Life Happens- 1941

Chapter 4

Hope.  That was the one word I had grown impartial to.  It was the word that brought me peace.  The word hope implies many things.  It almost defines faith, courage, strength, and a tiny bit of patience mixed together.  Hope and I had been through a lot together.  It was the one thing that kept me going even when times got rough.  It was something that was always there for me, if only I’d allow it in, kind of like Elliot.  And Elliot was the one person who gave me hope.  In that way, Elliot and hope had quite a bit in common.  The only thing that Elliot had that hope did not, was me.  I had left hope in the dust.  Met it for the first time down a dark alley and picked it up.  Then I walked a block or two before realizing, I had had enough of hope and simply decided to drop it off.  Sure, it’s a damn good thing to have, but it wasn’t quite the same thing as love.

Nothing compares to being in love.  I’m not talking just a slight infatuation, I mean real genuine love.  And real genuine love is hard to find.  But Elliot and I had it.  It doesn’t come cheap either, as I was beginning to figure out.  You really have to work for it. If it is something that you want but the other person doesn’t you must fight for it.  And you must always, always, keep an opened mind, because a lot of times, you find real, genuine love when you least expect it.  Elliot and I were a good example of that.  

And so life goes on.  Christmas came and went.  Normally,  this time of year is full of joy and thanksgiving, but that year, I was really struggling.  It was just so bittersweet.  I just couldn’t stand the thought of Elliot leaving.  Fortunately, this period of time passed fairly quickly as well, and before I knew it, it was already March of 1941.  Elliot had been going to conferences, rallies, and trainings to prepare to join the air corps and had started coming late in the evenings.  But this was okay, because it gave me time to think.

I realized, that no matter what happened, I had love to help bring me through.  My parents had this complicated relationship  where my mom loved my dad but he didn’t love her back; that ended in sorrow because my father left but I truly believed that it had all been beneficial in a way because now I knew exactly what I wanted in a man.  I wanted someone who was kind, who could make me smile  because lets face it, a man with no sense of humor is just boring.  I wanted someone who would love me through thick and thin, someone gentle, someone who would put God before anything else.  Elliot was that man and I really don’t know what I would do without him.

 After smoothing down my dress for the hundredth time, I got out of the car.  Francine had called me the day before and asked me to come over.  I was nervous, I mean really, what did she want?  If I had been invited over here just to be criticized, I wasn’t staying.  I had already made my mind up on that.  Francine was just like a bee, buzzing around and annoying the hell out of everybody, but you can’t squish her because she’ll pollinate.  I smiled to myself as I pictured myself ten feet taller and Francine as a tiny, little bumblebee and me stepping on her, squishing her flat onto the concrete.  God, it felt freeing, I have to admit.  Just as I was in the middle of my ridiculous daydreams, I heard my name and felt a hand on my shoulder.  I jerked forward and turned around.

“Hey, there pretty lady.  How art thou this evening?”  I sighed in relief.  It was Francine’s husband Lawrence.  He winked and I became less tense.

“I’m just great Lanny, how are you?” I smiled politely.  

“Oh, I’m just fine Miss Charlotte.  Franny’s inside.”  He pointed to the door.

“Thanks Lanny, have a nice afternoon.”

“Same to you Miss Charlotte.”  Cigarette in hand, he traipsed down the driveway, toward the porch, followed closely by his old hound dog Molly, who rumor had it, had a slight problem with cutting the cheese while she slept, although Francine would never admit it.  

You would think that this being Francine’s home, the grass would be neatly trimmed, the rose bushes pruned to perfection, not a single thing out of place.  This however was not the case.  It dawned on me at that particular moment at how bad they had really let things go.  The bushes were hanging all over the place, the lawn was rather noticeably overgrown and full of weeds, and there were random car parts and empty beer bottle scattered in various places.  This I was certain, had been done by Lanny, Francine didn’t drink!  And she certainly would not have let her home become this way.  It was a little strange, but I decided not to worry about it any further.  If she wanted to talk about it she would, and I knew she never would.  I crouched down and picked up the hems of my dress as I proceeded through the creaky front door and into the house.