After a long winter, Spring arrived and also with thoughts of warmer weather and another trip down south later that summer. I had tried to put most of my thoughts about Claudine out of my mind. At least for most of the time. But many times, I wondered what would I would say to her, when I saw her again this year. The closer it got to the time the more that I tried to decide upon how the conversation might go, what she might say, or would she even remember that day last summer? There was such uncertainty in my mind, but I knew that no matter what, we would go back there and I would speak to Claudine and resolve it all with her then. I wasn’t going to write anything down, but just go over it all and be sure to express my thoughts to her and then see how it went. The date of our departure was coming soon and I could hardly wait to get the answers to all of my questions.
The day finally came and we packed up the car and got our plans all set to drive down again, thorough the cities and towns along the way, waiting for our eventual stop in the little town where Claudine resided. It would be on a Friday this year instead of Saturday, as I had moved up our departure date by a day, so I could at least see her one day earlier. The days were hot and steamy just as they had been last year. The traffic was pretty hectic, full of bargain hunters, treasure seekers, motor homes, pickups pulling trailers, all interspersed with semi trucks trying to maneuver around all the cars stopping at starting at all the flea markets and garage sales. After a night in a motel on Thursday, we set out again south on Friday. I expected that we would arrive at our destination in the early afternoon. I didn’t want to make it too late in the day and miss out if she quit selling early.
Soon, we were back in the familiar town. The sidewalks were packed with people, just as before. There were crowds of women, surrounded by little children running around, zooming between the many sales tables and yards full of knick knacks, furniture and even some old farming implements. I tried to slow my pace, so I wouldn’t look like I was too eager to get there. Annie was just excited to see all the many yards and street sides packed with sellers and shoppers. She was taking her time trying not to miss anything. At last, we were on the right block and approaching Claudine’s house. I tried to look interested at the tables that were along the sidewalk on the way. Annie seemed to know exactly where she was going. Finally she said :”Pete, I know that the big house just up the block is the one with all the stuff in tents and in the yards of a couple houses. I am going up there right now. Meet me up there when you are done here.” With that she scampered down the street, heading to the big sale. I was relieved that she would not be present when I was going to talk to Claudine about last year. I hadn’t spoken to Annie about any of it yet and I couldn’t now, at least not until I might have some answers. I walked over to the yard in front of her house. I looked for her tables under the tree. At first I thought I had the wrong house, as there were not any tables or any sign of selling either in her yard or by the street. I glanced up at the house and I recognized the big stone steps and the porch. I hadn’t expected this. Was she not selling this year, or was it something worse? What now? All this waiting and now nothing? I looked around at some of the other nearby sellers and I recognized Claudine’s friend Sandy. Maybe she might be able to let me know where Claudine was. Right now that was my only shot.
“I think you are Claudine’s neighbor Sandy, is that right?”
“Well yes, I am her friend and neighbor. And who are you? “ She seemed a little defensive and maybe not very forthcoming.
“I was here last year, and bought a book from Claudine. I was hoping to speak with her about that book and some other things.”
She looked at me, with a little suspicion “Do you want your money back or something?”
I wasn’t getting anywhere with Sandy. I figured I would put all my cards on the table, at least those that I could show her anyway. “We spoke about a few things last year, and she said if I came back again, that we might speak a little more, my name is Pete.”
Sandy smiled at me, “Why didn’t you say so in the first place. Claudine did say that someone by the name of Peter or Pete, might be coming back this year. If you might wait a moment, I think I have something for you.”
I interrupted her “Where is Claudine? I was hoping to see her again. Is she ok? Is she sick or out of the town right now?”
“Don’t be so impatient. I was going to get to all that. Are you a boyfriend or some kinfolk of hers?
I thought for a moment, I laughed “ I guess it would be somewhere in between that.”
That didn’t seem to satisfy Sandy, but she continued.
“Early this past spring, Claudine got a big envelope from somewhere overseas. Sam the mailman, said that it had some fancy foreign writing on it. He thought it could have been from Europe. Anyway, she was pretty excited about that whole thing. The next thing you know, she is packing up things and kind of closing up her house a little. She told me that she had some news from some old friends in France and she had to go back to find out about some old stuff from the past. I asked her why the heck she would be going all the way over there at her age, and a spinster at that. She told me that she wasn’t a spinster, nor was she a widow, she was just a single woman who still had a bit of life left in her. I couldn’t argue with her after that. She was determined to go. Before she left, she gave me the keys to her house and money to pay any bills that needed to be paid while she was gone. And as far as you go, Pete, she left me with a couple sealed envelopes.”
She reached into a bag that she had under her table. She handed me a regular sized envelope first. “She said to give you this one first. You had to read whatever was in there before you might read what was in this one.” This was a much larger envelope and a little bulky, it too was well sealed and taped.
“I guess she didn’t trust me to read whatever was in these envelopes. I don’t know why, she shouldn’t have anything to hide from her boring life. But she asked me to do this, so I wasn’t going to nose around in there and see what this was all about. So here is the other one, but she said don’t open that one until you read the first letter.”
She handed over the larger envelope to me. I smiled at her. “Thanks for taking care of this for her and keeping it safe all this time. You are a true friend of hers.”
I wanted to open the envelope right then, but I knew I couldn’t. Especially not in front of Sandy, without sharing the contents of the letter. I put the smaller one in my pocket, and the larger envelope under my arm. I thought I should look over some of the items that Sandy had for sale and maybe buy something from her. Just to change the subject, as I could see that she was quite disappointed that I didn’t open the first envelope. I guess it was really killing her, but I just couldn’t read it right now. So I looked over her items that she had for sale and bought a couple of old record albums and a paperback book. I paid her and waited while she packed it all up for me.
She gave me a little crooked smile while her eyes bored into me “Well here you go…… Pete, I hope that you will enjoy these records. Maybe we will see you around again?”
I nodded at her and thanked her once again for everything. I mumbled something about you might never know when I would be back here, but I sure hoped it would be one day soon. I said goodbye and started back up the street to where Annie would be doing her shopping. I met up with her at the usual spot. We did a little more browsing and people watching and then moved on to find some new spots for treasure hunting. I was itching to read the letter and whatever was in the larger envelope, but I knew that I would have to wait, probably waiting till I was back home to read it all. Being on the road would not provide much of an opportunity. The only thing I knew for sure was that Claudine was back in Europe and more than likely in France. I could wait a few days before I discovered what had caused her to leave home and travel back to her past. I didn’t know if all this mystery would answer all my questions or at least make some sense of things. I hope that when I got home, I would be able to finally settle the matter in my mind. I had put the envelopes in the bag with my purchases from Sandy, and they seemed to be shining like a box of treasure back there in the trunk. Open me. The ride home couldn’t go quickly enough.
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Wow!! Good deviation to keep this story brewing!! Nice work, Billy. : )