Taking Care of it

Well Tracy was finally here. Even though this wasn’t actually her final destination, it was the first step towards a whole new life and she felt good. Tired but good.

Over the course of the last three days, she had been sitting on planes and in various airports for over 17 hours with layovers and even though it was late for her seventy two year old Aunt Alice, with whom she would be staying for a while, Aunt Alice had been wide awake and in the mood to visit. They had sat up talking for hours but Aunt Alice had finally given in to the late hour around 11 pm and had finally gone to bed, leaving Tracy to unwind, alone, in the quiet of the night.

Aunt Alice was her mother’s oldest sister and one of Tracy’s favorite aunts. Her home was out in the country and the only lights that could be seen, besides the thousands of stars and the occasional firefly, were those of her cousin’s house “a stone’s throw away” on one side and a neighbor’s on the other, but they were faint. Everything was so quiet. At first it had been unnerving, but now with a cup of cocoa and Aunt Alice’s big old Tom cat curled up in her lap, Tracy began to unwind. She had hoped to get to bed at a reasonable hour since “farm folk” got up early, even if tomorrow was Saturday and nobody had to go to “work”, there would still be plenty to do tomorrow.

If Tracy knew her large family, they would be showing up early for the big family reunion that was planned for this weekend and she was really looking forward to seeing some of her cousin’s again. She and her youngest sister, Lana, would be the only members of her immediate family at the reunion. Her other sister, Christine, lived in Texas and was unable to make the trip. Their parents were overseas. Tracy thought to herself that at least the crops were harvested and all the canning done, so everyone would just be able to enjoy being together to have a good time.

Tracy thought about seeing her longtime friend from high school, Janet, in a few days. She hadn’t seen her in years but they had kept in contact over the years by phone and had visited once several years before.

Tracy wondered if she had changed much but doubted it. Janet was Janet and no matter how she looked she would always be the same, a small, quick-witted, naughty minded little imp and the very best friend Tracy had ever had. They had many wonderful adventures together in high school and Tracy had missed her.

Janet had never married and had always lived with her mother in New Jersey until last year. Her mother had retired the year before and was now staying with Janet’s sister, Catherine, in California. Tracy needed to talk to her as she could only talk with Janet.

Janet would not pass judgment on her but just listen and that alone would help Tracy to sort out what she was going to do with her life. For the last five years, Tracy had been a single mother raising her two youngest children totally alone. When she stopped to think about it, even when she had been married, she had been raising them alone.

Lance, Tracy’s ex-husband, had never been much help, especially financially. He never could seem to hold down a steady job for more than a few months, usually just a few weeks. He’d get bored and quit. Or piss the boss off and get fired.

Four years ago, right after her oldest daughter Sandy had announced that they were going to become grandparents for the first time, Tracy got fed up with Lance and told him she wanted a divorce. She was sick of his abuse, lying and drinking. When she caught him stealing, that had been the last draw for her. He hadn’t had a job in years and Tracy couldn’t keep up with the ever growing pile of bills. They had to declare bankruptcy.

Since then Tracy had to work extra hard but had managed to save some money and with the help of her friend, Bernard, had made a few good investments. She now had a small nest egg put away. She was hoping to start her own business again but couldn’t decide in which direction she wanted to go.

She was an accomplished seamstress and had done sewing for people in the past but catering to people’s fashion vanity didn’t really appeal to her. She had done bookkeeping and secretarial services for the past several years and had kept a roof over her kids’ heads and clothes on their backs. She had also done several freelance jobs that allowed her to experiment with graphic design on computers and she discovered that she not only enjoyed it but that she was pretty good at it. That is what she was hoping to do. But first she had to find a place to live.

She thought about her kids, Sandy, Matthew, and Amanda. Sandy was married now with two kids of her own, a girl, Brittany, and a boy, Adam. Tracy was going to miss her and seeing her grandkids grow up but she couldn’t stay on Maui any longer because of her ex-husband, Lance. Even though they had been divorced for nearly four years, Lance wouldn’t stay away. He came around to “see his kids” but always tried to talk Tracy into taking him back. He was either living with his mom or on the beach, when he got tired of his mother nagging him to get a job. Tracy had finally owned up to the fact that he would never change, and if she was ever going to be able to get on with her life, she’d have to move back to the mainland. She hadn’t wanted to leave the islands, her kids and her friends but couldn’t see any other alternative to have a life without his interference and the constant feeling of having to look over her shoulder for him.

Tracy’s son, Matthew, was in his second year of college in Texas. He was a fantastic artist and was hoping to draw for Disney or Marvel comics one day. He had the talent and Tracy hoped that if he had learned anything from his parents, it was that if you want something, you have to work for it. Nothing comes to you on a silver platter.

