"… without you. You're a very observant little girl. What's your name?"
After waiting a few moments for Cassidy to respond, Polly turned in her seat. "This is my daughter, Cassidy. I haven't gotten your name yet."
"You didn't kiss me either," the woman said.
"I thought I had to wait."
"Oh. That was the deal. I forgot. Maybe I am getting senile. Isn't that the best news today? First, I discover that my body has betrayed me, then I discover that my mind is gone, too. I should just go home and crawl under the blankets, never to be seen again." She turned back to Cassidy. "Have you ever met a crazier old lady than me?"
Polly arched an eyebrow. Cassidy had met Beryl and lived through it. This woman couldn't be much crazier than that, though she did have a sailor's tongue in her head.
Cassidy's only response was to giggle.
"Would you like to go with us to the grocery store?" Polly asked. "Cassidy and I were just talking about what I was making for dinner tonight."
"Rumor has it you have to feed an army at your house." The woman sat back and smiled. "I used to cook for an army. Long, long ago."
"Which army?" Polly asked. "American? German? British?"
"You're a smart-mouthed one, aren't you? No. Many years ago, my dear husband and I owned a buffet in Boone. It's long since been closed. My goodness, at least thirty years now. My fool husband got himself killed not long after we sold the buffet. After that, I worked in restaurants all over the region."
"Killed?"
"Hit by a drunk driver. Didn't see it coming; didn't live long enough to know he was dying."
"I'm sorry."
"It was thirty years ago. I faced the trauma and lived."
Polly didn't know what to say to that. "Would you like a ride to the grocery store?"
"I should say yes." She turned to Cassidy. "Will you make sure I don't fall down in the grocery store if I go with you?"
Cassidy nodded.
"Then I would very much appreciate the ride, especially since I need to find an exceptional way to say thank you for pulling me out of the weeds today." She spun on Cassidy again. "And you, little missy, are my hero. You don't say much, though, do you?"
Without waiting for a response, the woman turned back to the front and caught sight of the crocheted crown. "Well, isn't that lovely. Is it yours?" she asked Cassidy, picking it up. "Are you your mommy's princess?"
Cassidy's eyes grew wide in panic as the woman stroked the crown.
"A friend gave it to her this morning," Polly said.
"She has some very nice friends. This is beautiful work." The woman put it back onto the console. "But if she's as sweet as I think she is, nice friends are easy to come by. When you are a crotchety old biddy like me, when the friends you have die, they aren’t so easily replaced." She pulled her seat belt on and pointed forward. "Onward and upward. We might as well get going. You'll want to be rid of me soon enough and I need to take this old body home and remind it who's the boss in this life. We seem to have forgotten."
"Did you have a purse?" Polly asked, not seeing a phone or wallet anywhere on the woman's body. And she'd felt enough of it to know there weren't any odd bulges in her pockets.
"Well, damn it all to hell," the woman said. Then she looked at Polly, abashed. "I'm sorry. I must have flung it when I fell."
"I'll look for it. You two stay out of trouble."
"Nah," the woman said. "If you have a full tank of gas, I'm guessing we could make it to the border."
"The border?"
"You know, Minnesota or Missouri."
Polly laughed again and got out of the Suburban, then walked over to where she'd found the woman in the brush. The house behind the hedge was empty, looking forlorn and desolate. They weren't far from where Rebecca and her mother had lived. She'd walked this neighborhood many times with Obiwan when she lived at Sycamore House. Just down and over a few blocks was where Sam and Jean Gardner and their basset hound lived. She missed those walks. The dogs loved their yard and Polly loved the convenience of it but walking with Obiwan used to be one way she could regain her sanity.
The woman was right. She had flung the purse deep into the yard behind the hedge. Polly crawled through the mess and snagged it, then headed back out. When she got back into the Suburban, she held it out, then tugged it back.
"Your name, first," she said.
"Holding it hostage?"
"If I have to."
The woman put her hand out. "My name is Agnes Hill. It's nice to meet you, Polly Giller."
CHAPTER SEVEN
Orange juggling in the produce aisle, walking around the meat counter to advise the young man how to cut her meat before kissing the poor boy, and sneaking candy bars into Polly’s cart had Cassidy giggling in delight. Agnes was a hoot. Polly couldn't remember the last time she'd had so much fun at the grocery store.
If people thought Beryl Watson was the craziest woman in town, they certainly hadn't met Agnes Hill.
Agnes moved to Bellingwood years after her husband's death, making her a relative stranger to most people. She wasn't involved in a church, none of her friends lived in town, and she and her husband had never had any children. There had been one pregnancy, but it terminated in a miscarriage and she'd never been able to get pregnant again after that. During those years they’d owned the buffet, it hadn't been a priority because they were so busy. Then her husband was killed and, as she put it, she certainly wasn't going to put up with another man in her life just to try to have children. She'd loved one man and that was plenty.
