Journey With the Comet

by Dana Wayne Haley

  “Excellent!” he said as his eyes lit up. “The Sox have a brand-new ballpark—Fenway, I think it’s called—and they’ve gotten off to a great start.”

  Then he remembered that Edith had no interest in sports, and realized that she was just up to her old tricks again, trying her best to distract him.

  “Nice try, Edie, but it’ll take more than your pathetic mental tricks to beat me.”

  She grinned, and he smiled slyly while giving his sister a curious, sideways look.

  “Six,” he said after laying down the 6-of-Spades.

  “Sixteen,” his smiling sister said, upon laying down the King-of-Hearts.

  Murdock laid down the 9-of-Diamonds and said: “Twenty-five.”

  “Thirty,” Edith counted when she laid down her 5-of-Clubs.

  “Please don’t let him have an Ace,” she prayed.

  “GO!” he said. “Take your stupid point!”

  Edith sighed in relief. It wasn’t that she hated to lose; it was that she hated to lose to her brother. At least, she pretended she did. In reality, she didn’t care one way or the other. However, Murdock’s feigned arrogance forced her to take delight in beating him.

  “Only 27 to go, my dear Murdy,” Edith said after pegging 1 point for the GO.

  Upon laying down the 6-of-Hearts, Murdock grinned and said: “Let’s try six, again.”

  “Sixteen,” Edith said, upon laying down the King-of-Spades.

  “Twenty-one,” Murdock counted with the last card he held: the 5-of-Diamonds.

  Edith then laid down her last card: the 5-of-Spades.

  “Twenty-six, but more importantly, my 5 matches yours; and that’s 2, if I’m not mistaken,” she said, and promptly pegged 2 points.

  “Oh! And I do believe I get one for Last Card.”

  “Darn!” Murdock said. “But you still need 24 to win. Well, doesn’t matter anyway, Edie. Read ‘em and weep,” he taunted his sister, as he laid down his hand.

  Edith pondered his hand: a 5-of-Diamonds, 6-of-Spades, 6-of-Hearts, 9-of-Diamonds, to go with the Jack-of-Hearts.

  “I’m reading ‘em, but I’m not weeping,” Edith said. “That’s only 8 points, little brother.”

  “What do you mean?” he said unbelievingly.

  “Fifteen-two; fifteen-four; fifteen-six; and a pair is 8. And the Right Ja—…. Oh no! One point shy. I thought for sure I was out.”

  “Not only can’t your father play Cribbage, he can’t count either,” Edith said disparagingly, while tenderly kissing Leona on the head.

  The children and Margaret laughed hysterically.

  “I like this lady,” she thought, remembering all the times Murdock had teased her when they played Cribbage. Somehow it was Murdock who always squeaked by with a win, and darn if she could figure out how or why. “Lucky, I guess.”

  “All I needed was one more point! One measly point!” Murdock moaned. “I thought for sure I had the Right Jack.”

  “The Jack has to be in your hand, Murdy, not on the deck.”

  “I know. I know. I was so anxious to kick your butt that I just got confused. Oh well, with you needing 24 points, there’s still no way you’re gonna go out, Edie. So I’ll just hav’ta wait until the next hand to whip your useless butt. But I sure would’ve enjoyed beating you bad, right here and now.”

  Murdock was so sure he was going out that he had not paid close attention to Edith’s hand. When he looked down he saw: a K-of-Hearts, K-of-Spades, 5-of-Spades, 5-of-Clubs, to go with the J-of-Hearts.

  Then he said: “Edith, you lucky so-and-so! Leave it to you to come up with a 16-point hand. But that still leaves you 8 points shy of going out. And there’s no way your gonna get that—not in a Crib anyway—what with the cards I gave you,” he said, knowing that he could very easily be wrong, but hoping otherwise.

  “No problem, little brother,” Edith said, trying to appear confident while slowly turning over her Crib, at first dreading to look. Then her eyes brightened by what she saw: a 9-of-Hearts, 10-of-Clubs, Jack-of-Diamonds, Queen-of-Spades, to go with the Jack-of-Hearts.

