Where the Tracks Go

Chapter Four

It was the beginning of Fall. Ann was relaxing in her sunroom enjoying all the sunlight shining through the windows. She had just celebrated her seventy-fifth birthday a few weeks earlier. She sat there looking out at the trees thinking the leaves will be turning to the radiant colors of orange, yellow, and red soon.  She loved watching the falling leaves dance and swirl in the wind and how they drifted softly to the ground. In that moment tears welled up in her eyes, as she realized she was in the Autumn of her life.  

She closed her eyes, relaxed her body, and let her mind go back to another time, when it was Spring, and she was a little two-year-old girl. She remembered so much was going on.  Her mother, Emma had left William.  Emma had taken June and Eddie with her and left the two younger children with William.  Raelyn was just an infant and Ann was only two years old.  When William’s aunts Flora and Mae heard he had been left with the two young girls they decided he needed their help.

Ann remembered her mother moving out. Oddly enough,  Ann did not remember crying for her Mother.  Ann remembered her dad had gotten her up to go to her Great Granny's. He had bundled Raelyn up and they walked hand in hand down the railroad tracks until they reached the road that took them to her Great Granny’s. The long walk along the railroad tracks was a vivid memory. 

Great Aunt Flora and Great Aunt Mae had come that day. William was sitting at the table drinking coffee.  They had joined him and discussed Ann and Raelyn's future.  It was agreed.  Great Aunt Mae would take Raelyn and Great Aunt Flora would take Ann.

The next morning Great Aunt Flora dressed Ann and gave her breakfast.  Great Aunt Mae fed Raelyn her bottle and changed her diaper. Great Aunt Mae bundled Raelyn up in a warm blanket and got ready to leave.  

Her Great Aunts reassured William they would take care of the children and give them a good home until he and Emma worked things out.  The Great Aunts hugged their mother goodbye and took their leave back to Norfolk. It was one of Ann's first vivid memories of how she came to live with her Great Aunt Flora at age two.

It would be a long time before she would see Raelyn again.

She wondered if she had a picture of Great Aunt Flora.  She looked through the box to find a picture of Great Aunt Flora, Great Uncle Phil, their teenage daughters Betty and Ellen, and herself in front of a big tree. Great Aunt Flora was her father's aunt.  Flora was only six years older than William, so they had grown up together and were extremely close.  More like cousins than aunt and nephew. Ann being two years old at the time did not realize what was happening when her father let her go with Great Aunt Flora.  Oddly enough, she did not remember crying for him either.    

She opened her eyes and looked over at the clock.  She had drifted off in to her memories.  She needed to get up and do a scrapbook page so she would have a story for Davey when he stopped by for his daily visit. He continued to be a blessing in her life.

As she looked through the pictures, she decided she would do a page reflecting on the memory she had enjoyed earlier that day.  There it is.  A picture of her and her Great Granny.  She pulled up the page Lacie told her to use to type out her story and began typing.  She smiled as she was able to relive the memory in her mind again.  She was enjoying putting together her scrapbook.  Her first thought had been that she would have to find a story for her pictures.  Now she was realizing that the process could be to find a picture to go with a memory or to find the memory to go with the picture. There was no right or wrong way to putting the scrapbook together.

Later that day she heard the doorbell.  Like clockwork, Davey had come by for his visit.  He came bearing gifts.  He had a bag of more scrapbooking stuff.  As she sat looking in the bag, she realized it was a bag to cover the story of her first-time meeting Landon.  He had printed out a picture of the two of them sitting in a rocker to go in her scrapbook.  She teared up. What a nice surprise.

Thank you so much.  Well grandma, I do not do scrapbooking but we have some special memories together so I thought I would pull pictures and get you some stuff so you could include my family in your books.  I absolutely love it Davey.  Good.  I will continue to bring you stuff for your book.  Let me know if you want me to pick something specific up or take you to get something.

Getting up, Davey went to her and leaned down to hug her neck.  Well Grandma I hate to go but I need to get home to the family.  Thank you, grandson.  I will see you tomorrow.  Yes ma'am. See you then.