Economically Yours

Chapter 46 (cont'd)
In the afternoon, Laeh came by the garage sale. She brought a young man with her. Miss Eliza got up to greet them.
"Laeh, did your father allow you a little break?" Her voice had just the right amount of balanced sarcasm that only the socially quick-witted Laeh caught on to.
She laughed happily, knowing she had an advocate with Miss Eliza. Every woman who had ever bested William Bryony was a true soul-mate of Laeh's.
They hugged and Miss Eliza asked, "Who is this young man you're toting around?"
"Vincent? You know Vincent. He's worked at the Inn since he was sixteen years old."
Miss Eliza took a closer look. "Oh my, you have grown up, young man! I scarcely recognized you. How is your schooling going? What were you working on, again? I'm sorry, I've forgotten."
Vincent stepped forward and smiled his contagious salesmans' smile hoping to woo Miss Eliza with his charm.
Miss Eliza looked him straight in the eyes, noticing a slight hardness mixed with something else... what was the shadow behind the charm?
"Economics, I'm almost done my degree," he spoke with confidence.
"'Economics is the method; the object is to change the soul,'" Miss Eliza quoted.
"What does that mean?" Vincent was a thinker and his sharp mind spun into a sharpened pencil readiness.
"That's a quote by Margaret Thatcher," Miss Eliza stated perfunctorily and gave no other explanation in prophetic style of succinctness. "Did you know that Vincent means prevailing? And possibly even conqueror when you take it from the Latin 'vincere.' Vincere rhymes with sincere, don't you think?"
Before Vincent could put all the possibilities together... Miss Eliza turned and called, "Jayne, where did you put the books?"
She then turned back to Laeh and Vincent. Gently, she put her hands on their elbows, saying, "There are three books over there you might be interested in, Vincent. They all contain business principles. Just tell Jayne I said you don't have to pay for them. They're a gift."
Vincent and Laeh happily went and took the three books from Jayne who slipped them into a bag, whispering, "She's such a sweetie, Miss Eliza, isn't she?"

Catcher of the Wry

Chapter 46
Miss Eliza was having a garage sale. J.P. & Crew had decided to help with the event as an honour to her. She had been so patient allowing them the use of her home, for filming.
Jayne was in her element.
She was poking through Miss Eliza's house like a mouse rooting out a tasty piece of cheese.
"Hey, Miss Eliza, do you want to sell this catchers mitt?"
"Oh no, dear, that I'm keeping!"
"Do you play baseball?" Jayne sent the question into an upward swing of gentle mockery, not even mildly prepared for the reply.
"Oh yes, I'm playing soft ball now, though. I used to play fastball but... the knees, you know. They're not what they used to be."
Jayne looked at Miss Eliza with mouth agape.
"How old did you say you were?"
"I'm 72, dear. Seventy is the new 60, you know," she answered wryly.
"Yes, I see that," Jayne replied with candid respect.

Media League Challenge

Chapter 45 (cont'd)
A perfect Wednesday afternoon turned into a perfect Wednesday evening. I'm talking about the weather.
J.P. and Crew had agreed to form a baseball team while they were filming during this summer in the Muskokas.
Tonight, J.P. had invited Sam and Simmy to drop by the baseball diamond and have a few laughs,... not at the team, but... with the team.
As they neared the ball diamond, Jane was in the opposing teams' 'dugout'... visiting. So Jane!
J.P. had informed Sam and Simmy that the team had been 17 and 1 this season so they didn't ask the score when they climbed the peeled green bleachers to get a good view.
Simmy noticed that the posture of the 'Lemmings' told the story of how things were going on this beautiful Canadian summer evening. Lemmings, with #2 on every persons' jersey. Hmm! A comical prophet came up with that, she thought.
Agatha shuffled to her place, as back-catcher, looking like the weight of the world rested on her shoulders, alone.
Rob looked like it was quite a STRETCH to walk all the way to outfield as they were, once again, relegated to the defensive position.
Kim was hoping that Calvin and Bart kept the cameras OFF her this evening. She was struggling to keep her smile on.

