PART 1: A CRISIS COOKING

Chapter 1

Mrs. Johnson and Roger Collins entered the foyer of Collinwood on a chilly spring day in early April, 1971. Roger Collins had driven to the bus depot to pick up Mrs. Johnson, who had been away for a period of some weeks. She now grasped a handkerchief to her face and tried to still her sobs. Roger carried a heavy suitcase in one hand, and closed the front door against the chill with the other.

"Well," gasped a teary Mrs. Johnson, "all I know is that Mrs. Stoddard never said a word about anything being wrong with my boiled dinners."

"And I'm sure Liz didn't want to hurt your feelings! However, Mrs. Johnson, the time had come when something had to be done."

Mrs. Johnson blew her nose and said weakly, "Never been so insulted in my life. A five-week cooking course in Boston. A five-week course! If you think I don't know how to boil a dinner after all these years, well, all I have to say is -"

"Now, Mrs. Johnson." Roger rested her heavy suitcase on the floor, and, straightening, put both hands familiarly on her shoulders. "There was never any question of our doubting that you could boil our dinner." He continued in a conciliatory, easy tone, "I think Liz meant it as a treat. To give you a chance to gather new culinary arts and expand your horizons while you had some time off from having to constantly cater to us all! And now that you have graduated the course, we can all benefit from your expertise."

"Well," said Mrs. Johnson grudgingly, "Mrs. Stoddard is a gracious lady, I will say that for her. And here I am, five weeks in Boston not taking care of things around here."

"I'm going to introduce you to the man we got in to help us temporarily with household tasks, and if you like him, we may decide to keep him on. Collinwood is such a big place for one person." He patted her shoulder.

A little flustered, Mrs. Johnson replied, "Well, I only hope he passes muster. Good heavens, a stranger in this house. Let me go and get settled and see what's been happening to my kitchen!" She hurried toward the kitchen.

Roger sighed. It was good to be home again. He was looking forward to a few quiet hours behind his desk in the den. He removed his coat and hat, and dropped them onto the center table. Bracing his legs, he hefted Mrs. Johnson's heavy suitcase and began to toil up the stairs.

Mrs. Johnson appeared in the doorway of the kitchen and came into the foyer. "Oh Mr. Collins, not that bag! That heavy one comes to me here in the kitchen!"

"What? Why on earth?"

"Because it's full of Indian Pudding." She hurried forward, flapping her hands.

Roger, craning his neck toward her in surprise, said, "What?!" and overbalanced. He was on the second stair from the bottom when it happened, and his ill-fated half-turn caused him to lose his balance and fall backward, his arms flailing upwards automatically, waving for balance. The heavy suitcase came up with them.

"I made my Indian Pudding for you the way you like and it turned out so good that I brought – Mr. Collins! Oh, Mr. Collins!"

Roger landed heavily on the very center of his upper back. The heavy suitcase slammed into his chest. He groaned.

Mrs. Johnson screamed, "Oh goodness, are you alright? Oh, help! Help! Mrs. Stoddard! Doctor Hoffman!" Mrs. Johnson went back into the kitchen at a slow run.

In the later reconstruction of events, even when the family had had time to consider all that was about to occur, nobody suggested that Roger had possibly been pushed.

…..

Barnabas and Julia entered the Blue Whale for a drink.

"Barnabas, look!" Julia cried, when he had barely got the door shut. He directed his eyes to where Julia gazed in wonder. There, sitting alone at a table, lost in thought, somberly sipping a beer, was Joe Haskell.

Julia gasped. "Barnabas, it's –"

"Come," Barnabas murmured. They made their way to Joe's table.

In a soft, warm voice, Barnabas said, "Why, Joe! How good to see you."

Joe glanced up, put down his beer and smiled at them. He rose from his chair in deference to Julia. When he spoke, his voice was low with emotion.

"Barnabas. Hello, Dr. Hoffman. I had hoped – I had hoped to see some friends. Please come sit with me."

A server stopped by. Julia and Barnabas each ordered a drink.

"Joe! How have you been? It is so good to see you, and – such a surprise!"

With a restrained smile, Joe said, "Yes. ...Well, I left ... as you probably know, Dr. Hoffman, after I left the sanitarium, I spent time with my cousins. In Rockport."

"Joe, you look – entirely well! How are you?"

"I am well, Barnabas. I'm well, and I mean that. I've been 'stable', as Dr. Hoffman would put it, for a good long time now. Both oars in the water."

Julia said, "Oh, Joe. You look wonderful. But I wish you had let us know that you'd come home."

