Copper Star Part 14

"No, Rosita, I would teach her as a thank you to you for being such a nice friend to me."

"No deal. Either all business or no deal." Rosita headed back up the street.

Ramon said, "Don't waste your time arguing with Rosita, Louisa. She is like a burro."

I walked over to the church office and asked Robert what he thought about the idea of giving piano lessons. "What do you think your aunt would say?"

He shrugged.

"Then I could help pay for my expenses," I offered.

"Louisa, I didn't give you the piano so you would feel the need to earn an income. If you want to teach lessons and Aunt Martha agrees to it, then the decision is yours. But you keep your money. You more than earn your keep. I just wanted you to be able to play."

"Maybe I could teach on Wednesday nights when she goes to choir practice. I could save the money I earn for my return ticket to Germany after the war is over. It should be over soon, don't you think?"

Robert looked at me with a surprised look on his face. "Well, not in the immediate future. It's going to take patience, Louisa." Then, uncharacteristically abrupt, he said, "If you'll excuse me, I need to finish reading this report from the Presbytery." He went back to studying his paper.

Antic.i.p.ating Miss Gordon's critical eye for detail, William and I spent all of Sat.u.r.day morning cleaning and scrubbing the house while Robert went to the train station in Tucson. When she arrived back home, she looked around and sniffed, "Well, I can see nothing has been done while I've been gone. Someone get me my broom."

After she had re-cleaned the house, I asked her what she thought if I were to give Esmeralda a piano lesson once a week.

Not too surprisingly, she would have none of it. "I need that like a submarine needs a screen door. Besides, a parsonage is not a place for commercial enterprise," she said, effectively closing the subject.

My first Christmas in America came quietly on a clear, cold day. Robert was busy with the Christmas Eve service, so we opened gifts on Christmas morning. The hit of the morning was a slightly used red bicycle for William from his father, boldly waiting under the tree. Like so many manufactured products, bicycles weren't being made during these war years, so Robert had to hunt to find one. Symbolic, it seemed, of Robert's change in perceiving William as a normal child who was hard-of-hearing rather than as a handicapped child.

I had made a bargain with Miss Bentley for used books from the library's book sale. In exchange, I was the guest reader for the Children's Story Hour for the next three Wednesdays. I'd been eager to get started on teaching William to read, so I was thrilled when I stumbled on a well-loved set of the McGuffy Readers.

For Miss Gordon, I chose a slightly used Good Housekeeping 1943 cookbook that included a special section for rationed foods. And I found Robert a thick and exhaustive book on the history of copper mining. That book looked new; I doubted it had ever been checked out. A slim audience, I reasoned. Robert was delighted with it.

Then Robert and his aunt surprised me with a radio for my bedroom. "I can't stand listening to any more of those depressing news reports you're so hooked on," she chided.

"But they're not depressing if you hear news reports of Allied victories!" I defended.

Rosita had given me a coupon she had hand-made to be used for a free haircut at her salon. I frowned when I saw it; I knew she was eager to update my hairstyle. I stood up to gather some of the wrappings for Miss Gordon's recycling bin. She was in the kitchen, basting the Christmas turkey, and William was spinning the wheels on his bicycle. The house smelled heavenly.

I sat down again, transfixed, closing my eyes to savor the morning, wanting to cement every detail in my mind. My thoughts drifted back to one year ago today. I was alone on an impersonal cargo s.h.i.+p, tossing about on the freezing winter cold of the Atlantic Ocean, knowing I couldn't go back and unsure of what lay ahead of me. And who knew where I would be this time next year?

Robert interrupted my musings by handing me a brown paper package, wrapped with a piece of twine. I looked up at him, puzzled.

"Open it," he said with a shy grin.

It was a book of compositions by Felix Mendelssohn. I turned over each page, hearing the scores dance in my head. He had remembered Mendelssohn was my favorite composer. I had told him nearly a year ago on that first drive back from Mrs. Drummond's house. I had to blink back tears as I thanked him.