Darren was wondering... had he been in left field when he agreed to play?
Marc stopped short of 'calling it a game.'
Denis was thinking about the childhood game 'Red Rover.' "There are no losers in that game. All the players are on the winning team at the end." He was giving himself this pep talk as he chucked Tony on the shoulders.
Tony, obversely dejected, took up his position on 3rd base. 'What could he teach his Little League Team from this game???- Sportsmanship?' Alex had happily given him a chance to turn things around- smart chap. He and Peggy were sitting this inning out.
Terri was guarding 2nd base, grinding out for her 'True Grit.'
As the ball got passed around, Sandy, on first base found it to be a real effort to bend down to try to catch it. It slipped, slowly, passed his glove.
Krista, the pitcher, had an erratic lobbing style of pitching, that, IF PERFECTED, would be almost impossible to judge... if only... when it was right, it dropped, like a stone in perfect strike zone, over the base. The unsuspecting batters looked confused every time the ump put up his hand for 'Strike.'
Seeing as it was a beer league, the teams umped for each other which tended to give an even balance of fairness to the 'calls.' 'Do unto others' was, somehow, easy to follow.
A song popped into Simmy's head by Dallas Holm, 'I'll be a fool for you, Jesus,' so she squared her shoulders and started cheering. Not a gentle, clapping- of- hands, whisper but a 'loud, encouraging, raw throat hollering that Sam soon joined and the two 'Lemmings' fans wore themselves out cheering for the Media League.
Within a few minutes of this behaviour, that had Scott, the center-fielder, slightly embarrassed... sound guys are not your 'spotlight' hounds... the posture of the 'Lemmings' team went through a metamorphosis.
Shoulders squared. Jaws tightened. Quadriceps quivered. Biceps tensed as the cheering awakened a new synaptic strength in the brain... HOPE... POSSIBILITY... these two Hebbian (Donald Olding Hebb) cells shook hands and the new network forged a 'GET UP AND TRY AGAIN' relationship.
Sam and Simmy pushed on, shouting and screaming 'you're great s, way to go s, good catch s, until the Hebbian theory of 'cells that fire together, wire together,' was producing some new neural networking.
Sandy started coming alive, doing things that men half his age could only dream of. Marc made a catch that the 'big leagues' drool over. There was cheering from both sides for that one. Scott, sunglasses on, caught a soaring hit.
Soon the Lemmings had three 'outs' and were up to bat.
Stella, wearing an 'Untouchables' jersey stepped to the plate and proved the jersey correct. Solid Hit!
Did they get one run? Or two?
Cheering from the two fans continued.
There was more fight in the Lemmings now.
Agatha almost shouted, "Come on, Team!"
Krista started acing her pitches.
It was breathless. It was fun. It was transforming.
Scott laughed and told them afterwards, "Thanks for coming! You guys were really nice."
Sam looked at Simmy, "Is your voice raw?"
"Yep! It sure is!"
They laughed a good belly laugh and headed back to the Hummer, feeling like conquerors.

Child Shall Lead Them

Chapter 45
The next day was Wednesday, an afternoon filled with sunshine and a resurgence of heat. The day before had been cold and Sam had mentioned that it felt like an Autumn day with a strong chill in the air.
But today, this afternoon, was hot.
They were shooting a scene in the diamond shaped gazebo in the garden but today it looked like a colourful balloon. Fabrics with a striped theme had been hung all around the little diamond creating a little enclosed... hmm, fort, yes, a fort... for children.
It was story time in the scene and Ethel was babysitting a nephew and had brought the little gaffer over to Lucy's house. Together they had fashioned a colourful atmosphere for the creation of fantasy and imagination.
Take 2-
Ethel has her nephew on her lap and she opens the book to read, "A little child shall lead them."

Vino in Veritas

Chapter 44 (cont'd)
After the little group hug welcome from J.P., Sam and Simmy relaxed in their seats knowing they were with friends.
As the evening wore on, Don was getting more exuberant than usual. His personality was, generally, up-beat and optimistic but he was becoming loud and personal.
"In Vino Veritas," he lifted his hand and everyone felt obliged to follow suit and they clinked their glasses for the third time. "Let's drink a toast to 'Lucy' and 'Ethel' for their..."
J.P. took some control back after this and said simply, "Alright Pliny, let's behave like the Elder, instead of the Younger."
The warning tone punched through the haze and Don sobered up a bit as 'Lucy' pushed his dinner plate closer to his hand that was gripping the wine glass.
Don took the hint, exchanged the wine glass for a fork and started eating to neutralize some of the alcohol.

Truth in Wine

Chapter 44
In the evening, Sam and Simmy went to the Inn for dinner.
J.P. & Crew were also at the Inn and J.P. motioned them over as soon as they walked in.
"Come, my friends. How are things going with you?"
"Oh, we feel somewhat down," Sam stated with honesty.
"We're in that middling place of life where our children are making their own way and we're looking for our next adventure," Simmy grinned infectiously.
"Well, you're in with the right crowd this time," J.P. picked up the wine bottle and poured two more glasses.
Simmy looked at the wine bottle charm jangling against the glass...
'There is truth in Wine
Though it may take a little time'
J.P. looked at his new friends and spoke prophetically, "Children all come back to the way they were raised. They'll bring you great joy very soon. I was a real schmuck twenty years ago but I grew to understand the sacrifices that my parents made for me when I experienced some truth. I had to face it first. but it was there all along." He got up and put his arms around Sam and Simmy giving them some physical encouragement.

