Part 5 (2/2)
After breakfast, Lenora would brush her teeth and finish getting ready for school. She wasn't allowed to wear makeup, but she could do different things with her hair, and she could wear just about any clothes she wanted...well, within the guidelines her mother had established. But that really just meant that she couldn't expose too much of herself, which she didn't want to do anyway.
Most days Lenora lost track of time while she brushed her hair or picked through her dresses. She loved dressing up and some days she imagined she was a princess locked in the tower of a castle with only her clothes and beautiful hair for company. She would inevitably glance at her clock, realize her tardiness, drop her brush on the table, and rush hurriedly from her room.
Josef wasn't a chauffeur, even though he drove Lenora to school each day. His duties were much more than that, though it was hard for Lenora to put into words exactly what he did. He was like her mother's Aide de Camp-her lieutenant-for both household and personal affairs. Almost every day she saw him hunkered down next to her mother's bedside, receiving whispered instructions. Lenora hadn't a clue what they could possibly be talking about. As Mother spoke to him, Josef would nod curtly, but never write anything down. He was stoic, efficient, and discreet in all of his doings.
Josef's life was a mystery and his dedication baffled Lenora, but she was thankful that her mother had someone to help her. She sometimes reflected on the matter this way: Mom needs him, I suppose...and it leaves me free from having to do it!
Yes. Josef's presence was good. She couldn't imagine the misfortune of carrying out all of her mother's requests.
”Good morning, Josef,” she called to him.
”Goot morning, ma'am,” he always replied in his clipped manner. His accent piqued her curiosity; he was obviously foreign. But...from where? She had asked her mother once, who replied only vaguely that he was acquired from afar-that it was none of our business-and we should mind our manners.
”Oh, of course, yes, Mother,” Lenora had promptly replied.
Still, from time to time, she wondered...
”Pleez, pleez...” he would urge her, bowing slightly, hand turned palm upwards, pointing toward the door that led to the garage and stables. Of course, that was only on days she was running a little behind schedule, which was only two or three times each week. Josef was very punctual; Lenora figured that was part of his immigrant, working-cla.s.s upbringing. She wouldn't know anything about that, to be sure!
Despite the company, mornings were an absolutely splendid part of Lenora's day. Just a few years before, Mother had sent Josef off on one of his little foraging trips. He was gone for several days. Just like a little squirrel tucking away nuts and berries for the winter, she thought. Mother sent Josef off to get little odds-and-ends all the time, so it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Except...this time it was. It was completely out of the ordinary-Josef returned with a 1936 Mercedes Benz 260 D!
Lenora could hardly contain herself. They had an older vehicle, a Buick, but it was uncomfortable. The Buick had riding boards. Driving in the Mercedes was an absolute dream. She loved the rev of the engine-the feeling of raw power beneath her body-it was exhilarating.
After her first trip in the Mercedes Benz, she had run excitedly to her mother's room to tell her about it.
”Mother! Mother! Oh, have you seen it? Have you seen the Mercedes?”
”No, dear, I have not. I'm sure it's nice. That's why I bought it.” Lenora hadn't stopped to consider that her mother rarely left her bed.
”Nice?! Oh, it's more than nice, Mother...it's amazing! Why...I've never experienced anything like it. It's elegant, with beautiful curves along its body, and when it's moving you hardly feel a b.u.mp.” She was so suffused with excitement she could barely restrain herself. ”Oh, Mother...can you go for a drive in it?” she pleaded. ”I know you would like it!” She laughed and clapped her hands together, practically glowing. ”And, you know, it might be nice to get out of these rooms for a bit...”
”Lenora!” her mother said sternly, shattering the excitement like a stone through the window.
”Mother?”
”Stop behaving that way-it isn't ladylike!”
”What?” Lenora replied. She was confused. ”I don't...I don't understand...”
”Sweet Lenora, sit down with your sick mother.”
Dispirited, Lenora obeyed her mother quietly, as she always had. The energy that had permeated her body just moments before seemed to vanish. An invisible weight settled on her shoulders, pus.h.i.+ng her into the cus.h.i.+on of the chair next to her mother's bed.
”Ladies do not act like that about automobiles. You were practically out of control...prattling about, face flushed, speaking in that dreadful manner about a mechanical carriage. Why, it's vulgar!”
Lenora blushed and looked down at her hands, now folded neatly in her lap. Her mother continued relentlessly for fifteen or twenty minutes. She stopped listening somewhere in the middle of it, mind numbed from the verbal lambasting.
”Oh, of course, yes, Mother,” Lenora replied when her mother finished speaking. It was a reflex as natural as breathing air into the lungs or blinking her eyes.
Lenora had never minded the eccentricities of her sickly mother that led to her somewhat sheltered life.
But...Lenora was changing.
She was getting older.
And, well...
Lenora was beginning to feel resentful towards her mother lately. After all, she was almost seventeen years old! She was practically an adult. To have her mother explain things to her as if she were a child...well, it just wasn't fair.
She reasoned with herself: If I am childish, it's her fault! Mother tries too hard to protect me from everything. A bird must spread its wings to learn to fly...oh, however will I learn to fly?
That was the day she decided maybe she wouldn't share everything with her mother. Especially if it only resulted in her heart being broken!
No, she would keep some things secret, just for herself.
That's how it all got started with Charlie Swain. It was just a few short months after Lenora's mother warned her off automobiles. If Mother had known, had the slightest inkling that they were friends, Lenora had no doubt she would have gravely informed Sweet Lenora of the dangers involved in such a relations.h.i.+p.
”Hey, wow, your family has a Mercedes?” Charlie asked her one day. Josef had just driven away after depositing her in front of the school. He was very formal, very precise...and he dropped her off daily in the same spot. He would no doubt have also preferred to do this at the exact same time each day...of course, that would require Lenora's a.s.sistance.
”Yes,” she answered matter-of-factly. Talk of the car excited her but she kept her composure outwardly. Charlie's family was new money and new in town-a rung or two beneath her on the societal ladder.
”It sure is nice!” he replied. Even though it was obvious, Lenora thought, Charlie didn't seem to realize they were not supposed to talk to each other. He plunged on, oblivious to her look of disdain. ”I've never actually seen a Mercedes, but I read about this one when they released it. It's got a two-point-six liter, 45-horsepower diesel engine...it can go over 200 miles without stopping for gas.”
”Can it really?”
”Yes!”
”I didn't realize that...” Lenora said to him. She had forgotten all about improprieties and was openly hanging on his every word.
”It sure can. I think you have the only Mercedes in Carlisle...maybe all of Pennsylvania,” he said wistfully. Then he looked right at Lenora and said, ”She's beautiful.”
Their eyes met only for an instant then, but an instant was all it took. Lenora blushed and looked one way while Charlie cleared his throat and looked the other.
”Do you, umm, listen to the radio?” he asked her.
”No...my mother doesn't allow it in the house.”
There was a pause as they both thought about what to say and fidgeted.
”Well, maybe your mother would allow you over to our house some day, and we could listen to ours. It's really something...we can get the jazz channel all the way from Harrisburg.” Charlie smiled then and Lenora couldn't resist.
<script>