It was a sunny autumn day with a slight breeze gently rustling the burnt orange and dark red leaves that had resisted the urge to fall and stayed in the trees. Autumn was such a beautiful season perfectly balanced between the warmth of hot apple pie with a hint of cinnamon, or the smell of a freshly roasted turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, or the taste of a perfect blend of light creamy and rich savoury hot chocolate. Or the effects of a cooling breeze in the crisp air, and how in morning you can see your own breath right before your eyes, and a cold glass of milk to dip freshly baked cookies. Elizabeth loved this season, it was her favourite time of year, the end of summer and the begging of a new year. And Halloween and Thanksgiving were just around the corner she loved to spend time with her father and her friends.
Today she was going with her best friend Emily to visit her grandmother Winnie Jackson. Emily was a very stern girl for seventeen; she loved organization, rules, and dependency. Emily looked like a younger version of Winnie, with dark brown gently curled hair and bright animated blue eyes. She wasn't much for fairytales or stories, she believed in reality, real life and the real truth. Whereas Elizabeth was a dreamer, her head was always in the clouds, she loved adventure and fairytales and romance. She thrived on change. Elizabeth and Emily were polar opposites but they got along wonderfully.
Elizabeth loved going with Emily to Nana Winnie's it was always so much fun. Winnie would show Elizabeth old photos and dresses and they would sing songs and drink tea, while Emily would talk with her grandfather Frank about history and politics, he would show her carpentry and mechanics. It was always a wonderful Sunday afternoon outing. Sadly this was going to be one of the last Sunday's at the Jackson's, both the girls had graduated high school and were going off to University. Emily to Yale and Elizabeth was going to Brown.
The girls walked up the dirt path to the old yellow cottage. It looked similar to Winnie's families home, the Fosters. But this cottage was livelier. It had a pound out front which was filled with fish, and one frog who had lived there for as long as anyone could remember. There bird homes in all of the trees surrounding the front yard. There was also a shed and garage for Frank to do his hobbies in and a tree house where their three children Maggie, Joyce, and Dennis would play all day long. It was a perfect home that had held so much life inside. All three kids got married and had children of their own. Maggie married a World War One veteran and moved to Montana to live on a ranch, they had two kids, Theodore and Edith and visited every holiday. Joyce lived in California with her husband and son Johnny who was at that time over seas fighting in the war. And then there was Dennis, Emily's dad, who lived in Treegap as the town's resident top lawyer with his wife Rosemary and of course their only child Emily.
When they entered the cottage Frank was happily there to greet them. "Hello girls! Or I should say ladies. How are you?" "I'm good Papa Frank how are you?" Emily said as she hugged her grandfather. Frank was a tall man with kind eyes and an agreeable smile. He was gentle and polite who was stern when he had to be, but mostly was quiet and stuck to his jobs. "Hello dear Betty how are you? Or are you to old be called Betty?" He asked with a grin. Betty laughed. "No! I actually prefer it! Elizabeth is such a used name." She gave Frank a hug and walked into the living room where Winnie was sitting and talking to Emily. They all sat down together and had tea. They talked about the summer and the excitement of a new begging. After an hour Emily went to the garage to see her grandfather's newly polished chair and Betty stayed with Winnie.
"So Betty, how's the boy?" Wnnie asked as she snacked on a cookie. "Oh, we broke-up, yeah, it would have been to hard, he was staying her and I'll be at Brown. We just decided it would be better this way."
"Oh that's too bad"
"It'll be okay, I'm sure I'll find someone else, I hope."
"I'm sure you will, you know I was able to move on."
"You loved someone else?" Betty scooted closer to Winnie, she had never heard this story before and was very interested.
"You know Betty you've always been like a granddaughter to me, ever since your mother passed you've become a part of this family. I always longed for a granddaughter who loved fairytales. Don't get me wrong, my grandchildren are more than I could ever ask for, but they're all so far away and Emily, she's got a wonderful heart, but she doesn't dream like you Betty. That's why I'm going to tell you this story, I hope that you'll keep it a secret until someone you know is ready. I think you are. I once met a family who never aged, they a son Jesse…" And so Winnie told Betty the story of the Tuck's of course she left out the names and told her the spring and tree were somewhere else, Winnie couldn't tell Betty all her secrets, and she made it less realistic more of a fairytale. But no matter how she spun it Betty was enchanted.
After the day with the Jackson's Emily and Betty went for a walk in the woods "I love it here!" Betty said as she danced while she walked. "It's cold." Emily said as she picked up a branch and swatted the long grass in her way.
"Can you believe we're going away to school? I mean we wont be back here until thanksgiving."
"You mean you'll be home then, I'll be in Cairo at dad's latest excavation. But you have fun, oh man you're Nana makes the best dinners…I'm going to miss her, and your grandfather and this town! It may be small, but it's been home for so long…"
"Yeah…it seems like just yesterday you and your brother and your folks moved here. Such a friendly group of people, even though the whole town thought you guys were nuts because you were from the a different country. And then your mom got sick…and then Daniel joined the army. You and your dad you guys were strong. But then he got that job as an archaeologist for the government, but you're still here! Living with your aunt Gail, I envy you. After all your hardships you're still able to dream. You still see happiness everywhere and beauty in everything. I've lost my faith in the world, although I'm not sure I ever had it to begin with."
"Oh Em! You are so lucky. So, so lucky! And I know you know you are. I mean you're hole family is here, you're hole world is here. I'm not from here, I'm Polish! I was born in Poland and if wasn't for the Nazi's I'd still be there. Yes I have suffered, and so have my people, but trust me I don't have much faith either. Religion is no longer important to me after the loss of my family, but everything will be okay, I like to believe in a world where good wins over evil and right is right and wrong is wrong. That's why I dream, I know that world is somewhere."
"Oh, Elizabeth!" it's getting dark I'd better go. Tell Gail I say hi. Don't get lost!" Emily laughed and wiped away her small tears as she hugged Betty. Betty smiled and watched her best friend walk away. Betty thought about the story Winnie had told her. What an imagination, a family that was immortal, how interesting! How amazing. But sad- to live forever would be cruel. To watch the world go by while you stood frozen, forever stuck as the way you were. Maybe if you have someone you loved, and truly loved, not just a family love, but a deep passionate love, I guess that would be okay. But still it would be sad.
Betty walked for a bit when she came across a tree with 'T' carved into it, and rock piled around the roots. "How odd" Betty wondered what could be there. Winnie had left those elements out of the story for protection purposes, she this was all new and exciting for Betty. "What could this be?" she asked aloud to no one in particular. She moved the rocks one by one expecting to come across a rabbit hole, or maybe a den of another creatures but instead she saw water. "How peculiar" she said as she dipped her hand in the water, it was cool and soft against her skin, it looked so inviting. "You know I am thirsty…oh but it could be diseased ridden…but it's out here untouched by man…it's probably fine." And she won the argument with herself and took a drink, a nice huge gulp of water. It tasted perfect, well beyond compare. Like little drops of heaven gently caressing her tough and it quenched any thirst she thought she might ever have.
That night Betty slept perfectly serene. She was content with her life and was looking forward to schooling at Brown. She was one of three girls who got in this year, she was so excited. But what she didn't know was this wasn't jus the beginning of school but the begging of a whole other life entirely.