I began this story on  Tuesday, September 27, 2011 9:44 PM



The Jewel Box ~ Hope’s Box
By Ora Lea Harrison



      Zoe heard a soft knock at the back door and wondering who it could be so early in the day, opened the door and was astonished to see a little girl, maybe seven or so holding a cup and spoon.  Looking beyond the child to see who was with her, she saw no one.
      The child looked like she’d tried to comb the front of her hair, her face had streaks of dirt on it and her dress looked like it hadn’t been tended.
      “Good morning, may I help you with something?”  Zoe wanted the child to feel welcome but wondered about the kitchen utensils.
      “Missus, if you’d let me have some flour, I could make some bread for us to eat, please.”  The little girl made her request.
      “Come in, child, of course you may have some flour.”  Zoe took the little girl’s cup and let her into the kitchen.
      Charley hadn’t left the kitchen after breakfast and was surprised to see the girl.
      “What have we here?”  he asked.  “What’s a lassie like you doing out on a morning?  Have you a name, child?”
      “I’m Katie, sir, my Ma’s sick and I have to make something for us to eat and we don’t have anything.  If you could let me borrow some flour, I could make Chloe and me some bread.”
      “Do you cook, Miss Katie?”  Charley continued gently questioning the child to find out who she was.
      “Not yet but I’ve watched Ma some and I’m sure I could learn how.”
      “Katie, why don’t I just let you have some of the biscuits that we have left from our own breakfast and Mr. Charley and I’ll see you home.  Would that be alright with you?”  Zoe asked the little girl.  “Would you like to eat before we go?”
      Katie looked hungrily at the breakfast table but declined saying that she had to get back to Chloe or she might hurt herself.
      “I couldn’t let her come with me, she’s too little to go off walking.”
      ‘She’s too little‘, thought Charley and Zoe.
      Not knowing what might be needed in the little girls’ home, Zoe lined a box with large napkins and put their left overs from breakfast in it along with the little girls cup and  spoon.
      “Here, Sweetie, I’ll carry this for you it’s a little heavy.”  Zoe told Katie.
      Together, Zoe and Charley took Katie in their carriage to the place that she showed them.
      It was quite a piece from their house; Zoe and Charley were astonished that she’d come that far alone.  Their house wasn’t the closest one to her home, either; they wondered why their house had been chosen.
      Katie proudly showed them in her home and they looked at the cluttered little place, wondering how long the Mother had been ill.
      Katie went to the kitchen where a toddler was playing with the pots and pans on the floor.
      “Look, Chloe, I’ve brought some breakfast, we won’t even have to cook this morning.”
      Chloe looked eagerly at her sister and smiled and nodded her head.
      Charley looked at Zoe and said,  “You go see about the Mother and I’ll get the girls breakfast.”
      Charley always knew just what needed to be done, Zoe thought.  He was definitely a man of action.
      It was a small house and Zoe quickly found the dark bedroom where the Mother lay.
      “Mam’, I’m Zoe Graham, I live up the road a piece.  Your little girl, Katie, brought us here.  My husband is giving the girls their breakfast and we’re going to take you to my granddaughter’s.  Her husband has a doctor’s office in town and he’ll have you fixed up in no time, alright?”
      The young woman lay still, not speaking.
      Zoe looked around the room, hoping to see a robe or something for the woman to wear to the doctor’s office.
      “We’re much obliged to you, Mam‘,”  A masculine voice startled Zoe.  She hadn’t been aware of anyone else being in the room.
      Searching the dimness for the speaker, Zoe finally saw him, sitting in a chair in the corner.
      She hurriedly left the room to get Charley.
      When he entered the room, Charley took in the scenario, walked to a window and pulled back the curtains to let the light in.
      The young man was deathly pale and barely able to be sitting up.
      Going over to him, he cordially said,  “I’m Charley Graham, your neighbors up the road a piece.  Your daughter, Katie, came to our house this morning, asking for food.  I’m sorry that we haven’t met before”
      The young man tried to get up but was too weak,  “Sorry I can’t get up, I’m James Thorpe and this is my wife, Priscilla.”
      Turning to his wife, Charley said, “Zoe, these people shouldn’t be moved, they’re too ill.  You stay with them and I’ll go get Darren.”  
      Whereupon, he hurriedly went back out to the carriage and drove to town as fast as he could go.
      Zoe wondered if he thought that the young couple would die before he could get Darren back here.
      Zoe went to the kitchen to check on the girls and take stock of what all was in the house in the way of food.
      Katie had been right, the parents apparently had been sick so long that they had run out of food.
      Right here so close to us, she thought, and we have more than enough.
      Finding tea, she heated water in a kettle and after preparing the tea, she took it to the young couple.
      She had to hold a towel under their chins while she put the cups up to their lips so they could drink.
      It didn’t seem like much time had passed before Zoe could hear a rattling wagon outside.  Peering out the window, she saw that Darren had not only come himself, he’d brought the clinic ambulance so that the couple could ride comfortably to where they could get the help that they needed.
      The young couple were carefully put on stretchers and taken out to the ambulance.
      The little girls stopped their play to watch.
      After they had left, Zoe and Charley decided that they’d pack the little girls up and take them home with them.
     
