“I got that one!” yells Harriet floating in the air grabbing the red Frisbee in one hand before landing on her side in the grass and bracing herself with the other.
“That was fantastic Harriet!” encourages Knightly clapping in support of Harriet’s gymnastic efforts.
She bends her knees near the ground and throws it up into the air. Knightly runs all over the place trying to focus on where it might possibly land. He catches it behind his back and flicks the Frisbee with his wrist returning it back to her.
As the Frisbee glides through the air, Grant runs and jumps intercepting the pass.
“Grant, what are you doing?” mockingly perturbed asks Harriet with her hands on her hips. Grant smiles and then picks up his leg and throws it under his thigh back to Harriet. He then jugs off towards the picnic table where Jane is pouring lemonade for everyone pleased with his interception.
As the net sways in the gentle breeze, Jennings, Mrs. Dashing, Alice Hammer and Ms Bates are playing a game of badminton under the shade of a cluster of oak trees. Alice reaches high above her and slams with all her effort the shuttle to the ground right in front of her on her own side.
“Alice, I’m not sure that is how we play the game” remarks Jennings to her own teammate “Generally aiming for the other side is a good idea”.
It is now Mrs. Dashing’s turn to serve. She serves the shuttle which is easily returned by Jennings. Ms. Bates runs up to the net and strikes back near where Alice is standing with her hand across her forehead over her eyes looking out over the lake dreamily watching the horizon. She suddenly notices the shuttle coming right at her and instead of lifting her racket to return the shuttle uses her other hand again for about the fifth time in the game.
Jennings shakes her competitive head “I don’t think hands are considered an alternative racket in this game, but maybe I need to check on that.”
Mrs. Dashing jogs up to Ms. Bates. She places the palm of her hand in the air. Ms. Bates looks at her and shyly looks down again, then looks up at Mrs. Dashing waiting for her hand to be slapped and sighs. Finally Ms. Bates lifts her hand and in one powerful move swats it instead. Mrs. Dashing is a little stunned at Ms. Bates’ strength and enthusiasm.
Again, Mrs. Dashing gets the point as Alice uses her racket to hit the shuttle while trying to catch it like a baseball glove with her other hand. Jennings lifts her lip and her eyebrows in a contorted face. “Well Alice, looking at the positive side - if we were playing baseball, as a shortstop you would have made an out!”
Seeing that they have gained yet another point, this time Ms. Bates comes walking up to Mrs. Dashing. Painfully aware that her palm still hurts, ingenuously Mrs. Dashing quickly makes a swift change to two thumbs up sign to greet her. Ms. Bates returns the sign hunching her shoulders with a huge toothy smile.
Jennings braces her feet side to side, squats, and grips her racket with both fists. She intently glares at Mrs. Dashing as she prepares to serve the last shuttle. Jennings turns momentary to Alice, clicks her cheeks and nods her head in an effort to prepare her for the upcoming competitive moment. Alice raises her eyebrows, and smiles anxiously with a little fear wanting to please Jennings but not sure that it is ever going to happen in this game.
Raising her racket to serve, Mrs. Dashing serves with her own flare and kicks up a heel behind her.
“Ooo, oooo, oooo” yells Alice running towards the shuttle “I think that I’ve got it!” She raises her racket and swings. But unfortunately Alice’s aim is a little lacking at times. Alice accidently hits Jennings on the back of the head with her racket while the shuttle gently bounces on the top of Alice’s own head and falls carefully to the ground.
“We won! We won!” shouts Ms. Bates as she runs to give Mrs. Dashing a huge hug and swats her again on the palm of Mrs. Dashing’s hand.
A few yards away near the lake “How’s the fishing?” asks Elton as he observes Mr. Woodhouse baiting his hook and Mr. Weston watching his line and bobber for any impending bites. Mr. Weston is wearing his favorite sage green hat with hooks, feathers, lures, patches, and other memorabilia from some of his favorite fishing spots.
“Would you like to join us?” asks Mr. Weston “My line keeps getting caught in all algae but I’m sure it will be better in just a little bit. I’ve got an extra rod if you want to blind cast out into the lake”.
