| Site Map |
| Last Updated: 10/05/2008 |
 |
| Recent Updates - Centennial |
| 6/5/06 |
| "Centennial" - James A. Michener -The Wagon and the Elephant- |
| Therefore, without a formal vote, the Mennonites decided to shun him. From that moment he became an outcast. He could not attend church, nor speak with anyone who did. He could not buy or sell, or give or take. He could converse with no man, and the idea of striking up a friendship with any woman was beyond imagination.... At the end of the day he loaded the gifts and drove out to the edge of town, where the mistress of the orphanage refused to speak to him, but Elly Zaham appeared as usual to help him unload. 'I hear they're shunning you,' she said. He was too anguished to reply, and she said a most peculiar thing: 'They've been shunning me all my life.' The words made him look up. For the first time he saw this skinny, unlovely child whose hands were so red from overwork and whose eyes seemed so very old. He could say nothing, and left as abruptly as he had the previous time. ...on the fourth week after the shunning started, he asked Elly, 'Why did they shun you?' 'I have no parents. They called me a bastard.' 'That's not your fault.' 'They let on as if it was.' 'You're the Zendt boy. Ain't they shunnin' you?' 'No more,' Levi said. By back roads he drove past Lancaster and out to the orphanage. Pulling up outside the gate and hitching his lead horse to a tree, he started toward the house, but remembered his valuable gun lying unprotected in the wagon. Grabbing it, he went inside and bellowed, 'Elly! Elly Zahm! Come down here!' It was barely dawn but the work girl was up and busy at her chores. She appeared with her arms wet and her skirt tied behind her knees. Her scrawny face was red and her hair unkempt. As soon as she looked at Levi she knew that some powerful thing was afoot, and she was in no way perturbed when he said, 'Get your things. We're goin' west.' It took her three seconds- one, two, three- to know that her destiny required her to join this man, and his gun and his wagon, and his waiting horses. She had no conception of what was being asked of her, but she knew there could be no viable alternative. She dashed inside the orphanage and grabbed the few things that belonged to her. A girl shouted, 'He's taking Elly Zahm... with a gun.' The mistress, not yet dressed, hurried to the front door in her gown, and with one glance, apprehended what was happening. 'Elly!' she screamed. 'Come back here.' 'I am never coming back,' the thin girl said stubbornly. 'That man's a monster.' 'I'm going,' Elly cried, clutching her good dress in her arms as she hurried towards the Conestoga. 'Shall I fetch the police?' one of the girls shouted. 'No!' the mistress snapped. 'He'd kill us all. Let her go. She's nothing but a whore. Just like her mother before her.' And that would have been the benediction with which Elly left the orphanage had not a tall, lively girl, blond and quite pretty, broken from the crowd of watchers, running to Elly and thrusting into her hand a small bag of carefully saved coins. 'Laura Lou Booker,' the mistress screamed, 'come back here! You're as bad as she is!' Ignoring the command, the tall girl clasped Elly, kissing her fervently on the cheek. 'You're escaping for all of us,' she whispered, and when Elly tried to return the precious money, Laura Lou kissed her again, whispering, 'Remember what we said. A wife must have a little money of her own." Clutching the few dollars, Elly Zahm, sixteen years old, walked resolutely through the gates of the orphanage and climbed into the Conestoga. Levi Zendt, his Melchior Fordney rifle in his left hand, called to his six horses and headed out of Lancaster for the last time. |
| I remembered this set of passages earlier this spring, because to me, what is happening right now, is like the shunning of Levi Zendt. I know my situation is no where near as dire as Levi's, but to suddenly have the people who previously supported me suddenly not support me, talk to me, want to be involved with me or have me around, and not return my emails, phone calls, or visits, is pretty significant to me. And I do not have to run away to the west (as I am already here) to get married, nor do I plan on running away- I am too stubborn to give in to the easy path of eloping. My community at large is not the ones who are not talking to me, but instead the three people who have always been there for me, no matter what, agree or disagree. I do not know how to get past this with them, but I know I must try. God watch over me and help me through this, and help those people around me who support me and let me cry on their shoulders and give me a hug and a bit of advice when needed. |
| Dirty Dancing |
| You wanted me to be happy... but you meant by becoming a doctor or lawyer [someone like you]. And I'm sorry I let you down but you let me down too. |