      Barbara and Darren came in the evening to give Zoe and Charley a report about the couple.  They said that it was touch and go for now but that they were getting the finest care possible.
      Seeing the freshly bathed little girls wearing Bridgett’s long ago clothes, they stole the hearts of Barbara and Darren as they had Zoe and Charley’s.
      After dinner, Barbara took the girls to Bridgett’s old room and told them a story after putting them to bed.
      “Grandmomma, why don’t I come tomorrow to help you with the girls?  Darren, you could manage without me, couldn’t you?”
      “If you don’t mind driving out by yourself, we can make it, the young couple are our only stay-in patients for now.”  Darren agreed.  “I can run the office alone.  There aren’t too many appointments, I don‘t believe.”
      “We were planning on going back to the house to clean and air it out.  You could stay here with the girls so they won’t be in the way, if you’d like.”  Zoe felt that Barbara was a God send.
     
      The next morning, Zoe and Charley hurried through the chores that couldn’t wait until later and as soon as Barbara arrived, left to go to the little girls home to see about getting it ready for the family to move back in.
      They took their own cleaning supplies, not knowing what was already in the house.  
      Charley helped Zoe in starting a fire under a large pot of water that they hauled up from the well.  
      Zoe had always had help with the family washing so Charley helped her with the heavy parts.  Together, they eventually had a clothes line that ran across the back of the yard filled with sheets and clothes.
      Exhausted, the pair stopped and ate the lunch that they had brought with them and washed it down with the tea that Zoe made.
      After a respite of sitting on the porch rockers, they got back up to see what else was important to get done before the weak couple and young children came back.
      Charley found the wood pile in disarray out back and began restacking it and taking in chipped wood for the kitchen stove and small logs for the fire boxes next to the fireplaces in the other rooms.
      This was no small job and Zoe busied herself around the house.  This young mother seemed to have had a hard time with two children around.  It didn’t look like the house had been thoroughly cleaned for a long time.
      Zoe was thankful that she had been blessed with Serena while her children were growing up.
      Opening the chiffrobe door to hang up the clothes, Zoe saw a jewel box on the upper shelf that looked almost exactly like her’s.
      She had a strange reaction to the box.  Her heart began beating faster and she put her hand over her mouth as though she had seen a snake.
      How could this be?  Her box was with Barbara and her sister, Deborah, had her box with her, didn’t she?  She’d never discussed the boxes with Deborah since her fourteenth birthday and found that her box alone had precious jewels hidden in it.  She was afraid that if they began comparing notes about the boxes, the truth would come out and she knew that she wasn’t ready for it.
      Her father had made the jewel boxes for their fourteenth birthdays to show them that he felt that they were ‘coming of age’.  When Zoe had her fourteenth birthday, seven years after Deborah, he put the family jewels in a hidden compartment in Zoe’s box.  Only a handful of people had privilege of this knowledge, even in their family circles.  Just the person who received the box from Zoe and the person that they passed it on to had the information.  It wouldn’t do for word to get out about such a wealthy stash.  Husbands knew, of course, they had to be in on guarding the box, as well.
      Backing from the closet, Zoe turned from the room and hurried to the back yard where Charley was chopping wood.
      The look on her face made him to know immediately that something was wrong but he couldn’t get her to speak.  Taking her hand, he said,  “Show me, Zoe,”  and he walked her back into the house and she led him to the chiffrobe and pointed to the box.
      Charley looked from Zoe to the box and back again.  “What’s wrong, Zoe?”  He reached up and took a hold of the box and said, “It’s just a jewel box, like your’s.  What are you afraid of?”
      Taking the box, he walked into the parlor and sitting it on the center table, he opened it by lifting the lid and saw jewelry similar to what was in Zoe’s box.
      “Zoe, did you think that your father was the only person that could make a jewel box like this?”
      Zoe had a funny look on her face and said,  “I guess I never gave it any thought.  It looks so much like mine and Deborah’s boxes.”
      Noticing tiny hinges on either side of the inside of the box, Zoe pulled up on a compartment of the top and it split and settled on either side of the box, revealing a bottom layer.
      In this layer was a pack of yellowed letters, neatly tied together with a faded ribbon.
      All of a sudden, Zoe was aware of what they were doing and closed the box and put it back on the top shelf of the chiffrobe.
      “Come on, Charley, let’s hurry and get the work done so we can go home, this gives me the creeps somehow.”
      After making the house more homelike and clean, they carefully locked the doors and put the key on the top of the front door, where they had left it before; got in the carriage and went to their own house and was happy to be there.
      “I’ve made your supper and bathed the girls so you shouldn’t have too much to do after your hard day,”  Barbara told them when they walked in the door.  
      Barbara had made a simple supper of vegetable soup with corn bread and rice pudding for dessert and wanted to get home before dark.
      “What about your own supper, Barbara?  Don’t you want to take some with you?”  Zoe was concerned that her granddaughter would be overextending herself.
      “Don’t worry, Cook, at the clinic usually has more than enough in case someone comes needing something to eat.  We’ll just have our supper over there this evening.”  Barbara explained.  “I’d better run now.”
     
