Bob Blackett - one version anyway...


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Posted by Ed Kiser on May 04, 2003 at 00:59:45 from 152.163.188.167 user Kisered.

The time is 1939, August.

The place is Beckfoot.

Nancy is married to Timothy; the have young twin toddlers of
their own.

Three refugee children that have made it away from the dark
uncertainties of Europe have been brought by Peggy to stay
at Beckfoot, for a while, at least.

Bridget is also there; she is the eldest of that group. They
call themselves the four Nomads.

This is just a small excerpt of a much larger work.

Enjoy...

by Ed Kiser, South Florida
---------------------------------------------------

At first, Nancy felt maybe someone had fallen, as she saw one
of them rolling down the slope of the promentory. Then she
realized that they all were flinging themselves down that slope,
rolling madly on the ground, finally coming to a halt at the
bottom of the slope, only to run giggling back up to the top to
do it all again. Nancy felt a twinge, an urge to perhaps have a
go at rolling down that slope herself, with a bit of an imaginary
self-kick for not having thought of doing it at an earlier, more
appropriate age.

"Looks tempting, doesn't it?" laughed Peggy.

"Perhaps if no one else was looking," Nancy gave a playful
shove to Peggy shoulder.

"As long as no one is getting hurt," said their mother.

"They're ok, Mother, they're just having fun." Nancy was
grinning at the sight of childish delights. "How can they think
of such silly things..."

Her mother looked oddly at her. "Silly, is it now? What did
you call it when you did exactly the same thing?"

"Oh, Mother! Surely I never did that!" Nancy was a bit
indignant.

"Wish I had seen that!" Peggy returned the little shove.

Mrs. Blackett continued. "You were quite young. Little Peggy
was just a toddler, but was quite proud of being able to walk up
to the top and look out over the lake. Nancy, you were up there
with her, and she slipped. I saw her rolling down, and ran out,
thinking she must be hurt, but she was laughing all the way down.
Then here you come, rolling down yourself. You two had to run
back up just to roll down again. Seeing this now, it brought
back some memories to me of my childhood days, and that made me
laugh at the sight."

"Memories? What sort? Surely, you never did anything like
that, or did you? Mother! You didn't!" Nancy was almost shocked
at the thought of her mother rolling down that slope.

"I was quite young then, and I remember it was quite a lark. I
think it was Bob's idea, and he talked me into doing it after he
showed me how much fun it was. Of course, I daren't try it now;
I'd break a hip or worse. But then, it was a lot of fun. I
enjoyed it, and later, in your generation, you did it too. I'm
surprised you forgot doing it."

"Bob?" Nancy looked at her mother and saw a strange look on her
face. She spoke quietly, "You mean, Father?"

"Oh, yes, your father. He was one for starting fun adventures.
My whole life with him was a wonderful adventure."

"Mother," said Nancy softly, "I wish I really remembered him.
I seem to have a faint image in my mind, but I don't really
remember anything about him. There is that picture of you and
him together, in that ornate frame over the fireplace in the
parlour. You are both quite dressed up. I believe that was a
wedding picture."

Peggy joined in. "Then there is that other one, I think he was
younger then, the picture you have on the nightstand by your bed.
But I have no memory at all of him."

"You were much too young, my dear. I am surprised Nancy has
any recollection of him at all."

"Mother, Father... that was a long time ago... do you still
miss him?" Nancy asked the question, somewhat hesitantly.

There was a pause. They stood there together, watching the joy
of youth, as they rolled screaming in pleasure down that slope.

"Nancy," her mother said, her voice a bit higher than usual, "I
do miss him. Every day. Some little thing will happen, and I
will think of him..." Her lips were pressed firmly together.
"And I miss him."

"Mother," Nancy put her arm around her mother. "What was he
like? Really like?"

Peggy went to her Mother's other side and also slipped an arm
around her also.

"My dears, you really want to know? Then you just go up to a
mirror and take a good look. You may think you are looking at
yourself, but you don't realize just how much like him you both
truly are. I look at you, and I see Bob. That little laugh of
yours; that is his. You both laugh that very same way. Well,
his laugh sounded exactly just like that. Peggy, that little
lock of hair that keeps falling down in front of your eyes, that
you toss your head just so to fling it back - he had the same
problem, and the same movement. The way both of you look at me,
out of the corner of your eye, with your head down - that is the
same look that just turned me to jelly when your Father looked at
me that same way, that very same way.

