As a child, Lacelot du Lac had loved sitting at his father’s feet listening to the heroic tales of how he overcame the poverty in which he, hismelf, had grown up and became the man he was today. He would listen, mouth agape, to the tales of his father’s courage in defeating the odds. And as he grew up he stood taller and taller as he realized what his father had truly accomplished. It had been when he was a teenager that the senior Du Lac had approached his son with a proposition.
“Son, I own my own business now. It may not be huge or even a large business, but it is a business nevertheless, and it’s important to me. You are our only child — the only child who can take over the family company and take it to newer and better heights. Eventually you are going to need to take over my place — not just yet!” he chided at the giddy expression on his son’s face, chuckling softly to himself. “Eventually. When I’m too old to work and choose to retire. There’s some time left before that happens, my boy!”
The young Lancelot had listened attentively to his father’s words in silent rapture. One day the family company would be his! It was something he had silently dreamed of for most of his twenty years and now he was being told that he wouldn’t have to keep his dreams to himself for any longer. His heart was thudding in his chest, pounding hard as he realized that this was what he’d wanted since he was a small boy — and it was a dream that would ultimately come true!
Lancelot’s relationship with his parents was close, and he looked forward to the day that he could make them proud of him. They were a loving family who shared everything — except news of how the business was going. It wasn’t until Lancelot was eighteen years old and looking over some college brochures that his father approached him with some sad news.
“Your college fund is gone, Lance,” he told his son with a deeply sad expression on his face. “The company was in some trouble and we sank all of our money into it. The good news is that things are going better for the company now, and you will have something to inherit. But I’m afraid that if you decide to go to college you’re going to have to do so on grants — we just can’t afford to send you.”
It put Lancelot in an uncomfortable position. He felt deeply for his parents and knew that his father wanted him to go to University, as the senior Du Lac had never been given the opportunity. He’d been working a part-time job since he was fifteen and had scrupulously saved his money, but even the 20,000 simoleans he had in the bank wouldn’t be enough to get him through more than his Sophmore year, at best, and he knew that unless he got a large number of scholarships and grants, he’d never be able to afford to get through school and still have somewhere to hang his hat at the end of the day. He had to make a choice.
“I understand,” he told his father cautiously a few days later. He took a deep breath. “And I’ve made a decision.” He looked his father in the eyes for a long moment, his own blue eyes sad. “I’m going to put off going to college for awhile and see if I can make it in the world on my own. I’ve found a plot of land that would be perfect for setting up a homestead. So that’s what I’m going to do.”
He watched his father’s reaction carefully for a few moments, expecting shock or anger, but neither came. The older man just nodded his head and quietly, solemnly walked away, leaving his son to make his own decisions and to take his own risks.
Lancelot du Lac began regretting his decision almost immediately when he set food on the rocky, uneven ground of his new lot. He must have been misled! There was no good place to build his dream home and it looked as though the roots of even the hardiest trees couldn’t find purchase in this soil. How could he find purchase himself? It was frightening at first, but he refused to buckle under the pressure. Years ago his father had left on a similar adventure, and he would now leave on one of his own.
It was a few days before his little shack had been set up, with no flooring or even paint on the walls. But somehow it didn’t matter. Lancelot still glowed with pride. It was his! All his! And he’d done it all on his own! And he’d managed to get it done quickly so that there was a roof over his head. It was definitely something for him to be proud of!
Finding a job proved to be oddly more difficult. Lancelot was determined, at first, to find a job working in business, perhaps even for his own father’s company, but he could find no openings and his father divulged that they’d been letting quite a few people go lately. It was a dead-end and the young man realized that he’d have to start checking the papers for something different.
At last he found it! The local hospital was looking for Emergency Medical Technicians! It would be a start at least, until he could find something better or until his father’s company started looking up again! He leapt at the opportunity and immediately submitted his resume. Within a week he had been accepted for the job and began his training. With luck the job would take him places and begin earning him the money he needed to get his life going.
Lancelot spoke to his parents every day on the phone. He missed them terribly and enjoyed updating them on what was going on in his life and hearing how the company was running during any given week. It seemed that it was having its ups and downs, but Lancelot had a great deal of faith in his father and knew that it wouldn’t be long before everyone was back on their feet.
Then one day, while he was talking to his mother on the phone, she brought up a sensitive subject. “You know, honey, we want to have some grandkids…” Her voice was happy, but Lancelot felt that there was a bit of desperation in her voice. He wondered what else might be going on. “Have you met anyone yet? You’ve been living away from us for two years now and you haven’t said anything about a ladyfriend! Is there somebody special?”