Romance Caching

Chapter 41 (cont'd)
Sam leaned over and whispered to Simmy, "Where did you manage to find a gift for the party on such short notice?"
"It might be the country, Sam, but there was a little gift boutique in town called the 'Castle Boutique.'" Simmy smiled and winked at Sam.
"You are on the most interesting treasure hunt, aren't you?" Sam replied.
"I'm going to start my own 'geocaching' game. I'll call it 'romancecaching,'" Simmy's eyebrows lifted in suggestive fashion.
"What kind of prizes will you give? I can see a lurid side to this that you may not have thought of," Sam looked at Simmy wondering how her past experiences had still left an unblemished thought pattern of innocence.
"Lurid?" Simmy tried to think of the dark side of romance and suddenly her shoulders drooped and she looked so disheartened that Sam felt a need to lift her spirits.
"You could devise your own 'rule etiquette' of prizes so things stay clean," Sam suggested.
At this thought, Simmy cheered up, reinventing her plan for 'RomanceCaching.'
"RomanceCaching for people who want to cash in on 'Romance.' My brother and his wife seemed to be really sweet on each other when we last saw them. They were the first people who introduced us to geocaching. It sounds like a great tool for building romance in couples. Ooh, baby, I'm going to develop this, somehow..., a place for concealment and safekeeping valuables... Romance."
Simmy's cellphone chirped and she opened it quickly. "We booked a reception place for our wedding. It's at 'Kingswood!' J&J Romance Team."
"Our kids just booked their wedding reception at a place called 'Kingswood,'" Simmy whispered to Sam.
"The story of Romance continues," Sam drawled in low tones.
"The wedding in Kingswood Forest... It is the glory of God to conceal a matter but the honour of kings is to search out a matter," Simmy quoted the ancient scroll.

Princess Manners

Chapter 41
It was Sunday. The day after the swanky wedding. Things at the Inn were busy despite the wet and rainy weather. The birthday party was moved indoors and Abbey had been busy since early morning already.
J.P.'s daughter was turning 12 which was a big year for a 'young girl turning into a young lady.'
When Sam and Simmy arrived at the party, they were surprised to see so many of J.P.'s family members in attendance. Many had flown in for the weekend and cabins were full up and Abbey looked tired. Bryony was chipper this morning, no doubt glad to see the takings from the wedding the night before. When the weather was inclement, as it had been this summer, the Inn was busy, as all indoor structures were solidly booked.
Alexis, J.P.'s daughter, opened her gifts. She thanked people profusely for every gift and each guest felt adored by her enthusiasm. Her manners were impeccable and the grace she displayed as she received each gift was truly a beautiful poetry. She fussed over and exclaimed with genuine enjoyment as each piece of wrapping paper was removed, revealing her next treasure.
Then, in a new tradition, at least to Sam and Simmy... Alexis brought out a gift bag for each family in attendance and presented them to her guests in regal fashion. J.P.'s wife smiled as everyone opened their gifts, trinkets purchased to suit each person. There were shy and surprised thank you(s) as a few people realized that they were, indeed, well known by the hosting family.
Sam and Simmy were pleased to watch the traditions of all this and enjoyed the food and the fun with honest, hard-working folks. J.P.'s parents were in attendance and J.P.'s father had been allowed to bring his own wine, made in his vineyard.

Experience Fresh Wine

Chapter 40 (cont'd)
Simmy took Sam by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes, "That is over. We can learn from it but we need to move on. T.D. Jakes recommends that we run as fast as we can into our future and away from our adversity."
"That is, possibly, the opposite advice that many counselors would give. Many of them would want you to dredge through the lake of your past to uncover the shackles that bind you," Sam said.
"Most shackles at the bottom of a lake hold only dead things, Sam. So, if there are 'dead things' in ones' past, like relationships or incidents of abuse, those are the things to walk FORWARD from. He says, sometimes uncovering a bondage in the past is the answer but still for the same purpose of exposing a lie to move forward into this new season of your life." Simmy paused, thinking. She saw Laeh coming toward them with a tray of empty glasses and she moved into encompassing form as she swept her arm wide in front of Laeh and quoted with stage-like drama, "Sail toward your destiny' and 'embark upon new horizons.'"
Laeh replied with, "Fill your empty glass with fresh wine!" She used her left hand to draw attention to the empty glasses and bowed to Sam and Simmy.
"Very good, Laeh," Simmy clapped her hands with awed delight.
"Are you sure he didn't write that book for men?" Sam laughed. "We love to leave bad experiences behind us. We're 'king' of that," Sam coughed derisively.
"Well, my 'king of pardon' let's mosey on back to the cottage. I've had enough 'party' for one night and we have a birthday party to attend tomorrow afternoon."

