When James returned to the Hub for a second time, he commented in his journal he had changed his mind about the Hub and never felt homesick again. He felt acclimated and began looking forward to the adventures that awaited him. The more he traveled to the Hub the more he felt at home. James decided he was never quite ready to leave because it always seemed there was an adventure awaiting him.
CHAPTER 4
Charles stopped reading. He removed his glasses and put them in his shirt pocket. He believed after rereading parts of James’ journal, he had received a better understanding of what being a Sojourner would be like. His eyes were getting tired as he finished the book. He thought to himself: It would have been fun to travel with James.
Charles made a few notes and added questions for Carson. He wrote and wrote until his hand was hurting. Finally he put the pencil down and rubbed his wrist. Charles stood up and stretched.
Carson entered the library and sat down across from him. Charles had seen that look before and knew Paw Paw was very satisfied with himself. Charles knew the answer but asked anyway, “Who won?”
“I did,” Carson replied. He picked up the newspaper and began riffling through it. He paused. “It was a close game though.” Charles sat back down and smirked because he knew Carson was very competitive.
Al came in and plopped down in the chair beside Carson. Carson asked Al which part of the newspaper he would like to read. “Pass the sports section,” Al said without hesitation. Carson located the sports section and handed it to him. He glanced at Charles, and went back to reading.
“What have you been reading Charles? We didn’t hear a peep out of you the whole time you’ve been in here,” Al said.
“It must have been good whatever it was. I noticed you made notes…” Carson said. He lowered the paper and smiled at Charles. “Al did you know Charles is an avid reader?”
“He got that from you Carson.”
“And I, my friend, got it from my father, James.” Carson put his paper back up so Charles couldn’t see his expression.
Was that right? Was James Paw Paw’s father? Charles hadn’t made that connection. Charles smiled, stood up and made his way to the kitchen.
Bev was listening to Margaret discussing the news around the town. Their friends had already left. Bev and Eileen had won the Bridge game. Bev was cleaning up the kitchen and changed the subject as soon as she saw Charles enter the doorway. She let Margaret know that Charles was going to assist her with the beekeeping responsibilities in the morning.
Margaret said, “Charles, I’m sure you know this already but your Nana is the best bee charmer ever.”
Bev laughed at the comment and blushed. “We should have plenty of honey from the bees tomorrow, Margaret. Come by to visit tomorrow and take some with you for the family.”
Margaret agreed to come back, and said she’d like to help with the bees sometime. “At least, with extracting the honey from the honeycomb. That and cheering you on is about all I’m good for.” They laughed because it was a well-known fact that Margaret hated insects of any kind.
Charles thought back to the first time he had visited Margaret and Al on their five hundred acre farm. They were hosting a Fourth of July picnic when Charles was five years old. They only lived half a mile from the Jones’ farm so his family decided it was nice enough to walk to their house that afternoon. The first thing Charles noticed, as they walked up to the front yard, was the freshly painted white picket fence. Without thinking about it he picked up a stick from the ground. He ran with it along the fence until his mom caught up to him and scolded him. She made him drop the branch on the ground. He pouted wishing he’d been allowed to keep that particular stick. He tried to explain to his mom that the stick would make an excellent sword, but his mom didn’t appreciate how important that was to him. Molly took hold of his hand and held it tightly until they made it around the fence, into the driveway. She finally let loose of his hand during a conversation she was having with a friend. Charles looked around. He noticed all the people talking under the tall sturdy trees that provided shade on that hot day. Beyond the people were rows and rows of tables in front of the house where the women had already begun placing food and drinks.
Molly’s friend Joyce, Margaret and Al’s daughter came over to talk with his mom. She held her daughter’s hand as they talked. Charles had never seen such a beautiful girl before. He stared into her blue eyes as their moms talked. He was mesmerized until his mom interrupted and said, “Charles, I want you to meet my friend Joyce and her daughter Caroline.” Charles smiled at the girl.
Joyce made a comment about how handsome and grown up Charles was. He half smiled and rolled his eyes making Caroline laugh. Molly encouraged them to go play together. Caroline was hesitant to go. She squeezed her mom’s hand. Joyce wiggled her hand free and said, “Caroline why don’t you go play over there?” She pointed to a nearby tree that was landscaped with rounded stones encircling it.
Caroline reluctantly left her mom’s side and they walked together over to the tree. At first Charles walked on the stones, but that was too easy and he could tell Caroline’s attention was elsewhere.
Charles said, “I wonder if we can find any worms or bugs under the rocks?”
He bent down and began turning them over one by one. Under each rock was something. This time he found ants scurrying around. “Look Caroline. There must be fifty ants under here!” Caroline looked. He could tell she wasn’t impressed by his discovery, so he moved on to the next rock. The next rock had a bug that didn’t like the rock being disturbed. It ran into the pea gravel to get away from him. It was too fast for him to catch and had escaped. The next rock had the best find yet. He wasn’t about to let it get away. It wiggled and squirmed in the wet earth. He reached to pick it up. With dirty hands he held up the squirming worm so that Caroline could get a good look at it. Caroline’s eyes got big as she stared at the wiggling worm in his hand. Charles was relieved when she giggled. Charles proudly commented, “Bird food.”
