Laura Ray (Ray Series) (10 page)

Art was right. She needed a plan. She had no idea what that might be.

When John set things up, he bought the house in town for her to live in and raise the children. He set aside money for both of the children to have a college fund. They lived on the other portion.

John didn’t count on the hospital bills. Maybe he planned to die at home and never go to a doctor. Maybe he thought that the old pickup would last her the rest of her life. Maybe he thought that she would never need another car.

She remembered him saying, you have everything you need except eventually you will need to get a job to help pay for food and utilities. Seems like John thought she would walk to work and never need a car.

She cried out in her heart, ‘Guess what, John. I need more than that. I deserve a life, too!
Not just an existence!’ She wanted to cry. She wanted to hit something. She felt like a butterfly breaking out of a cocoon.

She went to Nora’s room and put on a pair of her jeans. They fit nicely. She rubbed her hands down her body as she looked in Nora’s mirror.
She felt proud of how trim she looked. John never wanted her to wear pants, but John wasn’t here anymore. She put on some socks and snickers and went into her room and tied her hair up into a ponytail.

She felt energized she bounced in her snickers wondering what she should do. She went out the front door and started jogging down the street. The neighbor’s stopped and watched her but she didn’t care. This was her life now!

Laura didn’t realize that she looked so much like Nora running down the street in Nora’s clothes that they were checking to see if Nora was home. Laura wore her blonde hair barely past her shoulders but who knew, Nora could have cut her hair now that she was all grown up.

By the time she reached the end of the block, Laura was breathless and felt a twinge of pain in her left ankle. She walked until she regained her breath and jogged some more
. Soon she found herself at the cemetery. She stopped to catch her breath again, she didn’t intend to come to the cemetery but maybe she did. Who knew? She did need to talk to John.

She walked up to John’s tombstone and expected to feel that overwhelming grief that always hit her. Instead she felt sadness.
John had always been there for her, they had been good together. She knew that he loved her completely and she had returned that love. She felt sadness about what life could have held for them but it had been snuffed away by his bad heart.

She stood loo
king at the head stone. John Ray born Mar. 25, 1917, died Jan. 30, 1957. She put her hands on her waist enjoying the feel of her slim figure.

“John, I wanted to tell you that I want to start dating again.” Strangely she felt no response from him. “I am going to start finding things to make me happy. I still love you,” She felt a catch in her throat, “but, John, I’m not dead yet. I need to live.”

She whirled to leave before John could say anything to her. Actually, it surprised her by how quiet John’s grave was. Then it really hit her, John was dead and she was alive. She was free from the past.

She walked slowly toward
home. The afternoon sun hit the houses on the east side of the streets. She didn’t think that she had ever taken the time to actually look at the houses before. The sun shining on the painted house lit up in vibrant colors. Some of the trees which framed them were evergreen trees such as pine, cedar, even some magnolia scattered around also reflected the sun’s rays. She noticed some of the holly shrubs and other bushes which maintained leaves. She saw shrubs whose leaves blazed in fiery reds, oranges, and yellows. Even flower beds bloomed with little plants peeping through the mulch displaying violet and yellow flowers painted with a black streak.

Funny she thought I don’t remember seeing this much color displayed in the middle of December before. An idea hit her, she jogged the rest of the way
home and ran in to get her purse and hopped into the car. She drove to McClellans, the five and dime store, to buy a camera and film. Then she slowly drove through the streets that she earlier walked along. While the light was just right she wanted to take pictures of some of the houses she had previously seen. She carefully made sure the sun still displayed the glow that she wanted.

She purposed that on Monday after work she’d stop in at the drugstore and send off the film. Also she needed a sketch pad and colored pencils.

Danny came in later and did a double take. “Wow! Mom, I never saw you in pants before.”

Nora turned around from the kitchen cabinet with a happy face, “Guess what, Danny, you got a new Mom.”

Stating the obvious, Danny exclaimed, “You got your hair in a ponytail! You look like Nora!”

“Thanks, I think.”

Not ready to let this go, Danny exclaimed again, “Wow! This is cool!”

Nora threw back teasing, “I’m glad you approve.” She walked over and gave him a hug and kissed him on the forehead. This wasn’t easy since she had to tiptoe to reach his forehead now, a fact in which he was very proud. Often Danny had measured his hand to hers until one day he triumphantly showed her that his fingers were longer than hers.

Laura fixed them a quick supper and suggested as they cleaned the dishes, “Danny, I want to go to the movies tonight. What do you think?”

“Wow,” Danny said again. “I don’t know how I got a new Mom but I really like her.”

She reached up and ruffled his hair laughing.

The next morning Laura went to Nora’s closet again to find something to wear during the time that Art came to dinner.

She prepared the roast and set it in the oven to bake and turned her attention to making crust for a coconut cream pie. It had to be prepared early to cool before dinner.

She called Nora on the phone, “I wanted to ask you what you intend to do with your clothes in your bedroom?”

Nora answered, “I don’t know. I don’t really need them. Do whatever you want to do with them. Or you can box them up and I’ll take care of them the next time I’m there.”

“There are some of them I can wear now that I’ve lost weight, do you mind?” Laura asked hesitantly.

“Perfect, Mom. Wear anything you want.”

Laura smiled, “Thank you, I have.”

After their conversation she felt more comfortable about wearing them even though she knew that Nora wouldn’t care.

Laura just finished mashing the potatoes and thickening the gravy when Art knocked on the door. Danny opened the door and invited him in. Laura peeked around the door to the kitchen where she stood stirring the brown gravy.