“Sounds good to me” as Elton grabs the pole resting next to the empty lawn chair beside Mr. Woodhouse who has found that the lovely spring outdoors makes for a restful place to take a nap.
Elton baits his hook and casts his line into the lake. As they peacefully enjoy the sunshine and cool weather, Mr. Weston shares many stories of his fishing as a young boy. They enjoy the afternoon chatting together on the wooden dock.
After serving the lemonade to everyone, Jane finds a comfortable spot on her canary blanket that she brought with her from home. She takes out her latest paperback that she borrowed from the library and rests against the bark of the oak tree trunk.
“May I join you?” Ann with a couple of paper back booklets in her hand, “I brought picture suduku and this seems like you’ve found a good spot under the shade”.
“Sure. I’ve got a lot of room on my blanket to share with a friend” replies Jane smiling at her.
Occasionally as Jane reads, she pauses and looks up to observe what is happening with everyone else and then contently goes back to reading her book. Ann sits next to her and is quite content for the afternoon enjoying the breezy weather and quiet friendship.
Sitting at an empty picnic table a little away from the others, Grant and Emma play a game of UNO. “What do you think of Jane?” asks Grant as he draws from the pile and finds a blue five on top of the blue two which is the start of the game.
“What do you mean, ‘what do I think’?” asks Emma not sure where that random question came from since the last thing they were talking about was potato salad. She lays down a green five.
“Well, what do you think of her and this Dixon guy?” curiously asks Grant “Do you think there is anything in it?” He stares at his hand and draws from the pile.
“If there is, she certainly doesn’t talk about him much but then again Jane doesn’t talk much about whom she likes one way or another” remarks Emma having known Jane since they were children. She finds a green eight in her hand and chooses it.
Laying down a green six, “I know. But do you think Jane would fit with him? You’ve seen his picture” replies Grant feeling a little jealous even at the mention of Dixon’s name.
“I don’t know if it is Dixon or not, but I think there is somebody Jane likes” then Emma adds wanting to observe Grant’s response “For awhile, I thought it was you but you guys don’t seem to be getting along that well lately so obviously that was a mistake.” She sees the stack and lays down a red Draw Two. After Grant draws again, she then puts a red six on the stack.
Grant looks down and picks some loose splinters of wood from the picnic table as he quietly states, “Yeah, as if that would ever happen” and then continues rather gruffly “I think Jane is way too picky. I think she probably has someone perfect in mind that will never exist and is waiting for him to show up” He lays down a skip and then a red seven.
“You’re probably right” agrees Emma “I’ve never met Dixon. How perfect is he?” She looks at the pile and adds a green seven.
Subconsciously Grant smirks, “Just ask him. He believes it.” Grant then chooses a green two from his hand.
“Does he seem Jane’s type?” asks Emma wanting to know more information about the possibility of Dixon being Jane’s secret admirer laying a red two down.
Grant tightens his lips and takes in a deep breath, “He and I are not exactly friends. He’s very conceited and seems to always manage to come in first no matter what it is” with a hint of jealously “He doesn’t deserve Jane” as he lays a Skip and a red seven on the top of the stack.
“Do you think Dixon is her secret admirer?” curiously asks Emma starting to add her own version of potential matching making in her mind. She places a red Draw Two and goes again, she lays down a red number 5.
“I don’t know about that” states Grant not wanting to reveal anything at this time as he matches the number 5 with a green card on the stack.
“She could be secretly meeting with him and no one would ever know” replies Emma placing a draw four wild card on the stack “Blue is the next color”.
“Honestly, I think if that were happening Ms. Bates would know it and helplessly be telling everyone else because she can’t keep a secret and she certainly keeps an eye on Jane” returns Grant realizing that some of his previous assumptions may be a little far fetched in light of knowing Ms. Bates. He picks his four cards and is disappointed in the size of his hand.
