Bartle Clunes - Chapter 13
El Dorado County 1949 - GIVING THANKS
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Bartle returned home from his work in the studio to find his daughter, Ayla, out in the weedy vegetable garden. She was wearing his big canvas gloves and Louvina's galoshes. She’d pulled out all the dead stalks and tangled vines and raked them into a large pile for burning. She was chopping the taller weeds and raking the ground clean.
“Well, look at you!” he said. “A woman who not only recognizes a desperate garden when she sees one, but steps in for the rescue!”
“This garden wanted cleaning, and I just thought I’d better get busy today, or you might begin to wonder if you made the right decision inviting me to live here,” she said, smiling. “We made four pies this morning, apple, lemon and pumpkin. Two pumpkin! Go on in there and admire them, please. I'll be there in a few minutes. I am about finished here.” Bartle, commented on the thoroughly artistic job she was doing and thought she looked happy. He gave her a kiss on the top of her head, and went inside to find his brilliant wife.
A few minutes later a small, noisy coupe came rolling up the slope.There is surely a hole in that car's muffler, Ayla thought. She recognized the driver as Lonnie Riles from the General Store and Hardware. Leaning on her rake, she watched him approach. She self-consciously tucked her messy hair back behind her ears and hoped her face was clean, because nothing else was.
“Hey, Ayla,” he said, waving through the rolled-down window. “I hope you don't mind my just dropping in. I see they have you slaving away already.”
“I’m only getting this garden set for wintering,” she replied. “I thought I’d better start earning my keep before they send me back to Idaho.” He got out and walked up to the fence. He wore Levis turned up at the cuff about an inch, an un-ironed blue chambray shirt and western boots. Looked like maybe he'd just got his hair cut.
“Well, I came to apologize, Ayla Clunes, in case I offended you yesterday. It was not good behavior and I know it. I wanted to show you I could be polite, seeing as how we are going to be married,” he said, laughing.
Ayla said, “I was not offended, Lonnie. I didn't think another thing of it. In fact I bragged to Louvina that I ‘d been in California for only two days and had already received a proposal of marriage. I told her I hoped it wouldn’t be my last.”
“Well, okay... That's good then,” he said, trying to decipher exactly what she meant by that last part.
After a moment, an idea arose in her mind, and she said, “That’s a nice car you have there.”
“Thanks,” Lonnie said, pleased she was interested. “It is a 1935 Dodge, with a 218 cubic-inch, 6 cylinder engine, and 87 horsepower,” he said, showing off. She had no idea what any of that signified, but she could tell he was proud of it. Lonnie circled around the car, pointing out its features. “It’s got a rumble seat here, under this spare tire, and a crank-open windshield, hydraulic brakes, automatic choke. The parking lights are mounted on the front fender apron. Oh, it's old and needs fixing, but I put time in on it when I can get away from working at the store.”
“It needs a new muffler,” she pointed out. Lonnie agreed. Then she took a chance. “Do you think you could teach me to drive, Lonnie?”
He didn’t lose a second. “You bet I could!” he answered, envisioning more time with this pretty girl. “When shall we start? Sunday morning? Your first lesson?”
“Yes! Good! I’ll ask Louvina if I can borrow her truck. Then I could run errands for her in a vehicle I already practiced in.”
Thanksgiving morning brought with it the promise of rain, but spirits were high. The turkey was full of cornbread stuffing and in the oven. Louvina was cleaning salad greens. Ayla was rubbing butter on fresh yams and putting them in a pan for roasting later in the day. Bartle, who'd found he actually liked working along side his women, peeled the big russet potatoes and the parsnips for boiling and mashing together. Maggie, always vigilant, sat by the stove ready to take care of any edible bits that fell to the floor; he considered it his duty.
“You should’ve named that dog Hoover,” said Ayla. Louvina and Bartle had to think about that for a minute, then heartily agreed.
While they worked, Louvina began to sing 'Shall We Gather At The River' and Ayla and Bartle joined in. Then they worked through renditions of 'That Dear Old Daddy of Mine' and 'I'll Wait For You', Louvina adding the sweetest of harmonies to each one. The bright yellow kitchen wrapped its warm arms around these people as they prepared their first holiday as a family.
Taking a short break from the kitchen, Bartle sat down on the sofa to read the newspaper. It was his daily brief foray out into the wider world, the muddled postwar world, the world that didn't quite reach the rural hills in which the Clunes’ lived. He was always a little skeptical about politics, and often made very vocal comments to no one in particular. He rarely heard about government decisions he would call smart or good for anyone.
“Says here that Monaco has a new king. Their thirtieth, it says. Name's Rainier. Nice looking man. We'll have to look in the atlas, Ayla, to see exactly where that is. Seems to me it is somewhere between France and Italy.” He also noted that this year's baseball MVPs had been named– Ted Williams and Jackie Robinson. He did not keep up with sports, though he was known to play shortstop in the mid-summer madness of the Riles Crossing Annual Softball Debacle.
