Carry the Light (20 page)

F
or students and teachers alike, weekends offered freedom from the rigid structure of the school environment, where a dress code controlled what they wore and a series of bells dictated when the day would start, when each class would begin and end, when to eat and when to go home.

On the final weekend before Easter, Ellie chose a pair of comfortable jeans and a matching jacket to wear on Saturday. She didn't have any bells to regulate her activities today, but she did have a long list of chores and errands to do, papers to grade and lesson plans to write, which left her little time for much else, including her morning walk.

Determined to keep her promise to Charlene to include a stop at Sweet Stuff, where her friend was having a rather unusual open house, she had three loads of laundry finished, two very clean bathrooms and breakfast made by the time her mother got up at eight o'clock. Ellie spent the next two hours taking her mother to the lab for blood work so that Doctor Stafford and the cardiologist would both have the results in hand for her mother's appointments next week. She even managed to go online to get her bills paid and leave another message for each of her sons, to ask if they had been able to come up with a weekend when they could both come home to see their grandmother.

Alert to the dangers of identity theft, yet another consequence of modern technology, she reviewed all her accounts to make sure there hadn't been any unauthorized withdrawals. While logging off, she mentally added the considerable amount she and her late husband had saved for retirement in a variety of portfolios, where she had also invested the proceeds of his life insurance.

If she considered the generous pension she would receive at retirement, which included lifetime medical benefits, she had no doubt she would be very well set financially as a retiree.

She shut down her laptop and tried to close her mind to any thoughts of retirement that tempted her to dream about the luxury of having the free time she didn't have now. Once she retired, she could increase her volunteer role with the ministries at church. Once she retired, she would have much more time to take care of her mother, if necessary, and spend time with her. Once she retired, she would not have to schedule her visits to her children and grandchildren around the school calendar, either, or spend part of every weekend on schoolwork.

“No retirement. Not yet,” she murmured, and walked out of her home office, determined to retire only after she had achieved the objective she had set for herself many years ago: to become department supervisor. With that goal well within reach, she had no intention of letting it slip away now.

When she got back downstairs, she found her mother in the living room, standing by the aquarium and watching the turtles. “Would you like to feed them this morning?” she asked, surprised that her mother would pay any mind to Ellie's pets, since she was so opposed to them.

Her mother sniffed. “Certainly not. I was just checking to make sure they were all accounted for, so I wouldn't have to worry about finding one crawling about.”

Ellie laughed. “The box turtles are still hibernating. These are water turtles. They prefer the water, but if they want to crawl about, it won't be on the living room floor. There's plenty of room in the aquarium for them to rest on the mulch or the jetty, which is where most of them are right now. Besides, they can't climb up the glass,” she added before she opened the storage cabinet under the aquarium to get the cylinder of turtle food. Before she got the lid off, the three turtles had scooted back into the water and swum toward her.

“They must recognize you,” her mother said, surprise in her voice.

“They're hungry. They'd swim over to anyone who had the food,” Ellie replied. When she sprinkled the pellets into the water, the turtles immediately dove and bobbed for their breakfast, battling one another for each morsel.

“The littlest one doesn't stand much of a chance to get any food,” her mother noted.

“That's Gizmo. It's practically doubled in size since it hatched.”

“Hatched? Where?”

Ellie pointed to the far corner in the section filled with mulch. “Right there. When I found the shell, too, I told Amy Flynn, the biology teacher at school. She had me bring the shell and the baby turtle to school so she could show her students.” She was happy to be having a civil conversation with her mother. She was also pleased by her mother's steady recovery, in spite of her setback and the surgery on her arm. She suspected her mother might even try to get both of her doctors to agree next week that she was well enough to live back in her own home, although Ellie doubted that would be encouraged.

Ellie stored the turtle food back inside the cabinet. “I have some errands to run this morning, and I promised Charlene that I'd stop at her open house today. Since I'll be housebound most of the afternoon with paperwork for school, would you like to come with me this morning?”

“I'm not up for gallivanting. Since the weather turned fair, I was hoping we might take a ride today, maybe to the shore and have lunch in one of those nice little restaurants facing the ocean. But I see you're too busy,” her mother murmured.

“It's hard for me to get all my errands done during the week,” Ellie explained, but didn't mention that she had even less time now that she had to come directly home every day to be with her mother.

“Of course it is. If you had the sense to realize that you'd be better off at home than at work every day, like Phyllis's daughter, you wouldn't have that problem. Obviously, you do what you want to do, so go on. Take care of your errands. I've got some magazines I can read to keep me occupied.”

Ellie felt too guilty to argue or to defend her decision to continue working. “If I work late enough tonight and set some work aside until Monday, I could free up tomorrow. What about it? We could go to the early service and drive to the shore afterward. One of the teachers at school mentioned a new restaurant. It's right on the water and it's only open on weekends during the off-season, but it's supposed to have a fabulous brunch. I don't remember the name of the restaurant or where it is exactly, but I could call her at home and find out.”

“It sounds like Ocean's Gate, a new restaurant in Brigantine. Phyllis had brunch there with her daughter a couple of weeks ago. I suppose tomorrow will have to do, but I won't count on it, just in case you don't get your work done,” her mother said, and started to walk away.

Ellie was tempted to call her mother back and try to convince her that their plans for tomorrow were not tentative, but she sensed it was better to let the matter drop. “I'll be back in time to make lunch,” she promised, then grabbed her purse and headed out the door.

