Mary #4

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.

4

Mary and Lulu slept in the next morning getting up around 10.  Mary felt refreshed and hungry.  She was determined to go upstairs today to at least get a shower.  Even she could tell she didn’t smell too fresh.  She went in the kitchen and fed Lulu.  Then she turned on the coffee pot and made herself some bacon, eggs, toast and jam. She took it to her favorite place the rocker and watched as a stray cat was playing with Lulu. 

When she was done, she thought it's now or never.  In the house, she went.  Picked up some of the luggage and went up the steps, not even looking in the direction of her parents’ room.  

Down the hall was her old room.  She opened the door and stood in stunned silence.  Nothing had changed.  The beautiful mulberry, green and blue quilt was still on her bed.  All the shelves that her Pa had made for her angel collection were still up with all the angels still standing there. The pictures that she painted of angels that her Ma framed still hung on the walls.   The pink furniture  she decided she had to have that her Pa painstakingly painted even though her Ma said it looked gaudy.  It was all there just like it was waiting for her return all these years later to welcome her back home.  Home she thought.  Oh how I wish this could be home again and she started to choke up.   

"Now Mary" she said out loud to no one "Let's get on with this.” 

She put the two bags of luggage she brought up on the bed and opened the closet door.  Thankfully, there were hangers. 

She went to the dresser and opened up some drawers and there were things in some of them.  The bottom drawer was full of books.  She looked; there were Little House on the Prairie books.  She remembered how she and Ma would read those together before she went to sleep for the night.  Then there were the Nancy Drew books when she got a little older.  On the very bottom, she was amazed to see some of her old diaries still securely locked.  She looked through the rest of the drawer for the keys but couldn't find them. 

The next drawer she found clothes.  As she pulled them out, each one had a piece of paper attached with a safety pin with a year and said Mary's Christmas outfit. Some years they couldn't afford a lot of new clothes but her Ma always made sure she had a new outfit for Christmas even if that meant she had to sew one up for Mary.  It looked like her Ma had saved every Christmas outfit she had worn from the time she was born up until about the age of 10.  I wonder why she would have done that Mary thought. 

The last drawer was empty.  Mary put clothes in the drawer and in the closet. 

She then went into the bathroom and turned on the water.  She looked at the tub and thought what she wouldn't give to have a bathtub like this in her apartment.  Her tub was so tiny she could barely fit. 

She ran downstairs, let Lulu in, got a bottle of wine and a glass, went and got a Little House on the Prairie book and settled into the bathtub. 

"I might just stay in this bathtub all day"  she said, as Lulu settled on the sage green rug next to the tub for a nap.

Jimmy pulled into the driveway around back.  He looked in the window of the garage and saw Mary's car.  He went to the back door and knocked.  He waited a while and knocked again and no one answered.  He opened the door with his key and went to the car and got the four bags of groceries he bought and put them on the kitchen table.  He looked in the refrigerator and saw food.  That's just like Johnny he thought.  I should have known he would have already gotten stuff for Mary. 

All of a sudden he heard hissing.  "Lulu, your usual greeting to me, I see.  Even with Mary back, you still don't like me.  I wish I knew what I ever did to you.  Where's she at?”  Lulu took off and went upstairs.  "Mary, Mary are you up there" Jimmy yelled.

"Is that you Jimmy? I'm in the bath.  I'll be right down.”  

Jimmy sat on the couch.  He mumbled to himself  "A couple days, she's home and the house looks a wreck.   Some of her luggage is still down here.  It looks like she's been sleeping on the couch and there are dishes in the sink."  Mary was never one to do indoor chores he remembered; she always liked doing outside stuff.  I'll have to compliment her on the flower beds out front.  I can see that she's worked hard on weeding he thought.   

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