      Barbara didn’t come the next morning.  She hadn’t said that she would and Zoe knew that she had her own work plus she had to help Darren out when he was short handed in the office in their own home or in the clinic.
      She and Charley had more than enough to keep them busy, especially, now that they had the girls to care for.
      Zoe asked Katie why she had picked their home to come to instead of one that was closer to them.
      Katie said,  “Whenever we have to go someplace in the wagon, Ma always points at your house and says, I’d like to live in a house like that one someday.  So when I came out the other day, I thought that maybe you folks would help us.  We don’t have other friends.”
      Zoe was thankful that they had been available for the child when she came.  She wouldn’t have liked to think of what could have happened to her if she had gone to the wrong house.  Not that they had any particularly bad neighbors but still, you never knew.
      Zoe hugged Katie close and said,  “I’m so glad that you came to us.”
     
      That evening, Darren and Barbara came with sober looks.
      The children had already had their supper so Barbara took them up to bed.
      Darren said that he needed to talk with Zoe and Charley.
      They went into the dining room, their usual place for serious talks and Darren looked at them both and sighed heavily.
      “I’ll come right to the point, hard as it is.  I believe and have consulted with Ol’ Doc Gilcrease and he agrees with me.  We believe that the girls parents have tuberculosis.”
      Zoe gasped and Charley closed his eyes and let his head drop.
      This was probably a death sentence.
      “There may be help, there’s a place that we can take them where they specialize in cases like this.  They’ll have to be taken there just as soon as possible.”
      “Would you like for me to ask around to see if there are people that can take the girls off your hands?”
      Zoe and Charley looked at one another.  They hadn’t given thought as to the outcome of their helping the family.
      “Darren, I believe, and I’m sure that Zoe agrees with me, that these people have been brought into our lives for a purpose.  If we neglect them now, they and we will miss out on something that can’t be taken care of in another way.  Do you feel the same way, Zoe?”  Charley looked directly at Zoe.
      “Exactly.  We’ll keep the girls as long as they need us.”
      Darren just looked at them both.  He had known that he’d married into a special family; he just hadn’t known how special until now.
      “Barbara and I will help out where we can.  Right now, we need to see if either of you or Barbara or the girls have the disease, as well.  It’s highly contagious and if any of you have it, we need to nip it in the bud before it spreads any place else.”
      They heard Barbara coming down the hall and stood up to greet her.  She looked like she might be starting to cry.  She went to Zoe and putting her head on her shoulder did begin crying,  “Oh Grandmomma, what are we going to do?  Those little girls, oh, it’s so sad.”
      Hugging her, Zoe said,  “We’re going to survive and so are the girls.  Everything’s going to be alright.  Charley and I will keep the girls for as long as necessary.”
      Barbara lifted her head and looked her Grandmother in the eyes and smiled through her tears,  “I can see where my Mother got her spirit from.  Darren, I believe we’re through here for now.  We’ll return in a day or so, this has been a hard day.”  She turned to her grandfather and kissed him on the cheek and taking Darren’s arm, walked out to the waiting carriage.
     
