For Keeps (Aggie's Inheritance)

by Havig, Chautona

  “Sounds reasonable to me. Why put all this work into a house to mar it with something like a kennel? Why don’t we put it behind the tree house where the trees will help shade them?”

  She agreed and helped him carry the rest of the supplies. When everything was ready for him to begin digging, Aggie, eyes full of uncertainty, tugged on his shirtsleeve to stop him. “Did I make the right decision? I have eight kids here! Two puppies is like adding more. Is that crazy?”

  “Aw, Mibs. I think it was a great decision. A kid needs a dog--particularly an animal-loving kid like Tavish. It was a good move.”

  “M’kay. If you say so. Feels crazy right now.”

  “Your life is a bit crazy right now.” He shook his head. “Only you could ‘inherit’ eight kids who have never had the chicken pox.”

  She smiled. “Oh, I think lots of people could do that. No, only I, the only girl my age in the greater Rockland area who has not had the chicken pox or the shot, could inherit eight kids who also haven’t had it. That sounds more like an Aggieism.”

  Friday, September 5th

  By lunchtime Friday, Aggie was feeling confident. It seemed as if the older children had acquired immunity while at school--or that’s what she prayed was the case. P-mails had flooded heaven’s inbox that week, and they only had to make it through three more days of no new patients for the school schedule to be back on track. Throughout the afternoon, she grew more and more assured that the worst was behind them.

  Vannie, paranoid about getting behind on her schoolwork, spent half of her time reading and doing homework in her room. Laird, on the other hand, took the work that Libby brought home for him, stuffed it on his shelf, and declared he’d do it on Saturday and Sunday nights. Aggie chose to ignore it. Tavish and Ellie managed to fly through the assignments given them and then stuffed them back in their backpacks and enjoyed their extended vacation without another thought.

  She stared at her pantry trying to find something interesting for dinner. “Hey, Libby, do you think enchiladas would be bad for the kids?”

  “Not at all, why?”

  “I think I have the ingredients. I wanted something different. I’m going to try it.”

  Aggie grabbed the tube of defrosted ground beef from the fridge and snipped it open, squeezing every bit she could into a pan. Humming a few bars of a hymn she barely remembered, she concentrated on reading each part of her recipe from greasing the baking pans to opening the can of tomato sauce.

  Once the meat was drained, the onions, garlic, and taco seasoning added, and simmering on the stove, Aggie pulled out a saucepan and dumped the tomato sauce in it. Had she managed to continue uninterrupted, everything would have sailed along like clockwork. Unfortunately, Vannie stepped into the kitchen looking as miserable as any almost thirteen year old ever has.

  “Aunt Aggie? I think--”

  Aggie turned and at the sight of Vannie’s face, dropped her spoon. “Oh, Vannie, no!”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Oh, it’s not your fault. I just know how you were looking forward to starting school, and now…”

  Libby entered the kitchen to learn what the problem was, and wrapped a comforting arm around Vannie’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go upstairs and take a nice long tepid bath. Use that box of oatmeal bath salts. You’ll feel better. Then use a q-tip and dab a bit of the calamine on each spot. You’ll feel better.”

  The instructions felt so repetitive to Aggie that the young woman wanted to scream. Nothing, not even the tantalizing scent of spiced beef and corn tortillas seemed able to soothe her. Frustration mounted as she dreamed of adding oatmeal and calamine lotion to her dinner as a preventative measure. She read the recipe, grabbed spices, shook them in the sauce, stirred, added some sauce to the meat mixture, and started filling steamed tortillas from the microwave with the meat and lots of cheese. After the first few cracked as they dried under the ceiling fan, Aggie began ladling a little enchilada sauce on each one to keep them moist.

  “There. That should do it,” she muttered to herself as she shoved the baking dishes into the oven. However, her self-confidence shattered as she put away ingredients. The cinnamon, not an ingredient in her recipe, stood proudly on the counter, the lid off and waiting to be replaced. She swallowed hard.