“Hi,” she merrily called out. She saw that he brought another spring bouquet of flowers.

“You enjoyed the flowers I brought you last time; I hope a rerun is okay. I knew the other flowers I brought you were long gone,” Art said hopefully.

“Beautiful,” she said admiring the flowers.

He placed them on the table where she had set them the last time.
“Nora, you look stunning!” He admired the way that the new clothing hugged her slim figure.

“Neat, isn’t it?” Danny piped up. “I have a new Mom!”

“What’s happened? You have a twinkle in your eye I have never seen before,” Art commented taking it all in.

Laura glanced at him and laughed, “I metamorphosed.”

“Come again?” Art asked inclining his head to the side.

“I’ll explain later, how about dinner?” Laura suggested.

There seemed to be a different atmosphere in the house, a happiness that he hadn’t felt before. He could hear the stereo playing in the background but there was more to it than that, a vibrancy in the air or something.

Art suggested a drive out in the country after the meal. Laura recommended taking her car since Art only had a pickup. She handed her keys to Art
.
She’d let him do the driving so she could just enjoy the ride.

Art took a roundabout way to get to where he wanted to go but he didn’t want to be too obvious. First he went south to Chouteau on Hwy 69. He turned west on Hwy 33 toward
Inola, then took a right on Hwy 88 to Claremore. He headed back east toward Pryor, on Hwy 20 which he knew would take them by where John and Laura had their farm.

He knew he was being a little sneaky but he wanted to see Laura’s reaction. He needed to know if she was ready to let go of the past and let him in.

The nearer that they got to the farm the more that Danny chatted about it. Finally John asked him if he would like to stop for a minute and look around.

“Sure,” Danny said anxiously.

Laura sat there noncommittal. Art could detect some twitching about the mouth but didn’t really know what that implied.

Danny got out of the car quickly and began walking around. When any of them stopped by
the old farm they never went down to the house or bothered the people who owned the dairy farm.

Art asked Laura, “Do you want to get out?”

She pushed her lips into a fine line and shook her head.

“Too many memories?
Good memories? Bad memories?” Art questioned. “Am I prying where I’m not welcome?”

“Yesterday morning, I packed John’s clothes and took them to goodwill.” Laura said sadly.

“Oh,” Art said unsure of what else he should say.

“I went by the cemetery yesterday afternoon and told him that I had someone that I wanted to date.” She turned to him
with tears in her eyes, “Art, I told him goodbye.”

Art reached over, picked up her hand,
and brought it to his mouth to kiss it.

“I’m free, Art.” She squeezed his hand. “Remember when I told you right after you came today that we’d talk later? This is what I wanted to tell you.”

“This is why you were so happy? Why Danny said that he had a new Mom?”

Laura shook her head in acknowledgement, “I’m free to seek my own happiness.”

“You took me seriously,” Art humbly said softly.

Danny took that moment to knock on the glass, “Aren’t you getting out?”

Both of them in unison said, “No.” Then they smiled at each other.

Danny got back in the car and
announced, “When I grow up and become a football star, I’m going to make a lot of money. Then I’m going to buy our dairy farm back.”

“That’s good, Danny.” Art said appreciatively, “This place should be yours. I hope your dream comes true.”

On the way back to Laura’s house Art pondered that if Laura had wanted the farm back, he would not hesitate to buy it for her should they plan to marry. It appeared to him as if Danny was more interested in the farm than she was.

Friday after work Laura stopped by the drugstore to pick up her film. When she reached home she anxiously pulled the pictures out to see if they portrayed what she hoped to see.
Not many of them were as good as she hoped for, but three of them made her smile. She set them aside. They challenged her imagination.

Her favorite
picture showed a house shaded on the left by a huge magnolia tree and firs on the right. Shudders surrounded the windows of the house giving decorative detail. A pretty porch covered most of the front with tiny wooden scroll work in the corners.

First thing in the morning she promised herself when she felt rested and fresh, she would try to draw her favorite house.

Chapter Eleven

Danny moped around the house saying he felt bored.
Football season ended and he had nothing to do, “Would you mind if I join Uncle Art’s karate class at least until baseball season starts?” he asked pitifully.

“I
don’t know if Art has his karate building ready to start classes or not. I haven’t heard him speak of it for a while,” she commented.

“Is it okay if I help him build his classroom for his karate?” Danny pleaded.

“You must be really bored,” she laughed. “Sure. Call him and see what he says.”

Danny came back saying, “Uncle Art says he needs some helpers. He wants me to round up Aaron and Bobby and come to his building on Mill Street tomorrow at noon and he will have hot dogs waiting.
He wants us to paint the walls.”

Laura smiled imagining what those walls would look like after those boys got through with them.
Well, that’s Art’s mess. He asked for it.

Early the next morning, Laura pulled out her sketch pad and colored pencils and la
id them on the table. She stood back a minute hoping she could meet the challenge. She propped the picture against a glass and started drawing. By the time noon came she had wadded up several sheets of paper with little success. She found a short ruler that so she could draw straight lines and soon decided that if she ever could afford this hobby of hers she needed to practice on cheaper paper for one thing.

She squinted at the last paper she tossed. If she could get the perspective right, the rest of it should fall into place. She analyzed her drawing thinking that if the vertical lines were parallel and the horizontal lines were parallel. She began to measure each line against the other and multiplying by three
, because she wanted the picture three times bigger than in her snapshot.