by John Borst

As we once again visit Esther Falls, the weather is sunny, the lake free of ice, grass is turning green and the trees are beginning to take on that fuzzy hue that happens just before the leaves pop out and a broader green tinge appears.

As we enter Emmett’s, Mattie has arrived early and is talking with the student waitress, Ashley.

“Did you decide on a college yet, Ashley?”

“Yes, thank you. I picked Ottawa University,” she replied.

“Do you mind telling me why? I really am out of touch with what is happening at that level and how you young people think today. In fact I listen to the other retired teachers and their family stories and I suddenly realize just how much older I really am. I guess I’m like a fourth generation, aren’t I?” she rather rambled on.

“Of course I don’t mind!” Ashley responded. “I do love seeing you folks come in here on Saturdays; I don’t want to say I’m eavesdropping, but sometimes I do overhear your conversations and I learn a lot, like the debate over the Hand of God film; wow, was that complicated. Anyway, yes, I picked Ottawa because it gave me a better chance to improve my ability to be bilingual and it gave me an opportunity to take courses at St. Paul’s in theology and philosophy, something neither McMaster nor Carleton could offer.”

“Fascinating. You know when I was your age, in fact even as a Catholic principal, I didn’t even know we had Catholic colleges within our universities. I often think we kind of kept them hidden. Now I just wonder why.”

And with that Harold, Sally and Rosie arrived as if together, and took their usual seats at the table with Mattie.

And as Ashley left to get them their usual tea, coffee and butter tarts, Mattie informed them of Ashley’s decision and then said, “Ya, and I heard sort of another rumour about Fr. Jose. I was out for my daily walk and crossed paths with the priest from over in Wilno. When I asked him what brought him to this neck-of-the-woods, he told me he had been visiting Fr. Vattakkucarhy. Of course, being the overprotective and curious mother, I asked him why; … probably shouldn’t have but … he did say Father needed some picking up. Seems one of his suggestions at that recent meeting with the bishop hadn’t been received well, and what with the bishop leaving to assume his new duties as an archbishop, it seems Fr. Jose is feeling kind of confused and a lot of unease.”

“That’s interesting, because I’ve been thinking about Joe Cultrera’s rumored visit,” Harold broke in. “Something just doesn’t add up. If he was coming up by himself and Father invited him, why isn’t he just staying quietly in the rectory? You know as well as I do, American sport-fishers never come up here alone. They always come as a group. I tried pumping Kinosky at the lodge but got nothing. You know none of those cabins hold less than four and that big one sleeps nine, so something doesn’t add up now, does it?”

With that Ashley returned to place the tea, coffee and butter tarts on the table as Rose turned to her and commented. “Hear you’ve chosen Ottawa U; what is it you hope to be some day?”

“I’m not really sure, but I’m kind of thinking I’d like to be a religious education teacher in a Catholic high school. Either that or maybe a French language teacher,” she replied.

“I never imagined you for teaching,” Rosie responded rather clumsily.

Not knowing what to say, Ashley left to serve other customers and the retired Catholic teachers of Esther Falls observed a few moments of silence as they drank their hot beverage and bit into Emmett’s famous just-perfectly-runny butter tart with raisins.

This time it was Sally who broke the silence. “You know that rumour about St. Kit’s up for study to be closed by the Board? Well, it seems they have only one child registered for JK next September. There is even talk of a triple JK, SK, Grade One. Sure doesn’t sound good to me.”

“Oh my gosh!” exclaimed Mattie. “Isn’t anyone having kids these days?”

With that, Harold turned to the others and responded, “Just look at our own kids, Mattie. They’re all in their late twenties, early thirties. I’m sixty-six and we’ve just now got our first grandchild. And what, Rose, you’re about my age, and you’ve only got two grandchildren. Sally, as I recall, you’re not a grandmother yet, right? Heck I can remember when it was nothing to hear forty-year-olds talking about their grandchildren; not anymore.”

“You make a good point Harold,” Sally replied. “I recently heard it said that ‘today’s thirty is yesterday’s twenty.’ Seems that that about explains it to me,” she added.

“Yes, but that doesn’t explain why that has happened,” Mattie rather astutely analysed. “I mean, why for heaven’s sake, has that kind of a shift even taken place?”

Rosie was the first to suggest it was the adoption of a birth control mentality, while Harold suggested the need for more years of education or the need to establish a career, especially for women. Sally thought the high cost of housing and the shift to hyper-consumerism had something to do with it, finishing with “I mean let’s face it, I’ll bet there isn’t one of our kids without a ton of debt, right, even if all it is, is student loans, eh?”

Another brief moment of silence betrayed everyone’s agreement. This time it was Mattie who broke the silence. “I didn’t mean to open such a can of worms,” she explained, “but I can certainly see how complicated it is. You know we live in this quiet low-cost piece of paradise and we’ve got good pensions, well at least you folks do, and it is easy to forget how difficult it is to make ends meet in a place like Toronto or Ottawa.”

With that Sally spoke up. “I know we are getting ready to go, but the issue of so few Kindergarten kids caused me to wonder how and when Kindergarten and then JK got started in Ontario; maybe next week, Mattie you could tell us when it happened at St. Kit’s.”

“Good question,” Harold responded as he waved back to Ashley to come get the cash he had placed on the table.

© copyright Tomorrow’s Trust, 2007

Bookmark It

Hide Sites