  “Damn! A 10-point hand.” Murdock said, and then he closed his eyes, raised his head, and chanted: “Damn! Damn! Damn!”

  “Murdock! The children!” Margaret said in admonishment.

  But he didn’t hear her. He was still thinking about the embarrassment of his sister’s win. It was even more embarrassing for him when she let out a yelp and began dancing around the floor, twirling little Leona as she did.

  “Okay, put the blindfold on and then shoot me and get it over with,” he pleaded.

  “That’s funny, Papa,” Lillian said; and then her hyena-sounding laugh could be heard punctuating her words, causing Arlene and Leona to giggle.

  “It’s not that funny, Lillian,” Murdock said. “Edie, I can’t believe anyone could be as lucky as you.”

  “Luck? What do you mean luck? It’s called skill with a capital ILL, my dear brother.”

  “You sure made Papa look ill, Aunt Edie,” Lillian chimed in.

  “Didn’t I though.”

  The Haleys’ living room exploded with laughter, and Edith had to wait for the laughter to subside before she spoke again.

  “Now I know why you beat your Papa all the time, Lillian. Heck, even little Leona could whip his useless butt,” she said, adding insult to injury.

  And once again the room exploded into laughter. Leona was laughing too, but she was not sure why. The only thing the 2-year-old knew for sure was that her Aunt, someone she had become extremely attached to in just a few short days, had just spoken her name. She was likely too young to realize that her aunt had become just as attached to her.

  The little girl looked up at Edith and said: “What happened, Aunt Edie?”

  “Oh, nothing too unusual, dear. I’m just taking your father to the cleaners; that’s all. Nothing to worry about though; it happens all the time.”

  “Are his clothes dirty?” Leona asked innocently.

  “They are now, dear. They are now. At least his underwear anyway.”

  One more time the room shook with laughter.

  “You know, Leona, I think you are my good luck charm. I might have lost to your father if you weren’t sitting here on my lap.”

  Leona smiled, happy that her aunt was pleased with her.

  “Well, guess I’ll turn in,” Edith said. “All this laughing has tuckered me out.”

  “See you in the morning, Edith,” Margaret said.

  “Nite, Aunt Edie,” Lillian and Arlene called out.

  “Goodnight, everyone,” she replied before heading to her bedroom.

  The room filled with laughter again when Edith turned and said one last thing:

  “Now, don’t you stay up too late practicing your Cribbage, Murdy. The children need their shuteye you know, especially little Leona.”

  “Vare-ree funny, Edith. Now get your skinny butt to bed. And take your damn sarcasm with you.”

  —2—

  “Edie’s taken quite a liking to Leona, don’t you think?” Margaret said to Murdock when she was fixing his breakfast the next morning.

  “She sure has. She even asked me if she could take her back to Canada. Of course, she was just kidding, I think.”

  “And what did you say?” Margaret asked.

  “I told her I’d think about it,” he laughed. “I know one thing though: Leona couldn’t be in better hands. Edie would’ve made a good mom.”

  “How old is Edie now, Murdy?”

  “She was born in January of ‘71, so the way I figure it that makes her 41.”

  “Really? She doesn’t look a day over twenty-five. Suppose she’ll ever get married?”

  “If she hasn’t by now, I doubt she ever will.”

  “Why not? She’s soooo beautiful. I’ve never seen anyone
as beautiful as her, and so tiny and delicate. Those actresses at the Bangor Opera House have nothing on her. From my point of view, she’s even prettier than the girl that’s gonna be in the new motion picture: Birth of a Nation. You know: What’s her name?”

  “You mean Lillian Gish?”

  “Yeah, that’s the one. Edie is definitely prettier than her. Or anyone else I can think of for that matter.”

  “Yeah, and don’t tell her I said this: Edie’s a beautiful woman all right. But I guess she’s not the marrying kind. And maybe it’s for the best.”

  “What do you mean by that, Murdy?”

