Recap: Hope’s family switches to a different, less-trackable car, thanks to their former servants who come and pick them up. They drive on until they reach Pennsylvania, and then Hope finds out that she is being left at the distant cousins’ house by herself. It’s too risky for her parents to stay there. They are driving on to Maine. She is crying hysterically as she watches her family drive away without her.
I’m not sure how long I sat there crying. The sun was higher in the sky. I just stared towards the road where my whole life had disappeared in a cloud of dust. Was this a bad dream and I’d wake up, and Mother and Father would be here next to me, and we’d be walking into our beautiful home in South Carolina with the acres of land and gardens, and Sarah, Steve, and Henrietta there to take care of everything?
“Hello?” a voice from behind startled me. I turned around and glimpsed a slim woman with pale blonde hair pulled into a French twist. She had blue eyes that one might think were beautiful, but there was no sparkle. She had a small mouth that formed a pout. “Who are you?” she asked. Her voice was high pitched.
Somehow, I found my voice. “I’m Hope Henner. My mother said you are her second cousin.” There was a beat as she examined me up and down. I cringed, noticing my skirt was wrinkled and my socks were falling down. I hadn’t changed clothing since we fled from our home; was it only two days ago?
There was a beat.
She moved closer. Her high-heeled sandals clicked on the pavement. “Who are your parents?” Her nose seemed to crinkle disapprovingly. “Charlene and Martin Henner. We live in South Carolina.”
She shook her head slowly. “Edward will know who you are. I don’t have any cousins in South Carolina. Where are your parents now?”
“They, they couldn’t stay,” I stammered.
“What do you mean? When will they be back?”
“I don’t know. They had to keep going. They said I should stay here.”
Mrs. Bowers paled. “They left you behind for us to take care of?”
I felt my stomach sinking to my toes. Was I going to be turned away? Would I have to live in an orphanage? “Please, I am sorry. They didn’t mean for this to happen, but I can – I can help you around the house. Mother told me you have a baby.”
“She’s not a baby. Bonnie is four.”
“I can help with taking care of her or with cleaning or whatever you want me to do.” I had never cleaned before, but somehow those words just popped out. I’d never babysat either, but I did like little children and I did have a way with them. Heather’s baby sister always came and sat in my lap, and I would read her piles of books. Thinking of Heather made me sadder. Would I ever see my best friend again?
“I have to discuss this with my husband. I don’t know how he’ll feel about taking in a teenager we don’t know.”
I wanted to scream that I’m not a stranger, I’m family, but I didn’t say anything. My face felt hot. I looked down at the pavement.
Mrs. Bowers disappeared into the house. I waited. The sun was beating down on me. I wondered how far Sarah and Steve had driven my parents by now. When would they all be in Maine? Would they call me from there? Did they still love me? Mother would not like how her cousin is treating me. She would have been shocked to see this.
A while later, when sweat was pouring down my neck, sticking my blouse to my back and beading on my forehead, Mrs. Bowers reappeared. She peered at me and then she said, “My husband showed me a photo of your mother. I’m surprised someone so elegant has a daughter like you.”
Her insult, pointed at my heart, missed its mark. I knew I wasn’t beautiful like my graceful mother, who was tall and slender with snow-white complexion and large dove-like eyes. I was petite and too skinny. My hair was a bundle of dark curls and waves that never wanted to be tied back by pins or pony rings. My best feature, I always thought, and Heather would often say, was my large green eyes. “You’re so lucky you have such long eyelashes,” Heather would say. “You’ll never need to wear mascara.”
“I guess you can come in for now. I will show you where to put your things.”
It didn’t sound like a warm, welcoming invitation, but I was relieved to escape the hot sun and not have to find an orphanage.
I dragged my heavy suitcase across the threshold. Inside, there was a marble foyer and a chandelier. I saw a disheveled girl with curls flying everywhere, dragging a suitcase. It took me a minute to realize that the girl was me, reflected in a large antique mirror.
