Chapter One, Episode 78 - Lunch Talk - Situationally Theirs

Review, Edit and Update
A lovely short bit of writing, there were still a couple of missteps within which have been repaired. Wording and sentence structure were the culprits.

Lunch Talk

They were exhausted and it was only lunch time. Dez and Emmie had come in from the orchard for lunch. “Cook, is there any ice tea? I am so thirsty!” 

“Yes, Miss Dez. I’ve set your places at the table and the ice tea is already there. For both you and Miss Emelina. You two have been working hard this morning. What time did you get started?”

“It wasn’t as early as Samuel. He’d already done what’s a full day’s work for me when we got there at 9:00.”

“Oh, yes, girls. He’s up and workin’ before Martha and I even get to work at 7:30. He comes up to the house. Has a glass of tea. We visit while he’s here and then away he goes to do more fixing or planting or some kind of work on the land.“

Emelina took a big swallow of the cold sweet tea. Patting her lips with the napkin, she hoped to find out more about what Samuel knew. “What do you talk about when you visit in the morning?”

“Oh, the weather. What I need Samuel to plant. What my nephews are up to. Just the time of day. Nothing that would shake the dust out of the curtains.”

“That sounds positively domestic, Cook. Just you and Samuel having your morning tea together. Well then, I don’t suppose you talk about serious things. Like, the history of the island we’re on or where everyone came from in the early days?” Dez had often suspected that Cook and Samuel, the yard man, were more than just friends. Every chance she got, she just prodded a bit.

“No, Miss Dez. We just talk about ordinary things. History is too big for early morning talk. Where people came from? Just what are you………you’re teasing me again, aren’t you? You best be careful, Miss Dez. You haven’t had dessert yet and I know you love my homemade ice cream. Chocolate’s on the menu today.” Laughing, Cook started putting the creamy thick ice cream away. 

“Never mind, Cook. I really don’t need to know anything about those silly things. I’ll just take that ice cream off your hands.” Dez pulled a contrite face. “Emmie and I need to get back outside, so I’ll just stop talking and eat up.”

“Oh, all right then. Here you go….and you too, Miss Emelina. And I really don’t know much about what’s gone on. Just ask Samuel or Digby about these things. When you stop for a break in the afternoon, you just see if Samuel has a story or two to tell you.”

“History is Storytelling.”

~ Yaa Gyasi,  Homegoing

Chapter One, Episode 77 - A Child's Memory - Situationally Theirs

Review, Edit and Update
Again, an improved piece of writing. I'm a slow learner but I surely can learn.

I did add some detail in the first paragraph regarding the cook and the gardener at the time of Digby's memory.

All in all, I was pleased with this review.

A Child's Memory

“I was nine years old. The ladies and gentlemen were dressed all in glittering finery. The grounds, as the sun was going down, were beautiful.” Digby stood at the window in his office, looking out over the grounds. He turned to face Emelina, his face serious. “There were magnificent flower gardens then. You know, Miss Emelina, the old gardener then was magic with those flower gardens. And the vegetable gardens! Mrs.Childress, cook for Beaufort estate in those years, always had superb produce from those gardens. One of the first Samuels, the old gardener had even planted and tended a marvellous shade garden under the old redwood.” Digby’s face relaxed when he talked of the grounds.

“I must continue though. First of all, let me apologize for my behaviour last evening. I have kept my secret about the ghost, little Sarah, for over fifty years. I was shocked by your story that was almost identical to mine from decades ago. On that evening, the guests were having an early supper. Afterward, they were attending an opera in Hartley. At least that’s what Mrs. Amberton, the housekeeper said. A typical nine year old boy, the opera didn’t interest me. Father had allowed me to come with him for the evening, but I was to stay in the kitchen. And I did. Until Father came down to his office. On such evenings, Father always had more paper work to do.” Digby smiled. “Now it’s computer work not paper work…..That evening he told me, that if I helped Mrs. Childress clear away the dinner service, I could go upstairs. Of course I agreed.”

Emelina was getting a bit restless. She wanted him to get on with the story. Barely able to sleep the night before, she needed to know what had upset Digby so that he could barely function. “Go on, Digby.”

