Almost There
“James! You’re here early. The last time I saw you here this early was when Mr. Michael was still alive. He had us all running to keep up with him.” Elizabeth arrived on the dot of eight as always. Before she opened the door, she could smell coffee brewing. Miss Em was seldom down for her coffee before eight. But, she supposed, her employer had been surprising her for quite some time now. Walking into the kitchen, it was James sitting at the table, studying what looked like old letters.
When she spoke his name he sat up slowly, still reading and looking at his friend all at once. “Oh, good morning, Elizabeth.” Setting the letter down, he returned to his reading. “Good morning to you, too, James.” She chuckled. “I’ll just put the kettle on for my tea.” Leaving him to his business, kettle on for tea, she put on her apron and set out her tea things. Humming an old Irish jig her father used to whistle, she set bread to rise, wrote her grocery list to give to James and set the refrigerator to defrost.
~~~~~
“Elizabeth, when did you come in? Do you want some coffee? It should still be fresh.” Neatly stacking the old letters from his brother, he set them aside. He had planned to get into the office and get to work. There were business phone calls to make, Elizabeth was certain to have a grocery list for him, and it was approaching tax time. When he saw her, he decided it was a perfect time to ask her about the letters she used to write to her sister in England.
Washing down the refrigerator, Elizabeth stopped abruptly. A crooked smile creased her face. “James Digby. We already said good morning to each other. I’ve been working away here for the past hour and a half ~ and not quietly. What on earth has got you so distracted?”
“My brother’s letters from years ago. I told you about Thom and his wife ~ well his partner ~ coming in a few days.” Elizabeth put her cleaning rag down, washed her hands and poured a second cup of tea. Picking up the plate of cookies she had readied, mug of tea in hand, she joined her friend at the table. “I wanted to read through them to see if I could tell why we stopped writing. You and your sister ~ Lily? ~ wrote to each other for many years. You always seemed to enjoy it. Did you ever lose track of each other over all those years?” His face drawn and tight, Elizabeth realized how serious he was. Taking a healthy sip of tea, she thought for a few seconds. “Well, occasionally there were long periods of time when we didn’t hear from each other. One time it was almost two years. When I finally did get her letter, it was dated the same day that I wrote to her! But James you do know that sisters can be very different from brothers.” She laid her hand on his arm. “You have brothers, Elizabeth? You’ve never mentioned them.” She laughed aloud. “No, but I do have four uncles. My father and his brothers seldom wrote to each other. When any one of them did visit, it was so much fun to see them laughing and joking like they’d never been apart.” James face relaxed. Standing, he went to the counter and refilled his coffee mug. “That’s good to hear, Elizabeth. I do hope that Thomas and I will be the same. Now, I guess I’d better get into my office.” Coffee mug in hand, he turned to go. Stopped and turned back. “Did we really speak to each other when you came in?” Elizabeth laughed out loud. “I’d best get back to work as well.”
~~~
“It’s not far now, Sonja. When we get on the ferry, we may be able to have a good meal and walk out on the deck. Feel the ocean breeze. Haven’t felt that for a long time.” Thomas smiled at the memory. “You miss it, don’t you Thom? You’ve never mentioned it before. In fact, I don’t ever remember you talking about anything except that you had a brother. If we did get close to anything before you met me, you changed the subject.”
“That’s crazy, Sonja. I must have said something.” The road had been long. The closer they came to the coast, pockets of snow and yellowed grass belied the winter they had just come from. Blue skies were replaced with clouds, grey and thick. Sonja was not sure she liked this part of the country, but kept quiet. Thom’s face was relaxed in a way she hadn’t seen before. He was leaning forward as though he couldn’t get enough of the west coast skies, the road wet from rain, and traffic almost bumping each other as cars sped by. “There’s the sign for the ferry, Sonja. We’re just about there! Traffic’s picked up a bit since I was here last.” Sonja laughed. “Really. It’s terrible Thom! I’m glad you’re driving. All this whizzing past and around us, I’ll be glad to get on the ferry! Is there a gift shop?”
“There wasn’t much of one years ago. It was before the B.C. government took over the running of ferries. In some of James last letters, he mentioned something about political controversies. Nothing about gift shops though. I did a quick search on the net for B.C. ferries. Now there’s not only a gift shop, but a dining room. The trip across is about an hour and a half ~ I think it was longer back then.” He fell quiet, paying attention to the road and revelling in the long lost feeling of home. Sonja, taking a cue from her husband, leaned her head back and settled into her seat. He was becoming younger before her eyes.
“how sad and bad and mad it was ~ but then, how it was sweet.”
~ Robert Browning