      The next couple of days were busy for the family, Zoe and Charley and the girls had to go into town to have Darren check them out for TB.  
      Dr. Gilcrease went with the ambulance that carried the young couple to the facility that would try to get them well.
      As far as he could see, they had a good chance of full recovery.  If they hadn’t been brought in when they were, they would have died that evening or at best, the next day.  He felt that it definitely was Providence that brought little Katie to the Graham’s back door that morning.  They had been ill for a long time and no one had even known.
     
      Friday afternoon, Barbara and Darren showed up, wanting to take the girls until Sunday afternoon.
      Charley and Zoe, not wanting to be in the now empty house, alone, decided to take a drive.
      Before they realized the direction that they were taking, they were in front of the Thorpe home.
      Getting out of the buggy, they walked up to the porch and Charley reached for the key.  Although he ran his hand up and down the top of the door, he couldn’t find the key.  He began looking around the porch to see if it had fallen when Zoe nudged him.
      “Charley,”  she said quietly,  “someone’s here.  I can hear them walking inside.”
      Charley knocked on the door and the walking stopped.
      Charley knocked again and a woman’s voice called out,  “Who’s there?”
      “We’re Charley and Zoe Graham, we’re neighbors.”
      The voice continued,  “James and Priscilla aren’t here, you’ll have to come back another time.”
      Charley called out again,  “They’re not here because they’re in the hospital.”
      There was silence on the other side of the door and then quick walking and the door opened.  There was a woman around fifty standing there.
      “Why are they in the hospital, what’s wrong with them?  Where’re the girls?”
      “Would you let us in please?  We don’t need to be talking about this out here.”
      The woman backed up and Zoe and Charley walked in, closing the door behind them.
      They told their story and the woman began sobbing.
      Zoe hugged her and asked,  “Who are you, the Mother of one of them?”
      The woman wiped her face and said,  “I’m sorry, yes, I’m James’ Mother.  I’ve been here for a couple of hours, waiting for them to come home.  I sent them a letter last week, telling them that I’d be coming; I‘m Hope MacGregor.”
      “You and James don’t have the same last name?”  Zoe asked.
      “No, I remarried after his father died.  Do they really have TB?  Both of them?  What about the girls?  Do they have it?  Where are they now, you said that you took them home with you.”
      “They’re with our granddaughter, her husband is the doctor that’s been treating your son and his wife.  They‘re staying with them until Sunday afternoon.  How long had you planned on staying?  We‘ve cleaned up a lot around here but that was before we found out that they had TB.  You might could catch it just from being here.  Maybe you should stay with us for tonight and we could all come back tomorrow and fumigate the whole house.”
      “Wait a minute, you were about to come in, why?”  Hope asked.
      “I don’t really know,”  Charley answered.  “We just didn’t want to be at the house after the girls left with Barbara and Darren and ended up here.”
      “Thank you for inviting me to your home for the night, I’d better take you up on that.  I’m tired from my trip and don’t really want to be here when they’re not home.”
      They’d been sitting at the kitchen table and now stood up and seeing Hope’s suitcases, Charley picked them up and after Hope locked the door, he put the key back on the top of the door.  He was glad that she had known to look there.
     
      Zoe showed Hope where the guest bedroom was and went to the kitchen to start supper. Charley went into his library to read.
      When Hope came down, she and Zoe were talking when Zoe remembered the jewel box that she had seen at James and Priscilla’s home.
      “Hope, when I was working at your son’s house the other day, I noticed a jewel box in the chiffrobe.  Would you know anything about it?”
      Hope looked like she didn’t understand but then a light went on in her face and she said,  “Why yes, that’s my box, my Mother’s father made it for her and she gave it to me.  I had forgotten about it.  When I go back over there, I’ll have to get it.  I’m so glad that you reminded me of it, I’ve missed having it around.  When I married Peter MacGregor, I asked James to keep it for me.  It seemed more a part of my marriage with his father.  I had kept letters that we had exchanged when he was away at the war in it.  I just didn’t want anything to distract me from my new husband, can you understand?”
      “Of course but I was wondering, what was your Mother’s name?”
      “Do you mean her maiden name?  It was Michelle Duncan.”
      Zoe gave an involuntary gasp,  “Duncan?  What was her father’s name?”
      Hope looked puzzled at Zoe’s reaction and answered,  “It was Donavan Duncan, why do you ask?  Is the name familiar to you?”
      Zoe looked at Hope and said,  “You’re my cousin, my father was William Duncan!  Your grandfather was my father‘s brother!  That‘s why the jewel boxes are so similar, it must have been a family custom to make them for the family daughters.”
      “I remember Michelle, she was more my sister, Deborah’s, age but she came to our house to visit.  I remember Uncle Donavan, too.  This is so wonderful.  Let me go tell Charley.”
      The sadness for the family illness was forgotten during an evening of reminisces between lost cousins.
     
