Fiction Friday: The Bandbox Hat

 

Previously: Sarah Jane and Jesse talk and she realizes that they took different paths in life for a reason.

 

THE BANDBOX HAT

Chapter 11

I slept better that night than I would have thought possible. It’s like once I told Jesse that I loved my life and my family and my students, I realized how true it was. Even if Mom hadn’t gotten sick, I would have stayed in Rosedale. It wasn’t just a pretty town in the central San Joaquin Valley. It was my home and it embraced me and gave me all I needed.

The next day I kept returning to the part of the conversation Jesse and I hadn’t finished: How could I reach Rachael? I needed to see and talk to my sister. Ten years was too long to let her stay away. She’d missed Mom’s final months, the funeral service. Her own son’s childhood would be gone all too soon. We couldn’t let any more time pass.

After school I pulled my cell phone from my purse and stared at it. I had never entered Jesse’s parent’s home number, but it didn’t matter. My fingers pressed the keys in the familiar pattern and in just a few seconds I heard it ringing.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Mrs. Hofer. It’s—”

“Sarah Jane. How are you, dear?” Her voice, warm as hot cider on a November evening, ignited memories and old longings.

I cleared my throat. “Good. I’m good. Uhh … and you?”

“We’re fine, but I’m afraid Jesse left this morning.”

My heart plummeted, but not the only sense of loss had to do with Rachael, not Jesse. “I’m sorry to hear that. I hoped he could give me Rachael’s phone number.”

“I’m sure he could. How about if I give you his number and you can ask him?”

“Sure. That would be fine.”

She rattled off the digits and I scribbled them on the back of Roseanna Lopez’s book report on The Violet Flash.

We said good-bye and I started to press the keypad again. Just as I finished the area code, the phone vibrated with an incoming call from a blocked number. I tapped the Answer button.

“Hello.”

“Sarah Jane. It’s Anna. We need you.”

“Why? What’s going on? I have papers to grade and—”

“Honestly, Sarah Jane, could you just forget about yourself for once? Please come home.” She hung up before I could ask again what was so urgent.

I stared at the phone for a moment, then turned it off and picked up my red pen. Roseanna’s book report still needed to be read. The last time I dropped everything when Anna called with an “emergency” I had rushed home to find that we were out of raisins for her apple cinnamon muffins. Well, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice and me and my money will soon be parted. Or something like that.

v v v

Two hours later, I turned into the lane leading to the house. “Oh, dear God.” I said the words out loud. A sheriff’s car waited at the steps to the front door.

Book Talk Tuesday: The Purity War

 

Tuesday’s are mostly about fiction, but when I read a particularly stellar non-fiction book, I’ve been known to mention it on the blog.

The Purity War by Dr. James M. Cecy deserves a Book Talk Tuesday review.

Pastor Jim has been teaching on, preaching on, writing about, studying about, speaking on, and living purity for not just years, but decades now. He knows what he’s talking about.

The book is interwoven with lots of Scripture, personal anecdotes and solid teaching. It is designed to be used for both personal and corporate study, for accountability groups, for discipleship. There are discussion questions and accountability worksheets.

The book is broken up into sections with chapters. The sections cover topics relating to personal purity such as The Need, God’s Design, The Way of Escape and The Way Forward, as well as others. It’s a practical guide about how to get pure, if you’re not, and how to stay pure, if you are.

It can be purchased here.

I recommend it!

(Disclaimer: Pastor Jim and his wife and family are personal friends and I helped with the editing and proofing of the manuscript, so I’m not completely unbiased. However, I’m convinced of the need for this book in our families, our churches, and our culture.)

Book Talk Tuesday: Read Down Reading

I’ve been reading like crazy recently. Some are great, some okay. My annual reading goal is 100 books. Usually I make it to between seventy and eighty. This year I’m at sixty-nine so I have a shot at 100.