"But you know, I was more fortunate that many widows. First of
all, Bob had been mine. No other could say that. I was also
fortunate to have known him as long as I did. You realize that
Bob and I grew up together? Our mothers used to put us in the
same playpen together, where we would snatch toys from each other
and scream, 'Mine, Mine!' at each other. Bob and I were always
together, as much as possible. We had our adventures. We
explored together. We climbed Mt. Kanchenjunga - but we had our
own name for it back them. We called it the Matterhorn. Many a
day, I would hear his whistle as he came walking down our road
towards the house, and I would run to the door to stand there
with my arms spread wide to welcome him, and as he ran up those
few steps to greet me with a big hug, I would look at him and say
to myself, 'Now, THERE's a MAN!' He was MY man.

"Now, I have you two, and with you, I still have him here. So
much of who you are, and what you are, is really just Bob -
although there are times, Nancy, I see a bit of the Great Aunt in
you as well..."

Nancy made a face.

"But," her mother continued, "your leadership, your
determination, your pluck and boundless energy - all that is just
like Bob. You both have that. When you come down the stairs,
you know how you manage to hit only about every fourth step as
you come leaping and bounding down those stairs - that is Bob.
He never WALKED down stairs, but always bounded down in great
leaps. Even going up, he always went up, two steps at a time -
just like you do. Yes, Bob is here with me, especially when
either of you are here. At least, I feel the comfort of feeling
he is with me. Miss him? Yes, of course, but I'm proud that he
was such an important part of my life."

"I do wish I had known him longer," murmured Nancy, hugging her
mother again.

"You speak of adventures," Mrs. Blackett continued her trip
through her memories. "I don't think I ever told you of our
honeymoon."

"Oh, Mother", Nancy was shaking her head, "Really, I don't
think..."

"Now you just listen. I think you will enjoy hearing this
part. The Great War was raging in Europe. Everyone was very
apprehensive about what the future would hold."

Nancy nodded a bit sadly. "Just like today. The future is a
very ominous threatening cloud."

"It's going to be a storm the likes of which we've never seen
before," Peggy spoke almost in a whisper.

"You understand how it was then. The shooting had already
started. We had heard of the horrors of those trenches. Already
there were new widows who were suddenly faced with raising their
little ones all by themselves. Bob got his notice to report in a
fortnight. That we were to get married had long been a known
decision - it was a matter of WHEN. But with that notice, the
time became immediate. It was not a big affair, but the vicar
did a service for us as Bob and I stood there together before the
whole community. There was not much time left for the honeymoon,
but we took our few days to be together before he had to leave.
He got a tent that was big enough for the two of us. You know
the tent. It is the same one you took to Wild Cat Island many
years ago."

"But that was OUR tent," Nancy exclaimed.

"It was ours, first, my dear. You see, we wanted a very
special place for our honeymoon, so we went camping at the most
special place we knew of - we went to our island, the one you
call Wild Cat Island - but of course, we had our own name for
that, too.

"You honeymooned on Wild Cat?" Nancy seemed amazed over this
piece of news. "We never knew..."

"Bob went away for his training, and I went back home to
prepare to have our first baby, you. Nine months after our
honeymoon, you arrived."

"Well, mother, I always felt Wild Cat was a very special place.
I guess it is very special in more ways than I had imagined."
Nancy was smiling at the thoughts of the island. "But what about
Father? There in those trenches and all..."

"He never got there - for which I am most grateful, in a way.
You see, while in training, he became rather ill with rheumatic
fever. Spent most of his military service in a military hospital
fighting the fevers. I almost lost him then and there, but with
time, he finally seemed to have recovered. Apparently the
disease had weakened him and made him unfit for the military, so
he received a medical disability discharge and was sent back
home."

"Sounds like that illness may have saved his life," Nancy said.

"It was a mixed blessing," Peggy added.

"That is the way we thought of it," her mother agreed. "It was
so good to have him home, although he seemed a bit tired. Then
Peggy came along, and we were so happy with the two of you."

"Did the illness finally, you know, did it..." Nancy did not
know how to finish her question.

"Just seeing these youngsters rolling down that slope has
brought it all back to me. Bob and I laughed at you and Peggy
rolling down that slope, way back then. You both became so
dirty."

"At least, we weren't in party frocks, but probably in
comfortables." Nancy was smiling now.

"You both still got so very dirty, rolling around on the ground
like that. I made an observation about how dirty the two of you
had become, and Bob said that 'It is no problem. I'll take care
of it.' And with that, he took the two of you by your collars and
walked you down to the bay there by the promontory, and, wading
out to up above his knees, he dipped the pair of you into the
water, clothes and all. It was a hot day, just like today, and
you both were giggling about it the whole time. He gave you a
good rinsing. The cloud of accumulated dirt practically silted
up the mouth of the river when it settled."

"Oh mother, your stretching that a bit..." Peggy was shaking
her head.

"Well," Mrs. Blackett continued, "there was quite a cloud of
grey water slowly drifting out into lake, made of the dirt he had
rinshed off the both of you. You both thought it was quite an
adventure, actually getting into the water with your regular
clothes on. He brought you both back, and I rushed you upstairs
to get changed into dry clothes. We both had quite a laugh about
the whole thing. And to think, you don't remember rolling down
that slope at all. Strange. You really seemed to enjoy that
moment."

