The World of Pretty Colors

by Cathy Pace Matthews

  “Now?”

  “No Aunt Charlotte, not now but maybe in the morning. Right now, I feel like taking a break here…” Emma was interrupted by an outburst from Steve.

  “Son of a bi… sorry ladies.”

  What is it, Steve?

  Steve handed what he had just read to Charlotte and she began to read out loud. “Sgt. Albert D. Rodgers was killed when the row boat he was in off the shores of Hawaii was struck by a torpedo fired by a US sub by accident. The sub had been engaged in a battle when a torpedo failed to launch and became jammed in the tube. It was returning to port for maintenance when a sailor accidentally hit the button and the torpedo fired.”

  “You guys can laugh, I sure did.”

  “Emma, you didn’t.”

  "Yes, Aunt Charlotte, I did. You expect to hear that they were shot”

  “He was.”

  “Shut up, Steve.” But Charlotte had to stifle a little giggle as she said it.

  “Or they went down with their ship”

  “He did. OK, to be more accurate he may have gone up with his ship before going down”

  “Steve.”

  “Well, technically he did do both.”

  By this time they were all giggling a little.

  “Look at the way these five men died. It has to be a curse.”

  “Aunt Charlotte, I don’t buy into curses and such, but I have to admit, this is more than a little weird.”

  “Emma, this all defies the laws of logic. Look at poor Albert for example. Even if you put that aside, look at the others. They all died before they reached forty except your dad and he only barely made it.”

  “I know. You have the first Jason who was shot, then Robert who died in a logging accident, next came Albert poor thing, after that was Jason Sr.’s farming accident, and then Dad who was crushed by a car.” Emma’s voice cracked when she came to her father.

  Steve stood up at this point because he really felt that Emma needed to step away from this for a while. “Come on ladies let’s take a break from this.”

  “Let me guess, you’re hungry?”

  “Hey, I am a growing boy here.”

  “Ha, you haven’t been a growing boy in forty years.”

  “You hurt me Charlotte and that would be more like thirty-five years, thank you very much.”

  Emma smiled at the banter between the two of them. Yep, there was something going on with these two, but it was nice to see them have a little fun. Steve was also right about her needing to take a break.

  “We could drive into Cape and grab a bite to eat.”

  Emma didn’t really feel like driving all the way back there tonight. “Steve you said you had the fridge stocked, why don’t we go in there and see what we can come up with and eat it out on the patio.”

  “Sounds like a good idea to me, how about you Charlotte?”

  “Sure, let’s go check out the supplies.”

  The three of them headed into the kitchen to take a look at what they had that wouldn’t take too long.

  Steve found some steaks in the fridge and there were potatoes. He placed them on the counter. “I’m heading for the grill out back, why don’t you see what else you two can come up with.”

  Now it was Emma’s turn at the fridge and she found everything to make a big salad while Charlotte had found a loaf of thick sliced bread and announced she was making toast. Emma prepared the salad while Charlotte got the toast ready for the oven and they both followed Steve out onto the patio.

  The sun was starting to go down and the wind had picked up a little. You could see clouds coming out of the west and it looked as if it might rain a little later. Great she thought. It looked like a scene from some old grade b horror flick. Someone dies, the poor unsuspecting heiress goes to spend the night in the house for the first time afterward and a nasty damn storm blows up. The next thing you know the spooks are climbing out of every nook and cranny in the place. The stupid heiress ends up getting her head hacked off by some crazy, non-dying, chauvinistic asshole wearing a mask with a thing against women inheriting the family fortune.

  Emma heard Charlotte calling her name, “Are you OK? You appeared to be a million miles away and I had to call you three times.”

  “Yes, I was just looking at the sky thinking it might rain tonight.”

  “I caught the weather report earlier and yes we are supposed to get a nice little blow in here tonight.” Steve told her.

  “Figures.”

  “What did you say Sweetheart?”

  “Oh, nothing Aunt Charlotte.”

  Steve and Charlotte were sitting closer to the grill and talking between themselves so Emma turned her attention to the surrounding area. The irises continued all around the house and took up a good portion of the yard area and that was a lot because it was a damn big yard. The grounds around the house took up over five acres. If you counted the land around the barn and out building it was almost twice that much and there were irises and daylilies coving a very large portion of that as well. They weren’t willy-nilly either. They had all been laid out in neat little rows and in nice little patches and all had been well tended. At the moment it was the irises in bloom but come June you would be met with all the day lilies. Scattered about the place were also roses and other flowers that bloomed at different times. During the entire growing season, you would find something in bloom and color would meet your eyes everywhere you turned. Right now, the irises swayed in the wind and the effect was almost hypnotic.

  Emma thought back and could remember playing in this very yard. She had had a tree house in a big oak tree on the north side of the house. Emma got up to go check.

  “Where are you going?” Steve asked

  “I was going to check and see …?”

