Set in Stone
Chapter 1
August 5th, 2000
Mom gave me this journal ages ago but I never used it. I guess now I’m bored enough to write. I’m sitting in my room, on the carpet, because there is nothing else here yet. All my stuff, besides this journal, is in the other truck. I don’t know why Mom brought this journal. I never used it. I guess now I have something to do though. We just got here this morning, and Mom is downstairs unpacking or something, but she told me I couldn’t help with anything. I guess it's all breakable or something like that? But anyway, I’m just sitting up in my room, doing nothing. Except writing. This is really boring… I’m gonna go ask Mom if she has anything else I can do.
I heard the sounds of Mom working in the kitchen as I walked downstairs. She was sitting in the middle of the room, with cardboard boxes strewn all around her.
“Hey, Mom? What else can I do? I’m tired of writing in this stupid journal.” I complained.
Mom sighed.
“Honey, I’m pretty busy. Why don’t you explore outside a bit? Stay within shouting distance. Maybe you could check out the empty lot next door?”
I’d seen it through the window in my bedroom. It was relatively empty, with some abandoned wood stacks scattered around, and a big rock in the middle.
“But Mom,” I whined, “There's nothing to do out there!”
“Well, Alex,” She said in a no-nonsense voice, “your options are to sit there and do nothing, write in your journal,” Which earned a sigh from me, “Or explore that lot. Try telling me everything about that giant rock I saw if you can’t think of anything else to do.”
None of the options thrilled me, but at least if I explored the lot, I wouldn’t be stuck inside.
“Fine, I’ll go outside.” I said reluctantly.
“Thanks, Honey. Have fun! Tell me about the rock!” She chuckled.
“Okay, Mom.”
I stepped outside, walked around the corner, and was on the sidewalk outside of the empty lot. Just like I had seen from my room, there were piles of wood scattered about, and that one giant rock. The only different thing was that now, I could see the trash and junk that was piled along the edges of the fence that went around the lot. The only thing that was even a little bit interesting to me was the giant rock, which to my ten-year-old eyes, was enormous. I couldn’t tell how far back it went, but it was about two times my height, and as wide as a school bus. While I stood there wondering what to do, and observing the rock just so that I could tell Mom I had, I was knocked to the ground!
I found myself lying on my back, with a dog breathing in my face, and a female voice asking me if I was ok. Disoriented, I tried to respond, but I found the breath had been knocked out of me. I sat up and opened my eyes. A girl with messy hair, and freckles dotting her concerned face, was again asking,
“Are you ok?”
“I-” I gasped, trying to regain my breath, “I’m ok.”
“I’m so so sorry!” She exclaimed sorrowfully, “I was just running with my dog,” She gestured towards her golden retriever, which had gotten off of me, and was sitting curiously on the sidewalk nearby, “And wasn’t paying attention! I’m so sorry!”
She then seemed to realize that she didn’t know who I was.
“Who are you? Oh!” She said, answering her own question, “You must be the new kid!”
I nodded my head, still trying to figure out what had just happened, and overwhelmed by her energy.
“Awesome! There aren’t any other kids our age in this neighborhood,” She sighed, “But you’re here now! We’ll have tons of fun together! Wanna see my castle?”
I just stared at her, confused.
“Just come with me,” She laughed cheerfully, already forgetting our little run-in, “I’ll show you!”
She ran towards the rock, gesturing for me to follow.
“This,” She said solemnly, putting her hand on the side of the rock, which was straight up and down, but with lots of notches and bumps that looked like they would be climbable, “is my castle.”
“But it’s just a rock…” I said, confused.
“No,” She said firmly, “it’s a castle. Or a pirate ship. Or maybe it’s Mount Everest! It could even be a superhero HQ! But whatever it is, it is not a rock.”
Then, I heard Mom calling me for dinner.
“I have to go, sorry!” I said, already walking backwards away from her. “Talk to you later?”
“Okay, bye! And of course, we are gonna be best friends!” She yelled back as I started moving quickly home.
“Hey, I don’t know your name!” I realized, looking back.
