Sixth Grade Beginnings

Chapter 43

The stairs inside of the old boarding house creaked, even as the light footed Gertie stepped on them, wandering down and into the main level of the house. She waited a moment with sharp ears, and could identify the noise of a program being played on the living room television, and would no doubt find her sleeping husband in front of it.

As she entered the room, she let herself smile a moment at the scene. They were no longer the kids they once were. They were old and time had not been kind to their constitution, even if they never showed it in their attitude. Gertrude walked over to the old bookcase and pulled out one of her photo albums that she had had Helga alphabetize earlier in the week. Flipping through the pages, she smiled softly as images were assigned to the memories she unearthed to her young companion. I was such a rascal... she chuckled to herself as she gazed on an image of her youth, around Helga's current age, in front of her hold childhood house with her brothers behind her. She could see behind the smile of her younger self, a glimmer of defiance that twinkled in her clearly disapproving eyes about the picture being taken in the first place. She was in a pink and white laced dress, all girl'd up in a way she never wished to be.

"Oh...oh yes! I'd like another..." Phil mumbled in his sleep, clearly dreaming of something happy. He let out a loud snore, then a giggle, before shuffling in his seat to get comfortable.

Gertie closed her old book and placed it back on the shelf. She let herself wonder for a moment, if history would repeat itself in about 60 or 70 more years for the aspiring new couple. Phil had always done his best to teach young Arnold all about being respectful and doing the right thing, but truthfully it was because he knew that he wanted to shape the boy a little bit better than he himself had been as a child, but not quite as closely held as Miles had been at the same age. It amused and intrigued her to think of the paths that lie before every child as they grow up. Do they become like their parents? Or do they become the opposite of them? Do they learn from others mistakes, or feel the need to experience them for themselves to make a better decision later on? Which part of their genetic code would become highlighted as they grew into their inevitable adult self? Gertie, being the only female to have been born in her family, hated being dolled up and forced to be proper, when she was just as rambunctious as her brothers before her. The more she was confined and forced to walk a tight rope, the more she wanted to lash out and stick it to 'The Man'. When given such energy... one has to decide where and how to utilize it, and Gertie had decided to utilize it in a way that would help both herself, and the future generations of women to come. She marched with all the feminists to preach for women's rights, she created petitions and protests to help clean up the darker parts of the town, and helped form things that were still applied to this day. Sure, there had been some selfishness behind her decisions but there was no doubt in her mind that if she had such struggles with how society viewed her sex, others would as well. Sometimes helping yourself would, in turn, help others down the line, and she was steadfast on such a path. Helga was full of similar potential, but just where and how would she use it? This was something that Gertie wished to see as she watched the young girl grow up, for as long as the universe would let her.

Picking up the TV remote, Gertie turned off the screen and caused Phil to abruptly wake up.

"Wh-wha- what did you do that for?" He asked, slurred, and confused as his consciousness was brought forward. "I was watching that!"

"You'll continue watching it in your dreams upstairs." The woman informed him as she bent down and gave him a kiss on his boney forehead. "Let's go, old bones."

Although the kiss was pleasant, Phil hummed in suspicion. "What's gotten into you?" He asked, watching her as she began to lead herself out of the living room and into the hallway. Once his question was posed, she stopped and turned her head with a notifiable smile across her face. "Learn anything while you were out?"