The Window and Deborah

The end of Ruth’s pregnancy had come to term and they had brought home a beautiful baby girl, named Deborah. She was beautiful and perfect. Ruth was in love with her baby. What a beautiful Spring gift.

People from church trickled in and out all day. They brought flowers, gifts, and meals. She felt blessed in having a church family.

As the days passed by and the visits had dwindled down, she decided to plant a beautiful yellow rose bush that her father, Jeremiah, had given to her as a gift.

Ruth had decided to plant the rose bush in front of the house, so when she would sit to feed Deborah, she could look at it from the living room window. She even brought her rocking chair and placed it near the front window. The rose bush was small and she envisioned it growing through out the years, just as Deborah would also grow. She would be able to cut flowers from the rose bush and it would remind her of her little girl.

She knew better than to be planting just a week after having her baby, but she was excited to get the rose bush in the ground and to look at it through the living room window. She dug away, making a good size hole and planted this beautiful yellow rose bush. She stood and admired it before heading inside to her little baby.

In the late afternoon, when Phillip came home from the apple orchard, and as she was looking out the window, she saw Phillip looking at the bush she had planted earlier in the day. He looked at Ruth, he bent down, pulled it up, and threw it on the ground.

Ruth screamed at him from the window. She was beyond herself, as she ran outside to pick up her plant. In the background, she heard Phillip say, "I don't want ugly flowers in the front yard."

Ruth was furious.

She took ahold of the rose bush and planted it again.

As she walked back to the house, she noticed Phillip had locked her out. She screamed at him to open the door, but he refused. She didn’t know how to get inside.

Ruth could hear her baby crying. She desperately walked around the house hoping the back door was open, but it was not. She walked with great haste as she remembered that the front window was not locked. She placed her hands on the window and pushed it open. She pulled the screen off and climbed inside.

She didn’t care that she was bleeding or sweating. All she could think of was getting to her baby. Her little Deborah needed her. Phillip was holding the crying baby and refused to hand her back. It was a sick game he was playing with Ruth. She was confused and angry at him. After a few minutes of this ordeal, he returned Deborah to her.

Ruth went to the baby’s room and locked the door. They were safe. Ruth sat down trying to calm her baby while she hummed and deeply cried. She hated her life. She was angry at this monster her husband had become. This man she loved and had given herself completely to, was slowly killing her.

Note by author:

Dear reader,

If you could, What would your advice be if she came to you for help or if you could speak to her for just a moment?