“LESLIE, MY NAME IS LESLIE’!” She yelled as I opened my front door and walked into the living room where my parents were sitting on the floor, munching on pizza.
I sat down with my parents, and grabbed a piece of pizza, grinning.
“You’re awfully smiley,” My mom said, “Did you have fun? Did you make a friend?”
“Yeah,” I said, still grinning, “Yeah, I did!”
Chapter 2
August 25th, 2006
Today was the first day of 9th grade. I can’t believe I’ve known Leslie for 4 years now, or that we’re both in high school! It feels like forever, and no time at all… Time is funny like that I guess. I remember countless games on that rock. It’s more worn now, but what’s left of it is sturdy, and we still hang out there. Even though we’ve outgrown those old games, we sit there and talk about school, our friends, or our families. Sometimes we just sit, sometimes we even talk about our futures. For now, though, I need to finish these math problems so I can go outside and hang out with Leslie! So, I’m going to focus on that. Bye for now!
As I put down my pen, I glanced at the clock.
“It’s 3:30,” I thought, “Thirty minutes to figure out what x is, five times.”
Looking outside, I saw it was a beautiful day. A gentle breeze, and just the right amount of sun; it looked like the perfect day to get out of the house.
“I wish I could work outside.” I thought. “Well…Maybe I can!”
I grabbed my pen, and my notebook with the problems, and went to ask my mom.
“Hey Mom?” I called from the top of the stairs. I heard her answer from somewhere in the house, so I continued, “can I work on these problems outside on the rock? It’s nice, and I thought it’d be fun to work somewhere other than my room.”
She popped her head into the stairwell.
“Sure, Honey. Just make sure you focus!”
I dashed downstairs and gave Mom a hug.
“Thanks, Mom! I’ll be back before six!”
“Have fun!”
“I will!”
I waved as I walked out, notebook and pen in hand. Making my way around to the lot, I glanced at Leslie’s house and climbed onto the rock to start my math.
About twenty minutes later, I looked up to the sound of footsteps, realizing that I had gotten lost in my thoughts without making any progress in my math.
“Hi Leslie!” I said, smiling at the disruptor of my thoughts.
“Hiya Alex! How’s school going?” She asked as she climbed up to sit next to me. In the last few years, she had calmed down quite a bit, but she was still her happy self that I met on my first day here.
“Well,” I admitted sheepishly, “I haven’t gotten much done.. I got distracted.”
“Ok well then, what were you distracted with?” She said, putting her elbows on her knees and looking at me.
“Thinking.” I said, smirking at her a bit.
She rolled her eyes.
“Thinking about what, exactly?”
I decided to actually answer this time.
“I was thinking about how long we’ve known each other. I mean, do you remember that first day, when we met each other, and you absolutely body slammed me?” I said, laughing, “And now look at us, in highschool! I just think it's kinda funny, and weird, you know?”
“Ok, first of all, that was an accident!” She said, sticking her tongue out at me. “Secondly, you’re right, that is kinda weird. I’m glad we are friends even now.”
I became serious.
“Do you think we will always be friends, Leslie?”
“Yep! I’m sure!” She said positively.
“You’re really sure?”
“I’m really, really sure. I’m as sure… I’m as sure that we will always be friends, as I’m sure that nobody will ever take away this rock.” She said, patting the rock we were sitting on.
“Ok!” I smiled, reassured.
We talked about the past, the present, and the future, until I had to leave.
Chapter 3
June 15th, 2010
Well, I haven’t written here for a little while, but I’m really scared about the future, and… I needed to talk about it. So. Here I am. I’m going to a college in Georgia two months from now, majoring in geology. Leslie is going to a different college, for art, but it's also in Georgia, so that's awesome that we can stay together! I’m really nervous to move away from my parents though… How funny is it that a little thing like boredom can take me here? But here I am I guess. Well, Leslie is calling to me from the rock, bye! Maybe I’ll come and write again later.
I walked to the familiar old rock, the path I had taken countless times. The rock, just like our friendship, had been through its rough patches, but what was left was as sturdy as anything I knew. I thought about how lucky I was to still have Leslie as a friend. By now, most childhood friendships had fallen apart, yet here we were, almost grown adults, and as good friends as ever! I smiled.