“Ms Bates does talk a lot. She’s like a broken record player that repeats the same line over and over again” replies Emma glancing over to where the older women are relaxing on a large blanket in the sun. Ms. Bates is chatting away to the group confirming Emma’s statement. Emma takes her second to last card and lays down a Draw Two in blue and states “UNO!”
Grant picks up two more cards. “I hope Jane chooses who she wants soon, I’m tired of all the games”.
Placing down her last card “I win!”.
As Grant stares at the wild card on top of the deck, “I guess you do too!”
“Hey everybody! I brought a game we can all play together. Is anyone interested?” April lays a box on the picnic table with a Hallmark paper table cloth with a popular cartoon character from the movies a couple of years ago.
Ms. Bates looks over “I love scrabble! It was my favorite game as a child. I knew all the words. I was in the spelling bee in every grade. I never won but I was close. The closest I came was third place in fourth grade. I had to spell “insidiously”. Unfortunately, I forgot the second “I” and made it an “e” instead. Third place is still a good spot in a spelling bee, don’t you thin? I just love Scrabble. I buy crosswords all the time just so I can spell and you know, I learn new definitions of words that way too. An you know, Reader’s Digest is also a good resource for learning new vocabulary as well”.
Not wanting to interrupt her, April looks blankly as Ms. Bates continues with her explanation of her enjoyment of Scrabble “Yes, I see your point. Would you like to play? You may be a very difficult one to beat.”
“Oh yes, I would. I would love to play. It has been such a long time. I usually have to do crosswords by myself, but this is much better” shares Ms. Bates finding a place at the picnic table.
“Emma and Grant, would you like to join us? I see your UNO game is over now” asks April not too enthused with the idea of having them join but also knowing that having more people makes the game more challenging.
“Yes, we’ll be over in a minute” states Grant as he walks with Emma over to the other picnic table.
“What about Harriet and you?” asks April as Knightly is digging in the cooler for a cold soda for Harriet and him. Knightly has been playing tennis over at the courts with Harriet for part of the afternoon. Becoming better acquainted, Knightly has come to know more about Harriet and understands why Emma is such good friends with her.
“Would you like to play Scrabble with us? There are six of us. That should be a good game” states April with a tone of authority.
Having finished another chapter, Jane walks over to get another glass of lemonade and a couple of homemade chocolate chip cookies.
“Do you want to play?” asks April turning behind her towards the serving table.
“No, thank you. However, I might watch though” as she takes the place next to Harriet and makes herself comfortable.
“What are you doing?” asks Elton “I don’t want to play but I’ll be on April’s team. Better yet, I’ll be the referee and judge” as he finds a place next to April “She’s one of the best players I know. She might even challenge you, Ms. Bates” he says with a friendly and warm smile.
Each person collects their letters and takes a turn. Harriet begins.
Harriet adds ap writes Lap down from “M”
M
A
P
“This game is a bit like a map, don’t you think? There are plenty of spaces and clues. Sometimes you can tell what people are thinking by the words they choose” remarks Harriet.
“I’m not sure what this would say about me though” replies Knightly.
Knightly adds fflux writes afflux across from the a
M
AFFLUX
P
Harriet asks “What does afflux mean? Is that a word?”
April looks at her for a second and with an air of authority explains “It means to flow from one area to another.”
Emma then takes her turn.
Emma adds dion writes Dixon down at the x
D
I
AFFLUX
O
N
“Names are not allowed!” replies April.
“Go ahead and let her use it. Remember, you agreed that I can be the referee. The game might go faster that way” Elton shares his opinion while breaking the rules “Go ahead Grant, it is your turn now.”
Surprised by Emma’s nerve, Grant quickly looks at Emma who is ignoring him. He then looks over to Jane sitting next to April. Jane blushes. He carefully chooses the next letters and catches Jane’s eyes as he lays each piece down on the board.
Grant adds Kown writes Known across at the n
D
I
X
O
KNOWN
“I don’t know about you, but I thought that the food was delicious today. I think that we had everything but donuts today at the picnic” states April.
April adds onut writes Donut across at the d
DONUT
I
X
O
N
Ms. Bates rubs her hand against her chin as she carefully contemplates the line of blocks in front of her.
