The Choosing Read Online Free PDF

of them. Then again, being chosen by anyone will be enough. Butterflies erupt in her chest as the word chosen forms on her lips. It is hard to believe the time has finally come.
    A knock sounds behind her. She turns to see her mother pushing open her bedroom door. For a moment, a wide smile captures her mother’s face, but it soon falls away at the apparently displeasing sight of her daughter.
    “Carrington, you’re hardly ready and we have to leave soon,” her mother says.
    “I’m ready, Mother.”
    “Please tell me you’re joking. That is how you are going towear your hair? And your makeup? Don’t you understand how important tonight is?”
    “Of course, but I think I look   —”
    “Don’t think. You’re obviously not very good at it. Here, let me help you finish. Seriously, Carrington, how will you ever be chosen without me?”
    Carrington drops her eyes and bites her tongue. She still thinks she looks fine   —beautiful, even   —but her mother knows best, so she doesn’t say a word as the woman begins to fix her.
    “I have been replaying the visits from yesterday, and I think your best options are Bryant and Koshic,” her mother says.
    “I thought Bain was very sweet, and his family is from the Cattle Lands, so I wouldn’t have to move very far.”
    “Carrington, that is exactly why he is the wrong choice! Cattle Lands. Our family needs you to reach higher. Believe me, being stuck with a man who can hardly afford the things a woman deserves is no way to live. No, I think Bryant or Koshic is better for you.”
    “I think I would be happy with any of them.”
    “This isn’t about happiness. Of course I want that for you, but trust me   —you will be happier with a man who has more than this.” She motions around the room and Carrington understands.
    From the day Carrington was old enough to comprehend status, her mother has constantly reminded her that status is everything. Since women have no say in whom they marry, it is important to attract the attention of men in stations above their own. The joining of two families is always a delicatenegotiation to ensure all parties involved benefit from the transaction. The union is about far more than just a woman’s happiness.
    “Make sure you spend extra time with both Bryant and Koshic tonight.”
    “Yes, Mother.”
    Inexplicably, the scene around her shifts, and suddenly she is sitting at a desk in her practicing room. Familiar faces surround her   —girls who have studied with her for years. But they are young, maybe eight or nine. Their curls are pulled up into sweet ponytails, their white dresses pressed and ruffled. These girls are giggling and whispering among themselves, none of them acknowledging Carrington.
    Carrington looks down at her hands. Long, lean fingers, nails trimmed and painted to match her red dress. They aren’t stubby and small as they were when she was young. She notices that she is still in her ceremony dress. It sparkles in the sun coming through the windows.
    “All right, girls. Come to order.”
    Carrington turns to see Mr. Holden’s warm smile. His light-gray hair and neatly trimmed beard look soft as always. His blue eyes remind Carrington of comfort and security. She can’t help but smile.
    “Let’s begin again with our truth statements. Can anyone recite them from memory?” he asks.
    Carrington’s hand shoots up as she thinks through the statements in her head.
    Mr. Holden looks around the room and right over Carringtonas if he doesn’t see her at all. “No one? Come now, you have been learning them all summer.”
    Carrington glances around and sees no one else has her hand raised, so she stretches hers higher into the air, wiggling her fingers in earnest. She knows the answer; she has been studying the truth statements with her mother for months, just as Mr. Holden instructed. It seems important that he know she did what was asked of her.
    “Fine, let us recite them together then,” Mr. Holden