Bartle Clunes - Chapter 30
New faces in Riles Crossing
Previous chapters are listed in the Bartle Clunes archive. Click here
If you are new, please start here: Introduction to Bartle Clunes .
El Dorado County 1951
At the Griggs house, Filomena was finishing up the lunch dishes. Eizer and Eli were sitting at the table playing a game of Hearts. Finn, perched on the chair back, was nibbling at Eli's ear.
“Elicito, you want more juice, mi amor?
“Si, por favor,” answered Eli, making her laugh.
“Mister Eizer,” Filomena said, off-handedly, drying a glass on the dishtowel, and trying to sound casual, “Why you don't let me cut your hair? You look like un viejo – an old man, with all this hair.”
“Filomena, I am an old man and I can cut my own hair, gracias.”
“Yeah, but not so good. No? I do good job for you. Sientese aqui. You sit here. Mire, I cut for you one time. You don't like, I don't cut no more.” She was already beckoning with the shears in her hand.
Eizer, panicked, glanced at the back door seeking an escape route, but she stepped in front of the exit and ultimately he did as he was told.
“You not so old,” she said, snipping away, working a comb through the snarls. “And you need champu. I do for you here in the kitchen.” When she had his hair nicely trimmed, she yanked him up and moved the chair to the drainboard. He lost the will to protest and sat down again, leaning his head back into the sink. Eli looked on. Filomena washed his hair vigorously, and before he knew it, had trimmed his beard, as well.
“¡Eso si!” she said triumphantly. “¡Ahora un espejo!” She handed him a mirror. Eizer was startled. He hardly recognized himself. He looked so – so young! Filomena stood beaming. “¡Corazon de mi vida! You look like new handsome man!” she said.
He felt like a new handsome man, five pounds lighter. “Thank you, Filomena, it will take some getting used to, but you were right. Very nice. Very nice.”
Eli giggled until Filomena pointed at him and said, “¡Okay, Elicito! Now you!”
While the determined woman worked on the squirming Eli, she said to Eizer, “And you need new clothes, too, hombre,” she continued. “¡Mas modernas! More moderns. I don't want wash these old rags no more. You got money, you get good clothes!”
“Yah, okay,” he grumped, as he strode out the back door, looking for something to keep him busy until the woman had gone home and there was no further risk of her stripping off his clothing.
Louvina and Bartle's brown-eyed girl was born June 18. To the delight of her somewhat older parents, she was strong and healthy. Her hair was bright red, and the soft glow of her delicate little face looked like a pearl. They named her Pearly Clunes.
As fate would have it, their grandson had been born one week earlier, a robust, curly-haired vociferous boy whom Ayla and Lonnie named Philo Thomas Jefferson Riles. “A name to live up to,” they said. Although the boy was the older of the two babies by seven days, Pearly was his auntie and would no doubt lord it over her nephew, Philo, his entire life.
The following Sunday afternoon Eizer and Eli, both shining like newly- minted silver dollars with their nice clothing and their new haircuts, attended the double christening of Pearly and Philo at St. Barbara of the Miners church. Eizer held the boy's hand as they walked up the wooden steps of the little church, looking very confident, although neither one remembered ever being in a church before.
Eizer greeted his friends, the two shy sisters, Rose and Ruth, who were all dolled up in rather odd-looking summer hats and white gloves. He introduced them to Eli, and they all sat down together. The babies howled in unison throughout the entire ceremony as babies do, and everyone loved it. After the baptism, all in attendance were invited over to the Riles’ home for a celebration of new life and pie.
Thanks for reading 🍁LEAVES. Subscribe to receive new posts every Saturday morning and sometimes on Wednesday. It is free.
I like the housekeeper. She is the woman’s presence they both need.
For me, Filomena is a great addition to Eizer's story. Just like Eli, she is bringing him to life.