Some of the women she'd worked with over the years stayed in contact with her, and the one or two who could still drive would come up to Bellingwood once in a while. Agnes was happy in her solitude. She loved to read and even tried her hand at writing when it caught her fancy, but she spent time caring for her garden and a silly cat named Hannibal she'd taken in one chilly fall day several years ago. According to Agnes, she couldn't very well leave the poor fella outside where his ‘nads might get frozen off. Instead, she took him to Doc Ogden's and had them snipped, leaving the little guy none the wiser.
Polly's plans to stop in at the coffee shop were tossed out the window. She'd asked Agnes to join them, but they both had groceries that needed to be dealt with, so instead, Polly took her home.
Agnes's home was a tiny white house with no garage and a big walnut tree in the front yard. It was still too early for her garden to come alive, but she'd promised Polly that she would invite her over for coffee one day when everything was in bloom. Polly offered to help carry her groceries inside, but there were really only three bags and Agnes assured her she would be fine.
Before she got out of the Suburban, Agnes reached down into one of the brown paper sacks and took out a bouquet of flowers. They'd been in a container at the checkout counter, but Polly hadn't seen her purchase them. She offered those to Polly and reached back into the bag and drew out a red silk rose, turning to give it to Cassidy, thanking her for being the hero of the day.
"Bye-bye," Cassidy had called out when Agnes got out of the Suburban. Those had been the first words she'd said since Agnes got in the car. As the woman made her way up the front steps to her house, Cassidy continued to wave and call out, "Bye-bye."
"She was a lot of fun, wasn't she," Polly said after Agnes closed her front door.
Cassidy didn't respond, just continued to wave as Polly backed out of the driveway.
"Would you like to see her again?" She looked in the rear-view mirror to see Cassidy nodding yes.
"I'm sorry we don't have time to go to the coffee shop, but we'll do it again soon. Maybe tomorrow."
Polly headed home, suddenly worn out. With the older kids gone so much, she'd dropped back into the normal routine of doing most of the cooking and cleaning. No one talked about it; it had just happened. Things needed to be handled and if she was the only one around to do it, then she did. It was during these few weeks out of the year that Polly considered hiring
additional help. But then, life returned to normal, the older kids kicked back into the family's schedule and she forgot that it had been stressful.
With Henry working so many hours, Polly also found that she didn't relax and sleep as well at night. He wasn't sleeping well either. He came to bed late after spending a couple of hours in the office trying to catch up and he got up early and left the house before the rest of the family was moving.
She realized how much she depended on the time they usually spent winding down in the evenings. It was hard for her to ask him to spend more time with her. The last thing she wanted him to do was feel guilty about the hours he was putting in. He already felt awful.
"What do you think about taking a short nap with me before the boys get home from school?"
This time when she looked in the mirror, she laughed at Cassidy's shocked face. The little girl knew that she had to take some quiet time every afternoon alone in her room, but she'd never known Polly to join her.
"Yeah. I know. It's just crazy. Maybe you and your doll could come into my room and we'll invite Obiwan and Han to have a slumber party with us. Does that sound like fun?"
Cassidy was nodding vigorously while Polly's yawns were about to take her over. She wiped tears from her eyes as she parked in their driveway. The dogs wouldn't expect to go outside right away, so maybe she could get away with a half hour nap.
~~~
She and Cassidy were in the kitchen when the back door banged open and a flood of happy, excited children rushed in.
"Whoa," she called out, when the only stop most of them made was to drop bags on the porch.
Elijah had made it to the door of the foyer. "What?" he asked.
"You have no idea?"
He gave her a look of over-exaggerated confusion. "What?"
"Do you want a list?"
He was close to offering a sassy retort when he took a quick look at his brothers and friends, then thought better of it.
"No. Sorry. Everybody back. We have to make it neat."
Noah and the oldest Waters boy, Nat, were already taking their jackets off and hanging them on pegs. Lara and Abby, Nat's younger sisters, along with Rose Bright from across the street had started to follow Elijah, but at the sound of Polly's voice, they'd come to a screeching halt in the doorway between the porch and the kitchen.
It didn't take long for them to hang their coats and jackets up and put the bags and other school items where they belonged. What frustrated Polly the most was the number of times they needed to be reminded. She'd even had that conversation with them, but more often than not, she had to stop them and send them all back out to do the right thing. Elijah had mastered the art of cleaning a bathroom by himself.
When the crowd took off again, Polly was at the door and caught Elijah. "What are your plans this afternoon?"
"We're going up to our room and play," he said.
"Play what?"
"Maybe Legos."
"All nine of you?"
He frowned, counting in his head. "Just eight of us. But the girls can play in the basement or the foyer. They should do something else."
"Nine if you count Cassidy."
"She's just a little girl."
Polly laughed. "You have been back in school for three months. Every day it's the same thing. Why do you believe it should change today?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"Oh, honey. You might wear me out, but you won't wear me down. There are plenty of things to do in this house where you can involve everyone. You will not eliminate anybody, not because they're girls or because they're younger or for any other reason. Not in this house. Not after school. Do we need to have a longer discussion about this?"
"It's not fair," he said, stamping his feet. "What if we want to do boy stuff? We get tired of always having the girls with us."