  “Libby?”

  Luke’s mother came into the kitchen carrying Ian. “Smells wonderful.”

  “Do you think cinnamon in enchilada sauce would taste ok?”

  The woman’s forehead furrowed. “Well, I--I don’t know! It could be wonderful or--” Libby dipped her finger in the leftover sauce. “Mmm. That is good. If that’s any indication, I think it makes it yummy.”

  “But I missed the cumin.”

  “It tastes like… well, like Mexican. What’s in it?”

  “Taco seasoning, garlic, onion, and the cinnamon instead of extra cumin like the recipe said.”

  Libby took another swipe at the pan and savored every bit of it, trying to taste it with a critical palate. “Well, forget the cumin, this is delicious.” She winked. “These’ll be your ‘famous’ enchiladas someday. People will beg to know your secret.”

  Luke, finished at his house nearby, entered the kitchen with a box of laminate flooring in his arms. “What secret?”

  Aggie dipped her finger in the sauce and held it up for him to taste. “What do you think?”

  “Delicious. What is in there? It’s… a little exotic, but it’s good.”

  “That’s the secret ingredient, son. I bet once they’re baked, those enchiladas will be some of the best we’ve ever had.”

  “They’d be better with shredded beef, but I only had that ground beef.”

  With an exaggerated roll of his eyes, Luke shook his head and continued toward the basement. “Beef is beef. Give me beef, or give me chicken; I always say.”

  ~*~*~*~

  After dinner, Luke pulled Aggie aside and asked her to take a short walk down the road. As they strolled down the driveway, he seemed to struggle with finding the right words. At last, he stopped and waited for her to meet his gaze. “Mom is looking a little rundown. Do you think you and Tina can handle things if I insist she goes home?”

  “Of course! She doesn’t have to stay at all!”

  “Well, I know she wants to, but I’m worried about her getting too worn out. If you get this, she’s going to need to be here, and if she’s already sleep-deprived…”

  Unconsciously, Aggie checked her arms for spots. “I’m probably going to get it if Vannie did. They can’t go to school on Monday. Not with Vannie broken out. It’s a matter of days most likely. Maybe Kenzie later next week, but then why not wait until the following Monday? Oh, I don’t know. No matter what happens, they’re going to be behind, the new kid sticking out, and unfamiliar with everything.”

  “They’ll pick up on your attitude, Mibs. If you see it as a horrible thing, they will too.”

  “I wish I had listened to Zeke,” she moaned.

  “What did Uncle Zeke say about it?” Luke sounded confused.

  “Well, not for this, but when I didn’t have a way to get them to school if they missed the bus. He said I should home-school them and save the hassle. I think he meant for the rest of the semester, but maybe I should consider it for this semester and then put them in after Christmas.”

  “Or not put them in at all.” Luke’s retort was surprisingly quick.

  “At all?”

  “Why not? They’re going to spend the majority of their waking hours either on a bus or in class and definitely apart. Why not cut that down and give them more time together? They are such good friends as it is, why not capitalize on that?”

  She’d never considered home-schooling fulltime, but Aggie had to admit, there was a part of her that found it very appealing. “Well, after all those years preparing to be a teacher, it would be nice to actually do some of that teaching stuff.” She shook her head. “I don’t know. Is this a good time to make these kinds of decisions?”

/>   “Why don’t you call your parents and see what they think? Maybe talk to Tina or William…”

  “William would tell me it is a horrible idea and that I should let the professionals do their jobs.”

  “Forgetting, of course,” Luke added with a smirk, “that you are one of those professionals.”

  Aggie giggled. “You’re right. That’s funny.” She kicked a stick out of her way and slid her eyes sideways. “Luke?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Is it bad that I want to do it more now that I realize that William will disapprove?”

  His laughter rang out into the darkening twilight around them. “Probably, but I think I’d feel the same way.”