As I approached our rock, I looked at Leslie, who was beaming from ear to ear, and holding some sort of paper.
“Alex! Guess what I just got!” She exclaimed, brimming over with excitement and happiness.
“What?” I said, smiling at her excitement, as I started climbing up on the rock.
“I got accepted into an art college in California!” She said, clearly ecstatic.
The ledge underneath my foot gave way, I fell down onto my back, and then it was dark.
When I came to, Leslie was once again standing over me, asking if I was ok.
“I- I’m ok. I just fell.” I stammered. In reality, I was reeling from the information I had just received. Now, instead of Leslie coming to Georgia with me, she was going to the other side of the country?
“I thought you were coming to college in Georgia with me?” I said, confused.
“Well…” She said, “I thought that too. I applied to this college, but they are so advanced, and they hadn’t reached out to me, so I assumed I hadn’t made it. But I just got their acceptance letter!” I could practically see the stars in her eyes.
“That's awesome!” I said, trying to be excited for her, but still in shock. I didn’t even know what was happening even more.
“Hey… Leslie… I should go back to my house. I think I heard… My mom… and I need to make sure I don’t have a concussion or anything…” I started walking back before I heard her response. When I got home, I went up into my bed and just lay there, staring at the ceiling with tears in my eyes. Leslie couldn’t be going to California! It just couldn’t be true! What would happen to our friendship! I fell asleep on my bed, shoes on and everything, hugging my pillow.
I woke up to Mom coming into my room.
“Alex? Are you ok?
I shook my head, looking at the wall.
She sat next to me on my bed quietly for a while, until I was ready to talk.
“Mom, Leslie is going to a college in California. What will happen? What if she forgets about me? Makes other best friends? What if we are never best friends again? What if, from now on, we only pass each other by in life? I can’t do that!” I said. The very idea of it made me want to curl up in a ball, fall asleep, and never wake up, but instead I leaned against Mom and waited for her to speak. I could tell she was thinking, so I just sat in her embrace and waited. After a couple minutes she spoke.
“Well Son, here is the first, most important thing. God is in control, and wants what is best for both of you,”
I nodded. I knew that much was true, even if it was hard to feel it.
“And I know it is hard to believe that sometimes, so although that should be your ultimate hope, I have another encouragement for you. You guys have been friends for years, right?”
I nodded again.
“Well then, if it can hold through all of the changing and growing up that you have done, then I think it will be able to survive the distance, you will just both have to be more intentional, which, if this friendship means as much to both of you as it seems, I don’t think will be a problem. A real friendship like you and Leslie have is pretty hard to break, even if you want to.”
I thought about this.
“Yeah… you’re right. Thanks, Mom” I said, resting my head on her shoulder.
Chapter 4
May 23rd, 2014
Today, I was reading through my old diary entries, and remembering that day. My mom was right when she said that a real friendship like Leslie and mine’s won’t go away just because of distance. In fact, in many ways, it has made it stronger. I ended up realizing how much I loved her, and we’ve been officially dating for about four months now. She has been really happy at the college in California, and I’ve been doing well at my college as well. I’ve been really busy because it's my senior year but I’ve been doing my best to make sure to spend time with her. Speaking of, we are video calling any minute now.
I put down my pen and opened Facetime on my laptop. Then I looked at the time.
“4:27, three minutes until we can call!”
At 4:29, I gave up on being patient, and clicked the call button.
I smiled as her face appeared on the screen.
“Hi, Leslie! How has your day been?”
“It's been… ok. I’m tired, and ready to be out of college, even though I’ve been glad to get better at art. How are you?”
“I’m pretty good! I have an essay to finish before class tomorrow, but it’s basically done, and I’m really happy with it! I’m excited for summer. I can’t wait to see you in person again, it's been too long!”
She grinned. “Yeah, I can’t wait either! When should we do that? And we’re meeting at our rock, right?”'