There wasn’t. At least not yet. He’d been working for two years as an EMT and had found that his job didn’t allow much room for having a social life. The hours were long and complex and he was always on call in case one of the other technicians called out for any reason. He was the most reliable EMT that the hospital had, and there was talk about a promotion to Paramedic in his near future. He’d been so focused on his job and career that he hadn’t taken the time to think much about meeting somebody.
When the conversation was over he hung up the phone and sat down for a few moments, thinking about what his mother had said. Was there someone? Actually, there was that pretty dark-skinned photographer who had been on the scene of the last accident he’d attended. He hadn’t really spoken to her but he recognized her from a picture he’d seen in the papers. Her name was Christy Stratton and at the time he’d almost botched a bandaging job because he was so busy looking at her. It seemed he’d caught her eye too.
After a few moments of thought, he picked up the phone book and found her number, then dialed it. His heart was pounding as he waited for her to answer. “Ch-Christine Stratton?” he stammered when she answered the phone.
“Yes….”
“This is Lancelot du Lac… You don’t really know me but… Well I’d be interested in getting to know you.” He was clumsy with his words, unsure of himself and during that first conversation, fell all over himself in an attempt to speak the right words. “You were taking photographs the other day of a site where there had been an accident… I was one of the EMTs there…”
There was a moment of silence and Lancelot thought she might have put the phone down on him. Embarassed, he was about to hang his end up when he heard her voice, soft and sweet, from the other end of the phone. “I remember you. The tall redhead, right?”
It wasn’t quite the tone he had expected from someone who, as a freelance photographer, spent most of her time harassing people for stories. She sounded sweeter than he had imagined. It took him a moment to catch his breath and catch up with the conversation.
“Umm… Yes, that’s me. I… I was just wondering if I might be able to take you out to dinner sometime?”
“I’d like that,” came the immediate response. “Maybe tomorrow night?”
“Tomorrow night would be perfect.”
For a long moment after he’d hung up the phone, Lancelot was shocked by what had just happened. She had accepted a date without him having to do much talking. It was interesting, indeed. But it was time for him to leave for another night of work. Tomorrow was one of his few days off, and he would have all day to prepare for the coming date.
The next night Lancelot was jittery. He wasn’t a very good cook and he was pretty sure that Christy wouldn’t be too impressed with his Macaroni and Cheese, but that was beside the point. More than anything he wanted a chance to get to know the young woman. Suddenly the date had become about him and Christy rather than about his mother, and that felt good. She was pretty, afterall, and had some of the very traits that were most important to him!
By the end of the evening a romance had begun to blossom, with coy flirtatious remarks being passed back and forth between the two. It was clear that something further might come of their relationship, and for the first time in his life Lancelot felt a glow that had nothing to do with green…
They’d been dating for about a month when Lancelot decided it was time to get more serious. But first he wanted to sit down and have a talk with Christy about their relationship. He wasn’t going to plunge into anything that wasn’t right for both of them and he had to be sure. “Christy,” he said one day on the phone. “I want to talk to you about some very serious business. Can you come over tonight for supper so we can discuss some things?”
Christy sounded unsure when she answered, “sure…” and Lancelot realized immediately that he might have made a mistake. He didn’t want her to think he wanted to end their relationship! Jittery and upset, he went to prepare the meal for that evening and wait for Christy. The thought that he might have hurt her brought tears to his own eyes, but he was grateful that when she arrived on his doorstep she seemed happy.
The man grinned broadly at his girlfriend, the woman he hoped to one day make his wife, and let her into the house and to the dinner table so that they could talk. He was still a bit nervous as he sat down, his eyes watching Christy the entire time. Finally he got up the courage to speak.
“Christy, I realize that it’s only been about a month since we started dating, but I feel very connected to you and I believe I’m in love with you,” he began, trying to keep his voice steady.
For a moment the young woman seemed shocked. She just stared at Lancelot with a funny expression on her face. “In love with me?”
There hadn’t been a whole lot of talk about their pasts. It was just something that had been left aside. Christy hadn’t wanted to talk about her last relationship, which had turned into a disaster when she realized that Abjiheet Cornwell wasn’t willing to leave his wife for her as she had believed he would. She never saw him any more and was happy in some ways to be free of him, but in other ways she still missed their romance.
But was she in love with Lancelot now? For a moment she thought about it, and then she realized… She was!
Without another thought the young woman jumped up from where she was sitting at the table and threw her arms around her beau. “I love you, Lancelot!” she told him with conviction. “I really love you!”
Lancelot grinned as he held Christy in his arms. “Then come and live with me,” he whispered in her ear. “Let’s build a family together… I want you, Christy Stratton. I love you.”