Copyright © 2020 James Russell Stoakes
All rights reserved.
http://JamesStoakes.com
“Do you think she loved him?” Sarah asked Alice. “It’s almost like he’s just a convenient and pleasant distraction from her predicament.”
Laughing happily, Alice responded, “You are not the first person to ask that question.” Alice thought for a moment. “Love can be fickle,” she said more seriously. “It is possible to love someone one moment and not so much the next depending on the situation.”
It looked to Sarah like Alice remembered something she preferred not to think about, and she wondered what it might be.
They watched the remainder of the movie in silence. They both teared up at the end and laughed at each other. Sarah collected the plates and pressed the rewind button on the VCR before going in to do the dishes.
“Let me help you with that,” Alice said, arriving behind her as Sarah ran the water to fill one side of the sink. Sarah cleared and plugged the other side before moving the faucet over to that side.
“You can rinse and dry,” Sarah said as she added a few drops of dish soap to the first side.
They washed in silence for a while before Alice spoke. “I’m sorry I became so melancholy on you,” Alice apologized. “I suddenly remembered the day my husband left us, and it soured my mood.”
“I noticed your mood change, but I did not want to pry,” Sarah said, handing her the next dish. “You’ve only known me a day, so no explanation needed.”
“You’re sweet,” Alice said.
The pair finished washing the dishes and retired back to the living room. “It sure is nice to not have to wear so many clothes,” Alice said.
“Don’t go too crazy with the heat,” Sarah said. “If you conserve, a small house like this might be able to stretch your oil out for most of the winter.”
“You sound a lot like Joe. He said something similar when he was restarting the furnace. He suggested a cleaning as well,” Alice said. “I’ll schedule it tomorrow. I want to speak to Joe again.”
Taking a picture from one of the shelves, Alice sat down next to Sarah. “This is my husband and my son a few weeks before he left us. I was a little chubby in this picture, I had just given birth to a baby a week earlier.”
The baby wasn’t in the picture, but Sarah wasn’t about to ask why. Alice was sporting long blonde hair, a much different look than the shoulder-length grey she had now.
“I thought we were okay when this picture was taken,” Alice said in a shaky voice and began to cry. Sarah hugged Alice to her and let her cry into her shoulder for a while. When Alice pushed away, she continued, “He never did forgive me, though. The baby wasn’t his, and he could not get over the fact that I had gone through the effort of birth rather than abort it.” Alice cried a little more and wiped her eyes with a tissue from the pocket of her sweater. “It would have been easier than giving her away. If I had known he was going to leave us anyway, I would not have given her up.”
“You couldn’t get her back?” Sarah asked gently, still shocked by her confession.
“No,” Alice said. “I had a dear friend that I trusted, take her. Viv and her husband were moving from the area, and part of the arrangement was that I would not know where they were going.”
Sitting up straight, Alice wiped the tears from her face. “Besides Viv, you are the first person I have talked with this about in many years. Viv felt the need to contact me recently and gave me an update. She was on her deathbed with some kind of cancer, but she told me that my daughter grew up happy, healthy, and strong.”
“Cancer sucks,” Sarah interjected. “I lost my grandmother to cancer a few weeks ago. She was a sweetheart and didn’t deserve that.”
“No one deserves cancer,” Alice agreed. She held the picture tightly, “A few weeks after this was taken, he just said to me that he couldn’t take the sight of me and got in his car and drove off. I expected him back for dinner, but he never came back. As far as I know, he’s still alive out there somewhere. After a year, I filed for divorce, and all the property became mine. I kept the business open until just a few years ago. It was becoming too much of a burden to do everything myself, and it didn’t make enough money to hire someone on.”
“You ran Oak Grove Retreat by yourself?” Sarah asked.
“My son helped for several years until he moved out. After he moved, it became more and more difficult to keep up with customer demands,” Alice said. “I managed to hang on by myself for a little more than ten years. It’s been four or five seasons now since anyone has occupied one of the cottages, although I have cleaned them regularly. Mostly to keep busy and for nostalgia.”
Wanting to change the subject, Sarah had an idea running through her head. “The sign out front advertised daily, weekly, and monthly rates,” Sarah said. “Which rate was taken advantage of most often?” she asked.
“Mostly daily and then weekly,” Alice said. “What are you thinking?” she asked back.
“I am taking an AP class on business at the local university. We recently studied about different business models and how slight changes can affect what is expected by customers and the amount that can be charged,” Sarah explained. “With daily and weekly rates being your most used, I have to assume that cleaning took most of your time?” she asked.
“Linens, I was constantly changing and washing bedding,” Alice agreed. “It absorbed most of my time.”
