Chapter One, Episode Eleven - Middling - Situationally Theirs

May 16, 2020

Review, Edit and Update: 

The prologue, written on April 04, made me smile. According to that writing, I had already fixed any errors or typos in the previous episodes. I certainly missed a lot. I also found other missed details. I have repaired some sentence structure without losing the intent. Sometimes clarifying the intent. Thank goodness for the April 04 post! With that post, I recognized and fixed a ‘little white lie' regarding Dez' jail experience. ‘For this writer, keeping up with the details so this story doesn’t completely fall apart, is quite a challenge.’ I've started a log for many of these details as I find them. My entry for today is the childhood address of my two main characters. 

April 04, 2020

Prologue:

Before I wrote Episode Eleven of Situationally Theirs, I decided to go back over the previous 10 episodes to see where any glitches are. I am aware that this story is definitely no great literary effort, but I’ve tried to keep it together. However, after reading through the whole story, I found and corrected quite few errors and typos. I also found that Desperanza has some explaining to do. In the Episode Ten, Desperanza told her sister Emelina only part of the truth about her reason for being in jail. Emmie had to pick her up so she wouldn’t get moved to an even less hospitable environment. So in this episode, that little white lie of omission will have to get rectified. Even if it damages their fragile but budding relationship. For this writer, keeping up with the details so this story doesn’t completely fall apart, is quite a challenge. I am determined to see this story to its natural end. What started as an attempt to kick my muse in its imagination, it has rather mushroomed. Continuing with the story and with my usual writing exercises, this entire story has become a writing exercise! I am so appreciative of all who read this little saga. Here is the next instalment of Situationally Theirs:  'Middling'

Middling

Time moved so very slowly, unless the sisters explored their enforced solitude and their sudden reunion. Desperanza and her older sister, Emelina thought that they were just fine. Until the atmosphere in their kitchen ‘home’ started to thicken like Cook’s soups. Not as delicious though. In fact not delicious at all. They had become snappy with each other, as though they were teenagers and back in their old bedroom on 65 Penhurst St. Dez had taken to go out on walks. Emmie retreated to Digby’s room. 

Their self imposed two week semi-isolation was over. They still hadn’t contacted the Housekeeper, Martha or the butler, Digby. They had found all the staff’s email addresses, eaten supper, then set up both the Skype program and the Zoom program on the kitchen computer. That was two days prior to the confession that Dez had to make to Emmie. Since telling Emmie about why she had been in jail, she had gotten quieter and quieter. Despite her withdrawal, she had been very comforting that evening. Dez realized that Emmie had her own worries. Worries about her staff and her finances. However, Emmie shelved her personal concerns. It was unlike her sister to be that quiet for that long. Now Emmie was worried about how Dez was taking in all of their situation and what would happen when things go back to normal. Normal. There would be no going back, merely shaping this new normal they were in. Together.

“Emmie, can I talk to you?” Dez felt shy and far too young. So young she pull3e on her left earlobe the same way as her ten year old self. She did tell Emmie about jail, but it wasn’t quite the whole truth. She had tried to convince herself that it didn’t really matter. She had really just made it sound more innocent that it really was. She almost managed to believe it herself. But she couldn’t sleep very much, tossing and turning. Punching her pillow. Even crying at night. Earlier, it was her situation, being a guest in her sister’s home, not knowing whether her apartment would still be her own, where she would go…where her car was…..all of those things swirled in her head constantly. Until she neglected to tell Emmie she was a bank robber and a failed bank robber, at that. So there she was, in their kitchen home base, pulling on her left earlobe and waiting for Emmie to answer her.

“Of course Dez. What is it? You look really worried.”

“Well. There’s actually two things.”

“Two things?” 

“Well…..the tape has to go.”

“The tape?” Why is Dez worried about the horrid green tape that was on the floor and long servants table? This is very strange. 

