Sitting on the back porch the sun brings the morning light into the room. Sunbeams reach out across the make-shift desk and fall gently on the stacks of books ranging from chick lit to how to fix a broken air conditioner to theology. Cluttered writing papers of handwritten poetry, on the spare-of-the-moment short stories, and a rough draft of a thesis are carelessly distributed all over the aluminum card table.
The silky leaves hanging from the cranberry trees in the yard and the freshly mowed grass brightly glisten in the moist dew of the sunrise. The warmth of the rising amber, golden peach and fuchsia sunrise brings a sense of welcoming and comfort to the house.
A dark forest green glider sets in the corner of the screened room where Ellen is resting her feet on the ottoman after having just returned from a morning walk with Jennings. The original intent of the glider was to rock Maggie to sleep as a baby, but it has become a place of retreat and creativity for Ellen.
Anne is fast asleep upstairs due to the need for her ankle to heal so she is on a vacation from morning walks with Jennings. The rest of the house is quiet and undisturbed.
The Message and a spiral writing journal lay across her lap. It is in these quiet moments of reflection that her spirit is renewed and she finds comfort in the meaning of her life. It might appear on the surface to be a practiced ritual but for Ellen it is not an obligation or requirement. Meditation and prayer for her family, friends, even John and Fannie, and especially Ted are what brings fulfillment to her sense of purpose. Her many journals are filled with scripture that has been significant at a particular moment in time, essays on her private feelings, and written prayers of searching for guidance. She treasures these early moments of the day.
Ellen begins to believe that this back porch is the best place she has ever lived.
Later in the day the doorbell rings. Mrs. Dashing asks Ellen if she can get the door since she is busy checking over her women’s ministries reports and monthly stats on her lap top. Brandon is dressed in his summer uniform. He is quite sharp with everything pressed and straight out of the cleaners. Ellen notices he smells good to with some kind of new cologne. “Is Anne at home? I have something for her.”
Ellen looks down and sees flowers in his hand that he is attempting to hide behind his back. “Oh that’s why he asked me about what flowers and colors Anne likes before band practice” She muses to herself with a grin.
“Sure. Come on in and I’ll get her” responds Ellen. Anne in the meantime has limped into the living room with her bandaged foot and crutches.
“I brought these for you to cheer you up” says Brandon as he hands her a vase of a beautiful large bouquet of carnations with white baby’s breath and dark green ferns from FTD Florist.
Anne appreciatively looks down at the white and red speckled carnations, “How did you know? These are my favorites!”
“Oh. I have my ways” chirps Brandon while catching a glimpse of Anne’s eyes.
“Thank you so much! They’re lovely!” warmly responds Anne.
“I have another surprise for you. As you know the new pianos have arrived that were purchased with the Thomas Lyle Williams grant for the School for Performing Arts at my corps. I’m giving the other pianos to your mother so she can start a new program at Devon instead of letting them be destroyed by the humidity of a storage shed. But I thought that you might like one of the full size keyboard pianos for the house. They have a midi player and can record some of your music that you like to write. If it is all right with you, I will have a couple of community service workers help me deliver it this afternoon because it is quite heavy.”
“That would be wonderful!” exclaims Anne “I could hug you!” and without thinking turns and hugs him. Realizing they are both quite comfortable in the arms of each other, both of them blush and step back a bit nervously.
Samuel runs into the room followed by Maggie chopping on a piece of toast. “Something smells good. Like a man’s perfume or something.”
Anne rolls her eyes and looks at her “It’s called cologne Maggie, not perfume.”
“Whatever. You know what I was talking about anyway” retorts Maggie.
Brandon looks at his blackberry and sighs. “I have to go. The basement is flooding at the corps from a broken pipe in the men’s restroom. I’ll see you later Anne when I drop off the piano. Bye everyone, I’ll see you later!”
The piano arrives about 2 pm. Brandon is dressed in dark blue khaki shorts and a Crestwood staff white polo shirt with a red shield on the pocket this time. He looks attractive to Anne. They chat for quite awhile after the piano is set into its place in the small living room. Anne plays some of her favorites while Brandon turns pages for her. They are content in each other’s company.