Emotional Logic

Chapter 40 (cont'd)
Most of the wedding party had gathered in the parking lot after a photography session. Relaxed in off-camera mode, one of the male attendants had inadvertently posed in perfect GQ style. GQ meaning 'Guentermen's Quality' of which, Simmy had noted, he had a perceivable amount. He displayed no narcissism but instead a refined style of understated servant-hood even more pronounced, perhaps, in suited attire.
Within an hour, this young man stood up to make a speech to the groom. His method was interesting, thought Simmy. He delivered a statement of truth, stunningly honest, so much so that the gathered guests held their breath and it was very silent after a few gasps. This GQ man noted the awkwardness immediately and followed each bleached statement with a fabric softener chaser to the audible sigh of relief from the crowd. GQ man seemed to read his audience, on the fly, and responded, developing a cadence of truth spoken in love. When his portmanteau was completely packed, or unpacked, (depending on how your mind works), there were alternating layers of cotton duck work-wear and soft cotton t-shirts draped on the crowd.
"Very good speaker," Simmy whispered to Sam.
"I spoke with him earlier and he said this is the first time he's given a speech," Sam replied.

Director Chair

Chapter 40 (cont'd)
J.P. was giving instructions as fast as he could. There were many vignettes of activity and he was hoping to catch as many as he could.
He came up to Sam and asked, "If you see Miss Eliza, tell her she can sit in the 'Director' chair if she likes. I'll be too busy to sit tonight."
Sam and Simmy chuckled as he made his way through the party dresses and fancy suits to try to get some 'unrehearsed' footage.
"He's got a lively bunch tonight," Sam grinned.

Garden Party

Chapter 40
At the Old Winery Inn, Sam and Simmy sank into the sofa, at the cabin, with a sigh of relief.
"I'm looking forward to the garden party tonight," Simmy said.
"Are they filming?" Sam asked lazily.
"Some scenes, yes but mostly snapshots of conversations, so to speak."
"There's a new structure next to the garden. Apparently, it was built by a young man who proposed to his sweetheart last weekend," Sam said.
"What kind of structure?" Simmy asked.
"A octagon gazebo," Sam said casually.
"I'm surprised Bryony would let anyone put something in his garden. He's very particular about his plants," Simmy said.
"He must have thought it would add some beauty or he wouldn't have let it go up," Sam spoke matter-of-factly.