This last week I read:

Hook, Line & Sinker by Susan May Warren

It’s a E-book I purchased for my Kindle and it’s more of a novella. I read it in an hour or two. Cute fun, but I expect nothing less from Susie.

 

 

J.D. Robb’s Indulgence in Death.

I love all the Lt. Eve Dallas books and this one is superb as usual. I love how Eve is becoming more of a well-rounded person but hasn’t lost her kick-ass edge.

 

Lost Melody by Lori Copeland and Virginia Smith. A lovely story of letting go of dreams and embracing new hopes.

 

The You I Never Knew by Susan Wiggs. Solid and well written, as I expect from Susan. My only quibble: the book takes place during a frigid winter. I kept expecting spring and the scene from the cover. Note to publisher: Read the book (or talk to the author) before designing cover art.

Fireside, also by Susan Wiggs. I’ve read a couple of her Lakeshore Chronicles books and really enjoy them because I recently visited an area of New York state that could easily stand in for Avalon and the Willow Lake area. This one is just as good. Note to publisher: The cover fits! Someone did their job.

Thanks for reading. In 2012 my blog will be changing. A lot. Changing names. Contests with giveaways will happen. It’s a step of faith for me and an exercise in consistency.

Fiction Friday: The Bandbox Hat

The Bandbox Hat

 

In the previous chapter: Jesse told Sarah Jane and her family that he brought her long lost sister Rachael to town but she left when she called her ex-husband’s home to visit her son and the new wife answered the phone. Sarah Jane was angry that Jesse let her go and she ran inside and up the stairs.

Chapter Ten

I just reached the top of the stairs when I knew I had to turn around and go back down. I was behaving like a petulant thirteen year-old whose mother told her to take out the garbage in the middle of a Justin Bieber song. I was too old to be a Blieber and April and Nathan shared the trash chore.

My feet clomped down so the group still on the porch would know I was coming. I paused at the screen. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”

Jesse flashed a look at Nathan and Anna. “May I talk with Sarah Jane alone?”

Nathan immediately stood and reached out a hand to Anna. Her jaw tightened but she took it and allowed him to pull her inside.

“I’m sorry, Sarah Jane. I didn’t know it would hurt you for me to come back to town.” Jesse’s eyes never blinked or broke contact with mine.

I had to look away. “You give yourself too much credit.”

“I don’t mean it that way. You were an amazing girl back then and I’m sure you’re even more amazing now as a woman and a teacher. I was stupid to think you’d wait for me when I left for college.”

A horde of angry gnats started buzzing in my ear. “That’s not what happened, Jesse.” I took a deep breath and sat on the wicker rocker. “You never asked me to wait. You took the scholarship money and you ran to Boston. You never considered staying and going to college here.”

“You could have come with me. You had the same offer.”

“You know that’s not true. Rachael had just left, my mom had just been given a terminal diagnosis. April was a newborn and Anna couldn’t get out of bed with postpartum depression. The last thing I could have done was leave and go to college across the country.”

“Did your staying change any of those things?” Even as a high schooler, Jesse had that ability to be sensible and spout out things that were true on the surface but missed the emotional heart of things by a country mile.

“You still don’t get it.” I took a deep breath. “I thought after seven years, your emotional maturity might have caught up with the rest of you, but you’re still a selfish boy who can only think about how things impact you. Yes, my mom died whether I was in Rosedale or Boston or Nairobi. But if I’d left, I would have lost those last few months of memories.”

“And you wouldn’t still be stuck in this town in the dust, teaching kids of migrant workers.”

“This town and its teachers gave you a pretty good start at your life. You think the east coast schools came calling because you were naturally smart?”

“You know what I mean. I love Rosedale. I just outgrew it.”

Understanding flooded my heart and the final bits of stained glass fell off my eyes. “That’s convenient, Jesse. I just realized I’ve outgrown you. Finally. You can go now.”