  “It’s not fair for me to say that,” Aggie admitted. “He just forgets that he’s not always on duty and every difference of opinion isn’t a violation of a law.”

  “I suspect it’s an occupational hazard. Kind of like I tend to see everyone’s house in light of what I’d do to it instead of just enjoying their hospitality.”

  “So, should I ask your mom’s opinion? I don’t want to disregard the idea any more than I want to jump into it just because it seems like a solution to the current crisis.”

  He turned and steered her toward home. “Let’s go talk to Mom and Tina.” Several yards later, he added, “I don’t want to pressure you to do anything you don’t want to do. It was just the most logical idea in my mind. Corinne asked about it the other day, I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.”

  “She asked about me and home-schooling?”

  “She said something about not knowing how you could handle getting them to two different schools--three next year--the lunches, the bus schedules, the different programs, the school drama coming home every day, and then, after all that, the homework.” Luke sounded drained just thinking about it.

  Aggie says: Mom?

  Martha says: How are the polka-dotted darlings?

  Aggie says: Vannie is our next victim.

  Martha says: Oh, that poor girl. No school next week for her then, I suppose.

  Aggie says: No. Oh, and that’s why I dinged. Luke made a suggestion tonight.

  Martha says: Tell me it isn’t some romantic idea.

  Aggie says: LOL. No. He suggested that I consider home-schooling.

  Martha says: Allie always wanted to do that, but Geraldine made such a fuss when it was mentioned that they never pursued it.

  Aggie says: Really? That would make me feel a lot better.

  Martha says: What would? Doing what your sister always wanted or annoying her mother-in-law because it can’t ruin relationships any more than they already are?

  Aggie says: Both?

  Martha says: LOL. Well, I always hated how discouraged Allie became during those first weeks of school. The children’s loyalties inevitably shifted, and that bothered her.

  Aggie says: I guess that is only logical.

  Martha says: Well, I saw it when you girls were young, but I just thought it was normal. Allie didn’t think it should be normal. She considered private schools, but couldn’t find one in a reasonable distance that had the kind of “one room schoolhouse” model she was hoping for.

  Aggie says: Why that model? Seems like a lot of work for one teacher.

  Martha says: And yet, remember when you read “The Long Winter,” and you were astounded at how well educated Laura was? She taught several terms of school without ever having graduated. All from just a few years of education at home with Ma or in little one-room schools.

  Aggie says: Ok, but why couldn’t a top-notch private school in Rockland do as well?

  Martha says: Educationally speaking, sure. I think they could. But Allie thought the one room school idea helped encourage close sibling relationships by not segregating children from their siblings.

  Aggie says: I think I remember her talking about that once. Somehow, I hadn’t associated it with prairie schools or home-schooling. I just thought she thought modern schools encouraged the anti-sibling bias that seems to prevail out there.

  Martha says: I think she gave it a little too much credence. After all, you and she weren’t at odds all the time, and remember the Wainwrights? They had what, five children? I’ve never seen a closer set of siblings, even today, and they were involved in all kinds of stuff apart from each other.

  Aggie says: So you think I shouldn’t do it?

  Martha says: I think you should consider it, but no, I don’t think that it’s an automatic “must do” just because Allie liked the idea.

  Aggie says: I was kind of looking for a mom mandate. “Thus saith the ma” kind of thing.

  Martha says: We’ll support you no matter what you decide. You know that, right?

  Aggie says: Yes, but the decisions become overwhelming. I have decisions every day. What to eat, what to buy, what to finish, how to handle this discipline issue, where to shop for that thing, should they have a pet, where to order food because I ruined lunch--again. It’s exhausting!

  Martha says: I know, hon. I’ll talk to your dad, but since you have to be the one to do it, I don’t think he’s going to be willing to say you

  should or shouldn’t. It’s hard to help with decisions that you have to do and be responsible for. We can tell you what brand of vacuum we like, but it isn’t far reaching like if you should take them on a mission trip or put in a pool.