Matt had seen his mother work hard all his life and he had admitted that he admired her for trying to make a better life for herself. Matt had found it hard to voice his feelings about being proud that his mother had always worked hard. He had admitted to being ashamed that his father had wasted his time and talent sitting on the beach waiting for a genie to wash up in a bottle.

Her daughter, Amanda, had traveled part of the way from Maui with her. Tracy had seen her setup in Colorado where she was starting college in a couple of weeks.

Amanda wanted to be a vet and animals seemed to take to her so easily that Tracy was sure she would be wonderful at it. If Amanda had her way, she would have at least two of every kind of animal there was. When she was growing up, she was always coming to Tracy with some stray cat or dog she had found, not to mention lizards, rabbits, chickens and a menagerie of other animals that she had found in the fields around their neighborhood.

Their kids were the only things that Tracy would never regret about her marriage but the memories of them growing up were the only things she wanted to remember about the last twenty five years of her life. The rest seemed like a bad dream, one she knew she would never forget but was glad she had finally found the courage to escape.

Tracy put Aunt Alice’s cat down on the seat she had been sitting in as she stood and carried her cup inside to rinse it in the sink. Out of automatic habit, she locked the door and headed for the bathroom to get ready for bed. She felt tired to the bone.

The family started arriving right after breakfast and everyone pitched in to help set up tables and chairs for the reunion that would last for two days. Everyone brought food, even though Aunt Alice had made enough to feed an army.

Tracy tried to help out in the kitchen but it was so small that Aunt Alice soon kicked her out and told her to go see the family. “They haven’t seen you in a long time. Don’t hide in here with me. I’ll call if I need help.” Aunt Alice assured her.

Tracy went out the door, pulling on the only coat she had. As a gust of wind hit her, she knew it wasn’t going to be heavy enough as the weather got colder in the next few months but should be fine for the day. She would get a heavier one when she got to Janet’s in New Jersey. But for the moment she just stood on the porch and enjoyed the crisp bite to the air and the wonderful fall colors of the trees that surrounded her aunts’ home.

Tracy loved this time of year the best of all the seasons. She had missed the seasonal changes while living on Maui. It was just one long summer there and it might sound like heaven to some, but the heat and humidity had always made her miserable.

It was great to see all of her cousins again. They all had kids of their own now and Tracy knew she would never be able to keep track of all their names. She wished Amanda and Matt could have been here but school was more important.

Tracy wandered down to the old corral where two of her older cousins were trying to put a saddle on ole’ Bull, Aunt Alice’s brown and black plow mule. His name fit him perfectly, since he was the most bull headed animal to walk the earth. Every time her cousin, Dennis, tried to get near him with the saddle, ole Bull would kick out with surprisingly good aim. Ole Bull obviously did not want the saddle on his back.

The children who had been so eager to ride earlier, were now beginning to act like they weren’t so sure anymore. Tracy gave Ronnie, one of her favorite cousins, a wink and climbed through the rails of the corral fence.

“Look out, Dennis. Tracy’s ‘bout to make you look like a fool, again. Now you kids’ watch closely. You’re about to see a woman work her charms.” he smiled as he watched Tracy approach the animal. The old mule must be 30 years old if he was a day. Tracy and her cousins had ridden him on long hot summer days when she had visited them as a teenager. She told Dennis to back away and get the saddle ready.

She slowly walked up to ole Bull, talking softly, offering him a sugar cube. The old mule snorted softly then eagerly gobbled up the sugar. She stood so that Bull couldn’t see Dennis, feeding him sugar and talking to him softly as she stroked the side of his neck and scratched behind his ears. Behind her back she motioned to Dennis to come closer. Dennis eased the saddle on the mule’s back and kept his eye on the mules’ legs as he quickly secured the saddle. Ole Bull was enjoying the sugar and soothing voice so much that he didn’t realize what was going on until Tracy was on his back.

As he felt her weight in the saddle, he hopped once and started to bolt as Dennis untied the lead rope from the post but he soon realized who was on his back and knew from past experience that he would not be able to dump her. He soon became as docile as a lamb and Tracy rode him around the corral a couple of times to make sure he wasn’t going to act up with the kids. Bull seemed to accept his fate and plodded along.

Tracy slid down off his back and helped lift the first of the kids up for a ride. Ronnie dropped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a hug. “You are the only one who can get that obnoxious, reprobate of a jackass to give up so easily.” he told her.

“He’s like all the hard-heads in this family. Feed their sweet tooth or their ego’s and they’ll do anything for you.” she smiled at him then veered off to walk down to the pond on the other side of the now empty and freshly mowed pasture. The cows that normally occupied it had been moved to a larger pasture farther from the house so the kids could run free.