“Here are my initial thoughts, you could eliminate Resort from the name to lower expectations. Add the words Rustic Living under the name to make it clear. Get rid of the daily, weekly, and monthly rates and go to a seasonal rate. A summer rate and a winter rate, for instance. Make coin-operated washing machines available to residents, and they provide their own sheets and towels. Towels and sheets could be for sale in the office for those who forget to bring some.”
“Why a winter rate?” Alice asked. “We were never open in the winter.”
“Snowmobiles,” Sarah grinned. “Specifically, flatlanders with snowmobiles. Those people have more money than brains, and I’m sure we could get the local snowmobile club to hook up to your land.”
“You are suggesting that I reopen Oak Grove?” Alice asked incredulously. “At my age?”
“Yes,” Sarah confirmed with a grin. “You’re till fit, and I’m sure the town is still charging you taxes on all these buildings even though the business is closed.”
“They are,” Alice agreed. “Sucking me dry, as my son puts it.”
“Do you know what is the best part about seasonal rates?” Sarah whispered with a grin.
“Do tell,” Alice whispered back.
Leaning in even closer to Alice, Sarah whispered, “The customer pays in advance to confirm their space.”
“Oh my,” Alice said with a smile. “That would be nice for a change.”
The pair talked deep into the night, and Sarah kept notes of the ideas that they came up with. Sarah slept on the sofa again while Alice retired to her bedroom. Now that the house had heat, she didn’t feel the need to sleep on her leather recliner, “the warmest spot in the house,” as she put it. Alice had not felt this excited and inspired in a long time. “Sarah’s enthusiasm is quite contagious,” she thought with a smile as she laid down to sleep.
Sarah was awakened by a sweet smell she could not immediately identify and the soft sizzle of something cooking on the stove. She yawned as she cast her blanket aside and rubbed her eyes. In stocking feet, she quietly approached the kitchen.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Alice greeted her.
“You are obviously a morning person,” Sarah groaned, still trying to wake up.
Alice laughed. “Always have been,” she bragged. “I slept like a baby last night, and other than the usual aches and pains that come with age, I feel great!”
Smiling, Sarah asked, “What are we making?”
“I’m making an egg scramble with onions and green peppers in it,” Alice replied. “I thought that once we were done eating, and you are completely awake,” she added with a grin, “we could go outside and see if the cabins are what you were expecting. Our plans last night had a few assumptions in them.”
“They did,” Sarah agreed. “I’m anxious to see what they look like inside. They sound great the way you describe them.”
“They may be a little dated,” Alice said a little worried, “But they are pretty nice inside.”
“Rustic living,” Sarah said. “Lower expectations and then exceed them.”
Working the key into the lock on the first cabin, Alice noted as she opened the door, “We will need to oil the locks.” Alice stepped aside and ushered Sarah ahead of her through the door. Soft natural light flooded the room through the high windows.
“This is cozy,” Sarah admired the setting. “It is dated,” she agreed, “but clean and cozy.” She looked to Alice, “You have done a great job preserving the place.” The room looked clean, and there was very little dust to be found. The entry room was a combination of cooking and living quarters. Sarah tested the cushion on the small sofa that faced the tube style TV before sitting on it.
Moving to the cabinets above the stainless steel sink, Sarah noted that there were plates, bowls, and cups for six. She checked the drawers and inspected the silverware. “Is every cabin equipped the same?” she asked Alice.
“Pretty much,” she said. “The type and color of the dishes might change, but there is the same amount in each one.”
Sarah looked the stove over, “Are all the appliances gas?”
“Everything in the cabins is gas,” Alice said.
“But, your house has an electric stove, and you use oil heat?” Sarah observed aloud.
“The house is quite a bit older than the cabins,” Alice explained. “When we built the cabins, the electric company wanted a lot of money to bring more power in when we told them what we were planning, so we put a small propane tank in to start with and equipped the cabins as you see now. A few years after, the propane company talked us into adding a large tank and connecting to it.”
“It works to our advantage,” Sarah said. “Do you think Joe could give us an estimate on adding a single zone propane heater to each cabin?”
“I’m sure he could,” Alice said. “You seem very invested in this.”
“I’m dead serious about making this happen for you,” Sarah said with conviction as she moved to the small bathroom that held a shower stall, a small vanity with a sink, and a toilet. She reached for the faucet to test the water pressure.
“There is no water,” Alice said. “We drain the pipes at the end of the season so they will not freeze.”
The bedroom was the last room to inspect. There was a queen-size bed with a nightstand on both sides, and two dressers. The room was just big enough to be able to walk around the bed. She opened the closet to inspect its size. It was big enough to put a few suitcases in at the bottom.
“Honestly,” Sarah began, “I was expecting a lot worse after five years of non-use.”