Jesse stared at me and he must have seen my new resolve because he slowly got to his feet and headed to the steps down to the driveway. “Just remember, Sarah Jane, you made a choice back then. It’s not my fault your life didn’t go the way you thought it would.”

“You are exactly right, Jesse Hofer. Nothing in my life is your fault. And I thank God for that because you’re also not responsible for any of my blessings. A family who loves me, a niece who adores my rollkuchen, and a classroom of kids of all nationalities who want to be in Rosedale.”

He nodded once before turning and leaving. The rattle of his dad’s truck echoed long after he turned out of our lane and onto the main road.

I sat and rocked and thought and prayed.

Woe! It’s Wednesday

I took a couple weeks off ranting. Not that I didn’t have anything to rant about, but I thought I might come off as too cranky. You know the saying: If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.

Now, I can’t remember what was so upsetting that I couldn’t even talk about it. That’s the way it goes. Time really does have a way of healing things. Many things. Not all.

I did have someone recently handle a sticky situation in a good way. It was so refreshing to experience. I’d had another similar situation in the last year or so that was handled in exactly the opposite manner and it was so hurtful, so disrespectful, and so wrong. This new one was joyful, right, and wonderful. And so easy to do it right.

I’m trying to remember this. There’s a good way and a bad way to handle relationships. I hope and pray I choose the good.

Book Talk Tuesday: A Lasting Impression

 

I’ve said before that I’m not a big historical novel reader, yet I continue to read them and enjoy them. So I guess now I am. If the novel has great characters who come alive in my mind, vivid settings and compelling stories.

A Lasting Impression by Tamera Alexander has all of the above.

Set just after the Civil War in Nashville, A Lasting Impression is the story of Claire Laurent, a young woman with a talent for painting. Too bad her father forced her to paint forgeries which he sold in his gallery.

Clair has to flee the gallery and her home and ends up employed at the grandest mansion in Nashville, and in hiding from her father’s business associate. She grows particularly close to another member of the household, a young lawyer who happens to be investigating rumors of fraudulent painting sales.

 

From it’s beautiful embossed cover to the vivid descriptions of the art to the lovely prose, A Lasting Impression is a delight to read and savor.

I highly recommend it.

(NOTE: I received a free copy of A Lasting Impression to read and review. This did not influence my feelings or thoughts about the book. It’s so good, I’d pay for it! And I will, since I plan to buy copies for friends and family member whom I know will it enjoy as much as I did.)

Book Talk Tuesday: That Old Cape Magic

 

A friend of mine says his most favorite book of all time is Straight Man by Richard Russo.

I read it and enjoyed it. My writing teacher/mentor often mentions the movie Nobody’s Fool when she talks about character development. The movie is based on the book of the same name by Richard Russo.

                                      

 

A couple of weeks ago I was browsing in a bookstore. Which, by the way, is getting harder and harder to do, but I digress. I picked up a copy of That Old Cape Magic by Russo. I read the inside flap and decided to give it a shot.

                                                                                                 

I expected to love it.

I loved parts of it. I loved the writing.

The contemporary story never grabbed me. I kept reading because I liked the main character’s backstory and reading about his childhood and his atrocious parents.

Jack Griffin and his wife attend a wedding on Cape Cod, the place where Griffin’s academician parents took him every summer. His father is recently deceased and Griffin can’t seem to get over it and let his father go. Figuratively and literally, since he’s driving around with an urn of ashes in the trunk of his car.

A year passes. Another Cape wedding. Griffin’s eyes are opened to just how much of an influence his parents had on him.

I really did like the backstory portions. They came alive in both Griffin’s and his mother’s voices. She was a piece of work.

I’ve read other criticism that Russo’s female characters aren’t fully developed and sure enough, Joy Griffin, Jack’s wife, felt as real as a paper doll and about as substantial. His mother was real, but she was … ummm … well, I can’t say what she is in a family blog.

If you’ve read other Russo work, I’d say give That Old Cape Magic a try. If you’re new to Russo, start with Straight Man. It’s better.