She sat down on the damp grass under a big oak tree and leaned back against the trunk of the tree that grew close to the pond and watched the clouds. Before long she heard her another cousin, Stan, coming her way with his uneven gate and looked up to see him coming with two bottles of cola in his hand. “You must have read my mind.” she told him as he handed her one.

“Not interrupting am I?” Stan said as he lowered himself to the ground beside her.

“Not at all. Just watching the clouds and enjoying being free.” Tracy told him with a smile.

“We sure got a pretty day for it.” he said as he looked up and settled back against the tree.

“Have you finished your house yet?” she asked

“I don’t think it will ever be done. Every time I get through with one project, Nancy finds something else for me to build.” he said, shaking his head.

“But you love every minute of it.” she laughed and he rolled his eyes at her as if she was crazy.

“Yeah, I guess I do. I love Nancy. She’s the best thing that ever happened to me.” After a moment, he added, “It’s good to hear you laugh. I think you haven’t done much of that over the years you’ve been gone.”

“It was rough but I survived. Now I want to concentrate on the future. I can’t change the past so I’ve decided not to dwell on it.”

“Don’t want to talk about it?” he asked and she shook her head. “O.K. by me. But you know where to come if you ever need to talk.” he told her.

“I know and thanks. That means a lot.” Tracy gave him a sisterly kiss on the cheek. They heard the old-fashioned dinner bell that Aunt Alice had hanging from the old well by the back door ring and they stood up and headed back towards the house.

“There’s a barn dance at the church tomorrow night. Want to go with me and Nancy?” he asked as they linked arms and climbed up the slope.

“Sure, come pick me up whenever you’re ready. Hope it doesn’t last too late though. I want to be on the road early the next day.”

“Nah, we’ll have to leave early too. Our babysitter isn’t allowed to stay out after ten.” he smiled at her. Just as they climbed back through the fence, Aunt Alice came over to tell Tracy that Lana had called to say that she couldn’t make the trip after all. “Big flu bug is going around down there and she got called into work to cover for someone who’s out sick.”

“Oh, well, maybe next time. I’ll call her back later.”

They ate under the trees and everyone lounged around visiting until it started to get dark. They packed up all the food and everyone was to bring a basket to church the next day. As everyone was leaving, Stan came over and whispered for her to follow him to the barn. Nancy fell into step beside Tracy and stopped her from going into the barn. “We’ve got a surprise for you.” she said and told Tracy to close her eyes then led her inside the cool dark interior.

“You’re not going to cover me with manure again, are you? Tracy laughed.

“Hey, you’re never going to let me live that down are you?” Stan said

“No way and I’ll get even one of these days.” she promised

“City kid! Humph!” he muttered and Nancy giggled as he mumbled “Never did know where to step or stand.”

Tracy resisted the urge to peek as she heard Stan and Nancy rumbling around in the tack room. A few minutes later she heard them shuffling and what sounded like someone snicker. She started to peek but felt Nancy grab her arm and pull her forward. After a few steps they stopped and Nancy dropped her hand and stepped away. “O.K.” they said together.

Tracy wasn’t sure what she was going to see but was pleasantly surprised when she opened her eyes and saw the beautiful display in the middle of the barn floor. “Welcome home, Tracy.” They had placed a chair in the middle of the floor and on its seat was a large frame displaying a variety of arrowheads. On the floor, in front of the chair sat a large vase with more arrow heads embedded in the clay. Tracy felt a lump in her throat and had to blink and swallow several times before she could speak. “Oh Stan, I don’t know what to say.”

“I always intended for you to have them someday. You were the only one who used to show any interest in them while we were growing up and it seems fitting that you should have them. Nancy made the vase and all of the arrowheads on it are ones you found when we were kids. I kept them separate so I would know which ones were yours.” Then he bent and produced a large brown package from behind the chair and handed it to her. “I also want you to have this. It belongs to you anyway, even if you are the second oldest girl. Katie (the oldest of the girls in the family but only by a couple of months) won’t appreciate it, plus she wasn’t there the day we found it. Go ahead and open it.” he urged, putting his arm around his wife as they smiled at her.

She looked at them curiously and began to unwrap the bundle. Inside was the beautiful silver gray wolf pelt they had found together when they were kids. They had been “excavating” an old Indian camp site on his father’s property one summer and had found the pelt buried in a small cave near what had appeared to be an old lodge.

They probably should have called someone with authority to excavate the site but they had just been kids who did not realize the significance of what they had uncovered. Instead they had built a “fort” on the site and played there all summer. It had been one of the best summers of her childhood. She had forgotten all about the wolf pelt over the years. She ran her hand over the soft fur and brought it to her cheek, burying her face in the fur.

