These events take place late in the Fall after Denae and Bill had known each other for a few months.
Relativity - Part B
Two weekends from the night of the surprise meeting between Denae and Cheryl Collins was one of the weekends Bill was to go home and do some things around the house for his mom. Denae eagerly accepted his invitation to join him, and they left town midafternoon on Friday with the intention of having dinner with Bill's mother that evening.
When they arrived, Cheryl welcomed them both with a big hug. Bill mentioned he would take his bag to his room and Denae's to the third bedroom. Cheryl explained their house was small but it was home and she was glad Denae was there. The house was an old farmhouse, originally built in the 1920s but had been renovated a couple of times, most recently by Bill's father. The family room was cozy, with a large fireplace. She saw a few pictures on the walls and a deer head mounted above the mantel.
The family room was open to the kitchen, where Denae could see a couple of pots on the stove. And she looked out the window of the small dining area and could see a stone patio a couple of steps below. There was an outdoor table with chairs, a fire pit, a bench swing and a couple of Adirondack chairs.
The three visited for a bit and had dinner; a pot roast, since that was a favorite of Bill's. Over dessert, Bill asked Denae if he could show her around the property the next day and asked his mother for a list of things she needed done. After, the three of them talked in the family room until it was quite late. At the end of the evening, Bill explained he and Denae would need to share the bathroom in the hall and would need to take turns with the shower, offering to let her go first. She looked at Cheryl and mentioned she would be sure to take her pajamas with her to the shower, which elicited a laugh from them both and an eye roll from Bill.
While Bill was taking his turn in the shower, Denae's curiosity led her to walk into Bill's room. She wanted to see where he grew up. The wooden floorboards creaked a little as she walked around. It was sparsely furnished, with only a bed, a dresser, and a small desk. She was drawn to the dresser by a picture of three people; a man and woman who appeared to be in their mid to late twenties and a little boy, sitting on the man's shoulders. All three were smiling, but the little boy was smiling brightest of all. Denae supposed Bill must have been only three or four years old when the picture was taken. She also noticed that Cheryl was as pretty now as her younger self was in the picture.
When she set the picture back down on the dresser, she noticed a shelf of books on the wall above the desk. There were a few kids' books and a couple of novels, but she also saw Bill's high school yearbook. She pulled it from the shelf and sat on the bed as she thumbed through it. She noticed right away there were very few signatures inside the cover. A couple of the signatures alluded to Bill being a good teammate and good basketball player. Another scribbling was signed, 'Coach Hopkins,' and encouraged Bill to put as much effort into life as he put into basketball. Denae noticed there was a signature from someone named Sally who commended Bill for being good to Melissa. There were no other autographs or messages to be found.
She then looked for pictures of the basketball team and found them. She easily picked Bill out of the team photo as was pleased one of the individual photos featured him driving for a layup. Then she looked for his senior class picture. The first page of the senior section was a single picture of a girl under the words, 'In Memoriam.' The girl was smiling, though her face was gaunt and she had a black scarf wrapped around her head. Denae could see that if not for being ill, she would have been very pretty. Below the picture there was text that read, 'Melissa Deveraux, Forever in our Hearts.'
Denae paused a moment and then remembered to look for Bill's picture among the C's. There he was in his tuxedo, his hair a little longer than he currently wore it. She smiled, closed the yearbook, returned it to the shelf, and went back out to the family room.
When Bill was finished in the shower, he came back out to the family room and asked Denae if she wanted to watch a movie or TV. Denae asked if there were pictures of Bill she might see. Cheryl excitedly obliged and inserted a thumb drive into the side of the TV. To Bill's displeasure, Cheryl treated Denae to a full history of Bill through pictures, including a picture of Bill and Melissa from prom night. Denae noticed that while Melissa looked sickly, she smiled broadly and appeared to be happy to be going to the dance.
Having exhausted all the pictures of Bill, Cheryl wished them both good night and headed to her bedroom, leaving them together. Denae suggested they skip TV as they would be up early in the morning. Bill walked Denae to the third bedroom where he kissed her goodnight. The door squeaked on its hinges as she closed it.
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A light knock on the door awakened Denae. The door squeaked again as she opened it and she smiled when she saw Bill smiling at her, holding a mug of coffee.
"Mom's making breakfast. Hungry?"