Miss Gordon outdid herself on a delicious Christmas feast and then wouldn't let anyone help her clean the kitchen. "Everyone out! You're all as slow as mola.s.ses on a January morning," she said, shooing us out. So I sat by the parlor window, warmed by the afternoon sun, looking more carefully through the book of Mendolssohn compositions, but I kept getting distracted by the sight out the window.

Out on the empty street, Robert patiently taught William how to ride the new red bicycle. Over and over they started. Robert held on to the back of the bicycle seat. As William gained speed, Robert would let go. William would pedal madly until he realized that his father wasn't holding on. Then he would start to weave, his bicycle would lean precariously over, and Robert would catch the back of the bicycle seat to help him regain his balance. And his confidence.

Progress was slow, but the joy on William's face was immeasurable.

Miss Gordon came to see what I was watching. We both watched the hard-at-work pair. Then she remarked, "I don't think I've ever seen them like that."

"Like what?" I asked, eyes fixed on them.

"Happy." With sudden and inexplicable affection, she kissed me on the top of my head and went back into the kitchen.

Not long into the New Year of 1944, Miss Gordon's cousin, Ada, wrote to say she was planning to come for a visit to help her recover from the loss of her husband, Teddy. I relinquished my bedroom and prepared to bunk in William's room on one of the twin beds.

I was expecting a woman much like Miss Gordon, so I cleaned my room inside and out and tried to think up more places for William and me to go, to get out of the house as much as possible. Not for the first time, I grumbled to myself that Copper Springs sorely needed a bus system. Not that I had any place in mind to go, but a bus would have been particularly useful during times of visits from any Gordon relatives.

Robert went to the train station to meet Ada. A few hours later, she burst through the front door without even a knock, as Robert lugged suitcases the size of coffins behind her. "Yoo hoo! Marty Girl! Where are you?!"

Marty Girl? Could she possibly be referring to Miss Gordon?

Miss Gordon hurried to the door to greet her. William and I were in the kitchen. I motioned to him to come, and we both went quickly to the parlor to discover the source of this exuberance.

"There's my Marty Girl!" exclaimed our high-spirited guest.

I'd never seen anyone dare to hug Miss Gordon, yet here was a short, generously proportioned woman, head covered with bleached blond curls, pink cheeks, polished crimson fingernails, giving her a bone-crus.h.i.+ng hug. Ada's perfume filled the room, a strong rose aroma that latched on and lingered to our clothing.

"And there's my quiet little Billy boy!" Ada smothered William with hugs and kisses, which he wiped off dramatically. "Oh Bobby, he's grown a foot or two since you came to Phoenix last spring to see that doctor. He is adorable. Just adorable!"

Then she spotted me. "And you are Louisa. May I call you Lulu? And please call me Ada. No need to stand on formalities with cousin Ada!" She grabbed me so tightly that she lifted me off of my feet, leaving me breathless. And off she went to explore the house, oohing and aahing over every little detail.

I looked at Robert in genuine astonishment. "And she's really, truly a Gordon?" I whispered.

"Yes, of course," he answered, as if anyone could ever doubt the family resemblance. "Well, less so after she married her third husband, a Greek fellow. Teodor Stephanopolos. Teddy, she called him. He was her favorite husband."

Just then, Ada called down to Robert from the top of the stairs. "Bobby, would you be a lamb and bring up my suitcases to this charming little boudoir?"

Robert picked up the suitcases and looked back at me. "Cousin Ada can really kiss the Blarney Stone." He stopped himself. "Sorry. I meant that she can be very persuasive. Just...just be careful," he warned with a smile.

No sooner had he finished that sentence than Dog came charging into the parlor, barking and sniffing, let in the kitchen door by William. He skidded to a halt in front of one of Ada's pieces of baggage: a small crate with a little wire window on one end. From the crate erupted a terrible hissing and clawing sound.

Things were definitely getting interesting in the Gordon household.

Ada talked endlessly about everything and had more enthusiasm for life than anyone I'd ever known. She and her Teddy had traveled the world, in between world wars, and she could wax ecstatic over any country.

