Happy Holidays!

ANN

Part One: 3 Daughters
Ann was not the 1st born of the 3 daughters. That was Jane...
Jane, the ringleader, the director and producer of their 3-person theatrical peformances; the reader of the books to her 2 sisters before they could read on their own.

Jane grew to be a teen of average height, slim waist, but a full fledged figure; and because she was both a natural leader and so outgoing, she met her share of boys that were eager to call. One lit passionate sparks within her - deeper than the rest - and so she married him. Together they raised a small family and in her spare time she became a prominent community leader.

...Or the last to be born. That was Penny ...
Penny, the baby, the fuss budget, the one pampered enough to be disarmingly charming in return (or disproportionally obstinate).

As a teen, Penny was rail thin, with small breasts, lean and pretty. She spent most of her time with friends in high school, then went on to college. There she met her true love and after graduation they married. Both worked part time and put off having children till after the time of this story.

...No, Ann was the born-in-between daughter, who was the quiet one, the glass wearing, book reader (Nancy Drew Mystery series a favorite), the one who longed to tag along with Jane, the straight "A" student - at least until she took Algebra. As a teen she was considered average looking. Youth was perhaps her best physical asset. Boys saw in her the wrong proportions - her breasts were too small and her butt too large, and she had short legs that emphasized it. Her hair was not blonde but black and straight. And she needed glasses that hid her big green eyes.

Other girls liked her friendliness though she was often more pious than mischievous or popular.

Some of that came about because of her relationship with her parents. Her father, older than her mother by 7 years, was soft spoken but strict. "Clean your rooms girls!" While her mother was more sociable and tender, "We'll do it together." That was typical parental behavior for all the girls. Their mom loved her daughters and looked forward to living vicariously through each of their teen years with all the excitement that comes with puberty, make-up, dating, boys.

But that didn't happen quite like it was supposed to. Ann's mom became sick in Ann's teen years, and instead of having her Mom and Dad's attention during her 'coming out' time, it turned all upside down. She had to help her father take care of her sick mom and babysit Penny.

During this time her Mom changed from her normal sweet outgoing personality, to one full of worry centered on herself. Pain caused that. And her father became more aloof as the stress of an ailing wife and family got to him too.

Anyway, what should have been years of passionate exploring, became drudgery. By the time Penny was a teen the crisis had passed. Both her parents made it clear how much they valued Ann's help not only in endearing words but in a present. They gave her a used red compact car.

But it did affect Ann, and fate, for whatever reason fate does things, had decreed that she would not be married.

After college (a small Lutheran College) she moved into the Vicarage of the beautiful grey and beige Gothic church in her hometown. There she would begin her single life.

Part Two: Room
The Church Fathers (men and women nowadays) had felt that Pastor Olsen and his wife, Emma could use some help. Ann saw the notice on the church bulletin board and volunteered for the job. The council thought her perfect, but in their debate over hiring her, worried that she would marry and leave. Others replied that the Pastor, Olaf Olsen, would probably leave before her. "Pastors seem to move around so much nowadays". So they hired her. (And by the way neither did move.)

She got room and board and a small salary for these duties:
1. Keep the vicarage clean and tidy - though in practice Mrs. Olsen did most of the house work. She was left with the once a week laundry detail and cooking now and then (though her cooking was more perfunctory than spicy).

2. Write, edit, and print the church newsletter, The Reach. It gave schedules of upcoming events, who was getting married or baptized, who was sick and in the hospital, and occassionaly who had donated some nice gift to the church.

3. Arrange the weekly schedule for church meetings, choir practices, socials, etc., set up refreshments after, and clean up the mess when everyone had gone - though there never was a time when the women of the congregation didn't volunteer to help her until it was done.

Now let's go to Ann's room. One can tell a lot about a person by seeing their room.
The vicarage was next door to the church. It was a small 2 story with a half attic, Victorian that had that musky, old house smell. Ann's room was downstairs. Pastor and Mrs. Olsen's bedroom and a guest bedroom were upstairs - stairs that creaked in such a predictable way that Ann, in bed at night, could tell who was climbing them.

Ann's room had a high heavy wood door with oversized pewter hinges, that creaked open into a square modest room with off white walls. On the floor was a brown patterned oval hook rug. On top of that was a dark wood, queen sized bed with the top mattress high off the ground and covered with crisp white sheets, a heavy beige white bedspread, 2 pillows, and 2 grey blankets folded at the foot of the bed.

The furnishings in the room, were sparse: next to the bed was a small wood rocking chair with a wicker seat and back. Then next to that and against one wall, was a 4 tiered bookcase filled to the brim with all kinds of books plus 3 versions of the Bible and a few meditation books. On the other side of the bed was her bulky looking 3 drawer, dresser with big claw feet on the legs, a large lace doily over the top and assorted photos, mementos, souvenirs, postcards, and such. She also kept her glasses here when she slept. At the foot of her bed was a portable TV and thin TV stand that a parishoner had given her. She loved her soap operas and the reruns of I Love Lucy.

