Da Vinci Code

One evening while you were doing homework, Joshua stopped by unannounced.
“Hey” he said once he opened your bedroom door. Thinking it was George you were startled when you heard someone else’s voice.
“Joshua? What are you doing here?” you asked turning around in your chair to face him. He walked over and sat on your bed.
“We have been friends for how many years?” he asked, obviously having something on his mind to talk about.
“As far back as I can remember honestly. What is up?” you asked wondering what was on his mind.
“I want nothing but you to be happy, and as your oldest friend I can assume you feel the same for me”
“Of course, Joshua, but what in the world is going on?” you asked starting to feel very nervous.
“I am moving” he said looking away from you but smiling all the same.
“Where to?” you asked apprehensive of the answer.
“Across the country. I got accepted into the college I wanted.” He informed you, seeming slightly apprehensive about it.
“That is great. I am so happy for you” you said smiling. You really were happy for him, but you would miss him more than you could even comprehend at the moment. Your heart felt like it fell out of your chest and landed on the floor to be stepped on, but you hid it well.
“I can’t believe you are leaving me!” you stood and walked over to Joshua as you reached out and hugged him tightly.
“I am sorry to be leaving. I feel guilty knowing I am the only one allowed over here regularly.” you stopped him before he could continue and break your heart even more.
“I will be fine. George is loosening up a bit.” you lied. He nodded as you sat next to him on your bed.
“You just better spend time with me as much as possible before you leave!” you said to him and he smiled.
“Of course”
“And facetime me from college! Can you do that? Would skype work better?” you began asking as you sat down next to him on your bed.
“I’m not sure but once I find out you will be the first to know”
“What if we have to resort to emails? I couldn’t do it. Good riddance” you said making Joshua laugh.
“I am pretty nervous actually.” he said as his hands rubbed the back of his neck.
“Need a neck rub?” you asked scooting behind him on your bed and placing your hands on his shoulders. Beginning to rub, you felt the tension ease out of his shoulders and neck as he spilled to you what he had been worried about.
“I just feel like this could blow up in my face. I am trying not to invest too much into it, and get my hopes up, but it is hard not to” he confided in you.
Joshua was moving to live out his dreams, and as happy as you were for him, this left you with almost no one. In a month you would turn 18 and be stuck picking a husband. The list had already arrived that contained the names of the only people you could choose from.
“You will do fine, Joshua. It feels like your whole life had been leading here” you were supportive, and trying to not let the sadness in your heart be heard as you ceased rubbing his neck, knowing it felt better as he turned to you and thanked you.
“Thank you. At least I don’t have to get married” he teased turning around to face you.
“Oh yeah. Right. The list arrived.” you stood up and walked to your desk to retrieve the small package that held the profiles of eligible bachelors. You hadn’t even bothered to open it and tried your best not to even glance at it as it sat in front of you while you sat at your desk.
“Let’s look at it!” he said. You remained silent as you walked over to him with the large and packed envelope.
“It is heavy.” you said weighing it in your hands as you sat down.
“I would hope so. That means there are a lot to choose from and they included as much information about your future husband as they could” Joshua said.
“How nice of them” you said sarcastically. Joshua took the envelope from you and opened it, emptying the contents onto the bed next to the two of you. A pile of folders fell out of the large envelope and landed on your bed. You pursed your lips not wanting to look through any of them.
“I will only be here a little bit longer to help you pick one. Let’s look at them now and eliminate a few” he reasoned.
“Or all” you were not looking forward to this.
“You look at these, and I will look at these” he said handing you half of the pile. Each of you had about ten in your hands and began flipping through them.
In each individual folder was a picture of the eligible bachelor and a short introduction with information about them that included what they like to do in their free time, what level of education they had, their parents spot in the Council, and anything else the people finding these bachelors decided was important. Begrudgingly you opened the first envelope and looked at the picture and then began reading the profile as Joshua did the same.
“This guy is decent looking. He has a master’s in international economics. Okay… Oh wait. He hunts deer in his free time” you said looking over the first one and placing it to the side when you found a quality you didn’t think you wanted in a future husband.
“This guy seems nice. Oh no… we met him before. He was the guy that got drunk and puked at the banquet last year” Joshua placed this one to the side as well.
“He was obnoxious, from what I can remember.” you added as you began looking at the next guy in your pile. You rolled your eyes as you began to look over the next one. You had begun to lose hope as you placed yet another profile into the ‘no’ pile.
Three more profiles down for the each of you and there had been no luck. You hadn’t even seen potential in anyone, and neither had Joshua.
“Maybe I am just being too harsh in my eliminations.” you said tossing another profile to the side.
“This is going to be your husband, so you should be picky” Joshua said as he too threw one aside. You were growing more and more skeptical as you opened the next file.
“Hm... interesting.” you said. Joshua didn’t look up from the bio he was reading as you told him what made you pause at someone’s profile.
“It is your profile” you said slowly, looking at the picture of Joshua that had been included in the folder along with information about him. It mainly included things about him you already knew, but it was perfectly spot on.
“What?” he asked unsure if he heard you correctly as he looked up at you; the profile he had been looking over was completely forgotten. You held up his profile to show him.
“It’s you” you handed him his profile which he took and began looking it over himself.
“I don’t even know how they got this. I didn’t know I was even eligible.” he said reading his own bio.
“It describes you pretty well. Probably your parents” you reasoned moving onto the next profile but not really looking at it. Joshua looked over his profile and then looked back at you, not really knowing where to place his profile now that he was done looking it over. You looked up at him noticing him floundering a bit.
“What’s wrong?”
“Where do I put my profile?” he asked.