"Oh! Africa! The wildlife! The scenery!" Then she would launch into a riveting story about being on safari. "Oh! Egypt! The pyramids! The Sphinx!" And she would regale us with fascinating stories about the pharaohs buried with their riches, still waiting for their heavenly reward.

At least, I thought her tales were fascinating. Miss Gordon, I noticed, seemed less enamored.

When Robert informed Ada that I had studied cla.s.sical piano, I thought she would nearly faint. She couldn't get enough of my playing. "Oh, Marty Girl, you don't realize what kind of treasure you have, living here with you in Copper Springs." Ada was an enthusiastic patron of the arts. A board member, she often reminded us, of the ill.u.s.trious Phoenix Symphony.

I don't think Marty Girl had ever given much thought to my piano playing before Ada's visit, other than how the sound annoyed her. Yet, unwittingly influenced by cousin Ada's zeal for music, I even caught Miss Gordon humming a selection I had played. I played more of the piano in that week than I had since Robert had purchased it from Betty Drummond.

"Darling Lulu," Ada would exclaim. "Let's have another concert tonight!" I played as many pieces as I could play from memory: Handel, Haydn, Brahms, Schumann, and Schubert, including all of the compositions from my new Mendolssohn book.

"Any Wagner, dearest?"

"No! Not Wagner," I said. "I refuse to play Richard Wagner's works. Hitler idolized him for his relations.h.i.+p with Nietzsche and for his anti-Semitic beliefs. I won't play Wagner."

"Of course. My apologies," quelled Ada. "Well, could you play any Tchaikovsky? I just love Russian composers. Oh, the angst of the Russians!"

"No."

"Italians? Rossini's 'William Tell Overture?' Vivaldi? Scaflatti? Oh, the pa.s.sion of the Italians!"

I shook my head.

"Any French? Claude Debussy? Chopin?" Her voice trailed off.

"No. Definitely not Chopin. He was Polish. Poland was one of the first countries. .h.i.tler took over. Hitler only allowed the study of German composers in University. Well, except for Mozart. He was Austrian, but Hitler quickly adopted Mozart after he invaded Austria in the Anschluss."

"How barbaric! Well my love, we simply must do something about that."

I wasn't quite sure what she meant by that until she started making comments such as: "You know, darling Lulu, Phoenix would be a far more stimulating place for you. Culturally speaking, I mean." Or "Really, Bobby, talent such as Lulu's mustn't be wasted here in Copper Springs. Not that there's anything wrong with such an adorable little village. But I have so many connections in Phoenix!" Or "think of how we could develop her, my sweet Marty Girl!"

The truth was that I had the talent but not the ambition for the concert stage. Not after the war began. The war had changed everything for me.

Ada asked me outright one day if I'd like to come live in Phoenix with her.

"Thank you so much," I declined, "but I am planning to return to Germany quite soon." And I was. I was feeling encouraged about a.s.sured Allied victory after Italy's surrender and Mussollini's arrest just a short while ago.

It was apparent Ada was starting to grate on Miss Gordon. I heard her complain to Robert in the morning before Ada woke up, but I had lost my usual eavesdropping capability because Ada had taken over my room and, in it, my radiator pipe.

As I came downstairs one morning, I overheard Miss Gordon grumbling, "and in her book, there's nothing right about Copper Springs. It's Phoenix this or Phoenix that." Then she must have heard my footsteps coming down the stairs, and the subject was promptly dropped.

Another time, I was even more astounded as I listened, furtively, to her rant and rave to Robert. "And so poor Dog has been stuck outside all week just so that vicious little cat can have the run of the place and ruin the furniture!"

Since when had Miss Gordon felt any concern for Dog's feelings?

I was starting to see a new side of Miss Gordon, one that gave me the slightest trace of tenderness toward her. I could see how she had grown up in the shadow of Ada, always being outdone by her flamboyance, her social status, her matrimonial state.

Ada was larger than life. And now, for the first time, I think Martha Gordon had something or someone in her life that cousin Ada envied. And wanted. Me.

