Mary #19

If anyone does Saturday Centus you might somewhat remember this story started as a centus.  In  June of 2010, I wrote a few chapters on Mary and then stopped.  I had so much to write about her, writing weekly for centus wasn't enough.  I then wrote and wrote until I had over 30,000 words so far.  In writing it though as I got further and further my original premise somehow got blown out of the water, ha, ha. I stopped writing her story in March of 2011.   I still haven't quite figured out how I'm going to work this out but I thought I would put out what I have so far.   Please remember this is a really rough draft and when I wrote it, I had no chapters.  Before I decided to put this on the blog I had to go back and figure out where I could make them.  I would suggest this is a terrible way of doing it lol.  The first chapter started on March 23rd, 2012.

 

19

Mary decided she would pamper herself until Eli came with supper.  She lit the fire in the fireplace.   She went upstairs and turned the water on in the bathtub and poured some of the lavender bubble bath in the water.  She pulled her hair up in a ponytail and got in the tub.  She thought when I get done, I'll wash my hair in the sink and maybe I'll keep my hair down tonight.  Maybe I'll even curl it a little she thought. 

Her thoughts turned to Sherry.  She wondered what it would have been like to have grown up with a sister.  It was strange now when she thought back, it always seemed like something was missing but she always pushed those thoughts away.  Maybe she would talk to Eli about it if she could work it into the conversation.  She would have to play it by ear.

After she was done bathing, she put on her robe and washed her hair in the bathroom sink.  She blew her hair dry.  Lulu was standing right by her feet and she took the blow dryer and put it towards Lulu.  Lulu ran away and Mary laughed. 

Mary went into the bedroom where Lulu was laying on the bed.  She went up to her and petted her and said, "Sorry, Lulu, I just couldn't resist" and kissed her on the top of the head and Lulu purred.  Mary looked at her watch and it would still be awhile before Eli came.  She went and got out a pair of jeans, a long sleeved white sweater, underwear, and socks putting them all on the bed.  It was too early to get dressed.  She then noticed the jewelry box.  She took it to the bed and started taking all of her grandma's jewelry out.  She noticed a little broach with pink roses and thought it would look lovely on the white sweater.  She put all the jewelry back in the box and left the broach on the dresser. 

She went down the steps and the fire had finally taken the chill out of the house.   She went into the kitchen and got some dishes and set them on the table for later.  Mary then looked out the kitchen window and saw it was still drizzling. 

"Lulu, looks like this rain is going to be here for the rest of the day.  I can tell fall is here.” 

She remembered she had packed away some votive candles that her Ma had.  She went to one of the boxes in the dining room and there were four votive candles, pumpkin flavored.  Mary pulled them out and set them on the mantel and lit them.  She sat on the couch bundled in the afghan and she could smell the air fill with the pumpkin scent and remembered.  She always loved fall on the farm the leaves on the trees turning red and gold.  Her Ma's mums getting so high and she would bring them in and put them in vases all over the house.   The fresh, crisp cool air and her Pa filling up the hay wagon for rides and the kids all bundled in quilts laughing.  Her Pa would build a bonfire and they would roast wieners and marshmallows. 

Mary looked at the time and Eli would be there soon.  She got up and went upstairs got dressed and put on her grandma's broach.  She looked at her hair and decided to just put it in a ponytail.  This isn't a date she thought, we're just going to have supper and talk. 

She went downstairs and she could see Eli's truck pulling in around back.  She went to the back door and held the door open for him.

"Hi" she said. 

"Hi yourself, it's nasty out there.  Are you hungry?” 

"I'm starving" Mary said. 

Eli put the bag with the cartons down on the kitchen table. 

"Are you baking pumpkin pie?” 

Mary laughed. "No way, Ma had some pumpkin candles so I lit them.  I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

"Oh, that's okay.  I got enough Chinese food that will fill us up.”  

"Let's fill our plates and sit in the living room" she said. 

They filled up their plates and Mary sat on the chair with the plate on her lap.  Eli sat on the sofa with his plate on the coffee table. 

"This is good" she said.  "Would you like a glass of ice water?” 