  “Maybe I’m wrong, but I think some people are meant to be married and others are not.”

  “Did she date much when she was younger?”

  “Oh yes; the boys were falling all over themselves to date Edie.”

  “Didn’t any of them meet her fancy?”

  “Yeah, of course. In fact, there was someone she liked a lot. I thought for sure she would marry him, but he was killed when he fell off a roof working as a carpenter on a job with me. Come to think of it, she never dated much after that.”

  “That’s too bad,” Margaret responded.

  —3—

  After staying with the Haleys for seventeen days, Edith Haley was getting ready to board the City of Bangor to head back to Canada.

  “Before you leave, I have something for you,” Murdock told his sister when they were saying their goodbyes at the Front Street dock. It’s a picture of Lillian and Arlene. It was taken three years ago, so they’re 5 and 2 in this photo.”

  “Oh, thank you so much, Murdy. This means a lot. I had such a great time with them. You and Margaret did a terrific job raising your girls.”

  “We think so. And this is for you, too,” he said while handing a small white box to his sister.

  “What’s in it?” she asked.

  “It’s a chain and locket. Hurry and open the locket. I thought you might like to have this, since you took such a strong liking to Leona.”

  Edith took the silver, heart-shaped locket from the white box. The shiny chain was hanging from her left hand, between her thumb and index finger, and she used her long fingernails to pry open the locket that lay delicately in her tiny palm.

  “It’s Leona!” Edith cried with delight. “She’s so adorable. Oh, Murdock, I can’t thank you enough for this. I’ll treasure it forever.”

  “We had her picture taken last week. Just for you.”

  “Just for me? That’s so thoughtful; but how did you manage it without my knowing?”

  “We had a photographer come out to Mrs. Murphy’s, and while the girls kept you distracted playing Hearts, Maggie snuck Leona over there.”

  “Tricky,” Edith said. “Anyway, Leona’s such a cutie; a little sweetheart. Are you sure I can’t take her home?”

  “Your offer is tempting, Edith, but I don’t think I’d be able to talk Maggie into it.”

  They both laughed.

  “That’ll be the day you’d part with Leona, little brother. Or, Lillian or Arlene for that matter.”

  “You’re dead right about that, sis. It’d be a cold day in hell before I’d part with those little buggers of mine. But anyway, Edie, I’m so glad you could visit. I sure hope you can make it back again.”

  “I’ll try, Murdy, but it’s hard on a secretary’s wages. Will you be able to visit me sometime?”

  “No time soon I’m afraid. All our extra money is slated for a new home. We’d hav’ta save up an awful lot more pennies to visit Canada.”

  Edith was startled when the ship whistle blew three long and very loud warnings.

  “Well, I’d better be getting on board now. Wouldn’t want to be walking back home. Although, after what happened to the people on the Titanic, maybe that’s not such a bad idea.”

  After hitting an iceberg, the enormous passenger liner sank in the north Atlantic on April 15th, 1912, just two weeks before Edith visited her brother.

  “Yeah, that was a terrible tragedy all right,” he said. “I read where well over a thousand were lost. Poor souls. I suspect more would have been lost if the Capathia hadn’t arrived in the nick of time to rescue them.”

  “No doubt. And to think, they said the Titanic was unsinkable. Just goes to show you, there’s nothing in life that’s certain. Well, enough dilly-dallying. Take care, little brother.”

  “You too, sis. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  “Never! Nor, some you would,” she yelled over her shoulder as she ran up the ship’s ramp, after kissing her brother goodbye.

  “Don’t forget to write!” he yelled.

  “You either!”

  “I won’t,” he said softly, waving one last time.

  Murdock did as he promised: writing to his sister at least once a month. Edith did the same, and because she and Margaret hit it off so well, they also corresponded regularly. However, although Murdock had no way of knowing it then, he would see his sister only one more time in his life, and it would be under less than pleasant circumstances.

