Читать книгу The Reincarnation of Clara - Kevin J. Todeschi - Страница 11

“We wasted so much time, but Emily could be a tough bit of karma for a seven-year-old,” Clara said wistfully. “I don’t think my childish mind could have fathomed how many eons the two of us had been arguing.”

Although Joan still hadn’t taken any notes, she had seemed interested in the story; however, Clara’s words caused her to respond patronizingly: “You still believe in reincarnation?”

“It is not a belief! It’s either a fact or it isn’t. Belief has nothing to do with it. Life either works this way or it doesn’t. The things I’ve seen have made me understand that this is simply a matter of fact.”

“Okay, Clara.” She turned a page in her notebook and wrote ‘HUNTSVILLE’ in capital letters, underlining the word twice. “Tell me about moving to Huntsville.”

Clara nodded and took a sip from the lemonade. “That makes for a fine story. Actually, you know, it was my first day in Huntsville that I saw the present merge with the past with such clarity that I knew for a fact we had all been here before . . . ”

The reporter placed her pen on the tablet and simply listened. The look on her face made it clear that she was irritated with the assignment. Seeing that the story was going to be told Clara’s way or not at all, Joan simply relented. “Okay, Clara, tell me about it.”

Clara nodded, leaned back in the rocking chair and reminisced aloud:

“After I divorced Paul, I took the Southern Pacific down to Ogden and then a cab into Huntsville. I had left Samaria City devastated from that marriage—you know, Joanie, all I ever wanted to be was a wife and a mother. When the marriage didn’t work, I had nowhere to go except for of all places Emily’s. Imagine! My life had taken such a turn for the worse that the only place I could go to was a sister’s I could not stand. It was 1946 and I was twenty-five years old.

“Emily had gone down to Ogden during the War, a couple of years before I made the move. They were hiring seamstresses for all kinds of uniforms, and canvas, and whatnot. She got an apartment here in Huntsville, because it was cheaper. She was quite skilled with a needle and thread and felt like Ogden was a better place to find a man. Unfortunately, what Emily had kind of forgotten was the fact that it was wartime and there wasn’t really a man to be found . . . least not under the age of fifty. Besides, most of the men Emily came across were Mormon and Papa had always had his heart set on a Baptist for each of us. By the time I arrived, Emily was twenty-eight and still single, which was a very sad condition for a woman in those days. I’m not one to judge but by the time I got to Huntsville, Emily was desperate for a man. That was the root cause of the biggest problem between us later on.”

Joan leaned back in her own chair just as she felt the baby kick. The interview was not going the way she had planned, and finishing before lunch appeared out of the question. However, she was determined to finish the interview in one day, as she sure didn’t want to have to make a return trip. The recorder continued taping, Clara continued speaking, and Joan sighed.

“You okay, Joanie? Clara asked, interrupting herself for only a moment. Joan nodded affirmatively, so Clara began again:

“Anyway, I can remember that day as if it was yesterday. I had arrived earlier than expected and Emily was still out. I took a seat in the lobby of her apartment building—it was really the Ambassador Hotel but the hotel also rented out apartments. I was exhausted, and I was depressed. Here I thought my entire life was over and I was all of twenty-five-years-old. Imagine!

“I’ve told you before how I can ‘look sideways’ and see things that others just don’t see. I’ve never known exactly how it works but it’s like looking beyond the obvious. Have you ever looked into a mirror with another mirror behind you, and you can just keep seeing way off into the distance? It’s like looking all the way to infinity. Anyway, it feels a little bit like that.

“That hotel seemed so foreign to a Samaria City girl. I remember sitting there and wondering what had I even been thinking to come in the first place. I was so tired and devastated, that when I felt myself start to look sideways at that big fancy couch in the lobby; well, I was too tired to fight it. I just let it happen.”

Clara turned to her niece with a smile, “That was the first day I saw your Uncle Joe.”