“Yes. The tape. The two weeks are up and we can take the tape off of everything. We still have to keep our distance but we just don’t need the tape anymore.”

“Ok, we can do that before lunch. You said two things. What is the second thing?”

“I kind of told you a fib about why I was in jail. I was in Seattle that same day and a border guard did ask me where I was going. And I did say ‘to my sister’s’. And he did try to phone you. But the part about being taken into Hartley to jail and my car being impounded didn’t happen. Well, my car did get impounded but that was by the Hartley police after they arrested me at the bank.”

“The bank? Why would they impound your car because you were at the bank?”

“Well. I kind of was trying to rob the bank. But the money was just lying there. There was nobody there and I just thought…….if I hurried and just took some, Miss Prudhomme wouldn’t notice. Then there were these two weird security guards with strings of handcuffs and I was handcuffed to the desk and they sprayed me with Lysol. Why are you laughing!? This is serious. I’m a bank robber and I told you a lie to cover it up!”

Emelina had tried to stifle her laughter, but watching her younger sister become her little sister right before her eyes was just too much. Her iron control just melted away. If she could have hugged Desperanza then and there she would have. 

“Have you no idea how hilarious you sound? I’m sorry. You are serious, but you are not a bank robber and you’ve told me tons of stories since you were old enough to talk. And I’ve told you at least as many stories until our lives took different directions. Do I have to worry that the police will arrive to cart you away to a maximum security prison?”

Dez visibly relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. “No. Miss Prudhomme, she’s the bank manager, didn’t press any charges. She said being sprayed with Lysol by the two goofy bank guards was enough punishment.”

“Are you finished your tale of adventure, Dez?  I want to get back to that horrid green tape. It clashes with my beautiful blue cupboards. Which do you want? The tape on the floor or on the table. Maybe we should both pick up the tape on the floor ~ you start at one end, and I’ll start at the other.”

“Courage is found in unlikely places.”

~ J.R.R.Tolkien

Chapter One, Episode Ten - Comes the Dawn - Situationally Theirs

May 15, 2020

Review, edit and update:

Focused on Emelina, this piece was, in general, an improved bit of writing. I shortened a couple of sentences and fixed one or two typos. 

Comes the Dawn

Emelina really was a bit concerned about her sister, listening to her cry herself to sleep each night, something she had done as a child, tears never seen in the light of day. She had teased her sister unmercifully when they were growing up about being ‘a big baby’. Dez would inevitably get mad, throw something and run out of whatever room they were in. Their mom would call from whatever room she was in “You girls stop that fighting!” So they would ~ for a little while. 

Emelina had been sitting in Digby’s wingback chair in his room, reading. The book she had chosen, Pandemic Policies for Charities, was interesting but incredibly dry. While she was active in the whirlwind of functions and dinners for fund raising, she could read these sorts of books in no time. Dry or not. But since getting over the shock of no servants, getting a middle of the night call from a police officer and, in truth, getting confined to ‘her room’, she felt a change come over her. She was sleeping better at night. During the day, she felt calm, despite the pandemic fear that hovered. She and Dez were enjoying each other’s company. The last day ~ or was it two days ~ time was all muddled up ~ Emmie felt an emptiness in their kitchen home. And with that emptiness, tension had built up between Emmie and Dez. Emmie would retreat to her room, nap or read. She felt rootless and lost again. She had heard Dez go out. The light patter of rain against glass drew her attention to the bay window and the book shelf beneath it. Books on husbandry, Best Practices for Butlers, Managing Your Employer and Their Family, historical novels……..Some book titles that Emelina recognized and had read were mostly the novels. Rain and books comforted Emelina. She leaned her head into the chair and fell asleep, only waking when she heard Dez come in the house. The slamming of the back door woke her up. After disentangling herself from the throw wrapping itself around her numb feet, she had called out to her. She was certain that it could only be Dez, but a tiny part of her wished it were her staff and Digby. 