  Chapter 13

  The Shooting Star

  Even as a 2 and 3-year-old, Leona gave Margaret little trouble. Granted, she was as inquisitive as any child, maybe even more so than most, but Margaret deemed that to be a good trait rather than a bothersome one. And by the time Leona was four it was clear that she had a very active imagination. She enjoyed hearing stories, and she enjoyed making them up even more. In all likelihood that was because Margaret read to her youngest daughter almost every night before she went to sleep, just as she had with Lillian and Arlene. And it wasn’t long after she started reading to Leona that Margaret noticed how attentive and enthusiastic her little girl was, quickly learning most of the simple words she heard and saw her mother read. That was made easier for the little girl when, after taking notice of her daughter’s interest, Margaret taught Leona the alphabet and how to sound out words much sooner than she had planned to. She even taught her little girl how to write simple sentences and, with the aid of traditional games like Cribbage, to do simple arithmetic before she was 6 years old.

  In addition, the Haleys always made learning fun for their children by devising new games that kept them entertained and helped them learn at the same time. Because of those games, Leona knew more about American history and about far away places before she was 6, than most children learn in eight years of elementary school. Throughout his childhood and after, Murdock had read everything he could get his hands on about the American Revolution. He particularly admired the patriots who were instrumental in the founding of his adopted country, and he wanted his children to appreciate it the way he did.

  “Don’t you ever take America for granted,” he said to his children on July 4th of 1914. “Too many people died fighting for our freedom to ignore their sacrifice. It may be hard to believe, but some of the founders were rich men who risked everything—their fortune and even their lives—for a concept they believed in: liberty. One of my favorite stories is about a Virginian delegate named Patrick Henry who gave an eloquent speech in 1775 expressing his desire for independence from England. Henry ended his speech with one of the most inspirational and noble things I’ve ever heard.”

  “What did he say, Papa?” Arlene asked.

  “He said: ‘I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.’ That’s just how precious freedom was to him. And a patriotic colonial spy by the name of Nathan Hale said something just as inspirational when he was about to be hanged by the British after the Battle of Long Island in 1776. He said: ‘I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.’ Those were just two of the many patriots who gave us our freedom. So mind what I say and don’t even think about taking your country or your freedom for granted.”

  —1—

  Leona loved hearing her mother and
father talk about historical events, especially if they were about the Haleys or Carvers. One of the most interesting things that she heard from her parents was the story about how the Carver clan got its start in America. It was a little after dusk one chilly April night in 1915, and the Haleys were resting at Chapin Park, after spending a few hours in downtown Bangor and stopping at Judy’s for ice cream on the way back. Leona was sitting on her mother’s lap, eating a delicious vanilla ice cream cone and watching the stars come out, when Margaret began telling the 5-year-old about her ancestors on the Carver side of the family.

  “Your early grandmother Carver was a native-Indian, and she married a descendant of an Englishman named Isaac Carver, the brother of John Carver: the first governor of the Plymouth Colony. ”

  “What’s a native-Indian?” the inquisitive 5-year-old asked.

  “Well, it all started in 1492, when a man named Christopher Columbus set out in search of a new route to the West Indies. He was only one of a very few back then who thought the Earth was round; most thought it was flat and that you could fall off it if you traveled too far. Anyway, Columbus sailed westward instead of eastward hoping to reach the West Indies, not knowing that this continent even existed; and when Columbus’ fleet of ships—the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria—ran into America, he thought it was the West Indies, and so he called the inhabitants he saw Indians. And that stuck.

  “You’ll learn a lot more about Christopher Columbus in school, Leona. Do you know how you’ll be able to remember his name and the year he discovered America?”

  “No. How?” Leona asked.

  “From a little limerick my teacher taught me and the other students in my class. It’s the beginning of a long poem, and it goes: ‘In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.’”

  “Shouldn’t that be the blue ocean, Mama?” Leona asked.

  “Well, yes. But then it wouldn’t rhyme. Now back to your questions. Since people who are born in a land are called natives of that land, American Indians are also referred to as either native-Americans, or native-Indians. That’s because they were born here, long before the Europeans or anyone else came to America.”