  Aggie says: No and no.

  Martha says: LOL. I knew you’d say that. After that bout of giardia, I didn’t think you’d ever try mission trips again.

  Aggie says: Ugh. I don’t think so.

  Martha says: Just one thing. I think you should pray about why you’re considering it. Is it because someone suggested it, because you like the idea, or because you’re feeling guilty about them starting late? Not all of those are good reasons and none are necessarily bad ones by themselves. Maybe do some research online or something. Decide on Monday when you have to let the schools know that they won’t be there quite yet.

  Aggie says: That’s a great idea. I’ll research tomorrow and Sunday and decide then. Thanks, Mom.

  Martha says: You’re welcome. I had a few questions for you, but your father is giving me that “get to bed or I’ll carry you there” look, and we both know he can’t do it but he’d try.

  Aggie says: Night, Mom.

  Martha says: G’night, Aggie. Try to get some rest. You still could come down with this thing, you know.

  Like Dominoes

  Chapter 13

  Sunday, September 7th

  Trapped at home with a houseful of itchy, miserable children, Aggie spent her time starting baths for the next child in line, adding calamine lotion with a q-tip to avoid contact, and making gallons of juice. Vannie, her mouth full of pox, refused to drink anything but ice water and ate nothing but vanilla yogurt and beef broth. Tina dashed back and forth to the store bringing home anything she thought she could get the children to eat, while Tavish, Laird, and Ellie fended for themselves downstairs in the basement or out in the yard.

  “Ok, so there is a whole website for legal aid for home educators, Tina. Should I take this as a positive thing or proof that William will show up to arrest me sooner than later?”

  Tina shrugged. “I found this site that has everything you need to teach your children at home--free.”

  “Message me that one. I gotta see this!”

  With the site pasted into the messenger, Tina clicked through several years’ worth of lessons and studied the information. “Well, you’d get a standard basic education, but I can’t say I’d want to teach it or learn it this way.”

  “I found another one like it, but a different approach. It seems as if the lesson plans are free and some worksheets and things, and the rest you buy curricula from other places.”

  “This site has a list of books they recommend you pick from if you’re considering home-schooling. I could call and see if a bookstore in Brunswick or Rockland has any in stock.” Tina’s hand hovered over her cell phone
waiting for instructions.

  “Sure! That’d be great.” A new website grabbed Aggie’s attention just as Ian’s wail announced that he’d awoken and was miserable again. “His majesty calls.”

  By the time Aggie returned downstairs with Ian attached at her hip, Tina was going through a list of books with someone at a bookstore. She saw book after book crossed off Tina’s list, but by the time the call ended, the list still had several titles on it. “Ok, three stores have several books each, so I’m going to go grab ‘em. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. If you need help, call Libby.”

  “Ok, ok. Get out of here. We still have work to do.”

  “You’re going to do it. I don’t know why you keep convincing yourself that you haven’t made up your mind.”

  Stunned, Aggie stared at her friend. “What makes you say that?”

  “Because I know you. You’d have dumped this idea immediately if you weren’t going to do it. When you are going to do something, you always take forever to plan it out and ‘research’ all the angles so you can justify your decision to yourself.”

  A protest welled up in her throat, but Aggie exhaled instead. “You’re right. I do do that, don’t I?”

  “No, I just say things like that to sound deep and introspective.”

  “Sarcasm does not help, Miss Warden.”

  “Oooh,” Tina began, impressed, “you sounded just like Professor Jovan. That was eerie!”

  “Go buy the books. Then I can have the pleasure of beating myself up for wasting the money on something to justify this decision I apparently made.”

  Seconds after Tina’s car disappeared around the corner, Kenzie skipped downstairs and announced that she was “all better.” Aggie, clearly seeing unscabbed spots, tried to explain how the disease progressed, but the little girl was stubborn. With every word that Aggie spoke, her face grew more determined. Her hands clenched into little fists, her arms crossed, and one foot stomped in protest.