“Of course, Miss Emelina. Forgive me for wandering off topic.” Digby paced the room. “Mrs. Childress and I finished clearing away the dinner service. I told her I would stay upstairs to wait for Father. She frowned at me over her glasses. ‘Are you sure that’s all right?’ I told her that Father had said it was all right. She took the table cloth Downstairs to the laundry and I was left alone. Just as I had wanted. I strolled around the dining room, tugging at my sweater and then into the living room. I felt like the Lord of the Manor. I pretended to have a pipe in my mouth, looked over the myriad of books on the shelves and just as I was about to select one, I heard a sound like a chair scraping. ‘hello’.  I froze. ‘who’s there?’ ‘My name is Sarah. What’s yours?’

I could still hear Mrs. Childress and Mrs. Amberton talking. I knew Father was still in his office. I knew all I had to do was call for help and someone would come running. This Sarah sounded young and nice, so I turned around. A girl with blonde ringlets about my age, maybe a little older, was sitting on a dining room chair that had been pushed into the living room. Then she said ‘would you help me? I can’t move all this furniture by myself.’

 “I asked her why she wanted the furniture moved. ‘because the rooms are wrong. Nobody can watch me on my swing.’ So I asked her who changed the rooms. That’s when she said ‘soldiers and it always stayed.’ When I told her that it would make too much noise, she said ‘I’ll just lift them and you push them.’ It seemed to take only seconds. I was so tired and Sarah had disappeared. I didn’t know how to tell Father about her. I sat in the big wing chair in the new living room and then Father was waking me up. “James. James. It’s time to go home.” Then I heard Father whisper ‘Sarah has done this again.’ I thought I must still be asleep. Until yesterday, I thought it had to have been a dream. Father never, ever said anything to me. I stayed away from the house for a week, because even though I was sure I had been dreaming, I just felt…..not really frightened…..rather, it was more like an anxiety. One day, being very brave, I went into the house when no one was there. I climbed the stairs very slowly. All the furniture had been moved back into place.”

“Didn’t you tell anyone?”

“No. Who would believe a nine year old boy? ‘Father I was talking to a ghost that could levitate furniture?’ I hadn’t been hurt, everything was back in place, no one said anything about it. Then I knew it was only a dream.”

“Have you seen Sarah since then? You’ve been here most of your life, Digby, you must have seen her.”

“Yes, I’ve seen her. Most of the time I see her swinging from the branch of the old redwood. I have seen her at least once in the dining room. She seems suspended in time and has never asked anything of me since moving furniture. My nine year old self has held that story as a secret so tightly for so very long. Letting it out of its cage has been a great relief.” Digby brushed off both arms from shoulder to fingertips with finality.

Emelina shared her butler's relief. After that day, the upstairs furniture was rearranged the way that Sarah, and the living, preferred it. 

“It’s late at night when the memory comes for me, like it always 

seems to when the relief of sleep seems ready to draw me under.”

~ Joaquin Lowe, Bullet Catcher

Chapter One, Episode 76 - A Secret - Situationally Theirs

Review, Edit and Update
Three pieces of punctuation changed and the removal of one extra space between words. That was it. 

But, after a fourth read through, I noticed two pieces of dialogue in need of setting. 

I'll admit I was surprised and pleased that Episode 76 showed  improvement in not just writing, but in editing prior to it's post on June 08, 2020.

A Secret

Fresh from the shower, her hair still turbaned, Emelina wore her thick terry robe. She was still confused about what had happened. When Martha woke her up, with sunlight streaming in the window, she had felt disoriented and out of place. Her neck was sore. When she sat up and realized she’d slept in the big wing chair from the living room, having such a sore neck was not strange. What was strange was that the wing chair was in the dining room! While she was in the shower, water hot enough to almost scald her, the events of the previous evening filtered back through the steam. 

 Talking slowly and patiently to herself she tried to sort it all out. “If it was a dream, then I was sleep walking. And while I was sleep walking I moved all the furniture after I’d asked permission from the ghost of a girl only about 11 years old. I talked to her. She talked to me.”

Emelina paused. Unwound the towel from her hair and, using it, scrunched as much water from her long blonde hair as possible. Draping the damp towel over the shower rod, she straightened it out. “That was easier than trying to straighten out this thing…a dream or not a dream.” 

