After the Story - Choices Like Rivers - Episode 29
After the Story - Choices Like Rivers - Episode 29
This podcast discusses each chapter of Choices Like Rivers and each episode is posted directly after the book episode. This corresponds to Chapter 11 Section 1.
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A new main character is now on the scene, Donna. She is young and a free spirit. We find out that she is pregnant but not married to the baby’s father, Jared.
This doesn’t seem to a problem for her, her parents, or Jared. This is quite a contrast to the world in which Sharon lives.
We might arrive at the conclusion that Donna’s parents are hippies, or just have a much freer mindset than the rest of society.
I believe they live the way they do because they wanted to break free from the rigors of conventional society. Maybe not hippies, but just want to live in a much more relaxed way.
Her father works in construction even though they have their own farm where they grow their own food, and can supplement when necessary.
We don’t know about Jared, what he does or if he even lives there with Donna.
Her mother though seems to be the driving force of the freedom in the home. She is an artist when not tending to the garden and other things at home. Now I don’t want to insinuate that all artists are free spirits, but many are, especially in that era.
Donna just spontaneously left the house for a walk on a beautiful sunny day. I am sure she didn’t have plan on where she was going or when she would be back.
She is dressed just like I dressed back then, jean cut-offs and a halter top, and of course flip-flops. I even made my halter top out of old jeans just like the one described here.
Donna nearly abandoned her walk when the bugs and goat-heads began to overwhelm her, but the creek and cool shade tree continued to beckon her.
She dozed slightly then was awakened by the sense that someone else was near. I am sure she was startled, but she didn’t want to open her eyes suddenly or react suddenly to startle the other person.
Here we meet the mysterious Buddy that Molly Sue had been referring to. He was a large man, that was obviously mentally challenged. His mental capacity was that of a much younger person. Childlike in many ways.
In his mind he sees the need to protect Donna because she is pregnant. His mental disability came when his father beat his mother while she was pregnant with him. He was told this and belittled for his mental shortcomings.
So, in his mind, he wants to protect the baby Donna is carrying. He is a large man and Donna has no way to overcome his strength. She believes she can outwit him at a later time if she is just patient.
She is trying to watch and make note of where he is taking her because he is taking her in a completely different direction than the one in which she came. The trip to his home is quite far.
We wonder what he was doing and how he wound up where Donna was. We may never know and it may not matter. What does matter is that their paths met and there they are.
This scene makes me wonder, have we ever been convinced that we were helping someone by doing something that was really in essence hurting them. We just knew that what we were doing was the right thing for them, but it wasn’t.
I know I have. As a parent we are often faced with this. No matter how hard we try sometimes we get it wrong. It is easy here to fault Buddy for taking Donna, but we have to understand that he is convinced in his child-like brain that he is protecting her.
We know by now that Molly Sue knows and loves Buddy, so she has grown up knowing him which presents more questions with answers yet to come.
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