"Be near me, Lord Jesus..."
Saturday, December 4, 2004
Collette had received many ideas over Thursday and Friday, with some other notions that weren’t exactly to be considered ideas. The sun certainly failed to aid being happy about the day and such thoughts, but nevertheless, she was determined to rise above the sun and its troubling light. Right, she thought to herself. But anyway, sunny days could be OK.
Talking with Ivy on Thursday, several semi-marvelous thoughts came to mind. It was a Salt-House tradition to spend an evening in the early part of December, decorating the tree together as a family. And while the tree was thus being furnished with beads, baubles, and lights, Ivy would make all sorts of snacks. Collette imagined chocolate Chex mix, chocolate kisses cookies, sizzling golden fries with Ranch dip, a white grape punch, and little pizza bagels… And then once the tree and other decorations were complete, it was time to order pizza (maybe extra cheese deep-dish, and Insider from Pizza Hut… Collette’s mouth watered), while they watched a film. Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King, extended edition. Or maybe something more Christmasy, like White Christmas, or Meet me in St. Louis, or Holiday Inn. Ah, she thought to herself – that’s the life.
She thought, while sitting at her desk, of odd and rather quirky Christmas gifts one might give yearly, as the sort of strange artsy Great Aunt syndrome that might perpetually present unusable gifts, such as in Ivy’s experience with over-blown heart-shaped frosted glass Christmas ornaments, or candles in the shape of spiky snowballs… the sort you would gladly hand over as White Elephant gifts. Or the better way to go about giving gifts – a gift card exchange perhaps. Although why not just give each other twenty dollars instead? It was the same principle; however, Collette liked the idea of giving gifts. She also decided she wanted to be the type of grandma who placed a poinsettia in church in honor of her family or in memory of loved ones.
But on Friday, seeing an email jogged her memory of a small cafe she had visited with Mom, the kids, and Grandma Combs around Christmas the year before, called First Watch, in Chesterfield. Unfortunately it had the small town cafe appeal with faded country flowered paper on the walls, dried weed and blossom arrangements in hanging baskets, small votives on the tables, white bone china coffee cups, and rather dusty looking stained glass on the doors. It needed a stormy nautical look, a sailor atmosphere, lighthouses, ships…
She also had the sudden inspiration to design a textbook with all text on the righthand side and drawings or a diagram, cartoon, or fascinating fact with illustration or picture on the left. She enjoyed reading only the right side of the book, she found. Perhaps because it was closer to turning the page, and moving onto the next sequence…
After work OLeif picked her up and they sped off back to the house to drop off some extra donuts, a catalog for Mom, her gray sweater for Rose to borrow for church on Sunday, and pizza coupons. And later that afternoon after an hour and nine minutes or so of technical difficulties, Collette completed her exam on the psychology of adulthood and aging with an ‘A’, and stepped back out into the cool early evening. On the way home, they dropped by the park where her family (minus Rose who was babysitting and Carrie-Bri who was at work) was out for a walk. Collette had hoped some of Granny’s Donuts would be left over from earlier that afternoon when she and OLeif had brought by a quarter dozen.
Dad and the boys were playing football when they came up.
“You weren’t expecting any donuts to be left, were you?” Dad joked as he passed Francis the ball.
“Well I was kind of hoping… but I guess I should have known.”
Collette smiled about it. (Dad could never pass up the opportunity for a donut.)
“Well, thanks for bringing them.”
She nodded, and handed Mom a Victorian Papers magazine that had come in the mail.
“Here, Mom. I thought you’d like to look through this. And I passed my test.”
“That’s wonderful!” Mom hugged her and took the magazine. “Wonderful. Congratulations.”
“Very proud of you,” Dad came over and hugged her as well. “You’re almost there now.”
“Hopefully. Maybe six credits left. We’ll see.”
“Well, do you want to walk with us?”
“We’d like to,” OLeif cut in, “but we’ve got to head out.”