Digby, this kind man who had already been in her late husbands employment when they married. Who was he really? How was Martha? The rest of the staff ~ Cook, and Giles and….she couldn’t remember the names of all the others. Emelina was so busy with charity and community work that she paid little attention to all these people that took care of her every need. There would have been a day when she haughtily said “I pay them well, with good health benefits. They’ll be all right.” Today, she was feeling quite differently. For the first time she was truly concerned about their welfare.

 Emmie walked out to the kitchen, her tea had grown cold while she slept. “Dez. Now that you’ve told me your jailbird story, I have a sort of story of my own. I’ll need your help to really sort it all out. You’ve often wondered who Digby is, you sleep in Martha’s room and we’ve been enjoying Cook’s wonderful meals. I would like you to meet them. The board meetings I attend are often run on something called a Zoom program, I can text on my phone and Martha talks about ‘skypeing’ with her family in England. I think one of those could be used to contact my staff and find out how they are, but my computer skills are limited to texting, email and making phone calls with some research for the boards I’m on. Emelina actually was more computer literate than she knew.

The next short while was spent finding the email addresses of Emelina’s staff, accessing the best program. They decided to use Skype for Martha and Zoom for Digby. After they had spoken with both of them, Dez and Emmie decided which one was easier. Dez had been dying to find out about Digby, so jumped on Emmie’s requests almost before she finished talking, but Emmie had more to say.

 “Dez, I want to find out if they need anything and if I can do anything for them. They’re probably wondering if they will continue to be paid! And they’d never ask. I’ll check my bank to see what my own funds are…..oh, heavens, I hadn’t even thought of that.”

Emelina depended on Dez now, more than she had ever thought possible. Digby had always managed her house account. But her personal accounts? She knew how to access her own accounts but hadn’t for days. The money her husband had left to her had always been more than enough to retain all of the staff. Emelina sat down with the sudden realization of the responsibilities she had been neglecting and really not even realizing. Dez saw her sister was shaken, her face pale. She looked ready to cry. 

“Hey, sis. Slow down. We can get this all organized. It’s ok. We’ll talk to Digby and to Martha and see what they would ordinarily do. That will give us a good start.”  Dez stood up and stretched. Sitting at the table, on either side of the green tape but far enough apart, they had been working on the computer they had stationed on the counter. Emmie had the keyboard and mouse while Dez told her what to click on. It was a pretty arduous task. “ But right now, it’s getting kind of late. Between this screen scrounge and that walk I took earlier, I’m hungry. I’ll cook up a mushroom and egg scramble. We’ll have grilled cheese and ham sandwiches for supper. Ice cream with peaches for dessert? We’ll do more work once we’ve had good meal. ”

“You didn’t realize what was passing you by until 

you slowed down a little bit to get a better look.”

~ Karin Slaughter, Undone

Chapter One, Episode Nine - Big Girl Pants - Situationally

May 14, 2020

Update, Review and edit:

This took more reading, not just of this post, but back tracking to match up details. The biggest example was the reason Dez was in jail. Initially it was because of a bank robbery. This post identified that it was border issues. There were few typos, all have been fixed.

As I go forward in my reviews, it will be interesting to see if I recognized these inconsistencies and how I dealt with it. My hope is that I complete these updates for each episode daily, however sometimes I don’t have time! Very confusing in the increased down time foisted on us all because of pandemic restrictions.

Big Girl Pants

Desperanza was determined to maintain her sanity, worried that she was fast losing touch with reality while in her sister’s home. 