Great Physician

Chapter 39 (cont'd)
Sam whistled to get Simmy's attention.
"Thanks for the photo. You'll find it on my blog in the next week or so." Simmy handed the mother a business card with her information on it.
"Toodles! Have a great day!" Simmy went to catch up with Sam who was taking the shortcut through the vineyard to the cabin.
As she slowly traversed the large stone steps, she was careful not to put her knee out. She was about to step onto the gravel path but a small engine whirr made her stop, and just in time, too.
Laeh came zooming down the steep hill in the 'Hummer golf cart,' her silver blonde hair flying around her head. She spotted Simmy out of the corner of her eye and stopped the little golf cart in a gravel spit.
"Hey, do you want a ride to the cottage?"
Simmy had hit it off with her the moment she saw her and she grinned at this younger version of herself and said, "Absolutely, spitfire, could we pick up grumpy down the path?"
Laeh laughed. "Your husband and my Dad... are most men over forty kind of grumpy?"
Simmy chuckled. "Only got one husband, honey. Can't speak for the rest of them."
Sam jumped on the back of the cart and just barely grabbed the frame of the cart before Laeh spun some more gravel. There was some common street language vernacular coming from behind Simmy but she just grinned and looked straight ahead.
As Laeh barreled down the path to the back porch of Magnolia Cottage, Simmy bit her bottom lip, unsure if they would stop before they were all dumped onto the porch.
Laeh applied the brakes but the steps of the porch were getting closer and closer... and 'bump.' The little rubber tires of the golf Hummer hit the bottom step with a solid thump.
"Oops! I forgot about the extra weight," she gave Simmy a wink and a nod accompanied with a double click coming from the side of her flashy toothed smile.
"Where could we go for a flea market or antique shop around here?" Simmy asked as she got out of the cart and stepped fluidly onto the porch, bad knee forgotten.
"There is a an old warehouse in town that has a antique market all this weekend. They're even open Monday because it's a long weekend," Laeh was backing the golf Hummer back up the path and raising her voice to match her speed.
Simmy waved at her and called, "Thanks for the ride!"
Behind her she could hear Sam give a sarcastic rejoinder, "You mean hair-raising whirl."
"Let's go find that antique shop. I'll just go grab my purse," Simmy was feeling young and invigorated.
Half an hour later they had parked at the warehouse and were wandering around the hot, stuffy atmosphere. The smell of old things along with advertising like, 'The Original New York Seltzer' and Blackwoods Beverages was a paint-peeled reminder of days gone by.
Simmy was wandering the concrete floor path when Sam bellowed her name in much urgency, then came around the corner of an aisle and grabbed her arm saying, "There's a woman who has passed out on the floor. Come on!"
Sam had this 'idea' that if it could be fixed in life, Simmy could fix it.
As she drew into the melee of crowd watchers, she assessed the situation in three seconds flat.
"Does anyone have medical training? A nurse?" There was no one medically qualified to help this poor woman so Simmy pushed her purse into Sam's arms and knelt on the floor at the head of the helpless body that seemed to be in a one-sided seizure. There was a man wailing and speaking in a foreign language, alternately pushing on the woman's chest and willing her, through heart-wrenching pleading, to come back around.
Simmy heard someone say, "Can she hear us?" so she spoke into the half-open eyes, "Can you hear us, can you understand what I'm saying?"
In the heightened atmosphere, Simmy caught the words, 'Maria' and 'Jesu' coming from the old man.
'Catholic,' she thought, so she started saying 'Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.'"
The woman suddenly opened her eyes and seemed quite lucid. Only her eyes were speaking but she nodded, and her face crumpled in emotion before her body relaxed and the shaking stopped. Another woman grabbed her wrist for a pulse. The old man started wailing in a terrible ruckus, now.
Simmy just pleaded with the Great Physician to keep this woman alive, feeling a total calm. She brushed the womans' brow and a wig moved out of place, revealing shorn hair.
'Possibly a cancer patient...' Simmy kept praying.
Someone had called for an ambulance and Sam had gone to direct the EMT's. It was only a few minutes before they arrived. Simmy jumped out of the way to let the medical personnel do what they were trained to do.
The information from the crowd started filtering into her mind, "Polish,... don't speak any English,... husband speaks English,... that's her Father,..."
The other woman who had been very assertively helpful got the old man a chair. Simmy noticed he was in need of kleenex so she dove into her purse, grateful for her sons' gift of taking care of the minute details, and pushed a kleenex into the hands of the old Polish man just as 'the other woman' asked, "Does someone have a..., oh, good."
Simmy pushed another three kleenexes into the shirt pocket of the Polish man.
In the next fifteen minutes, the melee had moved outdoors and Simmy and Sam waited for things to get settled to see if they were needed for anything else.
The helpful woman had moved two chairs outside and Simmy had a chance to witness her kneeling beside the man, praying.
When she was done, Simmy asked, "Which church do you go to?"
"Morrow Gospel," she replied. "My husband and I weren't even supposed to be manning the cafe today. We're just filling in." She seemed a bit harried now that things were settling down.
"Good," Simmy nodded perfunctorily and smiled.
A new man came on the scene, a German fellow, who looked at Simmy and said, "I used to work with the husband for five years or so and I've met the wife a few times too. She's got cancer."
Simmy nodded and said, "He seems very comfortable with you. Maybe you could drive the car. Apparently, only the woman has a valid drivers' license."
"Yes, I know," he replied.
Simmy sat down beside the old Polish man and stroked his sweaty shoulders, gently saying, "Jesu Christi!" He continued sobbing.
Eventually, things got worked out and decided. The German fellow agreed to drive the old man and the daughter he had traveled to Canada with, back to his co-workers' home.
As the old man got up, he reached for the Morrow Gospel servant and kissed her on the cheek. Then he reached for Simmy's hand and kissed it repeatedly, muttering in Polish. Simmy hugged him and he waved, then he grabbed Simmy's hand again and kissed it again, his old stubbled chin rasping his thanks.
The German fellow looked at Simmy and she said, "Just say Jesu Christi and he'll calm down. It's the same in any language. Well, God sent you here on the right day, hey, my friend?"
The German fellow looked a little uncomfortable but moved to serve his co-worker.
As Sam and Simmy walked back to their Hummer, Simmy asked, "Who were you praying for?"
"The husband, mostly. After I started praying for him, he calmed down."
"Whew! That was a combined effort of willing hearts."
"And hands," Sam replied.