"Really, mother," Nancy said. "I did not think I had ever even
thought of rolling down that slope, although I'm glad to realize
I had not missed out on that little adventure."

Mother paused, the spoke a bit more quietly. "We lost your
father several days after that dip in the lake. You see,
apparently the fever had caused some damage to the valves of the
heart, and, well, they just gave out on him - and, that was it.
He had taken the rowboat out and was rowing across to Rio. Some
fishermen found him drifting about among the islands there, with
him there lying on the bottom of the boat. He was gone when they
found him. So the illness, well, it saved him from the horrors
of the trenches, but in the end, it took him from us."

Mrs. Blackett stopped and though a bit. "I'm glad I finally
got to tell you about it. Somehow, I just did not want to go
into to that whole thing before, but now..." Her voice just
trailed.

Peggy was nervously digging with a toe into the ground. Nancy
gave her mother another hug, then said, "Now what about these
clowns on that slope today? They are filthy too. I don't think
either of us is up to grabbing the lot by the collar and dunking
them in the bay."

"They better not come into my house with all that dirt," Mrs.
Blackett said, with a bit of forced brightness.

"What if I get them to dunk themselves?" Nancy suggested.

"I'll fetch some towels for when they get out." Peggy turned
quickly and ran back inside. Her mother turned and slowly
followed her back into the kitchen.

Nancy paused, looking after her, deciding to let her go. It
must not have been easy to talk about her father, even after all
this time.

A sudden thought occurred to her, as to just how would she
manage if something should happen to Timothy - but she quickly
turned away from that whole idea and went to the giggling younger
ones, covered in dirt.

*

Eve and Olena originally had wanted to get in a swim, but there
was the problem of not exactly having the proper bathing things,
so after standing at the lakeside staring longingly at its
inviting coolness, they turned to climb up the slope of the
promontory. Bridget and Leah had already walked up there, and
Bridget was pointing out various points of interest along the
lake to Leah.

Leah was quite excited by the view of the lake, clapping her
hands in delight as she dashed back and forth, trying to get all
the best views of the beautiful scenery. Eve and Olena were a
bit breathless by the time they joined the pair.

"I say, it's a bit warm to be making climbs like that one,"
panted Eve.

Olena grunted in agreement, but felt she could not add to that
observation as she mopped her face. "Oh Leah! How can you run
like that? Aren't you hot, too?"

"It just beautiful up here!" exclaimed Leah. "Bridget was
showing me places where they have been. I wish we could all go
to see those places ourselves someday."

"In time, I'm sure I can work something out," Bridget agreed.
"Oh Leah, do be careful!" She lunged forward to try to catch her,
but Leah was already rolling down the slope towards the house.
At first Bridget was alarmed, but Leah was laughing the entire
way down.

"That was great! You should try it!" came laughingly from the
rolling Leah, after she had finally stopped at the bottom.

It was a sudden impulse, but one quickly accepted. Bridget
was also rolling down that slope, laughing all the way.

Olena looked at Eve, Eve looked at Olena, and Olena observed,
"Perhaps we could give it a bit of a try ourselves." A moment
later those two were sprawling down the slope, laughing in
delighted screams.

Somehow the warmth of the day had ceased to be a problem, so
they all dashed back up that slope in order to repeat the
delightfully new method of getting down in a most undignified
manner - which of course, made it that much more fun.

Leah suddenly said to Bridget in a loud whisper, "Here comes
Nancy! Are we in trouble?"

Nancy however had a big grin on her face, so Leah felt a bit of
relief. "Are you guys being silly, or what?" Nancy called out
to them as she made her way up the slope of the promontory.

"Come on, Nancy! Let's see you give it a try," Bridget called
out her challenge.

"Don't think I'm not tempted," said Nancy, as she struggled up
to the top. "Ooof, it's a bit harder to get up here than I had
remembered."

A general chant went up from the four tumblers. "Nancy's going
to do it - Nancy's going to do it."

"Give me room, people," said Nancy, and a moment later was
rolling madly down the slope, laughing the whole way, to be
immediately followed by the four challengers also rolling in
merriment the whole way down.

Nancy sat up at the bottom. "Well, at least I can say I've
done it. Mother just told us that Peggy and I had done this
before many years ago, but I did not remember doing it."

"How could you forget doing this?" Eve was wondering.

"We were quite young. I guess memories don't stick around from
those early ages."

Bridget said to her, "But we're old enough. We'll always
remember this. But, enough of this. I've had it. It's just so
hot."

"What we all need is a dip in the lake," said Nancy.

