Evangeline
By David Barth
This story, written on April 19, 2007, is extremely loosely based on the story that Mother used to tell the three of us kids on vacation trips in the car to
New England.
Evangeline was a young girl who fell in love with a boy, but somehow she couldn't get together with him because her parents thought she was too young. The
lovers saw each other infrequently, and they were deeply in love, knowing that someday they had to get together, some way. On their most recent meeting,
he had given her a red rose as a statement of his deep love for her. She cherished it, and kept it in a vase beside her bed, even after it had dried up.
One night Evangeline gathered her courage to go to him. She said, "Goodnight," to each of her parents, and after giving each a kiss on the cheek, she went
to her bedroom. Then she climbed out her bedroom window and set out in her rowboat to row the long way to his home on a far-away shore. It was much faster
to go by boat because roads were few, and those that did exist were in terrible condition. Besides, it was so dark that night, she feared that she would get
lost if she tried to go to him by land.
The trip on the water would take hours in good weather, but this night the sea was rough. Her love for the boy drove her to row and row and row. She ignored
the cold, the wet salt spray that soaked her, and her tired body. She thought of only one thing: to reach her lover that night.
Unbeknownst to her, that same night, her boyfriend decided he had to go to her. He got into his rowboat, and began to row. The night was dark. There was no moon.
They actually passed each other in the dark, but the noise of the wind and spray, the high swells, and the dark night conspired to keep them from seeing each other,
even though their boats passed only several yards apart.
As Evangeline neared the shore where the boy lived, she became excited, and she stopped paying attention to the boat just long enough for a big wave to catch
the side of the boat and roll it over, dumping her into the black sea. She was only about 100 yards from shore, but she couldn't touch bottom. In her wet clothing,
she tired of swimming very quickly. The waves kept pulling her under. She knew she was going to drown.
The boy reached her home late that night and asked her parents where she was. During a quick check of her bed they discovered a note saying that she was
going to row her boat to his home and that by the time they found the note, she would be in her lovers arms.
The boy was crushed! He knew that the conditions in the sea were risky for him, let alone for his lovely, slightly-built Evangeline. He ran to his boat and rowed
furiously, fearing the worst. Finally, hours later, he reached his shore. The first thing he saw was her rowboat washed up on the beach. Then he saw his girl,
Evangeline.
He jumped out of his boat even before it reached the beach and ran through the waves to her body that had washed up on shore. In her little white hand was the red
rose he had given her. The day he gave her that rose was the last time he had seen her alive.
The boy fell on the sand beside her and cried and screamed to God that this was so unfair. In his tortured state, he decided that he could not live without her, so he
stood up and calmly walked back into the waves. He didn't care about anything, except to see his Evangeline once again. He let the water pass over his head,
uncaringly. His muscles twitched uncontrollably, but he didn't try to swim to the surface for air. He let himself sink down and down and down.
But Evangeline wasn't dead. The waves near the shore had helped wash her to the beach, and exhausted, she passed out. Then, almost in a dream, she heard
her boyfriend screaming and crying, and she woke up in time to see him walking into the waves. She yelled and screamed for him to return, that she was OK,
but he didn't hear her because of the noise of the surf.
Evangeline followed after him, screaming for him to stop. She saw him go under and not surface. She was so disconsolate, she decided she would share his fate.
Sharing his fate would be the only thing that she could share with him now, besides her intense love for him. So she let the water pass over her head, uncaringly.
Her muscles twitched uncontrollably, but she didn't try to swim to the surface for air. She let herself sink down and down and down.
It is said that The Almighty felt sympathy for Evangeline and the boy because they were truly in love, and love is His gift to man and woman. He sent his
angels to bring them up to heaven where he and Evangeline were reunited, to live forever together.