Mary #35

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35

Mary tossed and turned all night seeing every hour on the clock.  At 5 a.m., she muttered to herself “Oh hell, I might as well get up.”  She put on her robe and went to the bathroom. When she was done, she quietly went down the steps so as not to wake Elizabeth.

She turned the light on in the kitchen and made herself some coffee.  She could tell by just looking outside it was probably cool but she longed to go outside and sit on the front porch to see the sun rise.  When the coffee was good and hot, she put on a woolen cap and took it out on the porch.  She sat down and felt the warmth of the cup in her hands while she watched as the sun rose.  Tears came to her eyes from the beauty.

“Mary, are you all right” Elizabeth asked as she came out with Mary’s grandmother’s quilt wrapped around her.

“Yes, I’m fine.  You know I don’t even bother to look at the sunrise when I’m in New York.  It’s not the same seeing it looking out over apartment buildings.”

“I can imagine.  Do you miss living here?”

“Yes, sometimes.  Mostly, I miss the quiet.  Here, I’m not constantly hearing garbage trucks, cars, police, and fire trucks.”

“I’m going to get myself some coffee.  There’s something I’d like to talk to you about” Elizabeth said and she went back into the house.

Mary wondered what she wanted to talk about; was it about Mitch, the cancer, why Mary didn’t keep in touch with her so much all these years.  She started to get leery about what it could be.

“Mary I had a hard time sleeping.  I was so worried about you” Elizabeth said as she came back outside and sat on the rocker.

“I’m going to be fine.  You have enough things to worry about.”

“I was thankful having something else to think about besides myself, not that I wish anything bad on you.”

“Gee you’re welcome” and they both laughed.

“Would you stay in hotel management?”  

“That’s pretty much what I thought about all night.  You know there aren’t that many jobs in my business and with what I was making, I probably would have to take a big cut in pay.”

“Have you ever considered owning your own business?”

“I don’t think I could afford to own a hotel.”

“No, I’m not talking about a hotel something smaller.”

“Like what?”

“I was thinking more like a bed and breakfast inn.”

“I studied a little about them when I went for hotel management but I would have to buy a home, and it would definitely have to be in a good location.”

“Or you could do it here.”

“Here, what do you mean here?”

“I was thinking you could turn your parent’s home into a B&B.”

Mary started to chuckle and said “Yeah, I’m sure a lot of people want to come to visit this town.”

“You would be surprised Mary. This isn’t something I just thought of, I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of years.”

“You have?”

“Mitch and I went to a lot B&B’s over the years.  I found I liked them much better than hotels.  I started writing down things I liked and didn’t like.  I always thought one day I would like to open one here.”

“What would people do here though?”

“People go to them for many reasons.  Some go to get away and relax and don’t even want to do anything.  You know we are not that far from Amish country.  Another thing I thought of was marketing it as a place to come to learn knitting and quilting.  The old arts are coming back you know.  Not everyone had a grandmother or mother to teach them like we did.”

“That’s true.  My friend, Sadie, thinks it’s magical that I knit” and we laughed.

“I just don’t know that I could make a living just doing that.  Besides, what would I do with all the farm land?”

“Rent it out.  There are still farmers that would want to grow more but don’t have the land. Maybe even your friend Eli might be interested.”

“Boy, you’ve thought of everything haven’t you?”

“Think about it Mary, it would be nice having you back home is all I’m saying. It’s just an option.

“Okay, I’ll think about it.”

“Good, I better get ready Jody will be here soon” and she went in the house.

Mary sat there thinking about everything Elizabeth had said.  It certainly would be a challenge.  She would have to do a lot of improvements to the house.  Could she afford to spend that much money if she had no job?  She wondered what Jimmy and Johnny would think. Lots of questions she had but no answers.  She decided she had time though and would start researching it.

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