See? I TOLD you'd I'd try to write more often! I don't really have much today to write about, though, so I figured I'd put some more writing up. This is a piece of 'Flash Fiction' which is a less than 600 word self-contained story. We write quite a bit of flash fiction for school to get used to getting our point across quickly and with a minimum of words. I've been kicking around thoughts about the gold rush days up here recently, and what it must have been like for the people that dropped everything and headed off into the gold fields, so I wrote this one. It wasn't for school, I just wrote this one because I felt like it. I hope you enjoy!

She closed the book, placed it on the table, and finally, decided to walk through the door. She paused, looking back through the door at the things that had been so important to her in her old life. The china tea set which had been a gift from Charles on their anniversary, the books that she had read lovingly so many times. She glanced down the walk at the waiting carriage. Luckily the driver had her trunk loaded already or she might have lost her nerve and never gone on what was going to be her great adventure.

She closed the door firmly, locking it and moving purposefully down the front walk. She smiled at him as he helped her up into the carriage. “Good day, Madame!” He gave her a smile as he closed the door. “It’ll be the train station we’re gong to, Is that correct?” She nodded to him as she settled back into her seat. “That’s right. I have a 12:00 train to Seattle I need to catch.” His eyes widened a bit at that. “Seattle Washington? That’s quite a trip from Boston! Are you visiting family out there?” She shook her head, anticipating the look of surprise on his face. “No, Sir, I’m going there to meet a ship. I’m heading for the gold fields in Alaska.” His eyebrows shot up in shock, but he chose not to comment. “Oh, my! We better get going then!” he swung onto his seat and began moving the carriage forward.

As they moved through the crowded streets she removed her bonnet, shaking her hair free. She considered what her friends would say if they saw her like this. She was 24 years old and a widow, since Charles’ accident. A simple messenger had shattered her whole world. Until that day the thought of leaving everyone and everything she knew and taking off on a wild adventure had been nothing more than a pleasant afternoon daydream. The idea of Alaska had become her favorite fantasy in those simple days. She couldn’t get the idea out of her head of Charles and her heading for the Klondike together since she had first read about the gold rush.

She knew it was never meant to be, of course. Charles had been a good, solid man, rising in the ranks of the banking world. He would never consider leaving on what he called ‘a fool’s errand’. The smile faded from her lips as she thought about what he would say if he could talk to her now. The way he looked so disapprovingly at one of his friends from Harvard when he stopped by to let them know he was heading for Alaska. She could hear his contempt even now. “You’re a damned fool, Theodore! Men don’t get rich in the gold fields! Most of them wind up penniless, begging for enough money to come crawling home. Why don’t you let me speak to them at the bank? I know your qualifications, you would do quite well there.” If he could see her now she’d get the same disapproving glare, the same type of lecture.

 She set her jaw resolutely. No, Charles was gone now. It was her life, her decision. The carriage pulled up to the train station. She opened the door and stepped out before the driver had a chance to open the door for her. As she looked at the train waiting at the station she nearly giggled, suddenly filled with a sense of exuberance as she gazed at it and the promise of the adventures in front of her.