Short Story Excerpt

"Long Walk to Forever" 
By Kurt Vonnegut 

 He smiled, stared at her hard for a moment, then walked away quickly.

    Catharine watched him grow smaller in the long perspective of shadows and trees, knew that if he stopped and turned now, if he called to her, she would run to him. She would have no choice.

    Newt did stop.He did turn. He did call. "Catharine," he called.

    She ran to him, put her arms around him, could not speak.

...The trust that Newt and Catherine share in "Long Walk to Forever" is a deep trust, built on the foundations of a strong childhood friendship. Newt trusts Catherine to choose him over her recent fiancée, due to the closeness they've shared throughout childhood. In the same sense, Catherine trusts Newt to ask her to choose between the two. This section of the story relates well to my second quote, "To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved." ~ George MacDonald, as it portrays that, although Catherine might not choose to be with Newt, they trust each other enough to at least admit their love and have a moment in which they could potentially end up together...

Flash Fiction and Rationale

Flash Fiction

Lavender and Jade had lost their parents in a car crash; the same crash had killed Kai's parents. They were forced onto the streets after only one missed payment of rent. That night, Lavender dreamed of when her parents were still alive, days she deeply missed. A gentle nudge awakened Lavender; she had become a light sleeper during her time on the street. Kai was standing above her.

"It's time to get up, earn some money;" he said softly, "Jade could use a proper meal."

Lavender glanced over at her sister, while sleeping she looked incredibly fragile, solely skin and bones. Lavender nodded, and walked over to Jade.

"Wake up Jade, you and Kai are going to search for a cheap meal today, okay?" Lavender whispered.

"Mmm... Food sounds good..." Jade replied.

Jade followed Kai off to find a meal. Lavender remained on the street, trying to earn as much as she could. Late in the evening, Kai returned. Alone.

 Lavender became anxious. "Where is Jade?!" She cried out.

"She... she ran into the street this afternoon,” Kai said, “She saw free hot-dogs and..." He trailed off, not knowing what else to say, knowing nothing would help.

Tears streamed down Lavender’s face as she imagined her sister’s broken body lying in the street. Already Lavender had trouble remembering what her sister looked like. The image she conceived was distorted, no longer having any resemblance of Jade. She tried desperately to remember how things had been before this event, and even more desperately to remember how things had been before the accident that had ripped her life apart. Lavender turned to look at Kai; her eyes, usually clear and calm like the surface of a pond, now resembled the savage waves of the seas during a storm. With this final glance, Lavender turned and ran. She never looked back.

Rationale:

My piece of flash fiction is essentially a snapshot of the lives of three teens who have lost their parents and end up on the street. The trust they achieve through their similar situation is eventually the group’s downfall. Lavender is heartbroken when Kai fails to save Jade, and leaves as she can no longer bring herself to trust him. Jade’s death at the end of the flash fiction is meant to show how trust can have negative impacts on a person’s life when said trust is broken. This relates to my first quote, “Trust, years to earn, seconds to break” (Unknown), as the trust shown in this piece of fiction was forged solely due to the circumstances that Lavender, Jade and Kai shared; it took years to perfect but a single moment for the trust to be completely shattered.

Quotations

Quotation #1.

"Trust, years to earn, seconds to break." ~ Unknown 


In my opinion, trust in its most basic form is described perfectly in this statement. Trust is something that should take time to be earned, and can be broken in an instant. There are very few instants where trust is formed in a short amount of time, and those instants could be easily regretted if they do occur.

Quotation #2.

"To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved." ~ George MacDonald


I strongly agree with this quotation. To me it rings most true when applied to the relationship between a teen and their parent. For a parent to love their teenager is pretty well expected, but for a parent to have complete trust in their teenage son or daughter would be quite a compliment to that teenager. 

Introduction

The concept I chose to do my tapestry on was trust. Through this project, I hope to convey how trust can be both a positive and negative thing to maintain; that, if given to the right person, it can be kept despite going through bad situations; the extent to which trust can remain intact through a bad situation; and finally how trust can be abused if given to the wrong person. Over the course of completing this project, I would also like to discover why some people are naturally more trusting than others, as well as why some people are more trustworthy when you first meet them than others are. I anticipate that this project will become an opportunity to learn more about the effects that trust can have on a personal level, as well as on a larger scale.