      The next day was a day of work at the little family’s house, scrubbing everything in sight.
      In the evening the three were weary but satisfied that they had done the best that they could to rid the little house of disease.
      Hope was happy to see that her jewel box was exactly as it was when she gave it to her son to keep for her. She took it back to the Graham's and put it in her suitcase.
      The next morning at church, Hope was delighted to see her granddaughters and they all went to Barbara’s home for dinner afterwards.
      To find that the girls were actually her own family, was good news for Barbara.  They had been discussing what was the best course to take with the girls since the parents would be a long time healing.
      “Hope,”  Barbara said,  “this would be completely up to you but Darren and I are wanting to keep the girls for as long as it takes for their parents to get well.  Katie should be in school and we have a nice one close by.  Grandmomma and Grandpoppa would be willing to keep them indefinitely as would you, I’m sure, but Darren and I are younger and stronger and could keep up with them better, I believe you’ll agree.  This isn‘t a ‘fly by night‘ consideration, we‘ve given it much thought.  We have this big house, Darren has plenty of help at the clinic and the office.  We don‘t have our own children yet and are financially able, as well.”
      Hope hadn’t even given the situation much thought as she’d only been introduced to the knowledge of her children’s illness a couple of day’s before.  She had such a concerned look on her face that Barbara was afraid that she’d overstepped her boundaries.
      Looking at each of them in turn, Hope began speaking,  “Barbara, Darren, Zoe, Charley, this is a completely new situation for me.  I only had the one child and to suddenly hear that he’s at death’s door is overwhelming.  I honestly hadn’t even thought about the children’s welfare as of yet.  I would like to get the advice of James and Priscilla but since that can’t be done, I don’t believe I even have to mull it over.  I believe your offer is one that shouldn’t be passed over lightly, for the sake of the little ones.  As far as I know, I’m their only living close relative so will have to make this decision alone.”
      “There’s also the house to consider, James and Priscilla own it so I’ll have to see about paying the taxes and keeping it up for the girls for when they’re ready to live there.”
      “I may want to sell my own house and move here so I can be closer to the girls while their parents are away.”
      “I believe, for now, I’ll accept your offer but we won’t be talking about adoption, can you understand that I feel strongly about that for now?”
      The solemn group became animated as they each voiced their willingness to cherish but not try to possess the girls.
      Barbara made sure that Hope understood that she was welcome to stay with them and visit the girls anytime.  “If you do move back here, they can stay with you whenever it’s convenient for you.  They’ll always be your grandchildren and we’ll be substitute parents until their real one’s are able to be here for them.  We are doing everything in our power to help them to get the best of care.”
      The little party broke up with everyone feeling that the best was being done for Hope’s family.
      “To find that I have family here, right now, when I really need you is so wonderful.  I can’t repay you for what you’re doing.”  She was beginning to get weepy so Zoe and Charley took her to the buggy and they headed for home.
      It was a cozy drive back to the Grahams.  The three new friends didn’t even talk, they just enjoyed the scenery as they drove.
      They didn’t know what may lie ahead for them but knew that with good friends, they would be alright.

The End
Finished writing: Saturday, October 1, 2011
6:04 AM  



      The background music is 'Eriskay Love Lilt, a pretty melody.
I'd love your feedback on my stories.   You can email me at ora.lea @ gmail.com   Thank You
These stories have been written by me, Ora Lea Harrison.

The Jewel Box ~ A Graduation and A Wedding

The Jewel Box Chronicles Table of Contents
My Novelettes
Table of Contents for Sondance