I spent the rest of Ada's visit basking in my new status as favorite houseguest. Thanks to Ada, I had been elevated from a mere annoyance to an annoyance with some potential. I was sorry to see the week come to an end. Until, that is, the very last night. After that, I was more than ready to say goodbye to Ada. In fact, I would've carried her all the way to Phoenix myself, given the opportunity.

Miss Gordon had gone to bed, as had William, and Robert had left for a meeting with the church elders. I was getting ready to go upstairs myself when Ada called to me from the kitchen, "Lulu, darling, come join me for a little entertainment. Let's have a little card game before I leave town tomorrow."

I sat down at the table with her. Next to her was a tall bottle of clear liquid and two small jelly gla.s.ses. "I've never played cards before, Ada."

"Never played cards?! Oh Lulu, darling, we have some catching up to do. Don't you worry. I've always wanted a protege. I'm going to teach you an easy little game called Blackjack."

We played a few hands as I caught on to the concept.

"Sharp as a tack, that's my Lulu girl!" she enthused. "Let's make it a little more fun. My Teddy loved this game." She poured the gla.s.ses with an inch of the clear liquid from the bottle. "So whenever we reach twenty-one, we drink!"

As soon as her cards added up to twenty-one, she yelled, "down the hatch!" and swallowed her drink in one gulp.

I followed her example. As the clear liquid reached the back of my throat, the stinging began. It felt as if I had bees in my throat. "What is this?" I asked, coughing violently.

"Ouzo! It's Greek. One of the last bottles of Teddy's special collection before he died." She brushed away a tear from the corner of her eye. "He would've been crazy for you, Lulu. You're the daughter we've always wanted. And you would've loved my Teddy, too. The Greeks know how to enjoy life like no one else."

I didn't want to be rude but this Ouzo tasted like petrol. She didn't seem to notice my grimacing face as she refilled the gla.s.ses. Just one more hand of cards, I warned myself. I didn't want to hurt Ada's feelings, especially as she was so fond of me, but I had no intention to drink petrol all night. Another hand of cards went quickly, and Ada bellowed "Bottoms up!" and gulped down her Ouzo.

Again, I followed her example to be polite and looked for an opportunity to excuse myself and go to bed. Ada had other ideas. No sooner was my gla.s.s back on the table, but it was re-filled. I was starting to get warm. Hot, actually.

"Lulu, sweetness, I would love it if you would come to Phoenix this summer and play the piano for my bridge parties."

What did she just say? My thoughts felt fuzzy. Did she say something about bridges?

"So what would you say if we put a little wager on the next game? If I win, you come and play for my bridge parties this summer. If you lose, you come and play for my bridge parties."

"Pardon, Ada? Would you mind repeating that?"

"If I win, you come and play for my bridge parties this summer. If you lose, then you come and play for my bridge parties," she patiently repeated. I nodded, not really concentrating, distracted by the queasy pit in my stomach from the Ouzo.

I wasn't sure how much time pa.s.sed before Robert came in through the kitchen door. For an eternity, he just stared at us, eyes wide open, jaw dropped in horror. "Oh, cousin Ada! No! You didn't! You couldn't have! Louisa, how much have you had?" He picked up at the half-empty bottle of Ouzo and glowered at Ada.

I stood up. The room started spinning. "It's not her fault, Robert," I tried to say, but suddenly I had to run upstairs to the bathroom. Fast.

The next morning, I woke up after hearing a persistent knocking at the door. Robert came in, holding a gla.s.s that looked like tomato juice in it. "William came downstairs and told me you're dead." He handed me the drink. "I said I would come up to check and see if you're a goner."

"Close," I said feebly, "but not quite."

"Drink this," he said. "And take these." He handed me two aspirin.

"Oh no, Robert, I can't possibly drink that. Or anything else. Ever again."

"Trust me. It will make you feel better."

I took a sip, nearly gagging. My tongue felt thick.

"Keep drinking."

I took a few more sips and grimaced. "What is this?"

"You don't want to know. But I promise you'll feel better if you can drink the entire thing."

"I recall your cousin telling me the same thing last night." I dropped my head back on the pillow.

He laughed. "How much did she take you for?"

I opened one eye. "What do you mean?"