A Long Weekend In '56

The grass isn't always greener...

...on the other side of the fence.

In this sequel to Chronicles and Gossip of '54, the Burrows' family has accepted and adjusted to the loss of one son in the Korean War. Life has settled down for the family and they were all more content.

Luke Burrows, the remaining son, had a dark winter after Mattie Griffith left town, but his thoughts and desire for her dwindled over time. He found that his life was happier without the turmoil that she stirred up. He began to realize that maybe she wasn't quite the good person that he had thought that she was, and he decided that what affection she gave him wasn't a fair trade-off for the upset that came along with it.

Good fortune, both expected and unexpected, came Luke's way and he thought that his life was smoothing out at last.

The Griffith family went through every day without Mattie. Her mother's opinion was that her oldest daughter had left with no concern at all for her whole family; she was only thinking about her own desires when she moved away and shut everyone else out of her new life. Her father had grown bitter toward his child and only said, "She made her bed, let her lie in it."

Mattie found that life away from what she'd known wasn't quite as exciting as she'd dreamed that it would be. Daily life in the big city wasn't that much different than life in her small hometown, and for certain, was a great deal lonelier. Where were those new opportunities that she'd dreamed about? Those broader horizons?

She started to wonder if what she'd done hadn't been a huge mistake, and in her solitary daydreams, began to be certain that Luke Burrows was just waiting with open arms for her to return. Mattie found out the hard way that she was sadly mistaken.