Angie of the Garden

Chapter Three-1

Sebastian Simms arrived in Boston. His ride from the airport through this New England City was an enjoyable one for the visitor from New York. He had his first glimpse of the city's skyline, followed by a view of Fenway Park and the Boston Garden. After arriving at the university the two men walked across the campus to Paul's office, engaging in casual conversation along the way. Sebastian observed the students sitting in large groups on the new spring grass. There were also solitary figures taking advantage of winter's retreat. Simms recalled his own days as a college student. He envied their freedom and the fact that these people still had a virtually unlimited number of options available for their futures.
With his seniority Professor Nustad could have taken any one of the offices in the history department. Yet Paul chose to remain in the small office where his career had begun. To say it was disorganized fell considerably short of doing justice to the numerous piles of papers and hopelessly cluttered bookshelves. Sebastian suddenly wondered if his brother's prized possession had been lost forever.

"Look at all these messages," Nustad complained as he sat at his desk. "These people knew I was going to be away. Why did they call me?"
"They wanted to make sure you had something to do when you came back." "And you want the diary," Paul said as he stood up.

Despite the chaos all around him the professor located Angelica Barton's journal with no trouble. He removed it from a stack of books, and then looked at it as though seeing it for the first time.

"There was something I needed to tell you," he said with a perplexed expression on his face. "Well, it will come to me. In the meantime I'll make a copy of it. I promised Hollis I'd have it researched. And I always keep my promises, even if it may take me a very long time to do so. Come with me."

They went down the hall to the Xerox machine where Paul encountered several of his colleagues. They were all anxious to hear about his trip, so Sebastian spent a considerable amount of time listening to Nustad's account of what he had discovered in Europe.

"Thanks for your patience," the professor said to him after he finally began to copy the diary.
"No problem. You really seem to enjoy your work."
"History has always been a passion of mine. Unfortunately, most of the students don't feel the same way. They don't believe that places and people from long ago have any relevancy to their lives. But every so often you get one or two who really make it worthwhile."

He finished duplicating the journal and they returned to his office. Sebastian intended to make a stop on the way back to Fairhaven so he was anxious to leave. Sensing this, Paul intended to send him quickly on his way. Then the professor suddenly remembered what he wanted to tell Sebastian about the diary.

"I had a graduate student start researching it last year. Jack was a bright fellow, but he transferred to a school on the West Coast before making much headway with the diary. But he did learn something about the man who was courting Angelica Barton. His name was William Connors, as I remember. He was found dead near the Charles River. The man she loved, a whaler named Thomas Shanahan, was suspected of being involved, but no charges were ever filed against him. He left for the western frontier soon after, though. Angelica followed him. I don't believe that information is in her diary."
"I'm sure Hollis will be very interested to hear about it. Thanks."
"Jack also found out where Angelica is buried. She's in an old cemetery at the south end of town. Your brother might want to visit it one day."

Paul drove Sebastian back to the airport. Simms thanked him for the diary and then boarded the shuttle to New York. His next destination was going to make for an emotionally difficult experience. He tried to think of something else as the plane climbed into the clear blue sky. Sebastian did not succeed. He then tried reading some passages from Angelica's journal, but they failed to distract him.

Simms arrived at the door of the apartment that Clare had shared with him for the past five years. Sebastian hesitated when he heard someone inside. He expected her to be at work at this time of day. The former occupant thought about leaving, but then realized this moment could not be avoided indefinitely. Sebastian put his key in the lock and opened the door.

Clare was sitting on the couch using her lap top computer. Though they had lived together for years, the two of them now looked at each other with the expression they usually reserved for strangers. The silence between them was unbearable. Sebastian finally spoke.

"I thought you would be working," he said apologetically. "I just came by for the rest of my things."
"I decided to work at home today. Come in."
"So how have you been?"
"Good. I've been working like a dog, though. I spoke with Hollis on his birthday.
Did he tell you?"
"Yes. He really appreciated the call."
"What's that in your hand?"

Clare had noticed the diary. Sebastian did not want to risk leaving it in his car. "Oh, this is something Hollis found when we were boys. It's the diary of a woman who traveled to the western frontier. He had loaned it to a friend, and I picked it up for him. I have a lot of time on my hands these days."
"Well, you don't have to!"

Sebastian cursed himself for making that remark. Their strained, but cordial conversation suddenly became unsustainable. Clare tried to reign in her emotions once more, but there was no way to restore the civility between them. Sebastian quickly went inside and gathered up the rest of his possessions. Clare tried to look away when he returned.
"I'm sorry about everything," Sebastian told her as he placed his key to the apartment on the coffee table. "But I can't just eat shit and rollover for a paycheck."

"So don't!" Clare turned and faced him. "You can get another job! You still have a chance to save your career. What happened...well, it happened. You just want to give up on yourself. And by doing that, you're giving up on us, too."

Her eyes pleaded with him to reconsider. Sebastian walked over and kissed Clare's forehead. Then he walked towards the door.
"We can work this out. I'll call you," he told Clare without turning to face her. She remained mute as he left the apartment.
Sebastian started driving back to Fairhaven. He felt as though everything valuable in his life had suddenly been taken from him by some stealthy thief in the night. A bagel shop caught his eye and the wounded man walked inside with the diary in hand. Food had managed to quell his despair during the other crises of his life. Sebastian believed a hot bagel could do so now. He ordered one with a cup of coffee before sitting down at one of the tables. The bewildered expression on his face caught the attention of the owner.
"You must have had a rough day," he said to Sebastian. "I just got back from a trip. So I'm dragging."
"My name is Sam Turner. I own this place. My coffee will pick you up. It's stronger than battery acid, but tastes a hell of a lot better. I know how you feel. The manager of the store quit on me, and I haven't had a moment's peace in three weeks."

Sebastian suddenly noticed the help wanted sign behind the counter. Until that moment he had been aware of nothing, due to his draining encounter with Clare.

"Why did he quit?" he asked the owner aloud. Then to himself you probably tried to force him to take the blame for a batch of bad bagels. You swine!
"His wife wanted to move to Florida."