There is a knock at the door at about 9 pm. Brandon looks at his watch and hasn’t realized that it has gotten so late. Mrs. Dashing answer. “Oh, Willoughby –how good to see you. Please come on in.”
“I brought some flowers for Anne” responds Willoughby. Maggie leans over to Ellen sitting on the couch, those look like roses from mom’s bushes out front. Mom is going to be so mad if he cut them!” Ellen motions for her to be quiet.
“I guess it is about time I should be leaving” states Brandon “I had such a good time today. Thank you inviting me to stay for dinner it was delicious!”
Mrs. Dashing adds “It’s always good to have you. Come over any time.” Anne and Brandon say good-bye as he heads towards the door. He overhears Willoughby say to everyone, “Now that he’s gone, we can have some fun.”
Ellen doesn’t care for Willoughby’s condensation or attitude much. Anne seems charmed by him and doesn’t particularly notice in that he flatters her with undivided attention and flirtation.
Half asleep, Mrs. Dashing walks out of her bedroom for a class of juice from the kitchen in a plush mango bathrobe and matching fuzzy sleepers. “Oh Willoughby, I didn’t realize you were still here. I’ve been reading and the time has slipped away from me”.
Anne reluctantly tells Willoughby to leave after a few hours of nonsensical chatter and giggling because she has classes and work in the morning.
The next evening Anne is busy at the piano trying to compose some new music. Pages of staff paper cascade down from the piano onto the floor. Shaking a pen, she angrily states, “Why can I never find a pen that works in this house? They are everywhere but none of them have ink!”
“Look in my uniform purse by the sofa” Ellen says with a nonchalant sigh “I’ve got plenty in there. You ought to be able to find one that you can write with”.
Anne stomps over to the black simple square handbag leaning next to the arm of the couch. The bag is filled with aqua Paper mate pens, black Bic pens, a cross pen, pens with photos of cities on them from New York, Nashville, and Dallas, some that have floating devices in the center, as well as ball point pens.
“How many pens do you use in a day? Your purse must weigh a ton holding all of these” mockingly chides Anne.
“I never know which ones will work so I keep them all together” frankly responds Ellen.
“Why not just throw them away like everyone else in the world does” remarks Anne “then we would have a pen that writes when we need one”.
Ellen smirks and doesn’t say anything. She knows that Anne is right. But it happens to one of her quirks. She likes to have pens on hand so she can write a random idea as it comes to mind. Not throwing them away cannot be as easily explained.
Willoughby visits everyday after leaving the Smithfield Tabernacle. His Aunt is a retired Commissioner whose late husband’s last appointment was to provide leadership for the territory. She is filling in for a few months and running the corps until a new officer can be assigned. His Aunt isn’t aware of the little time he actually spends at the corps or working since she spends most of her days at home and lets the large administrative and support staff run the corps except for showing up to evening programs a couple of times a week. She’s glad that at least he has a job to go to and some income to save for his well planned out future.
As time passes, Willoughby and Anne spend a lot of time together. She no longer needs the crutches because her ankle has finally healed. Their flirtation is evident to everyone in the city. At times it appears that they are becoming too close for comfort, but no one says anything directly to them.
Willoughby’s young adult group is bowling for their weekly outing together. He has invited Anne to come with them. Anne walks out of her room fixing her hair into a ponytail. She is dressed in a mini-skirt and tight fitting youth councils t-shirt dated with the previous year along with four inch heels.
Maggie asks the very obvious question, “How are you going to wear that bowling?”
Stubbornly Anne retorts, “I can! Don’t you think I look good tonight for Willoughby?”
“What do I care” Maggie responds. “I think if he really liked you that he would like you no matter what you look like.” Anne glares at her.
Mrs. Dashing enters the kitchen with a handful of coffee cups from the living room and looks at Anne. She doesn’t say anything but Anne feels her disapproval and retreats back into her room to change. Instead she comes out with leggings and a long sweater with flip flops. It’s slightly better but not by much.
Willoughby honks at the curb as if Anne is to exit on command. After she leaves Mrs. Dashing asks Ellen if she notices how much Anne has changed lately while dating Willoughby. Her clothes are more revealing, her attitude could use a little reworking, and she seems to be more insecure and self-conscience as if always trying to make an impression and be noticed. She is more dramatic than usual and that fact is wearing on everyone’s nerves in the household.
