - thirty when guests began to arrive, Hope hurried to and from the front door, taking plates and bowls wrapped in tin - foil, scurrying towards the kitchen, unloading more food at the table. The weather was beautiful and warm, the sun shining brightly in the sky.

Anthony Greenburg walked through the door with his wife, Gloria, and their two young sons, Peter and Jeremy. Gloria had made a lovely kale and rocket salad and even brought her own homemade hummus. Hope took the bowls from her and escorted them into the kitchen.

Everyone was gathered either in the kitchen or in the backyard. Gabriel stood at the braai, flipping the veggie burgers and grilling the skewers. Matthew’s father stood next to him, chatting away with a beer in his hand.

Hope felt hands on her waist, and then it was dark, hands covering her eyes. She quickly moved them away and turned around. Matthew was holding a cream covered strawberry up to her mouth. She opened and he placed it on her tongue. The cream was sweet and fluffy.

‘Dessert is for after,’ she said, then kissed him.

‘I know, but it was too tempting not to try some.’

‘Alright everyone, ‘ Gabriel spoke loudly for everyone to hear. Hope and Matthew turned to face him. ‘The burgers are finished. Everyone can grab a seat.’

A minor pandemonium broke as people hurried towards the table, little kids running through legs and around chairs, the dogs scrambling for any dropped scraps.

Once everyone was seated and the calm had been restored, Gabriel and Joan stood to make a toast.

‘Thank you for joining us this evening,’ Gabriel began. ‘We are here tonight to celebrate this beautiful, colourful day. I would like to thank God for providing us with this wholesome meal. I would like to thank all of you wonderful people for joining us. And of course, my wife, for slaving away in the kitchen and making all of this possible.’ He raised his glass.

‘And thank you to Gabriel,’ Joan said. ‘For organizing this every year and bringing us together. We thank you, Gabriel, God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.’

‘Amen,’ everyone echoed.

And they ate.

It was nearing nine o’clock. Everyone from the Charmer’s, plus practically the rest of Willows, was gathered at Cedar Park, preparing for the fireworks. Gabriel and Matthew’s father, along with a few of the other men, were in the center of the field organizing the packages of sparkling dynamite, prioritizing which colours and sets would go first. They decided to begin slow and methodical, then progressively make their way up, eventually ending with the grand finale, the biggest package they had.

Once they were all set up, they ran back to the groups of people, piled on the grass with their lawn chairs and blankets. Gloria sat on her blanket with her two sons cuddled up in her lap. They were exhausted after a long day of church activities and supper at the Charmers. Hope sat at the very front of the crowd resting her head on Matthew’s shoulder, a blanket covering their legs. Laura - Lee, Peyton, Corral and Daisy sat next to them, each with their own retrospective partners. Laura - Lee was dating George Prince’s son, Elijah. It had been six months and they were blissfully in love.

However, the thing about dating was that it was certain to end in one of two ways, marriage or a break-up. And in Willows, if you weren’t already promised to Wed your significant other, then the future was simply unknown. Hope knew that she and Matthew would get married once they become of age. It had always been apparent to them. He was the love of her life, her soul mate. Everyone in Willows knew that. She would one day be Hope Whitmore. But she sometimes worried for Laura - Lee and the other girls, What would happen when they broke up? Surely not every relationship could last forever. And then they’d be stuck in Willows, a town of just four thousand, cursed to see their ex-lovers every single day and be tormented by their very presence.

Hope snuggled closer to Matthew. She was lucky, she knew that. How many sixteen year old girls could already say that they’d met the love of their life? She had been blessed with this love and she would never take it for granted.

The fireworks started and Hope turned her eyes to the sky to watch. Even the first few, which were small and miniscule compared to what was coming, seemed mesmerizing. The colours, the sounds, the flashes. It was an experience, making her heart accelerate. She watched as a tiny flames shot into the sky and waited as the silence engulfed them all. Then, within seconds, the sound came, a thundering crack that erupted the entire night sky. She opened her mouth to smile but a laugh came out. A pure, genuine laugh, It was incredible to watch. Truly magnificent.

But as happy as they made her, Hope couldn’t help but feel a temporary sadness for the fireworks. For in that moment, they were thundering and glorious. But it wouldn’t be long before that all disappeared and they were gone, once again, ceasing to be anything at all. It seemed, Hope thought, that that was how many things in life worked. Beautiful, then, NOTHING…

An abundance to oblivion.