"That would be great" and Mary got up and returned with water for Eli, wine for herself.   

"I hope this rain stops.  I'm about ready to harvest the rest of my crop and take it to market.  I will be forever grateful to your parents for helping me.  They don't know how much it meant to me.  I wish I would have told them when I had the chance" Eli said. 

"I'm sure they knew and don't forget you were helping them too.” 

"Your dad taught me everything I know about farming.  Your mom would listen to me talk about Rachel and Andrew and cry right along with me for hours.  She said she knew how it was to lose a child but I never asked her about it.” 

This was just the opening she was looking for and she said "Did Pa ever mention it?”

 

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Christmas in July

It's hard to believe we're six months from Christmas.  Per usual, I have my cards and new calendars ordered and they should be here today or tomorrow.  I'm halfway done with my knitting for Christmas as well.

Yesterday when I went to see Mom, they were doing Christmas in July there too.  I got a candy cane from the activities person, ha.  They were having someone come later in the afternoon to sing Christmas carols.

I know it's early for a lot of people to even start contemplating Christmas but with everything that's happening in this world, it's good to take a break and think of something fun for a change. 

Mary #18.

If anyone does Saturday Centus you might somewhat remember this story started as a centus.  In  June of 2010, I wrote a few chapters on Mary and then stopped.  I had so much to write about her, writing weekly for centus wasn't enough.  I then wrote and wrote until I had over 30,000 words so far.  In writing it though as I got further and further my original premise somehow got blown out of the water, ha, ha. I stopped writing her story in March of 2011.   I still haven't quite figured out how I'm going to work this out but I thought I would put out what I have so far.   Please remember this is a really rough draft and when I wrote it, I had no chapters.  Before I decided to put this on the blog I had to go back and figure out where I could make them.  I would suggest this is a terrible way of doing it lol.  The first chapter started on March 23rd, 2012.

 

18

Mary finished cleaning up the kitchen and then went and turned the kitchen light off.  She noticed the bathroom light was still on.  She went to turn it off and noticed something on the sink.   Eli had left her note that said "If you want to talk give me a call and left his phone number.”  She then remembered her Ma always kept a paper and pen in case someone wanted to write something down. 

She took the number and put it on the coffee table and stared at it.  She thought about his baby, Andrew that died.  Maybe she could get some insight into what her Pa went through when Sherry died.  He might have some idea why her Pa didn't want her to know about it. 

Mary was getting tired and turned the lights off in the living room followed closely by Lulu and went upstairs.  She got into bed and thought about how she had dreaded the day when she got up this morning and it turned out pretty good.  As she was falling asleep, she thought she would read the rest of the diary tomorrow. 

When Mary got up the next morning, she could feel there was a little chill in the air and she could hear it was drizzling outside.  Looks like it might be an indoor day again, she thought.  She got cleaned up and put on jeans and a sweater, then went down and had some breakfast and fed Lulu.   

She put the dishes in the sink, grabbed a cup of coffee and sat on the sofa and turned on the TV.  There was really nothing on, so she grabbed for the diary and the phone rang. 

"Hello?” 

"Hi Mar, I have some exciting news.   Sandy and I are getting back together.  When I went over to have dinner, we talked for hours and she said how much she missed being with me.  I made it clear to hear that I didn't mind if we didn't have children and we're not going to get married right away but she's going to move back here with me.” 

"Johnny, that is so great.  I'm so happy for you.”

"Thanks, I've wanted this for such a long time.  I wanted to let you know because I'm probably going to be scarce for a while.  With moving her stuff back in and spending time together there won't be a lot of extra time.” 

"That's okay; you do what you have to do.  I'll be fine here.”

"I know you will.  Let me know if you need anything and I'll drop it off when I can.  I've got to get back to working but I didn't want to wait to tell you.  Talk to you later.”

"Bye, Johnny.”

Mary was smiling as she put the phone down.  At least Johnny's life seems to be getting on track.  Now if only she could get hers figured out and she picked up the diary and went to the page that she left off on. 