"That's alright. I mean – I mean, I'm sorry that I didn't try to make contact earlier but – maybe the timing just wasn't right."

"Yes," said Julia. "We understand."

Joe was quiet a moment. "And how is everyone at Collinwood? Doctor, are you still living there?"

As the server brought their drinks, Julia replied, "Ah, yes, Joe. Yes. Everyone is well. Mr. Collins, that is, Roger, has recently had a slight accident and hurt his back. But he is recuperating."

"Oh. I see."

"Joe, Carolyn Stoddard would be delighted to know that you are back in town. Is it alright if I mention it to her?" Barnabas queried.

Joe stretched back from the table a little and let out a breath. "Yes. That's fine. I've been hoping to run into Carolyn. She was always a very good friend."

"Well Joe, what – what brings you to Collinsport? ... I can hardly believe that you're here," Barnabas said, trying to shake off amazement.

Joe grinned. "Well, it's not much. Oh, I don't know. Maybe – let me put it this way."

Joe leaned forward pensively.

"I'm here for now. Maybe I'll chuck it and go back to Rockport or Boston. But I came back to ... not to face demons ... it's not that clear-cut. I'm not here to face anything or to run away from anything and I'm not here to pretend that what happened didn't ... actually happen. I wanted to look the old place over again, look people in the face again. And I want to know where my cousin is. Where Chris Jennings is."

Julia said, "Oh, Joe."

Joe looked at her carefully. "Is he dead? Well? ... It's just me and Chris and Amy on this side of the family, Haskell-Jennings, that's it. Tom's dead. Then there's the other side, my mom's side of the family and – well, is Chris dead or something? You didn't answer me. My aunties, they tried, but we never made contact over here with Chris and we've tried for almost two years."

"As far as we know, Chris Jennings is not dead," Barnabas assured him.

Joe said calmly, "I thought so. I hoped so. No matter what took place in '69, I'm – I just want to find him again. And I'd like to see people. This is my town; I don't want to have to think of Collinsport by remembering that I was carried out of here on some hospital attendant's shoulder, kicking and screaming about ghosts and – things. So?" Joe smiled. "I guess I'm just here to test the waters."

"I hope you will remember that we're always your friends. We'll help you in any way you want."

Joe smiled warmly. "Yes. Barnabas, I appreciate that. Well! Maybe you'll come see me. I'm in one of the rental cottages on Little Creek Way."

"How long have you been back, Joe?"

"Well really I got here Wednesday night. Went and had a drink at the Collinsport Inn. I didn't see anyone that I knew, and in a way, that felt right. I don't suppose I was ready to meet anybody until now."

They all smiled at one another.

…..

The next morning, Carolyn and Elizabeth were in the foyer of Collinwood. Elizabeth reached for the phone.

"Poor Uncle Roger, what an entrance!" said Carolyn. "And none of us was even here to see it. Who are you phoning?"

"A physiotherapist," answered Liz. "Julia says that there's a new doctor in town who can apparently help Uncle Roger with – yes?" Elizabeth diverted her attention to the receiver. "Is this Dr. Liska's office? Could the doctor pay a house call, please? We've had an accident – This is Elizabeth Collins Stoddard over at Collinwood. Yes, alright. Yes, Roger Collins. He did; several X-rays. May I have our doctor, Julia Hoffman, telephone you with the details? Alright, thank you."

"Will they come?"

Elizabeth sighed, replacing the receiver. "This doctor is going to look at Roger's X-rays at the hospital and then come to us. The hospital has really done all they can for him, and now apparently this doctor can give him some sort of physical therapy until he's well again."

Carolyn paused, then said thoughtfully, "Mother, did you hear that Joe Haskell has come back to Collinsport?"

"Joe Haskell! Is he home to stay?"

"I don't know."

"Is he better than he was?"

"Oh, yes. From what I understand, Julia and Barnabas saw him at the Blue Whale, and he was perfectly fine. I hope he'll come and see us! Or, perhaps we could have him over to dinner."

Her mother raised an apprehensive hand. "Oh, perhaps not to dinner, dear. What with Mrs. Johnson, and – that boiled quiche last night—"

Carolyn's eyes widened. Hurriedly, she said, "No – no! Certainly, we'll all have to eat out. But it would be really marvelous to see Joe again, whole and well."

"I don't suppose that he has heard about Maggie," Elizabeth said thoughtfully. She turned as Garvey Craig entered the foyer from the kitchen entrance. Garvey was the new handyman who had been helping the Collinses in Mrs. Johnson's absence.