She bent over and whispered in his ear. "Do you want to have this discussion again with me in front of everyone? Because I will and you won't like it one bit."
"You're darn right I don't like it," he snapped back.
"Noah?" she called out across the foyer, where everyone had gathered while waiting for Elijah. "Why don't you all go to the basement and find something to do. Make sure you take Cassidy with you."
"The basement?" Nat asked, then shook himself, shocked that he'd even spoken up.
"Did you want to do something else?"
"We were going to go upstairs." Nat took one look at Elijah and decided to change his tack. "Most of the Legos are in the basement anyway. We should go down there."
"Nice decision," Polly said. "I'll call for you when snacks are ready."
Elijah attempted to move past her and she snagged his shirt. "Oh no, not you. You're going to help me get the snacks out."
"But I don't want to."
"I understand that. I don't care and I'm the mama. You will help me. That's the end of this discussion."
He shuffled his feet across the kitchen floor and hopped up onto one of the stools at the island. Polly waited while Cassidy toddled off after the others for the back steps, carrying her doll and its blanket. They'd found a pretty little vase for her rose and it was now safely ensconced beside her new crown on the shelves in her room.
"All right, out with it," Polly said.
"Out with what?"
"The only reason you ever get pushy with me is when someone has done or said something to you and you don't know how to deal with it. Since you just finished cleaning a bathroom night before last, your punishment for bad behavior is helping me get this ready."
"Nothing," he said sullenly.
"If I send an email to your teacher, asking what set you off, I won't get a different story?"
Elijah shrugged.
She took a head of cauliflower and another of broccoli and put them on the counter top in front of him, then set a plate beside them. "Start breaking off the tops."
"I don't like cauliflower."
"Oh, little boy, you are just working to find my buttons, aren't you? You love cauliflower. Stop being such a brat."
"I'm not being a brat. You aren't being fair."
"You know what I say about fair."
"No. What?"
She lifted her eyebrows and grinned. "Much more of this attitude and you will be cleaning another bathroom tonight."
"So what?"
"Okay, bathroom it is. After you've practiced your piano and your homework is finished, you can clean the bathroom beside Heath's room while he's reading stories with your brothers." Polly set to work chopping carrots and celery, ignoring the snapping of vegetables and grunts behind her.
"It's not fair," he said again. "I'm tired of playing with girls all the time. Why do you make us do that?"
"Where is this coming from? You like playing with those girls."
"Not all the time."
"It isn't all the time. You have Nat over on weekends and it's just boy time. You go to your grandpa's house with your brothers to play with the trains. You do stuff with Heath. What is so wrong with playing with the girls?"
"They're girls!"
"What does that matter?"
"But we're boys."
"Yes, that's right. Do they not know how to play the games you play?"
"No. They do."
"Do they hold you back when you play?"
"No."
"Are they dumber than you?"
"No!" he exclaimed.
"Are you stronger than them?"
Elijah shrugged. "Sometimes, but not really."
"So, what's the big deal?"
"They're girls. Girls aren't supposed to play with boys."
Polly blinked. "I'm sorry, what? Where in the world did you hear that piece of baloney?"
"Some of my friends at school."
"If your friends at school wanted to jump off a bridge, would you follow them?"
He looked at her like she was nuts.
"Yeah, I've always wanted a reason to use that. But honestly, Elijah. Have Henry an
d I raised you to believe that girls aren't supposed to play with boys?"
"You guys don't know everything. Isn't that why I'm in school? To learn stuff you don't know?"
He had her there. She chuckled. "Not when it's about cutting out half of your friends. Don't you enjoy playing with the girls?"
"I suppose, but what if they want to play with dolls?"
She scowled at him. "Have they ever asked you to play with dolls after school?"
"Not yet, but they might."
"What would you do if they did?"
"I don't know how to play with dolls."
Polly grinned. "That sounds like it's your problem, not theirs. Maybe they didn't know how to play with Legos before coming over here. Or maybe they don't like soccer as much as you do. Or maybe they learned how to play your games because it was more fun playing with you than it was doing their own thing. Now, how do you respond if they want to play with dolls."
"I just do it?"
"Yep. Does it make you any less of a man doing something a girl wants to do?"
He let out a big sigh. "The right answer is no, isn't it?"
"You are such a smart boy. I believe that girls and boys should have separate lives, but I do not believe that you all can't figure out how to play together, no matter what the game is. And by the way, trust me when I tell you that the sooner you decide that girls are always going to be as much fun as boys, the happier you'll be when you get older."
"Because they'll think I'm sweet?"
She laughed out loud. "You are almost always the sweetest boy I know, but sometimes it takes a clean bathroom to get you past your stubborn ideas. It would be much easier if you talked to me about what was going on in your head before you acted like a brat and sassed back at me."
"But sometimes I don't know what's going on in my head until you drag it out of there." He pantomimed pulling something out of his temple. Elijah shook his hand and tossed the imaginary item at Polly. "I'm sorry I was stubborn."
"I love you, sweet boy."
"Do I have to clean that bathroom?"
"What do you think?"
Joy in the Journey Page 7