“I remember Grandpa telling us we were part Indian but I don’t know if he ever said what tribe. I would love to trace it back and find out more about it.” Tracy said.

“Open it up and look at the back.” Stan urged. Tracy did and gasped when she saw the symbols painted on the back. The pelt had been filthy the last time she saw it and she didn’t remember the drawings being there then.

“Stan had it professionally cleaned and when they found the names, he did some research.” Nancy told her, pointing to the names. “This one here is your great-great grandmother. We found out while we were tracing back some birth certificates for Uncle Clay. You can’t imagine how surprised we were when we realized the names were the same.” Nancy told her as she lightly ran her fingers over the last one.

“Unfortunately records are lousy on Indian births and deaths and you’d probably need to get a medicine man to translate the rest of it. But from what I can tell, it belonged to our great-great grandmother and had been passed from mother to daughter for generations.”

“Oh this is wonderful! Thank you so much. I will treasure it forever.” Tracy said, with tears in her eyes, and kissed them both. They gathered up the gifts and helped her carry them back to the house.

Almost everyone was gone and Aunt Alice came out onto the porch as they came up to the house. “I was wondering where you folks had gotten to. The kids are watching TV in the living room. Nancy, come get your care package for church tomorrow.” she said as she went into the house and called the kids. “Your folks are back.” They sat for a while longer and talked but as the kids began to get sleepy, they finally loaded into the car and left. Tracy helped her aunt finish straightening up before they went to bed.

Church the next day was a relief to Tracy, who had not attended much in Hawaii, since most of the services were done mostly in Hawaiian. She had never been able to follow along and found it frustrating. Everyone ate lunch in the big hall behind the church and Tracy spent hours watching the kids and remembering what coming to this church as a child had been like. She felt warm and at peace by the end of the day.

The dance that night was fun. Tracy hadn’t been to a barn dance in years and had a blast relearning to square dance. She danced with all of her cousins and even a few of the local boys had tried to pick her up, asking if she needed a ride home. She knew better than to go anywhere with any of these “good ole boys”. She finally snuck out and caught a ride home with Stan and Nancy.

She was up early the next morning and Aunt Alice took her to pick up the Jeep Cherokee her parents had insisted on renting for her for the rest of her trip. It should take her about three or four days to drive from Birmingham to her friend’s home in New Jersey since Tracy was planning on taking her time and not rushing.

She wanted to enjoy the scenery and maybe stop and do some exploring. She was planning to stop at a museum where the Cherokee were featured when she passed through North Carolina. She hoped to be able to find out more about the wolf pelt and, hopefully, her heritage there.

The drive was beautiful and Tracy was enjoying the ride, stopping several times to simply enjoy the view and to give her a chance to stretch the knee that she had injured several years before. If she sat for too long it would stiffen up and she would limp terribly for several days. She drove until it started getting dark and then found a small hotel for the night. She asked directions at the front desk about the small museum that was supposed to be near there. The desk clerk told her how to get there and assured her it would be open early.

Tracy went to her room, which was plain but clean and the bed was comfortable, so she took a quick shower and then went to the restaurant for dinner. It wasn’t a truck stop and Tracy was sorry she hadn’t gone to one to eat. The food wasn’t that great and she didn’t finish it all. She was tired and went to her room and called her Aunt to let her know she was all right. She watched TV for a little while and then went to sleep.

She was up early and set off to find the museum but was disappointed when she was told that the man who might be able to help her was out with the flu for the next couple of days. She wandered around the museum for a while but felt the urge to be on her way pulling her towards the door. She walked outside and climbed behind the wheel and headed for the highway. She drove till dark again and even though her leg was bothering her a bit, she wasn’t really tired and thought about going on. But not being familiar with the roads, she decided against it and found a motel and checked in.

The next day, she stopped at several places to sightsee, taking her time driving until it began to get dark. She stopped for gas and called Janet to let her know that she was over two thirds of the way there. Her friend advised her to not drive after dark and to hold up for the night because it had started to snow in her area and she did not recommend that Tracy learn how to drive on snow and ice in the dark. Tracy agreed and said she would find a hotel for the night and go on tomorrow. Janet told her about a truck stop just off the freeway near her home that she shouldn’t have any trouble finding the next day.

“Call me when you get there and I’ll come meet you. They’ve got great food and we can have dinner there. You’ll never find my house by yourself if you get in after dark.” Janet told her and she agreed to call her from the truck stop before hanging up.

Tracy got back in her jeep and asked directions to the nearest hotel from the gas station attendant. “There’s a truck stop that has a hotel attached to it about two miles down the road. The rooms are clean and it’s not expensive.” the high school kid told her with a sheepish grin, before moving on to his next customer. “Thanks.” Tracy called out as she drove away.