There were more pictures of Mary growing up and more stories up until she went off to college.  On the very last page there was this:  I don't know if I'll ever get it done, Mary, but I've saved every outfit from when you were little from Christmas.  I hoped to make a quilt out of them but with my eyes getting worse, I don't think that's probably going to happen.  If I'm not able to, you can do what you want with the clothes.  Also, you'll notice there are two newborn outfits.  One is Sherry's that we took her picture in and then kept with your clothes. 

Mary took the diary and ran upstairs to her bedroom.  She opened the drawer that had the clothes in it and started pulling them out and throwing them on the floor.  She got to the very bottom and she found two white identical newborn gowns.  Why hadn’t she noticed that there were two identical outfits before, she thought.  There were no names on them.  Mary lay on the floor and Lulu came to Mary and laid next to her while she cried.

After some time had gone by, Mary picked up the clothes and put them all back in the drawer.  She also tucked the diary in with the clothes. 

She started down the steps and decided she needed to talk to someone about Sherry.  At first she thought about calling Sadie but then saw the note Eli had left her last night with his phone number and she thought she would call him. 

Mary dialed his number and the phone rang and rang and then the voice mail came on.  Mary decided to hang up.  She couldn't leave him a message what would she say.  It was crazy to call him, she thought.  She didn't really even know him.

Mary went to the kitchen to make herself some coffee to get the chill off.  She stood at the kitchen window drinking her coffee mesmerized by the drizzle when she heard her phone ringing. 

She picked up her phone and said "Hello?” 

"Hi Mary, its Eli did you call?” 

"Yes, I did but I didn't leave a message.  How did you know it was me?”

"Well, it was an out of town area code, so I took a chance it might be you.  Could I help you with something?” 

"Well I" Mary stuttered "I saw your note last night and wanted to tell you I appreciated you leaving it.”

"Aw, it's okay.  It's kind of a dreary day out today.  I can't get much done on the farm.  What are your plans for the day?” 

"I really don't have any.  I'm probably going to light a fire and watch some TV.”

"What about to thank you for dinner last night, I bring some Chinese take-out over and we can have supper together?” 

"Eli you don't have to do that.” 

"No, I want to unless you'd be sick of seeing me two days in a row" and he laughed.

"That would be nice" Mary said. 

"Okay, I'll come by about 8 if that's not too late.” 

"No, 8 will be good.  I'll see you then and thanks” and they hung up.    

 

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Mary #17

If anyone does Saturday Centus you might somewhat remember this story started as a centus.  In  June of 2010, I wrote a few chapters on Mary and then stopped.  I had so much to write about her, writing weekly for centus wasn't enough.  I then wrote and wrote until I had over 30,000 words so far.  In writing it though as I got further and further my original premise somehow got blown out of the water, ha, ha. I stopped writing her story in March of 2011.   I still haven't quite figured out how I'm going to work this out but I thought I would put out what I have so far.   Please remember this is a really rough draft and when I wrote it, I had no chapters.  Before I decided to put this on the blog I had to go back and figure out where I could make them.  I would suggest this is a terrible way of doing it lol.  The first chapter started on March 23rd, 2012.

 

17

Mary went to the freezer and got the small pork roast out and put it in the microwave to defrost.  While it was defrosting, she got the sauerkraut out and put it in the roaster.  She wished she had put the corned beef in the crock pot like she had originally planned because it would be almost done by now but since Johnny wasn't coming she decided not to.  There just wasn't enough time to cook the brisket the right way.  That's okay; he seemed fine with having what I'm making.  She put everything together and put it in the oven.  

She went in the living room to straighten up a little bit.  She took the three diaries and put them in the magazine rack under the table lamp.   Folded up the afghan and put it on the back of the sofa.  She thought about getting the dishes out of the box for the dining room table and then decided not to. 

She went back to the kitchen and set the table with the dishes from the cupboard.  

Mary's phone started ringing.  She could see it was Sadie on the caller ID.  "Hi, Sadie" Mary said. 

"Hi. Sorry, about the other night.  Ralph had a question.  You know Ralph, he's such a worry wart but it was nothing.  How are you doing, you sounded a little frazzled the other night?” 

"To say the least, but it's nothing I want to get into now.  I'm having a dinner guest tonight so I can't talk long.” 