“Yep! The question is, when should we meet? After your graduation ceremony sometime, right? I’m so sorry that I’m not going to be able to make it…” I said sadly.
“It's ok!” She said, clearly disappointed, but trying to make him feel better. “We went to each other's highschool graduations, right? So missing college is no big deal! What about… July 3rd?”
I opened up my calendar, which had the day my graduation ceremony was on it. I felt a rush of panic as I realized that the essay I thought was due tomorrow, was due in just a few hours!
“Uhm, that should work for me! I’m really really sorry Leslie, but I just realized that I have that essay due in just a few hours! I’m so sorry, talk to you later?” I said in a rush.
She nodded, but I saw the look of disappointment that flashed across her face first.
“Bye,” She said, “Good luck!”
She was trying to smile.
As I shut my laptop, I felt a pang of guilt and sadness.
“I promise I’ll make up for it.”
Chapter 5
July 3rd, 2014
Well… Today’s the day! I’m really excited to talk to Leslie, but I can’t text her and risk her noticing something is up. We are meeting later today, because her plane was delayed. So for now, I have to wait until later to talk to her, and so I’m just sitting here waiting. I already visited with my parents, and hers, so I guess it's just a waiting game. I could get ready though? I don’t know, I just need to keep myself busy for now. That’s part of why I’m writing right now. Not much else to do in my room now. I remember the first day that I was here, sitting on the floor, bored. I never would have guessed all the amazing things God would do with just the simple thing of a ten-year-old’s boredom. She could be getting here at any minute, so I need to make sure I’m ready…
I stood up from my desk and went over to the mirror in the corner of the room. In it, I saw a young man. My hair was all ruffled up from me messing with it, like I always did when I was nervous. I had a nice suit on. I had told her parents to strongly suggest she wear something nice as well. Both of our parents were waiting to take pictures. There was nothing else to do. I watched out my bedroom window as a taxi parked in front of the lot, and Leslie stepped out. Surprisingly, her parents had convinced her to dress up, and she was beautiful. I watched as she walked into the lot- and then looked confused and dismayed!
“What is she so upset about?” I thought, and then I realized;
“Oh no! I’m so sorry Leslie!” I quickly ran downstairs and down to the old lot.
As I quickly approached, she turned to me, tears in her eyes.
“Our rock! It’s gone!!” She started sobbing.
“Leslie, Leslie, I’m so so sorry I forgot to tell you!”
In the place where our old rock used to be, there was… nothing. The rock had been taken away in order to build a house in the lot.
I hugged her while she cried, but quickly tried to explain;
“Leslie, I'm so sorry! I knew they took the rock away but like an idiot I forgot to tell you… I’m so sorry!”
I pushed her a little bit away from me, tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and gave her a tissue.
I waited until she had calmed down and then, trying to keep the nerves out of my voice, and began.
“Leslie, I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you they had taken it away, but I just want you to know that our relationship is more important and enduring than any old stone, and… I actually have a gift for you. I managed to keep a small part of the stone, so it can still be an important part of our relationship.”
She looked confused, so I pulled the little black box out of my pocket and knelt on one knee. She gasped, and put her hands over her mouth, but was quiet otherwise. I could feel my heart beating out of my chest.
“Leslie, we have been friends for years now, and I can’t imagine my life without you. I love you, and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Just like how the old rock was an important part of our friendship, I hope that this diamond that was in it will be an important part of the rest of our friendship, forever.” I opened the box, which had a ring with a diamond I had gotten from our rock, and continued.
“Leslie, would you marry me?”
Chapter 6
November 17th, 2023
I’ve been married eight years now, and I love Leslie more than ever. We have two wonderful little girls who I love almost as much as their mother. Even right now as I’m writing this, I’m watching her dance around with a little girl on each hip, and I couldn’t love her more. We’ve had our rough patches, and our wonderful times, for better, and for worse, and I’m so thankful to God that he gave me these wonderful girls in my life.
I look up from my old battered journal. It’s not the same as the original, which got filled up years ago, but it's just as precious. I make eye contact with Leslie and we both smile.
“I am the happiest man alive.” I think.
The End