Nora Ray (Ray Trilogy)

chapter Five

Nora’s dad seemed to feel better after they had moved into town. He read the paper, visited with the neighbors, and discussed politics with anybody who wanted to stop and visit with him on his porch swing. He took more interest in Nora’s and Danny’s everyday life, at least Nora thought so. Now that they didn’t have to spend every minute of the day working, everybody seemed more pleasant, almost like a personality change.

Nora, though, was used to being busy and she looked around for something to do. She walked around to the back yard. There stood a tall oak tree. She guessed it to be about forty feet tall with a diameter of about fourteen inches. That would make a great tree for Danny a tree house. On the other side of the back yard was a pile of rubbish piled up where an old storage shed used to be but it had collapsed from neglect and old age. What an eyesore, she thought. Dad’s probably not well enough to clean that up, so I will.

She went into the house and donned some of her old jeans and an old shirt that she used to wear on the dairy. She went to find her dad to see if he would drive the pickup into the alley for her to pile the old rubbish and debris into it to be hauled away.

“Dad,” she asked, “do you mind if I clean up that pile of stuff out of the corner of the back yard?”

“First, I want to go back there and see what you have in mind.”

“Okay,” she walked around back with him. “See over there?” she pointed. “I want to clean up that mess.”

“Sweetheart,” I’ll get that cleaned up someday.” He patted her on the shoulder, “Don’t you want to get with some of your girlfriends and fix hairdos or something like that?”

Nora looked at him in shock, “Why would I want to do that?” she asked with a sour look on her face.

Amused at her, he said, “I’ll get the pickup.”

After he drove around to the alley and parked the pickup, she mentioned, “What do you think about a tree house in that tree for Danny?”

“I’m sure he would love to have one but I don’t think I’m able to hammer the nails and do the lifting that would be required,” he hung his head sadly.

“If you bought the boards and other materials, do you think you could tell me how to do it?”

“If I bought everything you needed, I still wouldn’t want you to build a tree house.”

Now he had hurt her feelings, “Why not? Don’t you think I could do it?”

“I don’t doubt that you would put forth your best effort, but sawing those boards and hammering the nails is not easy work even for a man unless he’s used to doing it all the time.” He lifted her hand, “See that pretty hand?”

She looked at her hand, “So?”

“Hammers are not kind to fingers.”

She shrugged. I’ll have to find another way, she thought.

“Okay, I’ll think about the tree house some more,” she surrendered for now.

He smiled at her tenacity and went back into the house.

Nora tackled the rubbish. Someone had thrown all sorts of bottles, cans, old weeds and other things; she wasn’t sure what all it was. She had to find a hammer to break some of the boards apart to be able to throw them into the pickup.

After a few hours of cleaning and breaking the old building apart, the pickup was almost full. She felt satisfied with a good since of accomplishment. She wasn’t finished but by tomorrow evening, she should have it all cleaned up.

She went in and turned on the water to take a bath. She crawled in the warm water. Aah, she sighed, that feels good.

After the dishes were done, the family went out to sit on the front porch to enjoy the evening breeze which they had become accustomed to doing. Often Jeremy came by to visit for a few minutes in the evening. Soon he ambled up and sat down on the porch steps near Nora.

“Jeremy, you should see what Nora has gotten herself into,” John said with a slight brag.

Jeremy glanced at Nora with a question in his eyes, “Oh, yeah?”

“Nora, take Jeremy around back and show him the mess you’re cleaning up.”

Obediently Nora and Jeremy walked to the back yard, “There,” she pointed. “That whole corner was filled with all kinds of rubbish and there was an old shed that had crumpled with old age that needed to be torn down and taken out.”

“Wow!” Jeremy exclaimed. “You sure picked yourself a job here.”

“Well,” she shrugged her shoulders. “Yes,” she drawled, “I was bored.”

“You sure find unusual ways to entertain yourself,” he said in amazement.

She rolled her shoulder with a dismissive flair, “I’m used to work.”

“See this tree?” she walked over and touched the oak.

“I want to build Danny a tree house to put up about eight feet high with a ladder up the tree. I want a climbing rope and a swing hanging from the bottom of it so it has to be really sturdy.”

“And you’re going to build it?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Dad says that he isn’t able and I would ruin my fingers.” Her disappointment showed through. “I will find a way to get it done but I haven’t figured it out yet.”