Only nights before she had been alone. She had no knowledge of her sister’s life or location. Any friends or colleagues had retreated into their own tiny bubbles. Her ill thought out ‘bank robbery’ had forced her into a bubble with iron bars - or was it something else? Where was the silver lining? Was there a silver lining? Her jail cell, small and cramped, had only a bench to sit or lie on. ‘Sergeant Eye Candy’ changed it all for her. Yes, he was extremely good looking and a nice guy, but he found her sister. Her older sister Emelina, who lived in a world so different from her own, had come to her rescue. Emelina’s home was completely opposite from that dark, cold jail cell. Dez remembered gasping at the spacious and well appointed kitchen. Tall cupboards. A long, heavy plank servants table in the room’s centre. Gleaming large appliances ~ refrigerator, stove, dishwasher and deep freeze. She had walked open mouthed to the refrigerator and opened the shining door. It was stocked full of fresh fruits, vegetables and meats, as did the freezer. The whole kitchen had taken her breath away. Dez was suddenly wide awake. Any memory of the cold jail cell vanished. “I could live here forever.” Did she really say that out loud in front of the sister? Emelina, that she hadn’t seen in years? In that early morning, this beautiful, well stocked and appointed kitchen definitely did not feel as small and cramped as that cold concrete jail cell. Dez felt like she could finally breathe. 

Dez had only been here for a number of days, not forever. She and Emmie had only been cooped up in the kitchen for just over a week. But it felt like forever. She hadn’t known whether she would like Emmie any more or if Emmie would like her. She hadn’t known if they’d even get along, but she had had to stay there. This stupid pandemic was to blame and the bug that was causing it was so small it was invisible to the naked eye. Dez guessed that was why that Digby guy called it an Invisible Menace. Last night, she and Emmie had shared a pizza. Cook’s meat pies were delicious but Dez couldn’t eat one more bite. She wanted ooey gooey cheese and a crispy crust. But even that didn’t satisfy her

Dez had to get out of the shrinking kitchen walls ~ and by herself. Several times, she and Emmie would go outside together, still maintaining that six feet of distance between them. Sometimes more. They had gotten quieter and quieter. Their lives were so incredibly different. Emmie had become this high and mighty society person. And who was she? A failed artist whose apartment was locked up. She couldn’t even get any of her things until after the pandemic was over. And why was she in jail that night when Emmie picked her up? She was getting a headache trying to figure it all out, knowing she should stay, wanting to run away and on the verge of tears again…Again! 