 

Ellie finally found a parking spot two blocks from Sweet Stuff. As usual on Saturday, the business district hummed with activity, and she was surprised not to see a line of people outside the candy store. Seventy-eight customers had been invited—either by word of mouth or by the posters plastered in many of the other storefronts—to this very unusual open house.

Relieved that she didn't have to cut in line and explain she was only here to offer Charlene a bit of moral support, she was worried that the innovative open house was turning out to be a flop.

When she stepped into the store, Charlene's Aunt Dorothy sat up straighter in her chair, just inside the door, and greeted her right away. “Hi, Ellie. Charlene didn't mention you'd be coming today.”

“Miss Gibbs! I didn't expect you to be here. You must be feeling as good as you look.”

The elderly woman chuckled and held tight to the basket of bows on her lap. “On good days, yes. On bad days, no. Today's a good day. Have you got your order form?”

“I didn't order a gift basket. I'm just stopping by to say hello to Charlene. Is she in the workroom in the back?”

“She just went down to the basement with Daniel to get more baskets, and left me in charge. This is the first lull we've had since she opened the door at nine o'clock.”

Relieved that people had indeed shown up, Ellie smiled. “I can wait a few minutes to see her.”

“Take a look around while you're waiting,” Dorothy urged.

Ellie smiled and scanned the showroom, amazed by the transformation. Two days ago, when she had visited Charlene here to cheer her up, the showroom had been totally empty. Now it was full again, but it scarcely resembled the cozy little store it had been before the accident. To her left, half a dozen baskets sat in front of the boarded-up window. Two rows of tables, lined up end to end and loaded with Easter candy, created a wide aisle down the center of the store. Customers could walk along the length of each row to select their candy, much as they would select food from a buffet at a wedding reception. The only remnant of the store Sweet Stuff had been was the hutch and shelving, which now held a variety of stuffed animals. In the back, where the counter used to be, several tables held rolls of cellophane. This was where Charlene most likely wrapped the gift baskets once the customers had finished filling them.

“It's so clever to have the customers come in and fill their own baskets,” she commented.

“That was Daniel's idea. He told me about a farmer he knew once who took sick at harvest time, so his wife painted up a sign that said Pick Your Own, stuck it into the ground and set out some bushel baskets and a tin box where folks could put a donation. So Charlene decided to have a Fill Your Own Basket open house for all her customers who'd placed orders for Easter.”

“Isn't Charlene worried that people will take more than they should?”

Dorothy Gibbs chuckled. “They probably will, but there's so much candy, there's still bound to be some left. Besides, they have to take their baskets over to Charlene to get them wrapped up. That should keep most folks from being too greedy. Here—while you're waiting for Charlene, fill up a basket,” she insisted, and pressed a white bow with lavender polka dots into Ellie's hands. “Take one of those baskets over there and tie the bow on top. That's how Charlene knows the customer gave me an order form. Then just wander around and take whatever you want for yourself and your mother, too.”

“I couldn't do that. I didn't place an order, remember?”

“Don't argue with an old lady, especially when she's in charge,” Dorothy teased. “And tell your mother I've been thinking of her and praying she'll be feeling better soon.”

“Mother's actually doing much better. Thank you.”

Miss Gibbs smiled. “I'm glad. I've known your mother for a good long while, you know.”

“Yes, she mentioned that.”

“We weren't close friends, since she was a good four years ahead of me in school. But I do remember how much she wanted to be a teacher. She must be especially proud of you.”

Ellie clutched the bow a little tighter. “She wanted to teach?”

“It was all she ever talked about. Of course, back in those days, not too many girls in Welleswood went off to college. There was plenty of work in the factories nearby, though. But as I recall, your mother had learned how to type in school, so she ended up working in Doctor Ingram's office, which used to be right on the avenue where the dentist is now.”

“Yes, she's mentioned that,” Ellie murmured. “She always said how much she really liked her job.”

“She probably did a good job, too, which didn't help much in the end. Doctor Ingram still fired her.”

Ellie's eyes widened. “He fired her?”

“Right on the spot.”

“Why?” Ellie asked, anxious to learn the part of the story her mother had left out.

“The same reason other girls got fired from their jobs when they worked in offices. She got engaged. From what I heard, Doctor Ingram told her she'd have to leave when she got married anyway, so he didn't see any reason why she should stay, and sent her home the first day she wore her engagement ring to work.”

“That wasn't fair. Was it even legal?” Ellie asked, appalled that any woman would lose her job simply because she chose not to remain single.

“I couldn't tell you if it was legal or not, but it happened all the time. Oh, dear. Here come a few customers. Go ahead and fill up that basket. Charlene should be back before you're done,” she said before turning her attention to two women Ellie didn't recognize.

While Miss Gibbs explained the system to the newcomers, Ellie wandered over to the baskets and selected one with a white cotton lining. But she was preoccupied with the information Miss Gibbs had given her about her mother.

Why hadn't her mother ever mentioned wanting to become a teacher? Or talked about wanting to go to college? Ellie couldn't remember when she had not wanted to be a teacher herself. She had never played house as a child. She'd always played school. Yet her mother had never said a word about sharing the same career dreams as Ellie. And why hadn't her mother mentioned being fired from the job she always said she'd loved so much?

Was there some connection between the way her mother constantly criticized her and the fact that Ellie's dream had come true, while her mother's hadn't?