Dear Suzzy,
I never got the chance to finish reading your favorite bedtime story before your parents picked you up when the summer ended. I know I had told you last Thursday that I flipped the last page of the Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit and read it to you, but when that made you cry, I couldn’t resist but tell you now that the story of Winne and Jesse does not end there; instead, it has a secret chapter that only you will learn about, as long as you keep it a secret from anyone; Winnie and Jesse don’t want anyone to know what later happened to them.
I know you are used to listening to me read the book for you as you lie down in bed, but now that we have celebrated your ninth birthday, I believe that you’re old enough to read this secret chapter on your own, and I hope it is as special as you predicted the ending to be.
Here it goes:
As the Tuck carriage was getting further and further, leaving the home where they had committed their biggest mistake that they wished to no longer remember or talk about, there stood Winnie waving her last goodbye with tears dripping down her cheeks. Although Jesse had reassured her that he would be coming back one day, she looked at him desperately, knowing that they would never reunite or see each other again.
Jesse and Winne were always total opposites; Jesse was the one who believed in the power of love, which he thought was stronger than any issue that would face him throughout his everlasting life. Inside of him, there was this vigorous assertion that he built up decades ago during the occurrence of all the problems he encountered—the assertion that was endowed to him by his family, who were the only people he communicated with at that time. On the other hand, Winnie was an anxious teenager who recently escaped her home. She had no hope of seeing Jesse again, and while their carriage disappeared from her vision, she didn’t know where her next step was going to be. She raptly looked around her; the surroundings were full of strangers, and although she was standing there in the chaotic town, she felt as if she were living alone in the world. The thought of being lonely intimidated her, and she began thinking of the day when everyone was dead and it was just her and the Tuck family living in a tranquil world if she ever drank from that mysterious water that endowed its drinkers to live forever. However, she never wanted to return home and be imprisoned again, and between those people she called family, she never felt that she belonged to them. Instead, she found herself happier with the family of the lover she longed for.
She began walking nowhere while following the path she saw in front of her, going wherever the route was taking her. It was a small town that she lived in her whole life, and although she rarely left her house, she knew every street and path in town. Wandering around drained with thoughts, the deja vu of dancing there with Jesse suddenly penetrated her mind. She saw their memories everywhere she looked and remembered the day they first met and danced in the wild field of flowers. Now, she had arrived at the end of the road, where there were two routes leading her to two different places: a right curve that took her to the deep forest and a left turn that would drop her off at an isolated house, her home. It was getting dark and cold, and as the wind blew her hair and covered her face, she ran until she reached her only safe shelter, her home.
Earlier in time, Winnie had made a decision to live in her home until the day Jesse kept his promise and visited her. She would visit the forest every day and the house of the Tucks to rejuvenate her memories, and on her way back, the well where the special water was springing from always caught her attention. She was lost in bewilderment for years; she never knew if she should wait for her love or live a normal life and follow the life cycle of the normal world, which lives and dies at a point in life. She sat near the well and dipped her palms in the water. The water shined and sparkled from the reflection of the sun and then leaked from the purlicue of her hands.
Every day, she would desperately visit the spring, waiting for the Tucks to return until she finally began believing that they would one day return. Ever since then, visiting the spring became a part of her daily routine. Every day that passed, the well reminded Winnie that she was never able to love anyone other than Jesse, her first and last love. Sunny, rainy, and snowy days passed as Winnie was still holding robustly to her hope that extended every day.
It was a hot summer day when she was getting ready to visit what is now her second home, the well by the Tuck house. Winnie looked at herself in the mirror and noticed the aging wrinkles on her face. She was growing old and was now a full-grown adult, no longer the teenager wailing desperately for the desire of love. Looking in the mirror made her cry, as she realized the passing of years taking away long days from her life. She could still remember Jesse, whose face was young-looking and youthful, and wanted him to see her as beautiful-looking as he left her long ago.
This time she ran to the spring and instinctively took a draft of the water, and now she was living forever. She felt stupored by what she had just done and had a time accepting her new destiny and what she had done to herself.
Fear dominated her mind; she began thinking what if they never came back. This thought drowned in an ocean of perplexity… Now, Winnie had nothing to do but wait for them. Every day that passed, she feared she would soon be living alone. She wished that she had never drunk from that water and instead, let the cycle of life age her the way it wanted until she could age no more.
Her daily visits to the forest and the Tuck House still never ended but instead became an everyday habit of Winnie’s. The pain of waiting never stole her hope that the Tucks would one day return, but at the end of an entire century, love was really stronger than everything, as it kept Winnie waiting for Jesse until the day she waited for finally came.
Winnie was at the spring as usual when a young man approached her. By that time, Winnie had forgotten Jesse’s appearance, but that never caused her to forget the reason why she one day loved him, and as she saw him, she fell in love all over again, with the same person but in a different duration. Jesse though never forgot the day he farewelled her and promised to come back. What was important to him was that he was able to keep his promise. He recognized her from the first glance. From far away, he saw her brown hair as it was blown by the wind, blue eyes that shined below the sunlight, and a smile that never aged. He chose not to try to remind her of his inferior old self that she still loved because they were now two different people whose lives had changed with time.
They talked to each other as if it were the first time they ever met and introduced themselves all over again. They went from strangers to friends, friends to lovers, and strangers again who inevitably fell in love again.
Winnie and the Tuck family moved to an island called Sonsuzluk, where they peacefully lived alone. This island obtained its name from the word “eternity” in Turkish. They decided to never have children because they didn’t want anyone else to live what they called their “fortunate misery,” as it brought them together to live delightfully for eternity.
Now, I wish you the sweetest dreams <3
Love,
Your so loving Grandma