Between her bed and the rocker was a brass pole lamp with a big cylindrical lampshade and a chain pull on and off switch. And behind the TV was her drafty closet (kept closed during the winter) that went under the stairs that led to the second floor.

The walls were bare except for a small print of an illustration of Jesus over the bookcase, and a small wooden cross over the dresser.

Oh and under her bed next to some empty suitcases and dust bunnies, was a plastic radio/alarm clock that woke her up in the mornings. Her favorite music was anything from a musical.

And finally, sometimes on the dresser there would be some altar flowers in a glass vase, left over from a service. She just couldn't bear to waste them by throwing them out when they were still so fresh and pretty. She thought there were still many good days left in many of them.

Part Three: Up and Down the Stairs
"Oh no!" cried Ann in both an alarmed and frustrated voice.
"What is it?" asked Mrs. Hoffler.
"Oh it's nothing. I just snagged my good dress."
Mrs. Hoffler went back to putting away the clean dishes. But Ann had made light of something that distressed her a lot. She tied the 2 torn strands into a loose knot so it wouldn't drag on the floor, (and she would look presentable), and finished her work.

After everyone had left the church, she went back to the vicarage and found Mrs. Olsen reading while the Pastor was in his study working.

"Emma can you help me? I've snagged my best dress. What can I do? I'll need it fixed by this weekend's services."

"Let's take a look." She brought it close to her eyes and leaned toward the lamp and studied it. "That is tough to fix because the sewing will show. It is such a pretty thing too."

Ann waited for her to go on.
"There are a couple choices. There's that cleaners, Ruskies - I think they call it - in that shopping center around the corner. They could probably do it. Or I know a dressmaker from our congregation, Mrs. Robertson that lives across town. She does dressmaking and mending in her home. She has a little shop upstairs in the duplex where she lives. It's farther away, but Carrie Porter likes her."

"We'll if she belongs to our congregation, I'd like to give her the work."
"I'll call her in the morning. Now don't you worry dear. Go to bed and we'll fix this tomorrow."
Ann went to bed. But before she could sleep she asked herself 'Why do I worry about something so insignificant. There's real problems in the world and this isn't one of them." Then she remembered her father consoling her once when she felt guilty about something mean she had said to a classmate at school.

"Ann" he laughed, "If sins were water you couldn't wet the bottom of a thimble."

By the time Ann had awoken and dressed the next day, Mrs. Olsen had already called Mrs. Robinson and talked to her about the torn dress.

"No problem sweetie," said Mrs. Robertson. "Let me take a look. I usually can fix anything if I've got the thread to match. Send her by - afternoons best."

At breakfast Mrs. Olsen relayed the message to Ann. Ann decided to take over the dress that day, Monday, in hopes that it could be fixed in time.

That afternoon, with a bus schedule and change in her pocket and the bulky dress in a shopping bag, she stepped off the bus and began looking at apartment numbers. She usually loved to walk blocks and blocks (which she did daily for exercise and relaxation), but today she was a little anxious about finding this address and being in a strange part of town.

A block away she found it on a quiet and quaint narrow street that was really quite beautiful - an old duplex, with stairs behind the glass door on the right side and ivy all along the outside walls. She rang the doorbell. A woman came to the top of the stairs and yelled down, "Are you Ann?"

"Yes."
"Come on up dearie."
At the top of the stairs were four rooms packed with stuff - furniture, clothes, machines, fabrics, and thread spools everywhere.
"Over here Ann." She followed the voice and approached a tall stout lady with curly short hair, in a small print dress, sitting behind a work desk. "Emma said it was a pretty bad tear. Let's see."

Ann handed her the dress and she examined it - first inside and out, while a curious brown cat came forward to look at the stranger. Then Mrs. Robertson checked the label and looked up at Ann.

"I can fix it. Check back Thursday. It should be ready. She scribbled something on a multi page receipt pad, and gave Ann the pink copy. Then she studied Ann for a second.
"You know you could almost pass for Emma's younger sister!"

Ann was about to ask 'how much' but she felt embarrassed about it now. So instead she put the page in her purse, thanked Mrs. Robertson, patted the cat on the head, and left.

Ann called Wednesday to see if it was ready. Mrs. Roberston said she hadn't gotten to it. "Call back Monday."
Ann had been counting on it being ready. But what could she do. "I'll call back then."
Two more delays - 2 and one half weeks went by and the dress was finally ready. Ann was frustrated with the delays and promised herself that as soon as she got her dress back, she'd never go back to Mrs. Robertson's shop.