"But we don't have bathing things," Eve observed, "but it would
be delightful."

"I tell you what. Who cares about bathing things. Anyone here
not able to swim?" Nancy was already headed for the shore of the
bay.

Leah looked at her somewhat disbelieving. "You mean, with our
clothes and all?"

Nancy called back over her shoulder. "Empty your pockets of
anything you don't want to get wet - and kick off those sand
shoes. I'm for getting cooled off." She did as she had just
suggested, and stepped into the shallows.

With squeals of delight, the others ran down to the mouth of
the river, where it emptied into a bay in the shoreline of the
lake, with the Beckfoot Promontory forming along the southern arm
of the bay. Nancy was already in as the others, leaving a pile
of discarded shoes, went dashing into the water, squealing at its
coolness.

"Ooh, it's COLD!" screamed Leah.

"That's the whole idea," said Bridget as she splashed a bit of
cold water towards Leah. This started a general water fight of
splashing hands blasting water into whatever face seemed handy.

There is a rather large reed-bed starting at the base of the
promontory and stretching around that point along the shoreline
of the lake itself.

Eve had moved over near the reeds, and looking at them, got a
very serious look on her face as she stared at them. "It may be
cold water, but Olena and I have been in much colder." Olena
also waded over towards the reeds. "Remember the reeds, Olena?"
Neither of these were laughing now.

Eve twisted off one of the larger of the reeds, broke the tip
off and putting it to her mouth, blew through it making a
somewhat high-pitched thin trumpet sound - actually more of a
loud squeek. Olena followed her example. The others of course
had to follow that lead, so soon all were blowing their squeeks
through these hollow reeds.

Nancy came over to the edge of the reed bed and commented that
she had never thought of blowing through them, but that the reed
bed made an excellent hiding place. She told them of the time
she and Peggy had paddled the Amazon deep into that very reed bed
and with the mast down, was able to be hidden so when the
Swallows came by in their boat, they remained unseen.

Eve and Elena looked rather knowingly at each other and said
they had to hide in a bed of reeds before. Actually, it was a
deep ditch, with the reeds thick along one side. Their parents
had led them into the ditch to hide from the soldiers, and showed
them how to use the hollow reed as a breathing tube. There
wasn't much time to practice, as the soldiers where coming
nearby. They all went under, holding a reed to the mouth, with
the tip of the reed above the surface, using one hand to steady
the reed and to squeeze the nose shut, and using the other hand
to grab a handfull of other reeds to hold them down so they
wouldn't float to the surface. The soldiers came and looked down
into the ditch, but did not see anything unusual, so went on
searching elsewhere.

Nancy was fascinated by this new hiding technique. Her
excitement was caught by the others, so soon all four of the
Nomads were gone from view, breathing through a hollow reed.
What made it really fun was they continued tooting that squeeky
trumpet sound. They got to laughing, which led to some
accidental swallowing of lake and people quickly standing up and
spluttering in laughter.

"I've got some towels," Peggy announced as she appeared on the
shore. "Oh Nancy! You've gone and gotten yourself wet too!"

She turned to Leah and began to swab her down with a towel.
The others dried themselves, and laughing at the fun they had
just had, dashed back to the house.

Nancy hesitated, slowly drying herself. "Peggy..."

Peggy had started walking back to the house, but something in
Nancy's voice got her attention. She went back to Nancy, saw a
strange look in her face, and then, as Nancy started walking
towards the boathouse, she understood and followed, taking her by
the hand.

The stepped into the darkness of the boathouse from the glare
of the daylight. There were two berths there, with a small jetty
extending in between. The Beckfoot launch was on one side, by
itself, as it was rather large. In the other slip, two smaller
boats were moored. The Amazon was accessable from the center
jetty, with the Scarab next to the walkway at the side of the
boathouse. On the walls, fixed into the stone sides, were
several pairs of hooks, usually containing fishing rods, oars, or
coils of rope. On one pair of hooks, on the side next to the
Scarab, was hanging the Beckfoot rowboat. There was no room for
it to be in the water, now that they had given its berth to the
Scarab. They slowly stepped over to the old rowboat. Nancy
reached out and gently pressed her hand on the old scarred
bottom, and just stood there silently. Peggy stood quietly
beside her. Somehow, that old rowboat would never be the same to
them. It now took on new meaning.

Nothing was said; nothing needed to be said. Nancy turned and
looked at Peggy. Both had a rather strange look on their faces
as they contemplated the roll played by that old rowboat in the
final hour of their father.

Quietly, they turned and left the boathouse, carefully closing
the door behind them. Hand in hand, they made their way across
the Beckfoot lawn and went back into the house. As they reached
the door, Peggy said quietly, "I feel I've just been to
church..." Nancy did not reply, but nodded quickly. They
entered the door, and nothing more was said about it.



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