Still talking aloud to herself while she used the blow dryer on her hair, she said “If it was not a dream, then I was awake. I talked to the ghost child, she talked back to me.” Emmie shuddered. “She didn’t materialize right away, only after I asked her to. And that was after she moved two chairs. I wasn’t even afraid! At least I don’t remember being afraid at all. After she said it was ok to switch the dining room……” Emelina clicked off the blow dryer, put it down gently and said…. "Oh My Gosh. I asked her who first changed the living room into a dining room and she said it was soldiers! When would there have been soldiers in this house?……I’m going to get dressed and find Digby. See if he knows anything about soldiers being on this island and especially in this house. I’ve got to sort his out. I really don’t think it was a dream. Martha may think so, but I know I hadn’t even brought a blanket with the chair when I moved it.” Emelina returned to her room, quickly dressed in brown slacks and a light peach-coloured cotton shirt; she selected deep coral teardrop earrings and a silver bracelet with coral inlay. Sandals will be ok for now. Satisfied with herself she left her room to go to the kitchen for breakfast, taking her empty tea cup with her. I’ll tell Martha to leave everything as it is. When Brigitte gets here, we’ll finish changing the rooms around.

~~~~~

“Good morning ladies!” Emelina emerged from the upstairs, fresh as a daisy. 

“Well look at you, Miss Emelina! You’ve certainly washed the sleep out of your eyes. Did you wash that dream away too? I’ve talked with Giles and he’ll get that furniture all moved back in place.” Martha liked things in order and was very efficient at getting things done. Giles would have been told, but in a very diplomatic and sweet way, that he had furniture to move and it had to be done today.

“No, Martha, let me talk with Digby first. I may want to make the changes permanent.” Emelina walked to the cupboard holding the kitchen china.

“I know it’s none of my business, how can talking to James make a difference?” Martha had already set things in motion. Although a bit flustered, she was immediately ready to contact Giles again. 

“Martha, just be patient with me. What I want right now is a cup of that fresh coffee and one of those gigantic cinnamon rolls that I could smell all the way upstairs. They are cool enough now aren’t they? Before I forget, I’m expecting Dez and Brigitte out here later this morning, so if I’m busy talking with Digby or am upstairs please let me know when they arrive.”

Martha, still a bit miffed that she was being put off, but she decided she would ask James later what it was all about. “Get your coffee and then get yourself a plate and I’ll just get you a nice warm cinnamon bun to put on it. There’s butter on the table.”

Cook had listened to all of this and kept her peace. She had heard all the rumours about a little ghost girl, but she’d never seen her or heard her. Mostly she heard about a little girl on a swing. Sometimes, when she was alone in the house she’d get a funny feeling. Like someone was standing right beside her watching her. It would be when she was baking cookies or cutting up apples for a pie. As soon as she stopped what she was doing and looked around the feeling passed. She had never said anything about it, like it was some kind of a shameful secret. A secret that everyone knows about but no one will talk about. Cook spoke up: “Those buns are still pretty fresh so don’t eat them too fast. They’ll be too heavy on your stomach.”

~~~~~

Digby arrived just as Emelina was finishing her coffee. “Good morning everyone. A lovely work place to enter: three charming ladies and the delicious aromas of coffee and cinnamon buns.”

“Digby, when you’re settled would you have a minute to speak with me. I had a very unusual evening. I have questions.”

“Of course Miss. I’ll be out in a minute for my coffee. Do you want to talk in my office?”

~~~~~

Digby listened carefully to Emelina’s account of the previous evening. When she started talking, he was sitting in his desk chair, both hands clasped, two fingers on his lips. As she told of the details he sat back, his brow wrinkled. If possible, he was listening more intently. When Emelina said that she asked Sarah “Who did change the rooms?” Digby became very still. “What did she say, Miss Emelina?”

“Digby, are you all right? You’ve gotten so pale.”

“Yes, Miss. I’m sorry - it’s just that I’m concerned. No, that’s not it. I can tell you what Sarah said.”

“Digby? How can you? I was alone - except for Sarah.”

“She said….‘soldiers and it always stayed.’ I’m correct aren’t I?” 

“Yes. But how?…..”

There was a knock on the door, Martha opened it a crack - “Brigitte and Dez are here to see Miss Emelina, James.”

“Thank you, Martha. I’ll be out in a moment…..James - I mean Digby - we can talk about this tomorrow.”  Emmie put her hand gently on James shoulder. “Can I get you anything?”

“A secret’s worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept.”
~ Carlos Ruiz Zafrón,  The Shadow of the Wind