No. This cannot happen. I will not let Emmie see me bawling like a baby. She used to tease me when we were kids when I cried at nighttime. I won’t let her pull her princess stuff on me anymore. It’s time to get my big girl pants on and get outside. 

~~~~

Emelina was in her room reading one more book. She didn’t hear Dez put her jacket on and sneak out the door and closing it quietly behind her. The tiny click of the latch was hidden by classical music streaming from Emelina’s door. Emelina sat up in her chair, her book on the table beside her. It’s so quiet in here. It’s always quiet, but it seems…quieter. Picking up her book again, she curled up in Digby’s big wing chair, pulled a throw over her feet and continued to read from Pandemic Policies for Charities. Emelina was very involved with community charities so thought it may be interesting. Published two years before this particular pandemic, she had promised that she would read it. She bought a copy when it came out, but never did find the time to read it. Slowly the book dropped into her lap, her head leaned against the chair’s wing. She dozed. The back door slammed. Emmie dropped her book, her feet tangled in the throw. Trying to stand up she almost fell, her feet both numb, but she steadied herself on the arm of the chair. “Dez. Is that you?”

“Yes, it’s just me. I had to get out for a walk. I was going stir crazy in here.”

“Why didn’t you call me? We could have played another game of Canasta.”

“I didn’t want to call you. You are part of what’s driving me crazy! But I’m ok with you now. I just needed some fresh air and real alone time.This isn’t my house and I don’t have any of my things. You’ve been really really good to me, but you are my sister…….Old sibling rivalry stuff!

And, I remembered why I was in jail.”

“I was going to ask you about that but decided  you’d tell me if you wanted to. So do you want to?’

“Well, it was like this. I had been down in Seattle with this pandemic thing hit. I didn’t know that Washington State was hit really hard and fast, so I just got in my car and went on my merry way back home. I got stopped at the U.S/Canada border. The border guards were all dressed in …what do they call it….protective gear. A couple of them wore masks. When I was asked where I was going, I just told them ‘to my sister’s house. It’s a surprise visit - she doesn’t know I’m coming.’ I didn’t tell him that my sister hadn’t seen me for at least 10 years and didn’t even know if I was still alive. The officer in charge, a big guy with a walrus moustache said ‘Well Miss….Miss Eliot is it? Give me her phone number and we’ll surprise her right now.’ It’s a good thing I had your phone number and that you hadn’t changed it. I would really have been hooped then. “

“But what about why you were in jail?”

“Be patient. I’m getting to that part. So then he tried to call you but there was no answer. Walrus Moustache called over one of the other uniforms. ‘Kenny, take this woman into Hartley for the night. We’ll impound her car and her sister can pick her up as soon as she can.’ I was really p.o.’d. I had no idea what was going on. So then he gets all ‘ma’am’ with me. He explained about the pandemic and the border rules that were constantly changing. He said he really didn’t know what to do with me except send me to jail. Then, when I got to the jail this really gorgeous piece of……..I mean this very clean cut looking officer took over. He apologized for ‘providing you with such cramped quarters’ and then he started researching your phone number. I tried to tell him it was on my cell phone in my purse that they confiscated but he seemed to have more good looks than good sense. So….that’s my story about why I was in jail. My brain got all fuzzy getting stuck in here, with my best big sister, green tape on the floor and having to wash my hands every time I turned around.”

“I’m glad it was nothing big. I would hate to think I was living with a dangerous criminal! ............Look, I have been trying to read, but fell asleep while you were out. I’m going to make myself some tea. Do you want some or can I push the buttons on that coffee machine for a cappuccino or latte? By the way, Dez, I cheated. I used a pretty butterfly sticker on the calendar ~ I didn’t draw a thing.”

“I have noticed that in a cramped space 
one’s thoughts too tend to be cramped.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky,  The Insulted and Humiliated

Chapter One, Episode Eight - April Fools - Situationally Theirs ~ DETERMINATION ~ Theme for April 2020

May 12, 2020

Update, Review and Edit:

My usual first of the month post, based on a writing exercise, have sentences that were extremely long and convoluted. Many years ago, author Naomi Wakan was a guest at our writing group. She had us each write a long sentence. The we were to repeatedly shorten this sentence. The goal? To maintain the original intent, but be more concise. At the time, I did not see its value. Today, with still much to learn, I am very grateful for this lesson. 

This entire ‘story’ has become a daily writing exercise in word crafting, timelines, relationships…..and the many details of story. I appreciate everyone that reads my posts as well as the comments that I receive.

April 01, 2020

**At the beginning of each month I change my theme and try to depict different nuances of it throughout the month. For April, I move from Challenges, March’s theme to Determination, April’s theme. Determination is something we all need in this very confusing, strange time. 

As a writing exercise, I write a partial sentence or stem beginning with each letter of the chosen word. This month I’ve done it just a bit differently by writing a full sentence that follows my story line in Situationally Theirs. I’ve also added more to the story once I've completed the exercise but have more to say.

April Fools - Episode 8

Desperanza was determined to maintain her sanity, worried that she was fast losing touch with reality while in her sister’s home. 

Emelina was a bit concerned about her sister, listening to her cry herself to sleep each night, something she had done as a child, tears never seen in the light of day. 

Time moved so very slowly, unless the sisters explored their enforced solitude and their sudden reunion. 

Even so, Emmie would put her book down and stare off into space, and Dez would hold her paint brush in mid air studying the edge of the canvas. 

Rest, once a luxury, for these two single women were confined by pandemic mitigating policies, seemed all that they did anymore. 

Music, however could transport them, lift their hearts into its flow, lift their feet off the floor to get them moving and feeling normal again. 

Interest in the outside world wavered, as they became engrossed within, yet often one or the other would sit outside as the weather warmed.

Naturally, they did gravitate to this fresh, clean outside world to explore, sit in the sun, tidy the gardens, or run on the gravelled track on Emelina’s grand estate. 

As each day passed, Dez realized, or at least thought she did, that purpose on this earth was not to be doing all the time, but just to be. 

“There is no doing.”

“ I didn’t hear you, Dez, you said something about ‘there is no doing.’ ?“

“Over and over I look for something that I should be doing, but then I stop and realize that none of that ‘doing’ is unnecessary unless I want to do it, except of course to eat and sleep. “

“Now I understand why you’ve been so upset; it’s the same uncomfortable, restless feeling I’ve had when I look at the calendar seeing only empty squares where Board meetings and Charity activities filled every hour of my day.