“OK then. Congratulations again,” Mom hugged her once more as they began to walk back to the car. “And thanks for the catalog. They sure do have some neat stuff in here.”
“You’re welcome.” Collette said. “We’ve got to head on and get Izzy to basketball practice.”
“OK, Adel, you better let them go now,” Dad came over and walked with the group to the car.
“Bye!” All the kids called.
“Are you coming over tonight?” Joe asked.
“Is Israel coming later?” Francis wanted to know.
“Hey, OLeif, look what I can do.” Linnea swung around on the monkey bars.
All questions were soon answered, and they were blazing down the road again to beat the clock.
Then it was Saturday, and Collette could feel the sickness coming on her. It was working its nasty little black self up her throat, that awful itching cold. She could almost do with a good book and cocoa, curled up on the couch, while the radio crackled out an old classic rendition of “The Holly and the Ivy”. However, the day was too bright and she would have to wait until nightfall. Even then, she wasn’t quite ready to succumb to lying down. She would battle it out awhile longer.
As she studied that morning with an oncoming cough, she came across a phrase on which she contemplated awhile, “Perhaps (your level of concentration on this text reading) is even effected by the number of people who are now singing in Tibet or the number of shrimp in the ocean.” She liked it because is brought back to mind that fact that everything was interconnected. Everything was effected by everything else, and it made her think deeply on the little things… the usual butterfly flapping it wings over the ocean spawning a hurricane. It was not widely believed, perhaps, but it was interesting on which to think.
It came to her in remembering, the previous day, how Carrie-Bri had taught Linnea since she was very little, a song set to the old prayer. Shirley Temple had sung the tune, but Carrie-Bri had put the two together. It was one of the sweetest things to hear the two sing it together as Linnea fell asleep at night.
“Be near me Lord Jesus,
I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever and love me I pray.
And if I were to die before I awake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.”
Ah, the good days… Collette could never get enough of the old times and the thought of new ones coming.
She yawned one too many times as she banged away on the keyboard. Perhaps a nice hot shower would be good, once she had walked across the street to pick up the mail. But first, she must record the second dream of Diana. The first had involved the stalker monster of a man, ugly and big and up to no good, who played cards with her during church – dark haired. Collette did all in her power to thwart his following her. Her anger toward him grew to be fiery hot, and he became so angry with her that she could almost see the burning red inside him… And last night, another man struck the scene with yet another head of dark hair…
It was night. A large crowd was gathered in a room, (almost L-shaped, the base of the L to the side being the kitchen) dancing, laughing, and mingling. There were large green-leafed trees with twinkling white lights in their branches. Ladies wore long silk dresses in roses and pale blues. To the side was an elegant kitchen of chrome with appetizers ready to be served. Collette soon realized that it was Diana’s wedding reception. And there she was, dressed simply and prettily, while her new husband made his rounds, greeting the guests, the life of the party, intelligent, tall in a tux, sharply cut black hair. Diana was on the side of the room, and Collette immediately knew she was not happy, although she was trying to hide it from her.
“Diana.”
“Oh, hi, Collette,” Diana’s arms were crossed uncomfortably, as she stood, watching her husband from afar.
“Hey, are you hungry? Let’s get something to eat.”
Collette lead her away from the crowd to the side of the kitchen, where a homemade Margarita Island pizza lay in a box. They each took a slice and began to talk. Diana admitted that she wasn’t happy. She asked Collette to help fasten an undone clasp on the back of her dress by her neck. As Collette fiddled with it, they continued to talk. Mr. Mather soon walked by to get a drink, deciding not to say anything to them, as he could see they were involved in a serious conversation. They talked longer, but the dream ended before a conclusion could be reached.
Meanwhile, the mail came, and after a nice hot shower, Collette sat down to examine its contents. On the cover of a new class schedule for the community college, she ran across several new classes – “Advanced Calligraphy” – “Braille I” – “Introduction to Grape Growing” – “Flying Saucers” and “Samba I”. Then her eyes stumbled upon something huge. There it was in black and white – the ad.