After returning from bowling Ellen brings into the living room some hot chocolate chip cookies. Anne and Willoughby seem to be holding their own private conference in the corner. “Guess what? While you were out Captain Brandon called. He is planning a corps picnic this Saturday at Green Meadows and all the corps in the city are invited to attend as well. Are you planning to go Willoughby?”
“Sounds great to me as long as Anne is going, I don’t want her to get too bored with the old Captain” sneers Willoughby. “She might need rescuing.”
Anne looks a little uncomfortable with his comments and doesn’t join in the spirit of his opinion but doesn’t say anything to refute him either. Captain Brandon is a good friend whom she enjoys spending time with when Willoughby is not available or unreachable which is lately happening more often than not.
Coming in from the school bus and ease dropping on the conversation, Maggie enthusiastically adds “Can I come too? They have the best funnel cakes in the entire state -- maybe the world!” while setting down her school backpack on one of the missed matched wooden dining room chairs.
While picking up leftover plastic cups, candy bar wrappers and empty bags of potato chips left from an afternoon of chatting between Anne and her partner, Ellen notices that Willoughby’s hands are not staying where they should. Anne looks a little uncomfortable but is still smiling devotedly while she cuddles next to him.
“Anne if you don’t mind, I need your help in the kitchen to get things ready for everyone tomorrow.”
“Ugh. Can’t you do it yourself?” Ellen cocks her head and glares at her which makes Anne quickly respond “Ok, I’m coming.” She stomps her flip flop feet into the olive green and mustard tiled kitchen where Ellen is already waiting.
As Anne grudgingly takes Miracle Whip out of the new fridge to make deviled eggs, Ellen contemplates what to say that will not hurt Anne’s feelings or make her defensive of her concerns. “How well do you know Willoughby? What do you know about his past girlfriends? Does he ever mention them? What did he use to do before coming to Smithfield? Does he talk about his life to you?”
“No. Why would he? He’s with me now. I don’t need to know all that stuff. I just know that I love him and that we are meant to be together” ideally remarks Anne.
“What do you know about him? What sort of things does he share about himself?” genuinely inquires Ellen.
“He doesn’t like to talk much about himself. I mean he actually talks a lot about himself - what he’s good at quite a lot but not really anything about his past or his life. He’d rather just be with me.”
“He’s older than you and appears to have more experience with relationships than you do. I’m saying this out of kindness, you might want to be more observant and aware of how you are feeling and not let him pressure you into anything you are not ready for.”
“Whatever . . . you don’t know anything. You’re jealous. Your imaginary boyfriend doesn’t even talk to you.” Anne immediately regrets what she has said when she looks into Ellen’s eyes welling up with tears. Ellen walks out but in an even voice states, “I think that I forgot something in my room. I’ll be back in a moment”.
Ellen closes her door and gently sits on her bed as if the weight of the world is on her shoulders. Tears flow freely down her cheeks in the silence of the room. Her heart aches. She argues and justifies her feelings to her conscience, that there is not a whole lot of use crying over him because it is his choice not to talk to her. But she still misses him and knows that the world has not been the same since she last saw and spoke with him.
After a few moments, she checks herself in the mirror to wipe away any trace of her sorrow and heads out the door to meet the others who are chatting in the living room below over some antic of Samuel that Maggie has recently taught him.
On arriving at the city-wide picnic the next morning, everyone is in a great mood. The Crestwood band led by a competent Captain Brandon performs an open air in shorts and matching dark blue band shirts imprinted with the Crestwood logo intertwined with a ‘s’ and cross. Requests are taken for favorite marches from the green, brown and blue books, scripture is shared and testimonies are given. Everyone seems to enjoy the lighthearted marches and the creatively modern timbrel drills.
It is a wonderful day filled with fun and plenty of potluck food. Jennings brings her favorite dish but fortunately the Dashings are pre-warned of the possibility of her food being a little toxic and take small amounts for their plates. However, Willoughby repugnant of anyone’s advice takes one huge portion and bites into it with gusto. He immediately gags while rushing to the nearby metal trash can. An incorrigible Maggie stands beside him laughing with her best friends.