There was a sunken living room with two large L-shaped couches. They looked brand new, with throw pillows. The walls were silver-colored, and there was a glass coffee table and a grand piano. The carpet was pristine white. “You are not allowed in that room,” she said. “Follow me.”
I followed her down a long hallway and then we came to a staircase. She motioned me to follow her down an unlit staircase.
The basement was musty-smelling. “It’s not a finished basement but we’ll find you a bed. I have an old cot upstairs that should be fine and there’s a dresser down there, I think.”
The basement was just one large room. There was a stone floor and exposed wires in the ceiling. There was no closet. The dresser had a drawer sticking out on a tilt and it was worn with stains. I tried the drawers. Only one opened. I thought of my beautiful pink room with the canopy bed and the walnut armoire.
“There’s a bathroom and a shower over here.” She pointed to a door that opened to a tiny bathroom. “Settle in and then I’ll call you up to take care of Bonnie during dinner.”
Her high-heeled sandals went dok dok dok on the stairs as she disappeared upstairs. I sank onto a folding chair. I didn’t want to stay here. This place was dismal and awful. I brushed away tears, but more kept rolling down my cheeks. I glimpsed a small window with a cracked pane. I gazed at a large oak tree that stood in their small backyard. The afternoon light glimmered on the leaves. I tried to think of the beauty of the tree and the sunlight and not the overwhelming sadness in my heart.
The sad thoughts kept turning over and over in my mind. I thought over what had just happened. Why didn’t Mrs. Bowers know my mother? My parents had said they knew these second cousins. That was strange.
Where were my parents now? Were they safe? That was the main thing. I missed them so much, it was like a physical ache inside.
“Who are you?” A little girl with braids wearing a sailor dress and shiny patent leather Mary Janes skipped down the stairs. “You’re so lucky. Mama never lets anyone come down here.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I’m Bonnie.” She held up four fingers. “I’m four.” She twirled around. “Do you like my new shoes? I just love them.”
“Yes, they’re very pretty.”
“What’s your name?” she asked again.
“I’m Hope.”
“Hope? That’s a funny name.”
She reached for my suitcase and began trying the zipper.
“No, that’s mine.”
“I want to open it.”
“No.”
“Why are you here?” She continued to fiddle with the zipper on my suitcase.
That was a question I was wondering myself. Why had I ended up here by myself? If only I could just close my eyes and end up back home in my mansion in South Carolina with my parents.
“I’m visiting and I’m your cousin,” I said. I firmly moved her hand away from the zipper on my suitcase.
“You hit me!” She started screaming.
“I didn’t hit you.”
Bonnie scrambled up the stairs bawling and holding her hand.
Mrs. Bowers said loudly, “Bonnie, you are not allowed down there.”
Her crying instantly stopped. I assumed her mother hadn’t fallen for the act.
Maybe Mrs. Bowers would eventually warm up and be nice to me? At least she knew her daughter wasn’t acting right.
I trudged upstairs and found Mrs. Bowers in the kitchen, a moderately sized room with a large island in the middle and a small table with three chairs. The scent of spaghetti and meatballs drifted through the room.
“You and Bonnie will eat in here,” she said. “Make sure she doesn’t dirty her dress. There’s a bib on the table and I don’t want her to go down to the basement. She’ll track dirt everywhere.”
Did she realize what she was saying? I’m putting you in a basement that is so dirty I don’t want my daughter to track dirt from it in the rest of the house. Mother, what would you say if you heard about this?
To be continued…
Susie Garber is the author of the newly released historical fiction novel, Flight of the Doves (Menucha Publishers, 2023), Please Be Polite (Menucha Publishers, 2022), A Bridge in Time (Menucha Publishers, 2021), Secrets in Disguise (Menucha Publishers, 2020), Denver Dreams, a novel (Jerusalem Publications, 2009), Memorable Characters…Magnificent Stories (Scholastic, 2002), Befriend (Menucha Publishers, 2013), The Road Less Traveled (Feldheim, 2015), fiction serials and features in Binah Magazine and Binyan Magazine, and “Moon Song” in Binyan (2021-2022).