"Let me guess, Eli?  Boy that was quick" and Sadie laughed. 

"Yes, it's Eli but it's not what you think.  It isn't a date it's more of a thank you for mowing the grass type of thing.” 

"Whatever your say, I'll let you go so you can prepare for your non-date. I'll be expecting a call in the next day or two to hear how it went.  Have a good night.  Bye.”

"Bye" Mary said and chuckled. 

"Lulu that was Sadie again, she's always trying to fix me up with someone.  She thinks I'm the marrying kind, unlike her.  I think she read one to many Little House on the Prairie books; just because I grew up on a farm and Ma taught me to sew, cook and can vegetables, she thinks that's a marrying kind of woman" and Mary laughed while Lulu just looked at her. 

Mary looked out the front window and Eli was mowing the front grass.  She thought it'll be at least another hour.  She sat on the sofa and turned on the Home and Garden Channel and started to watch. 

After a while, Mary could see that Eli was close to finishing so she went in the kitchen and decided to make parsley potatoes for the meal.  When they were almost done, Eli came to the back door and she let him in. 

"Can I use the bathroom to wash up a little bit?” 

"Sure, go ahead.  Supper will be ready soon.”

"I'm starved" he said and went into the half bathroom. 

Mary took the pork and sauerkraut out of the oven and let the pork roast sit until Eli came out and sat at the table.  She put the pork roast on one of her Ma's old platters and put the sauerkraut around and put it on the table.  Then she placed the parsley potatoes in a bowl.  "Would you like water or a glass of wine Eli?” 

"Ice water would be great, I don't drink alcohol.” 

 Mary got two glasses and put ice in them.  She thought, she would have water too.  Hmm, he's a non-drinker.  There must be a story there.

She brought the glasses of water to the table and said "Let's eat.”  They filled their plates and started eating.

"So Mary, tell me a little about you.  I know you work in New York but other than that that's about it.”

"Well, there's really not much to tell.  I have a very pressure filled job so I'm pretty much a homebody.  I like to read, knit and do a little quilting but I'm not nearly as good with it as my Ma was.  I have one really close friend named Sadie and a few other friends.  I also love museums and antique shopping.” 

"You ever been married" Eli asked.

"No, I guess I never met the right guy yet" she said.  "How about you; you think you'll ever get married again?”

"I don’t know. Ever since Rachel and Andrew died, I've never even dated.” 

"Who’s Andrew” Mary asked.

"Oh sorry, Rachel died giving birth to our son, Andrew.  He was still born and then she had a heart attack right after he came out and they couldn't bring her back.  It was a pretty bad blow to lose both of them at one time" as a tear came to his eye.

Mary put her hand on Eli's arm and said "I'm so sorry Eli.  It must have been terrible.” 

"Yes, it was terrible" as he wiped the tears from his eyes.  "You know Mary, you got a way of making me want to tell you stuff I haven't talked about in a while" and he laughed.  She laughed too. “This is a really good meal.  Mind if I have some more?” 

"No, go ahead.”

Eli took a second plate full and then asked "If you don't mind me asking you a question, why don't you want anyone to know you’re here?”

Mary hesitated for a minute thinking what she would tell him and then said, "Something happened a long time ago that I'm trying to come to terms with, something that doesn’t only involve me.  I'm not ready to talk about it yet but I think while I'm here, I'm going to have to deal with it because the person it involves might be ill.  I'm just not sure what the right thing to do is and until I know, I'd rather me being here isn't known.” 

"I'm a good listener.  So, if you ever want to talk let me know.”

"Thanks, Eli.  I'm sorry I don't have any dessert.”

"This is going to be plenty.  I'm pretty stuffed now.” 

When they were finishing up Mary said, "Would you like a cup of coffee and go sit on the porch for a while.” 

"Thanks but I think I'm going to get going right after I’m done.  I have to get up early and do some things around the farm.  With Fall being here, I’ve got to start finishing up the farm before winter comes.” 

"Oh, okay" Mary said a little disappointed.

Mary was done eating and when Eli finished up, she started putting the dishes in the sink.  He went in the bathroom and he came out while she was putting the leftovers in the fridge. 

