Read Online That Camden Summer by Lavyrle Spencer - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lavyrle Spencer
Tags: Fiction
Ads: Link
about heading up a committee for cemetery cleaning; his daughter had stopped by after school and said she was just wondering what time he'd be home for supper; the Opera House was interested in having some stage props framed up for an upcoming production.
He dropped the notes on a dusty rolltop desk, picked out some price lists and catalogs and locked up again before climbing back in the truck to head home.
He lived on Belmont Street in a tall, narrow white house with a small shed out back to which he'd added a lean-to for his truck. From the shed a stepping-stone walk led to the house and was hooded by a white pergola just outside the kitchen door. He passed beneath it on his way through the yard, glancing at the canes of the climbing roses to see if any sprouts showed. They were all he'd kept of Caroline's flowers, and he carefully protected them with straw each
fall, kept them pruned and fertilized all summer. The rest of the garden he'd long ago allowed to fall victim of the grass, and by now, after seven years, he couldn't even tell where the garden had been. Sometimes this saddened him, for when he thought of Caroline, he thought of her in a, sunbonnet, wearing gloves, doubled over a hand cultivator, caring for the flowers she'd loved so much.
He stepped into the kitchen and was met by a reedy girl who had inherited his height and big feet_, but little more of him. She was all Caroline's - from the buggy-whip thinness to the paprika hair. Though not a classically pretty girl, she had her pretty points. Her skin was as fair and unflawed as a sliced potato, but unlike that of most redheads, hadn't a single freckle. Her green eyes tilted up slightly at the corners and were framed by brows and lashes so pale they might have been illusions. Unfortunately, her ears even stuck out like Caroline's; she kept them covered at all times, out of self consciousness.
"Hi, Daddy. I thought you'd never get here. I'm starving. "
"You're always starving. What's for supper?" "Fish cakes and boiled potatoes."
Fish cakes again. Mercy, he got so tired of fish cakes. But she did the best she could after school, more than a father should expect. Often he felt guilty that she had to spend so much of her precious free time on duties that a wife and mother should have handled.
"How was school?" he inquired, hanging up
'7 1
his oilskins on wall pegs beside the door. "Boring. Same old thing - Miss Tripton
lectures, Mrs. Lohmer scolds, and Miss Bisbee treats us like children who can't be trusted for a minute while she's out of the room. Honestly, she still appoints a room monitor when she leaves!"
"Well, not long now till the end of the term. "
He poured water from a teakettle and washed up while she put the fish cakes on two plates, dumped potatoes into a bowl, poured milk for herself and coffee for him. Drying his hands with a towel, he shuffled over and stood beside the table while she filled his cup.
"I met some new girls today." "Girls? You mean my age?"
"One of them." He tossed the towel aside and the two sat down, started smashing potatoes and spreading them with butter. "The other two were sixteen and ten."
"Well, who were they? How come they aren't going to school?"
"They will be pretty soon. They just moved into town and they're cousins of the Spear girls. "
"What were they like?"
"The youngest one was smart as a whip. I talked to her the most. I think they're all pretty musical. Other than that, I don't know much about them, except they looked rather like ragamuffins. "
"Where'd you meet them?"
"At the steamship office, actually, then I
17 n
found out they were moving into the o14. Breckenridge house, so I decided I'd go up\ there and see if I could scare up a little business."
"Oh, yuck, nobody'd catch me living in that boar's nest. They must be awfully poor if they have to have a house like that."
"I think they are."
"Is their dad going to work at the mill?" Gabriel took a swig of coffee, giving himself time to
He dropped the notes on a dusty rolltop desk, picked out some price lists and catalogs and locked up again before climbing back in the truck to head home.
He lived on Belmont Street in a tall, narrow white house with a small shed out back to which he'd added a lean-to for his truck. From the shed a stepping-stone walk led to the house and was hooded by a white pergola just outside the kitchen door. He passed beneath it on his way through the yard, glancing at the canes of the climbing roses to see if any sprouts showed. They were all he'd kept of Caroline's flowers, and he carefully protected them with straw each
fall, kept them pruned and fertilized all summer. The rest of the garden he'd long ago allowed to fall victim of the grass, and by now, after seven years, he couldn't even tell where the garden had been. Sometimes this saddened him, for when he thought of Caroline, he thought of her in a, sunbonnet, wearing gloves, doubled over a hand cultivator, caring for the flowers she'd loved so much.
He stepped into the kitchen and was met by a reedy girl who had inherited his height and big feet_, but little more of him. She was all Caroline's - from the buggy-whip thinness to the paprika hair. Though not a classically pretty girl, she had her pretty points. Her skin was as fair and unflawed as a sliced potato, but unlike that of most redheads, hadn't a single freckle. Her green eyes tilted up slightly at the corners and were framed by brows and lashes so pale they might have been illusions. Unfortunately, her ears even stuck out like Caroline's; she kept them covered at all times, out of self consciousness.
"Hi, Daddy. I thought you'd never get here. I'm starving. "
"You're always starving. What's for supper?" "Fish cakes and boiled potatoes."
Fish cakes again. Mercy, he got so tired of fish cakes. But she did the best she could after school, more than a father should expect. Often he felt guilty that she had to spend so much of her precious free time on duties that a wife and mother should have handled.
"How was school?" he inquired, hanging up
'7 1
his oilskins on wall pegs beside the door. "Boring. Same old thing - Miss Tripton
lectures, Mrs. Lohmer scolds, and Miss Bisbee treats us like children who can't be trusted for a minute while she's out of the room. Honestly, she still appoints a room monitor when she leaves!"
"Well, not long now till the end of the term. "
He poured water from a teakettle and washed up while she put the fish cakes on two plates, dumped potatoes into a bowl, poured milk for herself and coffee for him. Drying his hands with a towel, he shuffled over and stood beside the table while she filled his cup.
"I met some new girls today." "Girls? You mean my age?"
"One of them." He tossed the towel aside and the two sat down, started smashing potatoes and spreading them with butter. "The other two were sixteen and ten."
"Well, who were they? How come they aren't going to school?"
"They will be pretty soon. They just moved into town and they're cousins of the Spear girls. "
"What were they like?"
"The youngest one was smart as a whip. I talked to her the most. I think they're all pretty musical. Other than that, I don't know much about them, except they looked rather like ragamuffins. "
"Where'd you meet them?"
"At the steamship office, actually, then I
17 n
found out they were moving into the o14. Breckenridge house, so I decided I'd go up\ there and see if I could scare up a little business."
"Oh, yuck, nobody'd catch me living in that boar's nest. They must be awfully poor if they have to have a house like that."
"I think they are."
"Is their dad going to work at the mill?" Gabriel took a swig of coffee, giving himself time to
Similar Books
