LOVE FOR LIFE AND BEYOND
Chapter Nine
"Well, we’re truly on our way back to
your home now," said Rose. "Do you think it will have changed
much?"
Jack shook his head slowly. "Chippewa
Falls folks don’t take easily to change," he said. "The town might be
a little bigger and a little more modern, but nothing drastic."
Rose smiled. "What’s the house
like?" she asked.
"The house? Well, it’s pretty big by
Chippewa Falls standards—it was one of the biggest places around when it was
built. There’s a garden and a large barn, but I sold the surrounding land right
before I left."
"What—what condition do you think it
will be in?" asked Rose tentatively. She hadn’t thought about what the
house might look like after five years of neglect.
"Don’t worry," said Jack, giving
her a good-natured grin. "I asked the Barnes family to keep an eye on it.
Thomas Barnes was my best friend and his father was Pa’s lawyer."
Rose breathed a sigh of relief. "I was
afraid of what the house might look like after years of neglect," she said.
"You haven’t told me. Do you have any living relations?" she asked.
"Well, I’ve got an aunt in Alabama—that’s
Aunt Laura, an uncle in Texas—that’s Uncle John, another uncle who could be
anywhere in the world—that’s Uncle Henry, and five cousins—Ellen, Melanie,
Grace, James, and Charlie. Uncle Henry was my favorite relative. He told the
most amazing stories about far off places—he was the one who gave me dreams
about traveling around the world. I hope he’s still alive—he was a good ten
years older than Ma," added Jack wistfully. "The rest were nice, too.
Aunt Laura and Uncle John would always send us Christmas and birthday presents—and
I had the best time at Thanksgiving when we had the family reunion."
Rose smiled sadly and thought about her relatives.
The adults had all been boring—her aunts and grandmothers could talk of nothing
but social events and the latest fashions, her uncles of business deals and
investments. Even her cousins, save Robert, had been awful.
Eve and Michelle were prissy and stuck-up as
children, haughty and condescending as adults. She had never gotten to know the
twins Michael and Mortimer very well, and she didn’t care to—they had been
seven years older than her.
Only Robert had saved her from being bored to
tears during summer holidays and social events. Robert had taught her to swim
and fish and climb trees, had shown her bird’s nests and squirrel's lairs. He
had been a great lover of practical jokes—she remembered toads in her aunt's
beds and salt in the sugar bowl. Rose was so deep in thought she didn’t realize
she had laughed out loud.
"What’s so funny?" asked Jack,
looking up from the paper he was reading.
"I was just thinking about the time
Robert put a toad in Aunt Linda’s bed. I can still hear her screams echoing.
Robert was my favorite cousin," she said, and added, almost to herself,
"You would have liked him."
"Where is he now?" asked Jack.
"Still in Philadelphia. He’s editor of
the Philadelphia Times," added Rose. "The last time I saw him he
was engaged to Millicent Carmody." Rose checked her father’s pocket watch.
"It’s about time for lunch. We’d better go to the dining
compartment."