"Elisha, dear, would you please help me with my hair?" My mother, a woman with long blond curly hair asked,"I can't seem to pin all the strays.
"Sure, mama," I replied. My mother put her hair up in a loose bun every day as long as I could remember. It wasn't a popular style, but she looked perfectly elegant in it - at least that was what I always thought.
"Are y'all ready to leave?" Papa asked us poking his head into the room, "We need to hurry and leave if we're going to make it to the party on time." We were going to my grandparent anniversary party; they had been married forty years, so all my aunts and uncles decided they were in need of a special congratulation.
"Did you hear a new family is moving to Hartford?" I overheard my Aunt Lucy tell my mother at the party, "they have five children!"
"Really? How did you find out," my mother questioned.
"I was walking with Molly (my aunt's daughter) when I saw Sally Henderson talking to the wife of the couple. Sally then showed her to me and introduced us. She's a beautiful woman! She has two living at home with her right now."
"Where are her other three?"
"Two are in the military and one is married. I believe she said the younger will be back soon." The two women went on talking about the family a little longer, then dispersed to see other family. Other than my grandparents on my mother's side, Aunt Lucy and her family was the only relation living less than two hours away.
I quit listening to my mother and aunt, and turned to my cousin. We decided to get all the kids together to play some board games. The evening passed quickly, and before anyone realized, it was time to leave. The drive home was hardly dull, as my mother couldn't stop talking about the new family moving in. She said we must go meet them, and invite them to dinner. My father simply sighed in reply, but there was no complaint from the speaker. She loved my daddy because he would let her talk forever without an actual response.
The following week, my parents went to see Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson,
"Elisha, I invited the Hutchinson's over for dinner tonight," my mother told me with a smile - she always loved having dinner company.
"Who are the Hutchinson's?" I asked, unsure whether I ever heard the name before.
"Silly girl, they're our new neighbors!" She replied, "We need to begin preparing dinner in two hours." My mother had what was almost a childish charm about her. She could say things that most adults wouldn't say, and become excited like a child about small things - which made everyone love her all the more.
I was setting the table when I heard a knock at the door, "Mother they're are here, do you want me to answer the door?"
"Oh how delightful!" She said, "you finish setting the table, I'll get Frances and answer the door." I could hear the door being opened, and greetings being said. I put the last few forks on the table and walked quickly to the kitchen. I would of gone to introduce myself (only my parents had met them), but there was food cooking on the stove and I couldn't let it burn.
As soon as the food finished cooking--mashed potatoes and gravy, roast beef, and fresh salad--I placed it on plates and made sure everything about the meal was perfect. I walked into the living room where everyone was, and announced that it was dinner time. Before going to the dining room, my mother introduced my to their family. Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson brought their two youngest sons Samuel and Charles. I later found out that Matthew was only a year older than me, and Charles was two years younger.
After dinner my parents, along with Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson, migrated to the living room. That left Samuel, Charles, and me to our own imaginations--technically we could of listened to the adult conversation, but neither us nor the adults wanted that. I found both boys to be plesant company, although undoubtidly girls would have been nicer. As interesting as horses and ranches were, I prefered speaking of music and art. Not to say I was a snob, I only prefered speaking with girls as apposed to boys.
"Did you enjoy yourself?" My mother asked, "because Linda and John invited us to their house next Friday evening."
"That sounds quite fun! I asume you and father enjoyed visiting with them?"
"Oh so very much, I am so excited to see the Hutchinson family again. What were the boys' names? Did you befriend either of them?" My mother enjoyed talking very much. She could be quiter when she was around guests, but amoung her family, she talked very much.
"Samuel and Charles, and I talk to both of them, although I don't know if it is much more than an equantance."
My mother smirked at me, "do you want it to be more than an equantance?" My mother was always trying to find me someone to marry me. I guess she felt it her duty, even though I was only eighteen and had no desire to wed.
"No, mother," I sighed. "I told you before I'm not looking for a man." Although really neither of the boys could be called men, as they were neither old enough nor mature enough.
Mother frowned in a very girlish manner--sticking her bottom lip out and batting her eye lashes-- "well okay then, just never get married--"
"I'm not even twenty years old!" I interrupted her. I shouldn't of--and I soon regreted it--but I was frustrated. Mother and father had been making silly little jokes about me getting married since I was fifteen. The 'joke' was not only unfunny, it frustrated me.
I went to bed that night both mentally and physically tired. Not at all ready for what the following day would bring.
