Little did she know ...

A bunch of budding novelists in our area responded to our recent Love Story Writing Contest, which offered participants a chance to submit a creative ending to our story, “Little Did She Know,” for a chance to win a special Valentine’s Day gift for their sweetheart. Originally published on Jan. 17, here is the beginning of the story followed by the three winning entries. For other favorite entries, visit www.vindy.com/lovestory.

Mary was relatively new in town. Although she had made a few friends and had a few dates, she still felt like an outsider.

She knew transferring to Youngstown State University at the start of her junior year would be difficult since most girls had already formed their own little cliques by now.

When, out of the blue, Evie, one of the most popular girls, invited her to “come over tonight and help me make fudge,” she was absolutely delighted.

The evening went well, although the fudge wasn’t all that great. Not wishing to overstay her welcome, Mary was nearly ready to leave when Evie urged her to stay.

“I want you to meet my boyfriend,” she said, “and he is bringing someone we thought you might like to meet.”

As if on cue, the doorbell rang and in stepped Evie’s boyfriend, Kenny, and another young man he introduced as “my best friend, Mike.”

It turned out to be a fun evening. Mary and Mike seemed to hit it off from the start.

When Mary finally insisted she had to start the long walk back to the Lyden House dormitory, she was pleasantly surprised when Kenny and Mike offered to accompany her.

They hadn’t gone more than a block or two when Kenny said he had forgotten something and went running back to Evie’s.

Little did Mike and Mary know, Kenny and Evie had set the whole thing up because they thought the couple were a good match.

And they were right.

It may not have been love at first sight, but as the two walked on, they found they had a lot in common. They discovered they shared a mutual interest in the outdoors, sports and music, and, best of all, neither was dating anyone seriously.

But, as the days following that wonderful walk went by, Mary’s initial excitement soon turned to disappointment when Mike didn’t call. Although they smiled and exchanged pleasantries whenever they ran into each other between classes, Mary finally convinced herself that Mike really wasn’t interested in her.

She soon found out, though, that life can be full of surprises.

The first came after two weeks of not hearing from Mike, when he unexpectedly invited her to a party at Mr. Anthony’s.

He explained that with his workload at school, football practice and his part-time job, he had just been too busy to date. Then, shyly, he admitted he had really enjoyed being with her that night and wanted very much to see her again.

As they spoke, Mary instinctively knew that he liked her as much as she liked him. Everything was suddenly wonderful!

On the night of the party, Mary got a different kind of surprise when Patti, one of the popular YSU Penguins cheerleaders Mike had dated, cornered her and hissed, “If you think you’re going to take Mike away from me, you better think again!”

Mary was stunned but never told Mike about the incident. She tried to brush it off since each time they were together she realized Mike had grown to love her as much as she loved him.

But it was obvious to her that Patti was determined to end their relationship.

To others, she was as sweet as sugar, while managing to make Mary’s life miserable in many little ways. She even resorted to starting vicious rumors that could cause Mike to have doubts about Mary.

Predictably, as Mike became more and more committed to his relationship with Mary, Patti — like the proverbial woman scorned — continued to wage her battle for his affections.

But Mary knew Mike was the love of her life and he was worth fighting for, which she did in her own quiet way.

Although overjoyed when Mike surprised her with an engagement ring and asked her to marry him in the near future, Mary couldn’t help but wonder about what the future would hold for them.

If this didn’t put an end to Patti’s vendetta and she continued to try to tear them apart, would their love be strong enough to keep them together? ...

SFlbTHE WINNERS ARE:

First Place

Mary Joyce Dillon

of Mercer, Pa., received a $100 gift certificate for Tara A Country Inn in Clark, Pa.

While glancing through The Vindicator one evening, Mary spied an article about NFL cheerleaders. She was surprised to learn that several teams, including the Cleveland Browns, were without these pom-pom shaking young women to root on the local professional gridiron guys.

Mary realized that Patti was about to graduate “cum latte” and lacked the ambition and ability to find a suitable career. Her “vocational” goal of finding a rich husband was not going to include a trip down the aisle with Mike, if Mary had anything to do with it.

As she continued to peruse the article, Mary discovered that Randolph Lerner, the owner of the Browns, was currently contemplating adding some “adornment” to his team. In fact, tryouts for the “Puppies” were scheduled for the end of the month.

Would Patti still want the Penguin’s tight end when she could scrimmage with the entire Cleveland Browns team … and their weekly opponents?

Mary immediately dialed the Browns’ front office to request that an application be mailed to Patti.

In the meantime, Mary began sliding not-so-subtle “encouragement” under Patti’s dormitory door while she attended classes. One day, a Browns bumper sticker was slid under the door; on another day it was a Brady Quinn window decal. Brownie, the elf, adorned the door on the following day, and then a Dawg claw appeared.

Patti was bombarded with brown and orange propaganda, which pleased but puzzled her. But Patti took the bait and completed and returned the application.

Since Mary was aware that Patti adored attention, she alerted The Jambar editors that one of their own was destined to become a Browns Puppy.

Soon The Vindicator also picked up the story. Interviews and front-page coverage followed. The entire campus became “cheerleaders” for Patti.

Mary’s scheme was working. Not surprisingly, Patti was so busy preparing for her audition and soaking up the limelight that she had little time for jealousy.

Mike and Mary were free to enjoy each other’s company and watch their love become more enduring.