"I think I'm going to head out now" and Mary followed him to the door. 

"Thanks for staying for dinner" she said. 

He grinned and gave her a wink and said "Thanks for asking" and went to his truck. 

Mary went to the front window and watched as he drove out the long driveway.  She sat on the sofa and let out a big sigh.   That was fun she thought.   He seems to be a really nice guy.  
 

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Repeal & politics

Enough already with the repeal votes of the Affordable Care Act.  It's a waste of time. You know it's not going to be repealed at least for now.  We all know you don't like it.

I'm sure you could find something to vote on that there is common ground between the House, Senate and the President.  Seems to me that would be a whole lot more productive for the country.

Oh, and both sides.  I think my head is going to explode from all the adds already for the election in November.  It's only July for goodness sakes!!  I've already stopped watching the news.  Pretty soon I'll have to start boycotting TV, lol.  

Saturday Centus #114

The prompt this week is:  'He said.   She said.'   The major difference this week is that you ARE ALLOWED TO SPLIT THE PROMPT!  Geez.   Talk about easy.   I should make this much, much harder.  But I'm feeling nice.  So split away.   All dialogue.  Number of words: 100 words PLUS the four words of the prompt.   104 maximum word total.

Style of writing: Any
Pictures: Any additional you want to share

Check on other centus' here 

http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2012/07/saturday-centus-he-said-she-said.html

Prompt is in blue.

 

“He said she was the love of his life.”

“She said the same thing.”

“I don’t think they should be giving up.”

“They don’t love each other.”

“What?  They lived together for five years and suddenly after one year of marriage they want a divorce?”

“She wants to move back home but is afraid to ask.”

“So she has her little sister do it? I love being an empty nester especially now that your father moved out.  Why doesn’t she move in with you?”

“She would cramp my style.”

“Unlike me, huh?”

“Is that a no, Mom?”

“I’m not sure.”

Mary #16

If anyone does Saturday Centus you might somewhat remember this story started as a centus.  In  June of 2010, I wrote a few chapters on Mary and then stopped.  I had so much to write about her, writing weekly for centus wasn't enough.  I then wrote and wrote until I had over 30,000 words so far.  In writing it though as I got further and further my original premise somehow got blown out of the water, ha, ha. I stopped writing her story in March of 2011.   I still haven't quite figured out how I'm going to work this out but I thought I would put out what I have so far.   Please remember this is a really rough draft and when I wrote it, I had no chapters.  Before I decided to put this on the blog I had to go back and figure out where I could make them.  I would suggest this is a terrible way of doing it lol.  The first chapter started on March 23rd, 2012.

 

16

Mary had a restless night.  When she got up in the morning, she felt like she had been run over by a truck.  She felt like going right back to sleep but she got up instead, went upstairs and put some clothes on.  She came downstairs, put the coffee on and fed Lulu. 

She grabbed a couple of cookies and her coffee and started to head to the front porch.  She stopped, went into the living room, picked up the diary and went outside and sat on the rocker.  As she looked out to the road, she could see the fog starting to lift.  "It's going to be a beautiful day Lulu.”  She quickly turned past the page with pictures of her and Sherry and went to the next page and started reading.  As she read, each page was a different story about her when she was growing up and different things she had done or said.  There were also more pictures either by herself, with her brothers or with her Ma and Pa.  She laughed hysterically when she saw the picture of her and her brothers all making funny faces.  The laughter stopped when she got to the picture of her, Elizabeth and Lulu.  It was taken the day she found Lulu.  “I didn't remember you were that old girl" and she patted Lulu on the head.

Mary had lost track of time and looked at her watch.  It was close to noon already and she was already three quarters of the way through.  I should be able to finish this up in another hour or so.  She went back to reading and heard a noise and looked up.  She saw a black truck pulling into the driveway.  She remembered that's what color Eli's truck was.  She quickly put the diary down when the truck pulled up to the front porch.

"How ya’ doing Mary" Eli asked. 

"Pretty good, are you here to mow?  It looks like it's going to be a great day.’

"Yeah, I thought I'd get started.  The grass is getting pretty high.  I won't be bothering you will I?”