Jeremy looked around the back yard and his mind popped with excitement. I would put in a patio to the left of the back door with a lawn table and four chairs since there are four of them. I would surround the edges with monkey grass on three sides. A big pot of geraniums next to the door would give extra color and a hanging basket of fern on the other side of where the table would set . I would plant holly bushes along the fence row to always have extra color in the winter. I would plant a Japanese elm in the corner behind the patio. After the shed is taken out where she is cleaning out the corner, I would build a sitting area with a concrete bench surrounded by flowers and a few Rose of Sharon bushes sprinkled around to give privacy, then I would plant Crepe Myrtle along the fence behind the seating area which would create flowering bushes until frost. Then he said to her, “I see lots of possibilities here. If I bring a couple of my buddies with me, we could build this tree house in a few days.”

“Are you sure you have the time? Don’t you work for your dad? I know you have responsibilities at your dad’s law firm.”

“I do have responsibilities there but I don’t do physical work. There I just file papers, answer the phone some. They’re trying to teach me a little about paralegal work. I’m just bored most of the time. Building this would be fun compared to what I do there.”

“Alright then,” she sighed with relief knowing that she had one of her problems resolved. “I would be happy for you and your friends to come help build Danny’s tree house.”

“My dad and I built a tree house together when I was little and it meant so much to me. I would like to give Danny an experience similar to what I had.”

“Let’s go talk to my dad and see what he says.”

After telling her dad what they had worked out, her dad had tears in his eyes. “I don’t know how to thank you enough, Jeremy. You just took a burden of my chest. When my Nora gets an idea in her head, she will find a way to accomplish it even if she hammers every finger on her hand.” He put his arm around Nora fondly.

Jeremy reached over and flicked up her nose with his finger fondly.

“Jeremy!” Nora yelled. He can be so sweet and then he acts like the old Jeremy, a moron!

He winked at her then turned to her dad who motioned him to the kitchen table to do some serious planning for the tree house.

Nora decided she they didn’t need her anymore so she sat down by her mom on the porch swing. “Well, what do you think?”

“I really like your ideas and Jeremy taking the lead in building this tree house is an answer to prayer.” She touched Nora’s hand. “It is amazing how problems just seem to work out.”

“Yeah,” Nora sighed thinking out loud. “Jeremy said he wanted Danny to help because he and his dad built a tree house when he was little and it meant so much to him.”

“He seems like such a nice young man.”

“Mom, he is so kind and so sweet, and then he does something that makes me want to yell at him and call him a moron. What do you do with a guy like that?”

“Well, just what I did with your dad. It doesn’t matter what the problem is in a relationship, it always takes lots of time and patience. If you really care about him you learn to work your problems out, otherwise it doesn’t really matter and you let the relationship go.”

Jeremy felt stunned as he sat at the kitchen table. The window was open and Nora and her mother’s voice carried just enough that Jeremy could hear what they said to one another. He realized he had offended Nora again.

Soon he and her dad had completed their list of needed supplies. Jeremy went to the porch and asked Nora, “Will you walk with me for a ways?”

After they strolled down the sidewalk for a block, Jeremy turned to her with a serious expression, “Nora, I’m sorry if I offended you. It seems that I’m always doing the wrong thing.”

“Jeremy, I do like you most of the time and enjoy being around you. It’s just sometimes I don’t know how to take you. Sometimes you embarrass me like flipping my nose. I’m not two years old. I don’t like that.”

“Thanks for being honest with me. I want us to get to know each other better. I really do care about you and I want for you to care about me.”

She smiled and put her hand out, “Deal?”

He laughed and shook her hand, “Deal!”

Knowing that the last time he touched her was when she was offended, he gave in to his impulse, “I can’t help myself, I’m going to cheat now,” he put his arms around her and gave her a hug.

“Jeremy Littlefield, you are incorrigible,” she teased.

“Now, you are beginning to understand me.” He patted her cheek, and as he walked away toward home he sang out, “See you Saturday morning.”

After breakfast Nora pulled on her work clothes to clean the back yard, before she got out the back door Aunt Betty Johnson phoned to tell them that Jordan was sick. His temperature was up and she was really worried about him. Laura asked if she wanted her to come out to her house. Aunt Betty said, not unless he gets worse. She just wanted to let them know.

That put a damper on everybody’s day.