Ms. Bates adds quie writes Quiet down above the t
Q
U
I
E
DONU T
Ms Bates “I got a ‘q’ word! I got ten points just with the letter Q! I’m so surprised! Q is such a difficult letter to find a word that it goes with. I don’t think that I have ever been able to find many times that I am able to use it. To use a word with ‘q’ you usually have to have a ‘u’. I used a ‘you’ and ‘u’ in the same sentence, they sound the same but do not have the same meaning. How often can you say that you use ‘u’ and ‘you’ – so funny” Ms. Bates states as she giggles to herself.
‘I suppose quiet can be spelled by most but can be difficult for others to understand” states Emma under her breath. But because no one else is speaking, it is heard loud and clear. Knightly looks up at her a little shocked at Emma’s remark but then gives her a slightly stern look as Grant nuzzles into her.
“It’s my turn again!” remarks Harriet trying to lighten the tension at the moment. She draws a block.
Harriet adds eedle writes needle down from the n
KNOWN
E
E
D
L
E
“I love to knit but I don’t have much time lately. I made a blanket though for Alice for Christmas which she seemed to like” shares Harriet.
Knightly smiles, “that was thoughtful of you. Alice probably appreciated it very much.”
“Yes, actually I think she did. At least she used it a lot when we watched “Hallelujah!” reruns on BBC America together on Saturday evenings.
Jumping into the conversation April offers “We’ve started a knitting club at the corps recently which seems to be going very well. A lot more ladies knit as a hobby than I ever thought. Our current project is to make blankets for the cradle roll”.
Glancing over his letters, Knightly picks up two blocks.
Knightly adds nd writes end from the e of needle
N
END
E
D
L
E
As he lays down the last block, he looks over to Emma who is flirting with Grant in between each turn.
Emma smiles at Grant as if they are sharing a secret before laying down three letters from her pile.
Emma adds ove writes love from the l of needle
N
END
E
D
LOVE
E
“Love is something that should last forever. But a secret love is always interesting” states Emma looking over at Jane and then back at Grant for his approval.
Grant is not really that amused by Emma’s antics today as he watches Jane squirm and appear sad as the game continues. It dawns on him that Emma is rather snobby at times while Jane is constant in her kindness.
Grant adds hrt writes hurt from u of quiet
Q
HURT
I
E
T
Jane catches Grant’s eyes for a moment and understands the silent message.
April sees the body language between Grant and Jane. “I think that I’m going to add – let’s see what I have here . . .”
April adds ver writes ever down from e of love
LOVE
V
E
R
“True love is ever faithful, isn’t it?” states April and then looking down at her engagement ring “I’m looking forward to our wedding in just a few weeks!” patting Elton on the knee.
“I think that it is my turn again” states Ms. Bates as she picks up three letters and places them on the board.
Ms. Bates adds alk writes talk down from t of hurt
“Oh look! I’ve just added “talk”. Talking is a great way to communicate with others. I love talking. I wonder how long it took for Adam to talk to Eve. I wonder what made him talk to her. Have you ever wondered what he said? God talked first. I wonder what language He spoke. I wonder how He came up with the idea of talking. I wonder what would have happened if we didn’t talk to each other, would we just have to think to each other? I wonder if that would be an easy thing to do. I have so many thoughts that I wonder how anyone would know which one I meant to send. But I do think that thinking would be easier than talking but then again maybe talking is easier than thinking” rambles Ms. Bates as she gets lost in the chasm of her own thoughts.
“I think talking is way over rated. I think if a few of us had time to think before we talked it would be a better thing” states Emma looking directly at Ms. Bates. She is trying to capture Grant’s attention by being humorous after noticing that his attention is switching over to Jane while at the same time Knightly seems to be having a good time with Harriet.
Knightly clears his throat to capture Emma’s attention and then stares her down. Emma shrugs her shoulders and looks away from him, ignoring his spontaneous non-verbal admonishment.
Harriet examines her letters and sighs. “Look, four is a four letter word! It is the only number with the same amount of letters in its name!”
