New Beginnings & Cherished Memories
New Beginnings & Cherished Memories
The fourth series in the Dusty Town sequence.
Nothing’s Changed. Everything’s Changed. Episode 2
The sun was sinking low in the sky as Jacob, Betty Lou, and Willie and his family, started the dusty walk toward home. The light summer breeze rustled the young tree leaves ever so slightly and Jacob remembered these walks home from the restaurant he took so often those years ago with Maddie and his two boys. Both Maddie and Robert, his oldest son, were gone now. But the town was still the same, quiet as everyone and everything settled in after supper and the sun would paint the sky red and yellow and orange and purple as it turned in for the day. The town was still dusty. And it was still nestled into his very soul.
“Reckon I could never leave this place again,” Jacob thought out loud, to anyone who was listening. Little Jake heard, and stopped kicking up the dust ahead of them and turned and looked at Jacob so seriously. “You can’t leave us Grampa, not ever, I’d miss you too much!” Jacob smiled, “You would, would you,” he said. “Well, then I guess that settles that! I’m staying!” Jake jumped into Jacob’s arms to give him an enormous hug. Jacob spun him around and Jake laughed and laughed and laughed. “I love you Grampa!” “Love you more, Jake, love you more!” Jake burst out of Jacob’s arms and ran ahead. “Race you home Grampa! Wait till you see that great new house and the horses and the fields, and…everything!!” And off Jake went with Jacob smiling from ear to ear.
“You know Pa,” Willie began. “I was kinda hoping you would stay with us tonight, in the old house. I missed you Pa, so much to say, to get caught up on.”
“I’d like that,” Jacob said.
“We changed things around a little bit, from the way Ma had it. I didn’t think we should. But Sue and Betty Lou thought Ma would want us to build on what she had and not just keep it all the same. So that’s what we did. She’s still there Pa, in every corner, every ray of sunshine, every time the young’uns smile. We’ll always remember her, even if we do change things a little. What do you think Pa?”
He turned to Jacob then and saw the tears on Jacob’s face. Jacob could only nod at first. Still feeling so much emotion, Jacob was able to say, “You did right, son, your ma would be proud.”
“You really think so Pa? I’m glad.” And Jacob saw his son’s smile again, the one he loved to share as a child over Betty Lou’s pies.
“Willie, never thought about coming back and it being so much the same. Thought of coming back and there would somehow no longer be any tethers to the past. I thought I had broken them all, but now I know I haven’t and can’t ever either. Do you understand son?”
“I do Pa, I do. It’s like Betty Lou would tell us. With time things get easier to bear, but it’s always still there, the loss never goes away, it will always be a part of us.”
“It was a mistake my leavin’ after your ma died. The house that I had to straighten out in the city was an excuse. I had to leave here, the pain was too much. I’m sorry son, so sorry.”
“It’s alright Pa, you did the best you could. I always knew you loved me, even when you were no longer here. So much sadness we got through together, you, Ma, and me when Robert had the accident and died, and then you and me when Ma got sick and died.”
“I was strong for your ma and for you, and then when your ma died I was determined to support you and be strong for you. You were all I had left.”
Willie looked at his pa and nodded. Then he said, “And you were all I had left. But we made it Pa, somehow we got through it.”
“Here we are!” Jake announced. “Come on Grampa, will you read me a story? Aunt Betty Lou reads me stories every night.”
“I think I’ll just set a bit here on the porch, like we used to do after supper, if that’s fine with you my little man.”
“I’ll put the little ones to bed,” Sue suggested. “You all just relax out here for a while.”
Then Jacob, Betty Lou, and Willie sat down on the porch, just like they used to do after Maddie died and chores and supper were done for the night. “It’s still the same,” Jacob quietly began. “What is, Jacob?” Betty Lou asked.
“The pretty Kansas sky at sunset and the smell of the fields and the sound of the crickets and the summer breeze on our faces and the sweet quiet. Nothing’s changed. My ma used to say my pa found comfort in that.”
Jacob looked at Betty Lou then and smiled. Betty Lou, his and then Maddie’s long-time friend, the one he thought he would never see again. Yes, he and Willie had made it. But what Jacob remembered the most right then, was how Betty Lou was right there with them through it all.
