Arlene Sachitano: The Quilt Before The Storm

They agreed to give him an hour to talk to the people at the church and another half-hour to talk to the coffee shop crowd. Harriet suggested they meet at The Steaming Cup, Foggy Point’s other popular coffee shop, and he agreed.

“Well, aren’t you two just cozy,” Lauren said when Tom was out of earshot.

“We’re friends, Lauren. Don’t you have any male friends?”

“Yes, and they don’t look at me the way he looks at you.” She held her hands up in front of her. “Okay, fine. None of my business.”

“Can we leave quilts here for the people who are in town?” Connie asked.

“That would be nice, and we’d take an extra one, if you can spare it,” Joyce said, looking at the full armloads of quilts. “We like to keep a few extra supplies on hand for new people. There is no typical situation when someone becomes homeless, but not many are able to bring as much from their old life as Ronald here did.”

“I’ve always been a planner,” Ronald said. Harriet couldn’t tell if he was blushing, his face was so red from the cold, wet rain, but he looked embarrassed. “This was my fallback to the fallback plan.” He shook his head. “I just never imagined my family would turn me away when I lost my house.”

“I’ll bet you didn’t tell them you’d be homeless, did you?” Joyce said. She turned to the Loose Threads. “People who end up here often are turned away by family who don’t realize how dire the circumstances are, and people like Ronald here are too proud to tell them the real situation.”

“I won’t beg,” Ronald said. “My daughter was right-they have a full house with two kids and another on the way, and her husband’s mother is already staying with them. She said I was always too busy with work to spend the time with her and her brother when they needed me, so how can I expect to come crying to them now that I’m the one who needs help.

“You know what? She’s right. I wasn’t father of the year. I can’t go back and change that, but I can avoid causing them any more pain.”

“Hopefully, that bed will be a bit more comfortable now that you have one of our nice warm quilts,” Connie said.

“And I do thank you for that,” Ronald said with a theatrical bow. “I see this as a temporary setback. I just need to find a job and start over.” His eyes filled with tears.

“We all appreciate the quilts and tarps,” Joyce said. “Let’s get the rest of them in something waterproof before they’re soaked through.”

Lauren and Harriet handed off the quilts after showing Joyce the quillow feature. Connie helped her load them into two wrinkled black plastic garbage bags she’d pulled from under the large table.

The wind lashed the Loose Threads as they walked back to the parking lot.

“Anyone want to join Tom and me for coffee in an hour?” Harriet asked.

“Connie and I were going to swing by the church and see how Mavis and your aunt are doing. If we have time after that, maybe,” Robin said and looked at Connie for agreement.

“We’ll see after we check in at the church,” Connie said.

“As much as I’d love to ruin your date with Tom, I’ve got to go see if anything’s up with my client,” Lauren said with a wicked smile.

Harriet could feel her face redden.

“Ciao,” Lauren said and headed for her car before Harriet could think of an appropriate comeback.

Inside her car, Harriet looked at the clock then drove out of Fogg Park. She could go home and start sewing another rag quilt, but she drove past her turn and headed into downtown instead.

There were no customers in Pins and Needles, Foggy Point's best-and only-quilt store when Harriet came through the door.

“How’s it going?” she called as she spotted Marjory replacing a bolt of green holly print fabric to a shelf in the middle of the store. A wire stretched the length of the store with placemats, table runners, Christmas tree skirts and other small quilting projects in Christmas colors attached to it with clothespins.

“It’s rough,” Marjory said. “Customers aren’t coming in because of the storm. Meanwhile, the same storm is not stopping my family from paying me an unplanned and, I might add, uninvited visit.”

“Why are they coming?” Harriet asked. “I can’t believe anyone would go out in this storm unless there was no choice.”

“I tried to tell them. I told my sister Pat they could get stuck here if we have a slide or if a tree goes down in the wrong place. They’re supposed to get here tomorrow.”

“That’s hard to believe.”

“Not if you know my sister and her money-grubbing husband. Can you stay for a cup of tea?”

“Sure,” Harriet said.

Clearly there was more to this story, and she wouldn’t miss it for anything.

Marjory led her to the store kitchen adjacent to the classrooms at the back of the building. She filled the electric teakettle and plugged it in. Harriet pulled two mugs from a shelf and put tea bags in them.

“Remember how my mom died a couple of months ago?” Marjory asked.

“Of course.” Harriet knew Marjory had been close to her mother.

“Well, my sister and her family were nowhere to be found while my mom was sick. There was always some excuse why she and her husband and daughter couldn’t come. Meanwhile, my bunch came every week and did chores, read to her, listened to her stories and held her hand to the end.”

“And now?” Harriet prompted.

“Mom made me executor of her estate. She didn’t want to leave Pat anything. Years ago, Mom paid the down payment on a house they couldn’t have afforded otherwise, and they didn’t even say a simple thank-you.

“I convinced Mom that if she left them nothing, it would be miserable for me, so she agreed to leave them a little. My parents weren’t rich or anything, but they both had worked all their lives. They owned their house and a couple of rentals. Their cars were paid off. They had some retirement money saved.”

“I’m guessing your sister wasn’t happy with what your mom decided.”

“You could say that,” Marjorie said. “They figured they should get the whole estate, because they need it and I don’t.”

“Your sister said that to your face?”

“Yes, she did. She said I was doing fine with my shop, as near as she could tell, so why did I need more money? She said they had debts and had to have the money.”

“You didn’t tell her you’d give it to her, did you?”

“Of course not. I told her I was sorry she had money troubles, but I was going to follow our mother’s instructions.”

“So, why is she coming here?”

“I’m not really sure. I guess she’s hoping if she comes in person, she can convince me to change my mind.”

“Sounds like Aiden’s sister. She’s back in town working himover.”

“It’s hard to imagine how Avanell could have had such different children,” Marjory said. “That Michelle was a problem right from the start. Aiden and his brother were always well-behaved and hard workers. Avanell and her husband made the kids work for their allowance, so the boys ran a lawn-mowing service. Aiden worked for his brother then took over when Marcel went off to college. To my knowledge, Avanell never got a lick of work out of Michelle.”

“Was it like that with your sister?”

“No, Pat was never a go-getter, but she did babysit to make money for school clothes and spending money. She started changing after she married Richard. They had to have a big house they could barely afford, and then Richard started making money and they were too good for the rest of us.”

“So, what happened?”

“I’m not sure. One minute they were going to the country club, and the next thing I know she’s calling and wanting all of Mom’s estate and claiming all their money is gone.”