Again she got off the bus, went down the street and up the stairs.
"It's already dear. Come look." Mrs. Robertson pulled back tissue paper and there was the dress. Ann looked at where the tear had been. It had been mended reasonably well though there were some loose threads hanging down.

"Let me get those." Mrs. Robertson found her scissors and snipped the threads and let them drop to the floor. She then re-wrapped the dress and slipped it into a large glossy department store sack. "That's $24.95 dear."

"What?" thought Ann to herself. "That's mighty steep for a tear! Oh well the quicker I pay and get out of here the better." She wrote out a check, took the sack in her arms, turned around and left.

In her haste she missed a step, tripped on the steep stairs and fell.
The rest of that afternoon was a painful ordeal for Ann. Mrs. Robertson became frantic, called an ambulance, and while running to make an ice pack for her injuries, began repeating over and over to herself, "Just send me the bill."

After a short wait in the emergency room, she was examined. The doctors found she had a broken ankle and a lot of bruises. The ankle required a cast and bed rest for at least a couple of weeks. She fell asleep exhausted that night and woke up sore and aching with a pair of crutches leaning against the dresser.

The news of her accident spread throughout the congregation and the ladies determined they'd take turns bringing over some cupcakes or brownies or something sweet and homemade like that, to help bring back her strength and keep her spirits up. It was reported from those that had talked to her, that she was mad at herself for falling - and now missing her chores - and she felt a little guilty about the fuss everyone was making.

It seemed almost everyone had called. All her family had contacted her by the next day. And now, instead of Ann visiting the sick and the bed ridden - others were visiting her!

It was Mrs. Sanderfeld's turn for some type of dessert, and she wanted to send her boy Davey over to the vicarage with half an Italian Creme Cake for Ann - it was her specialty.
In the spirit of helping, Davey wanted to give something too, so he put one of his video movies into his pack. "Mom, I'm going to take her something too."
"What?"
"I'm going to take her one of my videos. Something with some adventure in it."
"Well that's sweet - but I don't know if Ann has a video player."
"I think everyone has one nowadays." said Davey with assurances.
Maybe so, thought Mrs. Sanderfeld and she let it go at that.
Davey rang the old sonorous doorbell. Mrs. Olsen answered the knock and led him to Ann's room.
"Ann, David Sanderfeld is here with a present..."
"Two, Mrs. Olsen."
"Two Ann. Go on in Davey."
Ann recognized Davey and gave him a big smile.
"How are you doing? "
"OK David. My foot itches under the cast some - right were I can't scratch, but I get to watch my soaps all day. What have you got there?"
"Mom sent you a cake. And I sent something too."
"Oh how sweet of you both. What kind of cake - her Italian Creme?"
"Uh huh."
"If I have a piece now, will you join me?"
"Sure!" Said Davey with enthusiasm.

As Ann was preparing 2 equal portions of the cake, she was thinking to herself that the platter the cake was on, was so nice - decorated with a Dutch windmill scene - that she'd better move any cake left over, on to a paper plate so Davey could take the empty China back with him.

While she was busy, David was telling her about what he had brought.
"I thought you might like to see a good movie so I brought you my video of Close Encounters of the Third Kind It's all about flying saucers and aliens. It's very exciting. I've watched it a lot. Have you seen it?"

"I don't think so."
"You'll like it a lot. We could even start it now."
"But I don't have a video player."
Davey was stunned and a bit crestfallen. "Are you sure?" He scanned the room. Then studied the small portable TV and stand.
"No I never got one. But that was awfully sweet of you."
Davey wasn't convinced. He thought to himself, "I can't believe she doesn't have a video player."
"Is it somewhere else in the house?"
"No. The Pastor doesn't watch many movies. He's so busy."
Ann placed a piece of cake and a fork in front of Davey and placed her plate on her lap.

"Let us pray..."They both folded their hands and lowered their heads. "Dear Lord, thank you for this sweet dessert and for David and Mr. and Mrs. Sanderfeld for their thoughtful concern for me. Bless our church and congregation with good health and keep us together. Help us love others always and let us help the unfortunate. Let us do our best, and know that all is right in your hands. Amen."

"Amen," added Davey as he raised his head and opened up his eyes.
They both were silent as they ate their cake. David kept thinking about the video that he'd brought. Then it dawned on him.

"Miss Ann, I know why you don't have a video player. You pray for all the wrong things!"

Ann looked shocked. David felt he'd said something wrong. Then Ann began to laugh and laugh and laugh. It was infectious and a relieved Davey joined in. Crumbs flew from her mouth and tears streaked down her eyes. She reached for a napkin to wipe her mouth, but she couldn't stop laughing . Finally she managed to say,
"Oh David, you are wise beyond your years! And you have cheered me up more than anyone else." Then she fell into another fit of laughing.

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