China & Tibet:
Natural & Cultural History
June 3-16, 2005
Itinerary and Cost: SCC’s first community study
tour in Asia will focus on the natural wonders and
cultural beauty of China and Tibet. Highlights
include Beijing (Tian An Men Square), Forbidden
city, Great Wall of China, and more); Chengdu;
Wolong; and Lhasa (Tibet – monasteries, tem-
ples, and more). Includes airfare, three-star
hotels, all breakfasts and dinners, private coach,
all admissions (per itinerary), professional tour
guide, and taxes. Price: $3,799 (based on group
size and double occupancy). SCC leader: Dr. Kevin
Patton.
It seemed perfect, but she would have to pass it on to the next best person who would appreciate it, and that would be Carrie-Bri. It would be an amazing trip. Carrie-Bri actually sounded excited over it, even though China was certainly not her ideal destination compared to others, but she was very interested, and Collette promised to bring the ad to church the following morning. Suddenly, her cold did not seem quite as harsh.
Later, Carrie-Bri came bursting into the apartment with several bags and her latest sun glasses and Mediterranean blue flip-flops. She was to spend awhile looking over the Chinese-Tibet trip while Mom and Rose shopped at the mall.
“Hi there. Brought us some hummus.” She set the bags on the coffee table.
“Great.” Collette pulled out the bag of pita and hummus. “Looks like Mom thought of everything.”
Also in the bag were two cartons of orange juice, a bottle of vitamin C, and two kinds of cold relief pills.
“Hey, what’s this one about?” Carrie-Bri asked about the “Little House” episode as she tossed off her shoes and snuggled down onto the couch.
“Oh, well, Pa just inherited a great fortune from his uncle in St. Louis who owns a carriage company,” she began to explain as she put the juice in the fridge, and brought out the cheese.
“Yuck!” Carrie exclaimed from the other room.
“What?”
“Mold, eeeww.”
“Nice.”
As it turned out, the cheese also had mold, but the offensive bits were shaved off, and they ate until they started tasting must. Meanwhile, as the episode ended semi-satisfactorally, Carrie checked out the trip and gave Kitts a call about it, leaving a message with Denae. She then ordered her sweater in sunflower, instead of the clover, and they talked over plans.
It was quite fun how many places Carrie-Bri had been to the past years. 1999-2001 had been family vacations – Michigan, Tennesse, the Tetons & Yellowstone. Then in 2002 she had traveled to New York City with Grandma Combs and Kitts. In 2003 she headed out to Kansas City, Graceland, and Gettysburg in one summer. Then that year, 2004, it was to Maine, New York City, and Washington D.C., and then to New York City again that month, and possibly China and Tibet that spring… she was a traveling girl.
In the Tetons, Collette had seen three spry young women with white hair, backpacks, hiking shorts and hiking boots. They had to at least be in their late 60’s, and they were headed right up into the mountains from where she had just come. Although she would love to see herself in such a position one day, she was certain that this was the only way Carrie-Bri could possibly be in fifty years or more, with Lucia and Elizabeth. Then she would return to tell Eve about it over tea and cakes, and to Kitts in her modest city home and grand piano and German professor husband. Carrie herself would be happily married to the man Collette wasn’t entirely sure she had located yet.
Collette looked up at her railway station clock – 5:49pm. OLeif should be home soon with a nice big can of hot chocolate mix. As much as she was a cold-drink sort of person, a hot drink would hit the spot for the day, as she had asked earlier, when she called him at work. He was such a darling big man – no wonder he reminded so many of a teddy bear. Of course, she wouldn’t want to offend his macho-ness, so she never called him so in public.
Outside, the night had come and the twinkly lights on the balcony glowed against the dark. Red Hot Chili Peppers came through the speakers and the four hundred tracks shuffled around. Not exactly a Christmas feel, but at that moment, her mind wasn’t set to Christmas.