Now he said, "Excuse me, ma'am."

"Yes, Garvey?"

"Well, ma'am, I've been a-lookin' at that stove, and I reckon that the best thing you can do is to take it out of there and replace it. Won't take maybe two days for me to repair the ceiling above it and the wall back of it from where that Mrs. Johnson has done fire-blasted the living bejesus out of everything."

Elizabeth and Carolyn looked at each other in mild astonishment. Carolyn began to smile.

"Is it that bad, Garvey?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well, beggin' your pardon, yes, ma'am. There's all this dangerous thick grease shellacked to the wall and the floor back there and I got to get that off, or I'm scared the whole place will go up in a ball of fire."

"Saga Number Forty-Six, full steam ahead!" laughed Carolyn.

…..

In Roger Collins' bedroom, Elizabeth straightened cushions, quickly looked into Roger's bathroom to make sure everything was reasonably in order, then stepped over to Roger's bed with his bathrobe. She laid it over the covers under which Roger, in pajamas, was fretting.

"Elizabeth," Roger groaned, "this really is impossible."

"Roger, I don't want to hear another word. Dr. Liska will be here in a few minutes and I expect you to comport yourself like a gentleman. Be quiet and do everything she tells you to."

"What can she know about it, what can she do about it beyond handing out the same sedatives and the same tired advice that Julia Hoffman does? I don't want another doctor in here, and certainly not a woman doctor."

Elizabeth put one hand on her hip. "I'm afraid I've more pressing things to consider just now other than your unwillingness to tolerate professional women. Garvey's insisting that the stove be removed and replaced and that half of the flooring and wallboard come out with it; apparently Mrs. Johnson has been immolating more than our appetites in that kitchen."

"Does he know how old that kitchen is, and that it happens to be authentic Colonial period craftsmanship?" Roger said, raising his voice as the tendons in his neck swelled. "What has Mrs. Johnson been doing to it all, besides boiling everything out of existence?"

"Perhaps if you ever ventured into the kitchen these days Roger, you'd know. Now settle down and I'll show the doctor up as soon as she's here."

Elizabeth left the room. Roger muttered, "Another woman doctor in Collinsport! I wouldn't have thought the place big enough for two of them."

…..

In the kitchen of Collinwood, Garvey Craig stepped up to Mrs. Johnson, who quickly turned to survey him from head to foot.

"So you're the help they've had in," she said.

"Yes'm. My name's Garvey Craig and I'm pleased to meet you. You're Mrs. Johnson."

"Yes, I know I am. Well, Mr. Craig, what have you been doing to this kitchen floor?"

Garvey walked over to the front of the stove and bent to sit on his heels. "Oh, been trying a few solvents on it to get it clean."

"This is an old house," Mrs. Johnson replied. "Things around here are old and Mrs. Stoddard likes them that way."

"She likes you, hah?"

Mrs. Johnson hesitated, then focused anew on Garvey Craig. "Well what do you mean by – of course she likes me. Are you trying to make a joke about me being old?"

Garvey smiled, scratching his beard. "No ma'am, I wouldn't do that. You ain't old. It's just I can tell you really like Mrs. Stoddard by the way you talk of her. She must trust you to have you as the only servant around this big place."

"Well. People should mind their own business and let the Collinses mind theirs, that's what I say."

"Mrs. Johnson, didn't I go to school with you?"

"What? We went to school? No, I don't recall you. You mean you went to school here in Collinsport?"

"I did. I'm thinking you might have been with me in Mrs. Venable's primary. That is, if your name's Sarah. You look mighty familiar."

Mrs. Johnson peered at him silently for a moment. "No. No, I don't know you. But yes, I was in Mrs. Venable's class."

"You be lookin' to me like a girl name of Sarah Nickerson."

Mrs. Johnson breathed in with astonishment. "Well, that's me, but – but I don't know you!"

Garvey said, "Well now I thought so, I was pretty sure. You just don't remember me. But, time enough to pronounce on all that later. I am sorry to say that I'm going to have to do some fancy carpentry on this here floor, and that there wall. And I've advised Mrs. Stoddard that she wants to take this stove on out."

Her brows drew together. "Why!" she asked in consternation. "What's wrong with it! That's an awful lot of change to be calling down on your first day here, Mr. Craig!"

"Ma'am, I've been here near three weeks. And you know what, Mrs. Johnson?"

"No, what's that?"

He bent close to her and whispered, "Change happens – most of the time, it happens when we just ain't expecting it."