  “It’s still there Emma. Your grandmother had it kept in good repair.” Charlotte knew what her niece was talking about.

  Emma headed around to the side of the house to see the old tree house she had spent so much of her time in as a child. There it was. The tree stood about thirty feet from the house. The area around the tree had been beautifully landscaped. Where it had been mostly cedar chips around the base when she was little now there were flowers almost all the way around. There was an almost fairy tale quality to the tree house now. It had been painted a green color that made it blend into the foliage around it and the windows painted with a brown to match the bark on the tree trunk. Her dad had built it well, but her grandmother had added the touches that a little girl would love. There now were flower boxes built into the rail around the balcony or porch or whatever you called the open space on a tree house? It looked like a little girl’s playhouse picked up and set in a tree.

  Emma wasn’t sure how she felt about the changes. When her father had built it, he had done it with love and care. He had insisted that if she was going to sleep in it then the door and little windows were going to have screens to protect her from pesky little critters. He had built it to last too but it had remained in a natural wood state and little frills were not his strong point. Now it looked like a little girl’s tree house. It also broke her heart to realize how much her grandmother had missed her and hoped that she would return.

  She climbed up and sat on the porch with her legs hanging over the edge and she just couldn’t hold it back any longer. She cried. She cried as if the whole world had collapsed and fallen on her shoulders. Not the shoulders of a grown woman either but those of that little twelve-year-old girl who had left here all those long years ago. She cried for the little girl who had been ripped from the home where she had been born and lived for all of her childhood years. She cried for the much-loved grandmother that she never saw again, and she cried for the father that had so cruelly been taken from her at such a young age. She cried for the mother whom she had loved so dearly and would never be held in her arms again. She cried.

  Steve turned to Charlotte. “Do you hear that? Something is wrong with Emma.”

  Steve turned to follow Emma and Charlotte s
topped him. “Don’t Steve.”

  “But something is wrong.”

  “Leave her be Steve. This has been coming for a long time, just leave her alone.”

  “But,”

  “Leave her be.”

  It finally dawned on him what Charlotte was saying and with shoulders hunched he turned back to the grill while Charlotte sat there with her own tears running down her face. The sadness soaked into them all. Each one remembering the ones they had loved so much and lost.

  After a while Steve turned back to Charlotte. “Why did she cut me out of her life too?”

  “Steve, I know you were in love with Cathryn…”

  “You thought I was in love with her? I loved her like a sister. Cathryn wasn’t the one I was ‘in love’ with you, you silly woman.”

  It took a minute for that last statement to sink in but when it did, “what?”

  “I was in love with you, stupid. When Cathryn left, she didn’t just take Emma away she took you as well or at least I thought she had. Why didn’t you or Hattie ever tell me you were still coming here? Why, Charlotte?”

  “Because I thought you loved Cathryn and I didn’t want to remind you of her. Also, I didn’t want to hurt over you any more than I could help. It was just easier for me that way. You see I was in love with you.”

  “But, Hattie?”

  “Hattie like me thought you loved Cathryn. She knew how I felt about you and then when I met Anthony and married him, well the whole thing just seemed best left alone.”

  “You could have called after Anthony died.”

  “Again, it just seemed best to leave it alone, Steve. Why didn’t you ever marry?”

  “Well, I came close once I guess but let’s face it Charlotte, you were a tough act to follow.”

  About that time Emma came around from the side of the house still wiping the tears from her face.

  “Are you OK, Little One?”

  “I will be Aunt Charlotte.”

  Steve walked over and put his arms around her and pulled her head over onto his shoulder.

  Emma let herself be held by Steve. It was funny, this morning she had so many questions about him and in the course of a day he was becoming more than a fast friend. That tree house hadn’t just let lose a torrent of tears but an avalanche of memories as well. She remembered Uncle Steve had helped build it. She had remembered how he had chased her with a garden hose spraying her with it. She remembered her mom and dad, her dad’s arm around her mom’s shoulders, laughing at the two of them and Dad yelling at Steve telling him he was no older than Emma.

  Emma looked up at Steve. “Will you tell me about him later, not now, but in a couple of day’s maybe?”

  “Of course, I will honey, just tell me when you’re ready.”

  The rest of the evening was filled with pleasant stories of their lives without hitting on anymore soft spots. When the first crack of thunder rumbled in the west, they had already gotten the dishes washed and put up and they had settled on the front porch to watch the evening come.

  Steve stood up, “ladies I think it is time for me to hit the road.”

  “I hate to think of you driving all the way back to Cape tonight.”

  “Charlotte didn’t Hattie ever tell you? I bought a little place just up the road here and I am staying there tonight so if you two need me just give me a call.” He placed a card in Charlotte’s hand, “I gave one to Emma earlier and it has my cell number on the back.” He kissed both women on the cheek and stepped down off the porch. “Good night, ladies.”

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