Chest of Childhood

So I am sitting here waiting to finish the last couple loads of laundry. My dryer is having issues right now. The parts are ordered but seem to be taking a long time to come in. Almost as long as it takes to dry a load of towels. The kids are bathed and in bed and I thought I would write something deep and inspiring. Instead, I ended up with a short story. Hmmm, don't know where that came from. Here it is. It is raw and unedited and just the way I typed it. A first draft.

She didn't remember the last time she had been up here. It must have been before Henry died. But that was 20 years ago, surely she had come up since then. She probably just couldn't remember. It was so hard to recall things. Well, it didn't matter anyhow, she was here now and there was much to be done. How on earth could she ever decide what to do with a lifetime of memories?

She pulled the cord above her. The day that Henry installed that bare bulb it was a marvel to her, but today she took no notice other than to turn it on. My, how dust covered everything in the attic. A complete contrast to the rest of her home. The home she had spent a lifetime making memories in. Henry had purchased it the day after she gave birth to their first son. She had made sure it was filled with love, laughter and the smell of apple pie . And from the looks of the stuff piled in the attic, she had filled it with other things as well.

It didn't take her long to decide that Aunt Miranda's purple sette and ottoman could go. Age and dust did not improve the looks of it any at all. She added the dried flower arrangements, the rolls of 50 year old wallpaper, the patterns she used to sew her daughters' dresses and Henry's stack of fishing magazines.

Then there were the things for the yard sale. The lamps, Henry's bowling ball and golf clubs, but Mark might want the fishing pole. Kendra would probably want the dress form but the bird cage could be sold. She hoped it wouldn't take too long for the boys to drag it all downstairs. She hadn't realized that so much had been brought up here through the years.

When she got to the old trunk at the back of the room, she was surprised. She hadn't realized that it was still here. She stood staring at it for a long time, afraid that if she opened it the magic would be gone and it would be filled with junk instead. Finally she knelt in front of it, unlatched the old metal clasps and heaved the lid up. Her breath caught in her throat as her eyes skimmed the contents.

The first thing her hand lit upon was Mary's yellow dress. She closed her eyes and thought about the first time Mary wore it. She had spent all morning baking and decorating the cake. She had carefully formed the cake to be the dress for a doll that looked just like Mary. She had tinted the icing to the exact color of this dress. Mary was so thrilled when she saw it. She had taken to calling Mary "Sunshine" after that.

She lay the dress aside and took out Don's cowboy outfit, complete with six-shooters and fringe on the vest. She recalled the stick horse she had fashioned for him with an old broom and an empty Clorox bottle for the head. She had glued brown yarn for the mane. How many times had she had to tell him that he could not wear his spurs to bed because it ripped the sheets? If she listened hard enough she was sure she could hear him out in the yard rounding up the bad guys.

Next was the porceline tea set that Elizabeth got from Santa the year she turned six. Elizabeth loved having tea parties with her friends. She would make a batch of cookies and stir up a pitcher of lemon aid and take it in to the girls. Somehow it always changed into tea and crumpets by the time she made it into the playroom. Sometimes though, Elizabeth would invite just her and they would have a grand time pretending that they were in a palace waiting for the prince to come and do what ever it was that princes did when they came from wherever they were coming from.

Kendra's dolls. Oh the hours Kendra spent fashioning dolls and their wardrobes from the scraps of material leftover from a sewing project. Kendra would plan and sketch and pin and cut and then sew it all together. She remembered the year of the flood and the many homes that were ruined. When Kendra learned that many of the children's toys had been destroyed she could not work fast enough to make dolls for all the girls. That was a happy time of service for the family.

She almost missed the black bag lying in the corner. It was small and lumpy. Mark's marbles. She opened it and spilled a few out into her hand. The prized green cat's eye that was Mark's favorite caught her eye first. She poked through the marbles looking for her favorite. Yes, there it was. Clear white with cloudy swirls through it. And Henry's favorite, the taw with a double ribbon core that he had given Mark. Mark had used it when he won the championship at the town's founder's day celebration. Henry sure was proud that day.

The slamming of a car door brought her up with start. That would be the boys ready to start hauling stuff outside. Oh dear, how long had she sat here lost in her memories? Well, the first thing she would have them take would be this old trunk. She would have them take it to the parlor. Later today, when the girls got here with supper and the boys were exhausted with their labors, she would open it for them. Her magic filled chest of childhood.

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Indeed.