~~~~~

“OMG! Listen to us being so mopey and serious. Here’s a plan to do and be something quite unnecessary and silly. And….it will let us know what day it is. I keep losing track - it could be Sunday or Tuesday or any day. Here’s the deal. I draw something in the square on the calendar on one day - I’ve already done it for today - and then the next day you draw or paint something. It can be in colours, black and white, or paints. If there was something written in that was cancelled you get to draw over it. If there really is something scheduled you get to draw over or around it. What d’you think?”

“It sounds like it might be fun.” Fun was something Emelina had almost forgotten in her rounds of meetings and functions. There was always a purpose to everything she did. If there was a purpose to Dez’s crazy idea, it would be just to……….what……have fun? 

“So tomorrow is my day to fill the calendar? Can I start tonight?”

“That’s your call. Just as long as it’s ready when I get my cell phone camera out in the morning. What do you want for supper? We’ve got your Cook’s frozen pizza or her frozen meat pies.”

“Mix a little foolishness with your prudence: 

It’s good to be silly at the right moment.”

~ Horace

Chapter One, Episode Seven - Colouring - Situationally Theirs

May 11, 2020

May 11, 2020: Review, edit and update ~ When I review these early episodes, I expect to find typos and sentence structure issues. I also expect to find timeline issues. What I don’t expect is that I have, unknowingly, created a bigamist! Giles, the chauffeur apparently has two wives! How do I resolve this?  Is he a bigamist, did he and Martha’s daughter divorce? Do I simply change his character for this piece? Or….and this seems to work…..Giles has a brother Marc! Will this affect later posts? Before attempting any change, I did consider all the different relationships over what is now up to 47 episodes. How might each possibility affect this rather meandering story line? A story line that was only beginning to emerge.

Colouring

Dez and Emmie were down on the floor. Dez sat cross legged. Emmie leaned up against her end of the long kitchen table. Each had coloured markers, pads of paper and pencil crayons. Still trying to divide them up, Dez insisted that they wipe them down with the disinfectant she had found. There were a few colours that didn’t have a twin so there was a bit of fuss over who got which odd-man-out pencil. 

It had been several days since Emmie’s late night trip into town to pick up Dez on a street corner after being let out of jail. Emelina had been deserted by all of the estate’s staff. They left abruptly because of what Digby, Emmie’s butler, called the Invisible Menace. Emelina, or Emmie as Dez knew her, was left feeling completely helpless and very lost. That middle of the night call to rescue her sister, not seen in many years, shook her out of those feelings of loss. 

Emelina woke earlier than usual, still somewhat disoriented when she looked around Digby’s room. Very masculine, it was a combined office and sleeping room. Sitting on the side of the little bed, Emelina looked around her. She stretched and yawned discretely. Exercises. If what Dez has said is true, I won’t be going to the gym. At least I can exercise here. Emelina, dressed in silver grey skin tight leggings and matching sport top, stretched, twisted and touched her toes. Missing the thumping music from the gym, Dez helped her find a Youtube video on their computer. Today, she reflected on all that had happened in the days while in the midst of it all. She had learned quite a bit more about the pandemic that gripped the world. She learned how to make her own morning tea ~ Dez, never up that early, had told her big sister in no uncertain terms that she was not one of the servants.