Nora piled all she could get onto the pickup and then they took it out of town and dumped it where it could be burned. When she got back she began raking the corner of the yard where she had cleaned. She stood back and looked at it for a minute and then she went to get her mom.

“What do you think about another flower garden here?” Nora asked standing with one hand across her mouth and her elbow propped in her other hand as they looked at the bare ground.

“Well, why not? It sounds like a good idea to me.”

Nora and her mom laughed conspiratorially together. “Yes! Let’s go buy flowers!”

By the time Jeremy and the crew got there Saturday morning, Nora and Laura almost had the flower bed finished. Marigolds, periwinkles, asters and an assortment of other annuals filled in the corner with the edge shaped as an arch. In the back corner they had placed a big pot of hibiscus displaying big beautiful orange flowers.

Jeremy complimented Nora on her flower bed. “It’s beautiful. The flowers you selected will give you an array of color until frost.”

Puzzled, Nora frowned at him, “Where did you learn to talk like that?”

“Oh,” Jeremy shook his head as if to clear it. “My mother owns a flower shop. I’ve helped her more than is good for me.”

“You surprise me with something every time I see you.”

“I am a fascination person, aren’t I?” he clicked his heels together and blew her a kiss.

She rolled her eyes and went in the house to make lemonade.

At lunch the tree house crew went to the Dairy Mart to eat their lunch and took Danny with them. He could not have felt any more important to be treated like the rest of the workers. When they came back Nora said to her mom, “Look at Danny walk. He is strutting trying to take big steps like them.”

Aunt Betty called again saying that Jordan was worse and that she was taking him to the emergency room.

John and Laura agreed that Nora should stay home with Danny and they would go to meet Aunt Betty and Uncle Bob at the hospital. Jordan’s fever went very high so until they found out something they intended to stay and support them. It was agreed that the tree house crew wouldn’t be there much longer and it was okay for them to stay, since they trusted Jeremy.

Tears sprang to Nora’s eyes. Here she was planting flowers and building tree houses when Jordan and her dad were both sick and she wasn’t studying or even trying to do anything for them. She felt so guilty.

This was the first time in her life that she could remember when she had loafed around and not contributed her efforts to help her family. As soon as she could she would find a way.

Before bed time for Nora and Danny, her parents came home. The diagnosis was that Jordan had double pneumonia caused from complications resulting from his polio. They had given him doses of penicillin but he would be in the hospital for a few days.

Nora again resolved in her heart that she would find a way to go to that doctor’s school that Mrs. Jenkins told her about. She would put every effort to see that she was accepted for scholarships.

Jeremy came back with his crew the next Saturday morning to finish the tree house.

Nora came out to work on her flower garden she had built. “Hi, everybody. It looks like you’ll easily finish the tree house today.”

There were nods and waves from Jeremy’s friends. Jeremy gave a big whistle loud enough to hear for two blocks. “Hi, Sweetheart. I’m so glad you came out to see me.”

Nora gave him a sideways look and decided to ignore the blush she felt. “Actually, I came out to work in my flower garden,” she sort of lied, because she did really want to see him again.

Jeremy came over to her and put his arm around her shoulder and steered her to the flower garden. “See in the middle where you haven’t put in any flowers?”

She nodded.

“What have you decided to put in that area?”

She shrugged her shoulders, “Nothing yet.”

“I have an idea,” he began getting excited about his idea. “You know, sometimes people contract my mom’s flower shop to do a little landscaping. Sometimes they need to have things removed before the flowers can be planted.”

She stood there puzzled. Where was he going with this story?

“What I’m trying to say is that if I poured a small concrete patio in the middle of your flowerbed, I could set the bench we had given to us right there on that patio.”

He looked at her to see if she was appreciating his idea. “It’s a decorative concrete bench that some people that we did some work for didn’t want. They asked us to take it away. It’s free. Will not cost you a dime.”

She began to think that this might be doable.

He saw a flicker of acceptance, so he proceeded to plead his case. “Remember one time you told me about how you used to sit out on a rock to think and rest?”

She nodded.

“Nora, say something to me,” he snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Do we have a deal?”

Nora smiled and held out her hand, “Deal.”

“Whew!” he exclaimed wiping his brow, “that was hard work.”

“Jeremy, you may be a lawyer yet,” she smiled.

“Oh, God forbid,” he laughed before running back to help finish the tree house.