Anne and Willoughby are all over each other for the entire day. Mrs. Dashing is not too pleased with Anne’s chosen outfit for the day but understands as Anne reminds her often that she is an ‘adult’ now and can wear what she wants to wherever she wants to go. She refuses to wear the band polo shirt like every other member on Willoughby’s advice but instead wears a low cut and tight fitting halter top.
After lunch Ellen spends the day chatting away with the Home League ladies and playing large field games with the teens. Soccer is a favorite. Ellen use to play as a child and hasn’t forgotten too many of the moves. The teen group looks up to Ellen because she seems to always be there for them, helps them with their homework, attends special events and the high school football games on Fridays, and always willing to listen to issues with their parents and other relationships at school. They know she prays for each of them as well and it is obvious to them that she is concerned about their needs.
Jennings dressed in shocking lime today with matching hooped lime green earrings is teaching the girls in her primary Sunday school class how to play hopscotch. The girls squeal with delight as Jennings reaches the end of the maze, raises her fisted hands above her head in triumph and moves her body in a very original boogie victory dance. The girls are too charmed to mention that she jumped on a line a couple of times. Jennings throws her head back in laughter and encourages Ariel and Alexis to try the colored chalk game and reminds them to dance at the end.
As the afternoon descends into dusk, Ellen takes a break and contemplatively sits on a wooden bench beneath a well shaded tree as she watches the children play a game of hide and seek on the playground. Today reminds Ellen of Ted and her sitting under the trees spending so many afternoons talking together. It has been such a long time since she has heard from him. Occasionally there are bits of gossip from Willoughby or Jennings, but most of the time there is no news. No one in this area seems to know him that well if they know him at all. What little they know of him, he told her himself before.
Ellen looks over the group of Soldiers resting on homemade quilted blankets from a women’s ministries project conversing while sipping homemade sweet tea underneath the grove of trees. Captain Brandon has been chatting away with them for the entire afternoon although he’s not quite his normally happy self today. In between the moments of his conversations, Ellen notices that he stares off to where nothing is happening and seems lost in his own thoughts.
As Ellen is watching, she sees Brandon pick up his Blackberry most likely checking his texts or Lotus Notes. From the distance, he appears to look really upset by something he’s reading. He stands and says something to her mother for a few moments. The next thing she sees is him walking towards his light blue Ford 500 and pulling out of the parking lot in a hurry. Something is wrong. He didn’t say goodbye to anyone which is not like him.
Rising to see if she can help, Ellen watches her mother coming towards her. “Brandon is leaving for a couple of weeks. He’s asked me if I can fill in at his corps and check in on things. But I thought that it would probably be better to have you and Anne do that since I still have the outpost to run. He was quite pleased with the idea before leaving” explains Mrs. Dashing “He seems concerned to know where Anne is. I don’t know. Last I saw her Anne was with Willoughby acting rather childish. At lunch they were playing some kind of grown up game of tag because she had thrown some ice down his shirt.”
Furrowing her brow Ellen recalls “She’s somewhere with Willoughby. They took off on his motorcycle about an hour ago. I thought she might have mentioned to you where she was going before she left.”
While in conversation they can hear the screaming of obnoxious laughter across the parking lot. Anne and Willoughby are doing donuts and wheelies on his motorcycle. “Of course Anne is dressed in a miniskirt . . .” dismayed murmurs Mrs. Dashing. All the youth in Willoughby’s teen group from Smithfield have finished a game of basketball and are watching on the lawn while sharing comments among each other about the couple.
Ellen waves her hand back and forth above her head to get Anne’s attention. Anne rolls her eyes but pats Willoughby and the arm and tells Willoughby in his ear to drive her over to near where her mother and sister are impatiently waiting.
“Brandon had an emergency and has left for a couple of weeks. I’m sorry that you didn’t have a chance to say good-bye to him. He wanted to talk to you before leaving” explains her mother with a slight tone of reprimand.
Anne looks down and for a moment knows that she will miss his company. She enjoys late evenings chatting on Facebook while he finishes up office things at the corps, calling him for random information, and seeing him at band and songster practices during the week and their weekly ritual of catching dinner after rehearsals.