“Well, I mean-” you started not really knowing what to say.
“You are the best choice so far” you admitted trying to not feel nervous and took the profile out of his hands. He still looked at you like he was waiting for you to say more.
“I mean, I would marry you in a heartbeat. Not like that I like you like that. But you are my oldest friend it would be easy to pick you. But I can’t do that” you tried explaining how you were feeling, but you were still in shock from finding out Joshua was even a choice. You weren’t doing a good job. You knew how you felt about him, but not how he felt about you. Not to mention he was moving to live out his dreams.
“Right. I’m moving.” he said but he still reached out and took the profile from you, and held onto it as he glanced through it once more.
“How about this: put it in the ‘maybe’ pile and if there are no more in that pile when we are done, then lets revisit this new development.” you said taking the envelope from him once again and placed it on the other side of the two of you away from the ‘definite no’ pile.
“I guess that is fair” he said in a small voice and looked at the next profile in his lap.
“I can’t just eliminate you. Especially when this next guy ‘wants a wife who upholds traditional values of a standard household in regards to child rearing and maintaining the household’. He sounds awful”
“Sounds like he wouldn’t be able to handle you, is what you mean” Joshua joked as you reached out and slapped his shoulder lightly.
“I will try to be less picky. I’ll try to at least get a few in the ‘yes’ pile that I am willing to meet.” you smiled.
“Right” he said and didn’t return the smile or even look up from the profile he seemed to be reading over.
The next one had promise for you. Perhaps you were just anxious to clear the awkward air, but you read through the profile and spoke up.
“This guy might have potential” you said handing it to Joshua who read it over as well before commenting.
“He is the nephew of one of the ladies you sat next to at the banquet. Do you really want to have someone like her as a family member?” he asked and placed it in the no pile, along with the other one he had been looking at.
“True. Moving on” you said and looked at the next one. The pile you had been looking through was dwindling quickly.
“This is the last one in each of our piles” you said looking over at Joshua and realizing neither one of you had found anyone else with you were willing to meet.
“There has to be someone, or we are going to have to lower our standards, and try again.” you said.
“You shouldn’t have to lower your standards, since they are going to be your husband, but if that is what you want” Joshua said opening his last folder and looking it over.
“Of course it isn’t what I want, but I don’t have a choice, unless you want to marry me” you added as Joshua looked at you but didn’t say anything. You looked down at the last profile you had, before the silence in the room could grow between the two of you.
“This guy is alright. He volunteers every weekend which is sweet.” you said looking over the mundane profile in front of you.
“I think I might meet him” you said handing it to Joshua who looked it over as well but didn’t seem overly happy about it.
“I guess it is a place to start” he said and stood up abruptly.
“Do you have to leave already?” you asked a bit surprised that he had to leave so early without George coming to get him first.
“I have a bit of a headache” he lied.
“Want me to rub it for you”
“No. I don’t. Thank you, but I think I will just head home”
“Alright. Feel better soon” you said as he walked quickly out the door. You had never seen him leave so quickly without a heart felt good bye before. After a few minutes George entered your room as you pulled the no pile of profiles back towards yourself and began looking through it once more.
“What is wrong with Joshua today? It isn’t like him to not stay for dinner. He loves my cooking” George said in mild offense.
“It was probably the shock of finding out he is eligible to marry me. so far he is the only one in the 'yes’ pile” you told George who walked over and grabbed a few out of the ‘no’ pile as well as Joshua’s profile out of the lonely ‘yes’ pile. He took a seat on the bed next to you and began thumbing through them.
“Oh- I remember him: obnoxious. He won’t do.” he moved onto the next one as he placed the first one aside. If George said no, it was a definite no and no point in looking over it again.
“He seems nice. Rather good looking. Oh dear- he is shorter than you. Another no” he said placing that one aside as well.
“That is shallow. We shouldn’t eliminate someone on physical appearance.” you said trying to not concentrate on how someone looked being your first reason for elimination.
“That’s where chemistry starts. If you want to be happy you have to at least be attracted to someone. Trust me” George said placing that profile to the side as well, and moving onto the next one.
“This one has potential. Good looking. Decent education. You two like the same shows, books, free time activities. He plays the guitar” George began catching your attention.
“Who is- wait... That’s Joshua’s, isn’t it?” you asked George, knowing the answer.
“It sure is” he said handing it to you. There was a brief silence as you thought it over.
“I can’t marry Joshua” you said sadly.
“Why not?” George asked.
“He is moving away. I can’t suffocate his dreams like this. It isn’t like I can move with him. Or wait- he doesn’t even want to marry me!” you said hoping George would speak up and keep you from getting false hope.
“You forget that the council has to approve of his wife too. Perhaps he isn’t aware of this as well”
“Does the council need to approve every damn thing?! Is that why you never married?” you asked George before you could stop yourself, but becoming genuinely curious.
“Let’s just say I haven’t found the right, well… the right person yet” George said stressing the word person. You understood immediately.
“The council would have to approve of your marriage as well wouldn’t they?” you said in a small voice not realizing George had it a bit harder than you did.
“Precisely.” he said and stood up to leave still with a smile on his face. Out of nowhere he fell into a coughing fit.
“George, I have never even seen you sick before-” he cut you off before you could pry more.
“Just a bit under the water. Remember, if you don’t pick a husband, the council will pick one for you. Don’t give them that chance” he told you as he left the room.
“That is very true. Fine! I will take another look tomorrow and meet a few of them” you agreed quietly as you stood up to get some pajamas to get some sleep. This talk with George had put this situation into perspective for you, but you would be lying if you thought Joshua wouldn’t always be in the back of your mind from that day on.

Notes