Harriet adds our writes four down from f of afflux
AFFLUX
O
U
R
As if on cue, Knightly finds a few letters and smiles to himself.
Knightly adds ind writes kind down from K to known
KNOWN
I
N
D
He looks at Emma as if it is a reminder.
Emma glances over her letters for a moment. “I think some of us in this group, might have this. What do you think Jane?” looking over at Jane rather snidely because she notices that Grant now appears to be watching and interested in Jane rather than her. Being attentive, Knightly catches her look and is not impressed with Emma’s nonsense at the park.
Emma adds secet writes secret across from ever
E
V
SECRET
R
Drawing from the pile, Grant reviews his hand. As he lays he piece down, he looks directly at Jane.
Grant adds are writes care down from secret
SECRET
A
R
E
After finishing, he looks up at Jane who smiles at him.
“Let’s see it is my turn again!” as April quickly lays down her letters “This is what I’m waiting for to pass until my wedding in only a few more days!”
April adds ime writes time down from secret
SECRET
I
M
E
Ms. Bates draws again from the pile, “I can use all my letters!”
Ms Bates adds chatte writes chatter across from care
C
A
CHATTER
E
“I think that I’ve won!” exclaims Ms. Bates.
“Yes, at least you have but we have to still put up with your chatter” instantly remarks Emma.
Knightly fumes while he stares at Emma totally disgusted with her unkind behavior towards Ms Bates and Jane that day.
As the group separates and gathers their belongings together, Knightly catches up with Emma walking to the car by herself.
“Emma, I need to talk with you” states Knightly touching her elbow obviously not very happy at the moment.
“Emma, you and I have been friends for a very long time. You were very rude today to your friends who care about you. I don’t understand your behavior towards them today” begins Knightly in a disapproving tone.
Emma looks at him but shrugs her shoulders “They didn’t care. I’m not sure they even noticed what I said.”
“I can assure you they did. What would it hurt for you to be kind to them? They’ve done nothing to you except to admire you and you return their warmth towards you with acidic remarks” reprimands Knightly.
“I was only joking. I didn’t mean it, well not exactly” justifies Emma “You know, Ms. Bates does talk too much. You can’t deny that.”
“You have so many other things available to you. There is no need to make sure that any one else feels like they have less than you do. I really don’t understand you thoughtlessness and inconsiderateness of others today.” Knightly firmly reminds Emma of her behavior.
“Oh please, they won’t even remember tomorrow. You’re really making something out of nothing” replies Emma not liking that Knightly is not happy with her.
“You need to grow up and get yourself together” firmly states Knightly “I’m very disappointed and you have hurt your friends too.”
“Are you coming over for dinner tonight?” asks Emma.
“No, I don’t think so. I’ve been invited over to Alice’s place for supper tonight. I’m going to be very busy the next month or so” remarks Knightly not feeling very hospitable towards Emma at the moment.
“Oh, ok . . . I guess that I’ll call you later then” replies Emma while Knightly is already turning and walking away from her back towards Jennings and Mrs. Dashing. He doesn’t reply.
As Emma climbs into her car, she notices Jane and Grant walking together seeming very happy in their conversation as he carries some things for Jane to her car.
After backing up and then as Emma exits the parking lot, she notices that Ms. Bates is walking with her shoulders hunched and seems rather sad. Jennings walking next to her takes a brownie out of her aluminum foil container and hands it to her with a smile. Ms. Bates thanks her and Jennings gives her a side hug around the shoulders.
It reminds Emma that today is probably the first time she has ever seen Ms. Bates so happy and fun in several years. She really didn’t intentionally mean to hurt her feelings. It was more of a reaction to other things. Knightly was hanging out with Harriet a little too much today for comfort. Even Grant seemed to be sending all of his attention towards Jane. She felt like a bit of a fool for listening to his nonsense about Dixon. All the while, Elton is sitting there chumming up with April reminding her of the last mistake she made.
Emma knows that this isn’t typically like her. Tears gently start to fall as she passes through the parking lot driveway and pulls out onto the street.
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