"No, go on.  I've got some things to do in the house.  If you get thirsty, give me a holler and I'll get you something.” 

"Okay, thanks.  I'll just go in the barn and get the mower.  See you later" and with that Eli was off to the barn. 

Mary picked up her stuff from the porch and went inside.  She put the diary on the coffee table and took her dishes in the kitchen.  She poured herself another cup of coffee and looked out the kitchen window.  She could see Eli on the riding mower doing the back. 

While looking at him, she thought he resembled her Pa some.  He was tall and slender and had curly hair like him.  Although she had to admit to herself, he was much more handsome.  He also had the bluest eyes she ever saw.     

She sat down at the table and remembered the diary and then decided to wait until later in the evening to finish it up.   She already had enough to think about.  She loved that her Ma made the diary for her but she still didn’t know what to think about Sherry.  She couldn’t understand why her Pa didn't want her to know about her.  Didn't she have a right to know?   Since her Ma and Pa weren’t here anymore, she would never get to ask them.  Then to see the picture of Elizabeth and herself, something told her she was getting signs that she would have to make amends with Elizabeth but wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it. 

Mary got up and put her cup in the sink.  She looked outside and saw Eli was way in the back of the property mowing.  She thought she would start packing up some of the dining room.  She went out the back door to the barn and gathered more boxes and some old newspapers she found and brought them inside.  Before she started, she put more records on the turnstile.  She added Peter, Paul and Mary and the Mama's and the Papa's.  The music started and she decided to tackle the corner cabinet that her Pa had built for her Ma.  She wrapped the knick knacks in the paper and put them in the box.  Then she headed to the buffet and started putting the tablecloths, napkins and dishes in the boxes.  She sang along while she worked and couldn't believe that she could remember all the words after not having heard them for years.

"Mary, Mary" she heard yelling at the back door.

She jumped to her feet and went to the kitchen.  There was Eli, standing at the back door with his hand bleeding.  "Eli, what happened?”  

"It looks a lot worse than it is.  I just need to wash it and put some bandages on it.” 

"Are you sure, maybe you need to go to the hospital?” 

"Trust me Mary; I was premed at one time.  Once it's cleaned up and I put some pressure on it, I'll be fine.”

Mary opened the door, turned the water on in the sink, and got a clean towel and some bandages.  When she came back Eli was washing his hands with soap, then took the towel and was holding it on his hand.  After a few minutes, Eli looked at his finger and the blood had almost stopped.  He took a couple of bandages and put it on his finger and said "See, good as new" and smiled. 

"What happened?"

“Oh, I did a stupid thing that your dad told me never to do.  There was some grass stuck in the blade and I reached my hand in without turning it off and got cut.  Right when I did it, I remembered your dad saying not to and I pulled my hand out but my one finger got nicked.” 

"Why don't you sit down for a while and have something to drink.  Do you want a coke?” 

"Yeah, I could sit for a while".

Mary went and got a glass and was pouring the coke and said "So, you were a pre-med student.  What happened, if it's not too personal?” 

"I was in pre-med before Rachel died.  We had this crazy idea besides farming; I would be a country doctor.  This way if the farm didn't make any money, we could still live in the house.   When she died, I didn't have it in me anymore and decided to try the farm on my own.  Okay, now I have a question.  Was that The Mama and the Papa's I heard playing?”

Mary groaned "Yeah, that's right.  I don't suppose you didn't hear me singing?”

He laughed and said "Of course I heard you singing.  You sounded great.  I haven't heard that though since I was a kid.”  

"Well, Ma and Pa played it for us kids.  I was playing it for old time’s sake.  Are you hungry, I could make you a sandwich or something?”

"I better get going with the grass.  I still have some mowing to do in the back and the front.  So, I'll be at it for a few more hours.  The weather guy said we might be getting some rain later and I want to make sure I get it all done.  I could use a sandwich when I'm done though if you don't mind.”   

"I'll tell you what.  I'll do better than that. Since you won't be done for a few hours, how about if I put on a pork roast and sauerkraut?”

"Great, a stick to your ribs kind of meal I would be very thankful” and he went outside.

 

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