Ayla sat on the carpet near her father and called Maggie out of the kitchen. She began to work on the dog with an old hairbrush. This was a new experience for Maggie — he was not sure what his job was. He rolled over on his back, wildly pawing the air, tongue lolling, looking at Ayla sideways and upside down, swishing his tail. She brushed his freckled belly.
Louvina, crossed through the room. “Land's sake! What are you doing to that dog? I can't remember ever seeing a face like that on him. He looks like he is in some sort of religious trance.”
“He likes it,” said Ayla, brushing the ticklish spot between the dog's back legs.
“Well, that is surely as close to ecstasy as he will ever come this side of heaven,” Louvina said, shaking her head and continuing on toward the back of the house.
On Thursday, Mr. Riles and Lonnie arrived right on time. Bartle invited them in, took their coats and introduced Ayla to Lonnie's dad. He poured everyone a dram of whiskey to toast the holiday. Louvina and Ayla piled enough food onto the table to feed a brigade and called the men in. When the five had seated themselves, Bartle gave a blessing:
May there always be work for our hands to do May God protect our children May our hearts be filled with gratitude
May the clarity of light be ours May the fluency of the hills be ours
May the hand of a friend be ours
May the nourishment of the earth be ours. Amen.
It turned out to be a convivial, magazine-cover kind of meal. Conversation came easy and laughter often at the table. Lonnie told a joke about Harry Truman's Fair Deal. Though they professed to be Democrats, they all laughed and saw the humor in it. Bartle, who had little faith in government himself, said, “All presidents say they have a new deal for us, don't they? But it’s rarely new and never a deal - at least not for the plain working family.”
“Still, I did hear the man say an important thing a while back,” said Louvina. “He said, 'There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know’, and that seemed like a very good reason for us to keep studying our history.” She then steered the family away from politics, saying, “Now here’s a little history you may not know,” and she told them about an adventure Maggie had earlier that year involving a raft of ill-tempered wild turkeys taking over the back yard.
Ayla told them about her trip on the California Zephyr through the Sierra Nevada and the beauty she saw through the large upper windows of the 'Silver Lady', as they called it. “They had hostesses in each car and everything was just so fancy. They called the hostesses the 'Zephyrettes.' I‘m going to take that ride again some day if I can.”
Mr. Riles, an avid fisherman, told a few stories about gigantic rainbow trout and a bass he had caught. “Lonnie, you should take this young lady for a walk up the creek here sometime! I can tell you a fine place to catch you some steelhead.”
“I have actually gone fishing a few times, Mr. Riles, and I didn't care much for it really,” Ayla said. “Seemed to me like a lot of inactivity and very little to show for it most of the time.”
Lonnie said, “No! We should go! Ayla, don't you know that every hour you spend fishing adds an hour to your life?” All three older folks nodded in agreement.
“Well, I don't know. You might be turning me right round with an argument like that, Lonnie. I will definitely think about it,” she said with a little wink, “if only for the walk and the fresh air.”
Lonnie asked Ayla if she'd told her family about the driving lessons. Bartle looked up from his mashed potatoes.
“No! I forgot!” she said, looking at Louvina and her father. “Lonnie said he would teach me to drive. Isn't that nifty? We could start on Sunday, if you wouldn't mind my using the truck to practice in, Louvina. I would be really, really careful.”
Bartle and Louvina were at sixes and sevens about that idea, but couldn't figure out any good objections to it right off. Bartle said, “Well, honey, I guess you might give it a try. It would be good if you had a license to drive, I guess.”
Louvina said, “You can use my truck. If you can figure out how to drive that old bucket of bolts and rust, you can drive anything.
The women cleared a space on the table and brought over the pies and a pot of coffee. Louvina said, ”Now let’s all remember what day this is and tell each other the things we are thankful for.”
“I have not been so well lately,” said Mr. Riles, “so I am thankful that my boy here is handy at running the store for me, and thankful that he is a boy who never gets himself into trouble.”
Lonnie said, “I’m thankful that I have a secure job and that my father sees only my good side and never finds out about the trouble I get myself into. And I’m thankful to have a new friend,” he said, nodding at Ayla.
Ayla said, “I’m grateful that I’ve found my father and that he wants me here with him, and that he’ll teach me to paint. And I’m thankful for Louvina who is so kind to me. Oh, and for Maggie, since I never had a dog before and he’s a pretty good one.” Maggie lifted one eyebrow at the sound of his name.
Louvina said, “I am thankful that the men here today have volunteered to wash the dishes and clean up the kitchen.” Which of course, they hadn't, but she thought it would be a good idea for them to consider. “And I’m thankful that I still have most of my wits about me, and a roof over my head. But I am most thankful for Bartle Clunes, an excellent husband, and for finally having the family I’ve wanted for so long a time.” She squeezed Ayla's hand.
Bartle said, “I am thankful for my two women, whom I will cherish and care for the rest of my days. And for good friends.”
With perfect providential timing, a full moon rose as if to bless them, providing a soft backlight to the shadowy pines, whose delicate fragrance filled the night air and covered the white-stubble fields.
Much to be thankful for, indeed.
I don't recall ever hearing "at sixes and sevens" before. Where have I been?? : ) How neat to remember times such as you write.