A Game of Heart and Fortune

Jan watched the sun rise over fields of dust. They warned him not to risk it, that he might lose everything and more. Yet how could he not? Jan had seen the rye fields of Thyle, his tiny native village, wither again and again. Though young, he had the means to help: the marks he’d inherited from his father lay in their wooden box beneath his mattress. How many loaves of bread could those marks buy? But Jan’s hope was to become the first from his village to attend the University. The loaves he bought would be dust in a year; however, if he became a professional man, then he might be able to save Thyle.

Aunt Magdalyn sat nearby, industriously milking their goat. “Don’t try to be a hero,” she cautioned. “You’re gambling with higher stakes than you realize.”

“There’s too much on the line,” Uncle Oskar agreed from his plow. “Chances are, you’ll have to come back home with nothing left, and then where would we be?”

Jan absentmindedly let a palmful of dust slide through his fingers. Feeling a pebble among the grains, he closed his fingers around it. “No,” he said firmly. “I’m going to go--for all of our sakes.”

Four hard months found Jan at a train station, about to leave. With his eyes full of tears, he embraced Uncle Oskar and kissed Aunt Magdalyn goodbye. His little cousin Anka was standing shyly by, and Jan gave her a hug as well. He could feel the dust of Thyle on all of them--and on himself--and he loved its earthy smell.

“Promise you’ll come home soon?” Anka asked softly.

“I swear by the Earth and the Sun,” he promised, stepping into the train. A loud whistle burst from the machine as it started off toward Jan’s hopeful future. Jan knew that, no matter how far he went, the earth of Thyle would always be his home.