Finally, the big day arrived. Patti traveled to Cleveland, surrounded by a brown and orange sea of friends, family, fans and reporters. She scored a “perfect 10” on her audition and, subsequently, became a member of the first squad of Cleveland Browns’ Cheerleaders.

Patti was finally happy and content with her life … all because of Mary’s involvement, which will forever be her little secret.

Shortly thereafter Mike and Mary had their own big day. They were married in a lovely little ceremony on campus. Each time the Browns played a game, Mary smiled a very satisfying grin.

Everyone won … Mike and Mary were together, Patti had the adoration of many, and the Browns were finally on their way to a winning season!

SECOND Place

Pamela L. Simmons

of North Lima received a $50 gift certificate for Full Circle Florist in Youngstown

In the end, for many reasons, it wasn’t enough.

As she boarded the plane for a much-needed tropical getaway, it was funny how Mary thought of all of this today. It had been 25 years, but with the bustling of the college football players boarding the plane, the long tucked away memories played like an old forgotten movie.

It had been six months since her wonderful husband of 24 years had passed away. Her editor convinced her to go; Mary reluctantly made the reservations.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the football players’ banter as the plane was about to takeoff. For just a second she thought she had caught a whiff of an old familiar smell. She chuckled, remembering back. Silly, why today?

Mary reminisced how wonderful her life had turned out, even if she never saw another thing, it had all turned out for the best.

Mary awoke to the voice of the captain announcing their arrival at the tropical airport.

The football players, moving from their seats, scrambling for duffle bags, were very animated and kept bumping into her repeatedly as she deplaned.

Even with all the commotion, Mary was glad she had listened to her editor. But just as she made her way down to the very end of the aisle, she remembered she had left her laptop in the cargo hold. With all the excitement, she had forgotten it.

Turning to reboard, the stewardess’s foot caught hers and Mary fell forward catching herself on the shoulder of the college coach.

He fell back dragging his assistant coach with him, all of them being tangled in the seats.

It looked like a pileup on the 1 yard line at a playoff game. As the group began to untangle, they began to giggle. The stewardesses rushed to help and everyone began to chuckle.

Mary began to stand , the coach got up, the assistant coach reached for the seat, Mary looked down to offer her hand as he looked up, and she could not believe what she was seeing. Both were shocked they had traveled 5 hours by plane and had not recognized each other. It hit her, she had remembered that smell as she boarded, not realizing it was Mike! Although she had no regrets, she had always wondered what had become of her first love.

Mike had graduated and went on to coach high school football, recently landing the job of a lifetime with the very prominent coach at Ohio State. His wife, Patti, had left him after a year, leaving for some burnout bartender.

As they both garnered for balance from the “pile-up” and time faded away, the first tear surprised her; the waterfall the followed did not.

Mike went to speak her name. He paused, large pools of tears filling his eyes, and began hugging her tightly.

Little did they know, from that moment on they would never spend another day apart, except for the day before the wedding, when the bride never sees the groom.

THIRD Place

Joseph Arrowsmith

of Campbell received a 2-pound box of assorted chocolates from Philadelphia Candies

“Don’t worry,” Mike said. “You’ll be back from South America in three months; then we’ll be married.”

A single tear ran down Mary’s cheek. She tried to smile.

Mike furrowed his brow as he said, “It’s Patti, isn’t it?”

Mary said, “Don’t misunderstand me. It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just that I know how girls like Patti can be.”

Mike looked deeply into Mary’s eyes as he said, “Love and faith are two halves of the same heart. Do you see?”

“I do, Mike,” Mary said. “I’m embarrassed to even mention my fears to you. Here, let me clear them away.” At this Mary wiped the air with her hands as if she were clearing away cobwebs.

Mike laughed at this gesture as he took her hand and said, “It’s only 12 weeks. Believe in us and it will carry you through.”

Two days later and Mary was in the mountain clinic of Nuevo Prospero. There, in the thick green forest, hundreds had gathered for treatment from all over the region.

Mary worked long hours dressing wounds and giving vaccinations with the other five nurses. There was no cell phone communication, and the mail came in only sporadically.

Twice she received letters from Mike, and all seemed well.

Then, after two long weeks of rain and mud, she received a valentine in the mail. The card was shaped as two hearts joined as one, but the hearts were split by a hand-drawn black lightning bolt. There was no message in the card and the address was typed. The letters were smeared and rough.

Mary wanted to call home, but on that day, the satellite phone was 10 miles away. For several minutes she cried with the card in her hand. Then she stopped and told herself that now was the time to have faith in their love and make a stand.

So, in the tropical rain, she cleared a web of vines from her path and went to work. No more mail came.

The weeks passed and soon she was on the last leg of her journey home. She sat in the front seat and looked out of the window as the bus pulled into YSU.

There on the steps were Patti and Mike. As soon as the door opened, Mary jumped off and walked toward them.

Patti ran to her and said with tearful eyes, “I tried to get back with Mike and when he refused me, I did a mean thing.”

Mike made his way through the crowd and picked Mary up in the air. When he returned her to the ground he said, “Coming here is Patti’s way of apologizing. As for me, I want you to know that, even though we may be separated by air and oceans, our love will always bind us together.”

With this they kissed as the crowd swirled around them. They were two hearts joined together as one. Never again to be parted. One heart sealed with faith.