She took the coffee and thanked him and they walked together out to the kitchen. She wished Cheryl a good morning and thanked her for the coffee. Cheryl served up scrambled eggs, bacon and toast.
After breakfast, Bill announced he had gotten up early and completed the short list of chores his mother had needed and they should get ready to go, since he had lots of things to show Denae. Cheryl noted in early November it was often cool but comfortable during the day and very cool in the evenings. She suggested Bill fetch some wood for the firepit while they were out.
Denae dressed while Cheryl and Bill cleaned up after breakfast. Denae put on some jeans, her hiking boots, and her black turtleneck sweater. Bill was wearing jeans, some slip-on work boots and a flannel shirt over a tee-shirt. Bill had a black bag hanging from his shoulder, but Denae did not bother asking about it at that moment. Cheryl gave them a cooler with some drinks in it. Together they went out the back of the house, across the stone patio and out to a barn, which sat behind the house. While Denae waited outside, Bill went in, started up a four-wheel vehicle with a truck bed in the back and drove it out of the barn.
"Your chariot has arrived," he announced as he pulled up to where Denae was waiting.
She liked the idea of riding around Bill's property in this and eagerly hopped in. Bill hopped out and checked the back, verifying there was an axe and a toolbox in the bed. He got back in the driver's seat, asked her if she was ready, received confirmation that she was, and then started driving away from the house.
As Bill started off, he informed Denae the farm had been in his family's hands since the very late 1800s, going back six generations. Originally, the farm was 235 acres, but parts had been sold off over time and the remaining land amounted to 42 acres, including the house and barn. Denae listened while taking in the sights; some pastureland, some woods. The land was gently rolling and she noticed the house had soon disappeared from sight.
After a few minutes, Bill stopped the Gator in a clearing where there were some logs from felled trees, explaining to Denae this is where he would get the firewood. He got out of the vehicle, grabbed the axe from the back and walked over to the logs. Denae got out as well and walked behind Bill. She watched as he took off his flannel outer shirt, grabbed a log, turned on end and placed it on a tree stump, then split it with the axe. She was impressed with his feat of strength and told him so, even though he was secretly embarrassed that it took him two swings instead of just one to split the log. They chatted as he continued to split wood and Denae looked around on occasion, enjoying being with Bill in an idyllic setting.
They set off again after Bill loaded the firewood into the back of the Gator. The next stop was a portion of fence he would spend a few minutes repairing. After that, Bill took Denae to a spot further down and away from the fence. At this point, he pulled the black bag from the back seat of the Gator and asked Denae if she had ever shot a gun.
"Shot a gun? No. I've never done that. Why?"
Pulling a pistol from the bag, careful to keep it pointed toward the fence and away from either of them, he said, "I had a feeling that was the case. Today, I'll teach you."
He reached into the back of the Gator and pulled a few old cans out, then walked over and lined them up on the top of the fence. Though she was initially hesitant try, Denae let Bill show her how to aim and fire the pistol. Her first shot missed, but Bill helped her and her second shot knocked a can off the fence. She squealed with delight. With Bill's encouragement and tutelage, she shot for quite a while, eventually getting proficient.
After shooting, they moved on. At one point, Denae spotted a small iron fence around some grave markers. She pointed to it and asked Bill about it. He explained those were graves of some of his ancestors, dating back a long time. Denae wanted to know if his father was buried there, but he told her he was buried in the town cemetery and that no one had been buried on the property since the 1930's.
Eventually, Bill pulled to a stop at the base of a small hill. Denae looked at him as if to ask why they would stop there. He made a shushing sign with his finger and motioned for her to be quiet as they got out of the vehicle. He took her by the hand and led her the rest of the way up the hill, urging her to crouch as they walked.
"If we're lucky, we'll see some deer," he whispered very quietly.
At the top of the hill, Bill laid down and motioned for Denae to do the same. They crawled forward the last few feet to the point where they could peek over the top of the hill. Denae was fascinated by what she saw. From their vantage point, they looked down the other side of the hill to a pond. There was a lone oak tree on the near side and the landscape on the far side was dotted with trees among the grass. And they had gotten lucky; two does were grazing along the near side of the pond.
Bill and Denae watched the scene in silence for a couple of minutes before Bill stood up and helped Denae stand up. The deer looked up at them and then went back to grazing.