“He’s old enough to take care of himself” retorts Willoughby. Anne looks at him for the first time in disgust. “Is he all right? Has anything happened to his family?” Anne asks her mother.
“There was something about his god-daughter, Julie, whom he helped to raise after her mother was promoted-to-glory.” Ellen notices that Willoughby’s face loses all its color when Julie’s name is mentioned. He doesn’t say anything at first but after about ten minutes announces that he forgot to do something at the corps and has to leave right away to finish his project before services the next morning.
Anne asks if she can go with him but he dismisses her request with a lame excuse that is evident to everyone. Anne looks disappointed but at the same time seems a little relieved in Ellen’s opinion. Ellen is curious about her sister’s response. Something isn’t quite right.
As they are packing up the blankets, sound equipment, instruments and left over food from the picnic, Jennings decides to start a conversation to interrupt the silence. “I don’t know how much Brandon has told you about himself. He lived a few blocks from the corps where my husband and I were stationed as younger officers. Brandon and my daughter, Sue, were in the same sixth grade class together. John Middleton was his best friend. They have all been friends since childhood. They rode their bikes all over town and played in the school band and sang in choir too. They went to music camp and worked their summers together at camp. I use to hope that Brandon and Sue would get together but as things would have it, Sue’s heart chose John and the rest is history.”
Jennings makes a loud sigh while looking up to the sky to see if they are listening and continues “I don’t know if you know this, but Brandon was engaged as a young lieutenant. He met a girl at a youth councils. She was a member of FOF and was considering going to training. While in high school she had been pregnant by a loser who wanted nothing to do with their daughter, Julie. He signed over custody rights so Cassie was raising the child on her own. After a few years, she eventually became an accepted candidate so the engagement became official. Brandon was appointed about three hours away from her home. One evening the summer before entering the training school while traveling back from “Take Over Bid” the divisional musical rehearsal and from visiting with Brandon, she was in an accident and didn’t make it. The grandparents blamed Brandon at first and took custody of Julie. However, Brandon has been very faithful is providing support for Julie even though she is not his daughter and gets along well with her grandparents”.
Looking around again at her audience and taking a sip of soda Jennings states “Julie is now a junior in high school. She spent the summer working at the SA Long Branch Camp in the Southeast division” chats Jennings while glancing at Anne quite often to see her reaction “I think if I remember right, she and Willoughby worked at the same camp this summer. I think Julie was a life guard and Willoughby was the program director.”
“Yes” curiously answers Anne “He was the program director this past summer at Long Branch Camp but he never mentioned anyone by the name of Julie working with him. I’m sure he would have told me if that is right because we all know Brandon too:”
As they finish loading the red fully-loaded Honda Sienna minivan that is a hand-me-down from divisional headquarters, Anne seems to be lost in her own thoughts. “I wonder why he never mentioned Julie” turning to Ellen “Brandon told me about Julie the night we talked at Dairy Queen”.
“Brandon showed me a school picture of her that he carries in his wallet. Julie is very pretty, even beautiful. Everything he said about Julie sounds like she would be somebody that I would be good friends with even though she is nearly six years younger than me” adds Anne to the discussion “Julie is an honor corps cadet too and part of the championship Bible Bowl team. She plays classical guitar and sings soprano in the divisional praise team as well. Brandon let me listen to some of her band’s recent music that he downloaded off Saytunes on his Ipod. The group is quite popular in the Army and invited to be the special guests at our youth councils this year. I’m really looking forward to meeting her in April. I hope she is okay.” Everyone is intently listening in the van to what new information Anne is sharing.
As they pull up to the Middleton’s quarters who left earlier in the day to drop off soldiers at their homes, Jennings chirps “This is my stop. Rock ‘till you drop and keep on rollin’!” Maggie giggles and hugs Jennings after helping her to gather all of the plastic teal and yellow plaid shopping bags out of the back of the minivan. “I got these at the dollar store, the best investment I ever made” pointing with a note of wisdom to Maggie. They see Jennings try to do a Mary Poppin’s skip and click with her ankles while heading to her front door. All of the Dashings smile with a look of pure appreciation. Jennings has a special place deep in their hearts.
No comments:
Post a Comment