Dez had told her they were to maintain a greater distance from each other for fourteen days because they ‘didn’t know each other’. She explained it in much greater detail to her, trying to remember all of Dr. Bonnie Henry’s nuanced cautions on CBC. So, together but apart, they completely reorganized Cook’s kitchen to keep their distance and at the same time, live comfortably. Each had their side of the cupboard counter top, sanitized with Lysol each day several times ~ Dez was a bit stricter than Emelina, but Emmie was still learning. She smiled at all the directions her sister Desperanza had given her. ‘Go into Digby’s bathroom and see if you can find a thermometer, and any gloves. I’ve already checked Martha’s bathroom. She had them both ~ a child’s thermometer topped with to rubber ducky head and white cotton gloves. Emelina could only find a regular thermometer and Digby’s leather driving gloves. When Dez took food from the refrigerator, she wore the white gloves. When Emelina took the food from her, she wore the driving gloves. The biggest rule ~ Stay Home ~ was the first of many details to keep safe in this time of a pandemic.

One day, after her You-tube exercise video was over, automatically the next video came up. It was a demonstration by a nurse of sterile technique. Emelina recognized some of it from listening to her surgeon friend expounding on what was needed, and why it was all necessary.

“Desperanza! Come here! Watch this young woman tell us how to handle food from the store!”

Dez came out of her room, which was the Housekeeper, Martha’s room. A big towel wrapped around her head, wearing wrinkled orange and brown plaid pyjamas, toothbrush in her mouth, she mumbled something unintelligible. Dez toiletries were in short supply, but she still had a few things stuffed into her oversized bag from a pre-pandemic overnight trip. Emmie had brought all of her things Downstairs from her room Upstairs. Unhappily she realized she would probably have to stay in the servant's quarters. Desperanza had little with her, so would be doing a lot of laundry. 

Dez ducked back into her room to the ensuite bathroom. She re-emerged into the kitchen minus toothpaste and toothbrush, wiping her hands on a hand towel. “I’ve seen that girl ~ she must barely be out of nursing school! That’s where I got the idea to put tape on the floor. I figured that if it was good enough for groceries it would be good enough to keep the two of us separate. Remember that argument we had when we were kids? You didn’t want me on your side of the room so I wouldn’t contaminate your precious and way too neat things. I really couldn't care less but it was ok with me if we kept away from each other. You really were kind of mean sometimes.”

“I’m sorry Dez. That was such a long time ago. But let’s make it a game instead of an argument, and it will only be for a couple of weeks. So, what else did you find in Martha’s room? I know you went through all her cupboards.”

“I left her dresser alone. The one with her private things. But those cupboards were another thing. Does she have kids over sometime?”

“Martha has grandchildren. Her husband, the chauffeur before Giles, was quite unhappy here and left her a number of years ago. They had one daughter who, as it happens, married Giles’ only brother Marc. Joanie and Marc have two very lovely children ~ a boy and a girl. They do come over sometimes for sleepovers when I need Martha to stay overnight. She has collected quite an assortment of toys and colouring things. Why? What did you find?”

“I found treasure! Pencil crayons, watercolour crayons, colouring books, paints and paintbrushes! Paper for water colour and just plain paper. Are you busy today?” 

“Why, no I’m not. My calendar has been cleared for me so what do you suggest?”

“Well. We have to sort through all the colours and paper. You get half and I get half. But there’s only one rule: no fighting over the best colours. We’ll use that ‘sterile technique’ from the video to sort them. There’s not a lot of doubles so there may be some picky fights. ”

Emelina laughed and said “I’ll try to play nice. What about you?”

“We can let circumstances rule us, or we can 

take charge and rule our lives from within.”

~ Earl Nightingale