Weeping Willows

Blast from the Past

Chapter 35

The keepsake box was added to the adjoining room until it could be gone through. They had made a plan of which crates they wanted to do first. The keepsake box would come later on. The girls wanted to stick as close to what they had plotted as possible. It was decided the bigger crates and trunks would come first to make more room for what was still being brought down. Elizabeth hadn't been up in the attic since before they started but they had assured her it was progressing quickly. The guys figured in the next couple days it would be emptied out completely. After it was cleared out, she would take the weekend to clean the whole place up. Before the boys went back up to start working, they brought in the largest stuff for them to work on. Elizabeth kept avoiding Ryan as best as she could. At first, he didn't seem to notice but after a few close calls he caught on and purposely began trying to brush up against her or crowd her just to watch Elizabeth jump. Every time she looked over at him all she could see was that damn bloody picture. Each time she would look away or jump he would chuckle. She was starting to think he was making a game out of it. She sighed in relief when they were done and on their way out the door leaving the girls to their own devices.

Both Jan and Addison were giggling to themselves over Ryan's antics making Elizabeth roll her eyes at the two of them being so juvenile. The three of them soon set to work showing each other the treasures they were finding. Most of them were figurines of varying sizes. Some were in good condition while others were cracked or broken. They placed all the broken ones aside in baggies with as many of each of the pieces as possible. They thought Ryan might be able to restore them or knew a restorer that could. The ones that were fine Elizabeth had cleaner for just this purpose. They each grabbed a soft cloth and got to work. It took about an hour before they were done and had moved them all over to the donation room. They made sure to place them at the back of the table along with the broken ones to try and keep them from falling and damaging them any further than they were.

The next boxes they hit had porcelain vases inside. Most of them were about midsized but there were about six overly large ones that took two of them to lift at a time. Again, they were cleaning them up and making them shine. The three of them stood back looking at the large urns admiring their work.

"What do you suppose you're suppose to put in something that big?" Jan asked cocking her head as if a new angle would help her figure it out.

"Those are the kind you plant complimenting bouquets in to make an array of colors and shapes." Addison stated making Jan and Elizabeth look in each other's direction and shrug. Plants had never been something either of them was into. The visual however did make her want to paint the image that had popped into her head. She would have to do that later once everyone left. They set those all aside until they could decide what to do with them all. Elizabeth didn't have a need for them after painting her picture later and they didn't think Ryan would be able to put them in the museum. So, leaving them for now they went back to work on the other crates.

By the early evening they had uncovered several more figurines as well as a multitude of vases and urns. Someone in the Bennett family had clearly enjoyed planting things. By now the guys had finished for the day and had joined the girls to look over everything. They had been right about Ryan thinking that the planters wouldn't be something that could be displayed with any particular interest. While they were trying to decide what to do with them, they went into the other room to show them the collection of figurines. Ryan looked over each one meticulously. Some of the completely shattered ones were of little to no value and deemed trash. They wouldn't be worth anything to restore. Some of the pieces however were pre-WWII from Japan and would be considered priceless. Others were probably brought over with the Bennett's ancestors from whichever country they came from and then passed on down through the family. Those would have to be researched to find out the artists that made them. If any were of great value, they could go to larger museums to be kept under lock and key. The lesser pieces could be placed in smaller museums that could display them as a part of history. Elizabeth had never really had an interest in history before and had thought the process of what Ryan did would be boring. She was surprised however to find his passion for his work when he spoke drew her in and left her wanting to know more. It was too bad her history professors hadn't been able to engage her like Ryan was able to or she may not have almost failed those courses.