“Ewww,” she said making a face. She turned to the closest cement yard ornament,
“I wonder what is under here?” She squatted down and turned over the smiling gnome.
Charles looked around and found a twig that he broke in two. He came over and squatted next to Caroline. She smiled at him as he held the stick out to her. He could tell she was hesitant to take it from him because she was dressed in her frilly Fourth of July dress. She didn’t want to get dirty, but after thinking it over she decided to go ahead and take it anyway. Charles started to dig. She watched him for a moment before she joined in. They had a great time digging all over the flowerbed with their sticks making discoveries. Joyce and Molly were so engrossed in their conversation they were not watching the two children.
A friend of Margaret’s noticed what was going on across the yard. She knew that Margaret was especially proud of her flowers and yard ornaments, but loved a good laugh. She smiled and nudged Margaret in the side and pointed.
Margaret looked up from what she was doing, but didn’t initially know what to make of the scene across the yard. The two children were oblivious to the observers who were amused by them as they went from statue to statue turning each one over, squealing with delight as they discovered what was underneath. Both children were covered in mud from head to toe. Margaret blinked and squinted trying to figure out who the children were. Then she saw Joyce and Molly talking together and it hit her who the children belonged to. It was Charles and Caroline! She laughed, ran into the house to get Bev and said, “Quick grab your camera Bev and follow me!”
Bev excused herself from her conversation and fumbled through her things wondering what the fuss was all about. She held the camera as she followed Margaret. They made their way through the crowd and over to where the children were digging. Bev’s mouth dropped open at the sight of Margaret’s flowerbed. The two couldn’t stop laughing at the sight of two children.
Margaret squealed patting Bev on the shoulde
r. “Hurry up! Take a picture Bevy, Joyce and Molly are coming!” Bev got the children’s attention and took a picture of the two children proudly holding up worms and smiling.
At first the two moms were angry with the children. Joyce bent down and said, “Oh Caroline, just look at you…” She was covered in mud and her dress was ruined. No matter how Joyce tried, there was no way to brush it off.
Molly scowled at Charles. “What am I going to do with you?”
Margaret called out, “It’s fine, girls. They had a good time, no harm done.”
Molly turned to her mom. “Did you take a picture?”
Bevy bit her lip and nodded. “It was so cute the two of them were so proud of their worms.” Margaret and Bev laughed.
The two embarrassed moms looked around and saw that everyone had fun watching the children and were telling stories about what they had been doing. Eventually they laughed too, about the best entertainment that day.
Bev walked up to Charles and took his hand. She led him to Carson. Carson saw them coming and smiled at the boy standing in front of him caked in mud. “Atta boy Charlie. Did you find some worms?” Carson ruffled his dirty hair. Charles told him what he and Caroline had been doing. “Way to go!” Carson said.
Jack just shook his head. “That’s my boy. He’s all boy through and through.”
Al laughed and patted him on his back. “I better go and see how Joyce is taking it.” He walked over to Joyce who was standing on the front porch, just about ready to take Caroline inside to clean her up. After finding out she was okay with Caroline being covered with mud, he walked back to the group.
Charles had been looking over at Margaret across the lawn. A crowd had gathered around her as she was retelling the story to family and friends. Margaret was talking about when Betty nudged her to get her attention and what her initial reaction was to Caroline digging in the mud with Charlie. Charles noticed as she stood in the sun telling the story that her reddish-brown hair was as attention getting as her personality. Her complexion was pale which made a striking contrast. Her small eyes were chocolate brown with long black eyelashes.
From that day on when Charles saw Margaret at a gathering, he noticed at some point she was always the center of attention, people were naturally drawn to this petite slender lady with this huge personality. One thing he knew for sure about her was that she liked to talk; she was always good at telling stories and loved to laugh. He remembered Nana telling a story one time about Margaret as a cheerleader in high school. He could definitely picture that. That story about him and Caroline during the Fourth of July gathering became one of Margaret’s favorites to tell through the years. How he and Caroline were covered in mud and had squirmy worms in their hands… He’d heard it a hundred times.
Charles’ thoughts then turned to Margaret’s husband. Al’s personality on the other hand was more reserved than his wife’s. He was often quiet around people he didn’t know well, until they became close friends. Al was tall with broad shoulders and a slender build from all the years of physical labor on the farm. He had a masculine ruggedness about him. Al’s large hands were calloused from the farm equipment and his skin was showing signs of aging from years of working in the sun. His hair was dark brown in his youth, but was now mostly gray. His eyes were green with lines around them that gave him character. Unlike his wife he loved all aspects of nature and occasionally would lovingly torture Margaret with his findings.
Margaret and Al were Beverly and Carson’s best friends. They all hit it off from the moment they met years before. They enjoyed each other’s company. Nana liked to visit Margaret’s house. However, Margaret always insisted that she enjoyed the old farmhouse more; so most of the time they came to the Jones’ farm.
