The Magic Roundabout: Part V

In two days, Peter was going to travel to pick up Marie.  He felt like a kid waiting for Christmas.  The hours at work seemed like days.  It was no better when he arrived home.  Again, he had reminders of Marie and they only compounded the need to see his little girl.

That night Peter dreamed he and Marie were riding home from college and they were circling the roundabout.  Marie was giggling like she did when she was little.  Peter turned to look at her and she actually was about 5 or 6 years old.  Her laughter caused his heart to soar.  He and his little girl were together again.  They must have gone round and round 20 times.  Each revolution brought bigger smiles and laughs.  Peter felt a tremendous lightness in his heart.  It was a feeling he last had the day he was married. 

Marie was cramming for a test while Jenny, her roommate, listened to music.  She needed to tell her Jenny to use her headphones.  Her stress was high but she was certain she would do well on the test.  Still, she always stressed over tests.  Some might say she had test anxiety but she didn’t freeze when taking tests.  She merely had a lot of tension prior to taking them.

College life agreed with Marie.  She savored it.  There were moments of conflict with her roommate but the way Marie looked at it, they were both from different families.  There were bound to be differences between them.  Marie always wanted to talk things out but Jenny tended to keep things in.  It bugged Marie that Jenny avoided her when there was something she didn’t like.  She couldn’t think about that now. 

As she studied, seeing her father was in the back of her mind.  She was conflicted about visiting him.  Yes, she loved and wanted to see him.  Still, she enjoyed her new independence.  She loved life.  Part of her felt he held her back.  He smothered her.  She didn’t want to go back to that.