Bev placed a bowl of fresh fruit on the table along with granola and yogurt in bowls. “Help yourselves, Charles and Margaret.”
He looked over at Bev, which brought him back to reality. He picked up a spoon and did what boys do best, he dug in. She fixed a bowl for Carson and Al; then disappeared to the library. She returned quickly. Charles could barely hear the conversation of the two men in the library with the exception of a word here and there. Margaret enjoyed the snack so much she had seconds. Charles did too. Margaret kept them laughing as she told jokes she had heard the other day while in town.
After a while Al came through the door with Carson. It was time for them to be going. Bev placed his flashlight on the table and left to retrieve his jacket. Everyone said goodnight on the back porch. They watched as their two friends disappeared into the night. As they walked all you could see was the faint light coming from the flashlight. Once Margaret and Al were out of sight, they went back into the house. It was hot in the kitchen. Bev left the door open so the breeze could come through. The June bugs thumped on the screen as the other bugs flew around the light on the porch. Carson sat down and visited for a time before Charles asked to be excused.
He walked to the library to collect his things then climbed the stairs to his room. He put his things on the nightstand. Charles went through the same evening routine except this time he whistled while he was getting ready for bed. Bev knocked on the door and came into the room to tell him goodnight. Just then the phone rang.
“Excuse me Charles,” she said as she went downstairs to the kitchen. It wasn’t long until she was back at his door. She asked Charles to come to the phone. “Sophie is missing you Charles, and wants to hear your voice.” Charles smiled and got out of bed. He followed Nana to the phone. On the other end was Sophie. Her tiny voice was sweet.
“I miss you Charlie.”
“I miss you too Sophie,” Charles replied. They talked for a couple of minutes. Sophie wanted to hear what he had been doing. Then, all of a sudden she was finished.
Cynthia got on the phone and told him goodnight. She said, “Ask Nana and Paw Paw when it’s my turn to spend the night.” Molly took the phone from her as she told Charles goodnight. They talked for a minute catching up before she asked him to pass the phone to Nana. He returned the phone to Bev. She said goodnight again and he headed back for his room.
He wanted to read but decided he was very tired and needed his sleep more. He turned out the light and dreamed about Sojourning.
CHAPTER 5
Dolores reached for the airline tickets on the table and glanced at the date. She shook her head, remembering that their first date was a disaster. She should have made him take her directly to the dorm, but she didn’t.
When it was time for her to leave the campaign headquarters, Joseph dropped what he was working on. His buddies shouted at him from across the room but he waved them off. He turned and walked her out the door. He told her to stay there under the overhang as he jogged to get his sports car. He stopped long enough to make sure his hair was just right in the rear view mirror, before driving around to where she was standing. He motioned for her to get in. She bent over and looked at him through the window. He reached over across the passenger seat to unlock the door for her. She stood there and looked at him. “I’m not supposed to get in the car with strangers. I thought we’d just walk. It’s a nice night and…”
He scowled. “Just get in the car. Enough of all this babbling.” He impatiently motioned for her to get into the car.
She looked over at a group of volunteers who were interested in the situation. She figured they saw her get in his car, so if anything happened… She rationalized the situation to herself. It’s no big deal. We are just going to get a soda.
He practically took off as soon as she shut the car door. “Those lazy people, just standing around watching us. Don’t they have anything better to do with their time? What’s the matter with them anyway?” She sank down in her seat. Without looking over at the speedometer, she could tell he was speeding. He kept ranting about the people working on the campaign. “If they don’t get busy we are going to lose this election.” He shook his head. “I’m not a loser. I was born to win.”
Dolores gave him a d
eer in the headlight look. He stopped at a stop sign and she thought about getting out of the car. They were still close enough to campus she could walk. She reached for the door handle but was too late. He zoomed on. She put her hands in her lap.
He laughed and made an observation, “You look scared. I thought I’d take you to the burger joint on Main Street. Perfectly innocent.” She gave him a nervous smile. She knew where he was talking about. She nodded her consent.
He must have sensed her uneasiness because he quit talking about the “lazy campaign workers”, who were her friends. He began discussing the campaign and the duties he was in charge of supervising.
Once they parked he jumped out and waited for her on the sidewalk. She continued to sit in the car. After a moment he understood the hint and opened her door for her. “Oh pardon me, I didn’t realize you couldn’t open the door for yourself,” he sneered.
She looked at him and proudly said, “My daddy told me if a young man was smart enough to ask me out on a date, and if I decided to go with him, I should observe to see if he’s smart enough to figure out how to open a door for a lady. That should be one of the tests to see if he’d get another date.”
Joseph grinned and sarcastically said, “Whew, I guess I passed that one. I wonder what’s next?” He opened the door to the restaurant for her and they sat in a booth. He grabbed one of the menus and began looking through it. He glanced at her looking around the restaurant. “What, don’t tell me you’ve never been here before.”
The Xidoran Prophecy Page 7
