An Island Between Us

by K'Anne Meinel

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  The next day dawned bright and clear. They fried their eggs early and fed the children using canned milk. Together, they emptied the boat and lugged their boxes and furniture up to the cabin. They left everything in the screened-in porch to go through later. They were leaving the dogs home this time, and they hoped they would scare away anyone that had been on the island.

  The ride over was amazingly smooth, and they all felt the glory of late summer in the air. The rains that signaled fall was coming weren’t a surprise. It was very hot that day, and they looked forward to getting things accomplished in town.

  “School first, bank later?” Marion confirmed as they tied off the boat. She glanced up at the truck and trailer, worried about emptying it further.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Barbara said as they all trooped to the truck and started it up. She removed a couple pallets from in front of the truck and put them into the bed.

  “Think I’ll pass the test, Mom?” Brenda fretted.

  “I haven’t a doubt in my mind. You are all brilliant,” Marion answered, including Richard in her response as she glanced in the back seat.

  The school was small. In fact, it looked to be just one room and had at one time been a church. The teacher, Mrs. Larson, was happy to meet them and introduced them to the principal, who had a small office in the basement. Together, they would administer the tests to the children.

  “Do you know how long they will be?” Barbara asked, looking at her watch and wondering if they could go over to the bank while the children tested.

  “At least two hours. Do you want to wait or–” began Mrs. Larson.

  “We’ll be back. We have some business to attend to, and we’ll leave our children in your excellent hands,” Marion said charmingly.

  The teacher preened under the slight praise and watched as the two women got in their truck and headed towards downtown.

  Stopping at the bank, they walked in. They’d changed from their usual dungaree jeans into trousers but still found some people who frowned at women wearing pants. They didn’t care since it was more comfortable and made more sense for them than dresses.

  “Mr. Bradshaw?” Marion said as she stood before the bank manager’s desk. “Do you remember us?” She sounded like a little girl, and Barbara looked at her oddly.

  “Ummm, yes, Misses...” he hesitated long enough that they all knew he couldn’t remember their names.

  “Whiting and Jenkins,” Marion said a little more firmly, pointing at Barbara and herself as she announced their names. She was annoyed at this game that bankers played.

  “Yes...” he said, oozing charm as he sweated against his stiff, white color. “Won’t you...ladies have a seat?” he offered. Just the fact that he hesitated over calling them ladies had angered them both, but they hid it well.

  As they sat down, Barbara decided to see what Marion was up to and let her take the lead. “I was wondering, Mr. Bradshaw, if you have had a chance to look over our loan application?”

  He thought for a moment and then began to shuffle the papers on his desk into neat little piles as he talked. “I don’t recall your loan but let me look...” he began. After everything on his desk was tidied, a file covering whatever they contained, so the two women couldn’t read them, he began to go through the file drawer in his desk. “Ah, Miss Wilson?” he called to a woman walking by. As the woman approached, he asked, “Could you find the file folder for Misses...” he looked at them again as he tried to remember their names.

  “Whiting and Jenkins,” Marion said again, and this time, the irritation was evident in her voice. Barbara could understand her frustration; the man was an idiot.

  “Yes, that’s right. Please find the loan file for Misses Whiting and Jenkins,” he finished with a smile. The woman nodded and headed off to look for the file. “While she is looking for that file, is there anything else we can do for you today?”

  “Well, we were going to move our checking accounts to your bank here in Franklin,” Barbara put in.

  “I can help you with that,” he said enthusiastically, sporting a fake smile as he pulled out paperwork for both women and slid it across to them. “I’ll need your information.”

  They slowly filled out the paperwork, which they had also filled out when they applied for the loan. They passed the time until Miss Wilson came back with the file folder. They were both finishing up when she returned.

  “Mr. Bradshaw, here is the file you asked for,” she said pleasantly, shooting both women a friendly smile as she handed him the folder and quickly left.

  “Thank you,” he murmured as he opened the file and began to read. Both women looked up as they finished signing their paperwork and looked to the file folder he was going through. He kept going, “hmmph” to himself, which they both found annoying. “Well, it seems you were turned down,” he began as he finally looked up.

  “And we weren’t informed...Why is that?” Barbara spoke first. She was already angry and couldn’t have told anyone why.

  “I’m sure we wrote–” he began but Marion interrupted.

  “No, you didn’t,” she assured him. “In fact, are you aware of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944?”

  At his nod, Barbara spoke up again, “And that this,” she gestured to the file folder, “is a low interest mortgage for the widows of G.I.s?”

  “I’m certain Mr. Bradshaw wasn’t aware we were applying under the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act,” Marion put in with a sugar-sweet voice that reeked of hypocrisy. It also sounded amazingly like her mother-in-law’s fake voice.

  Barbara nearly choked, she wanted to laugh so hard. She had caught on immediately to what Marion was doing. “I’m sure he didn’t,” she agreed wholeheartedly, watching the man swallow at being tag teamed.

  “I’m sure he will rectify the situation immediately. The United States government wouldn’t want any bank to renege on the bill that was passed by congress back in 1944?”

  Barbara nodded sympathetically, hard-pressed not to laugh. “Well, if this got out, could you imagine what might happen to all those new houses going up outside of town that Grady told us about? How many G.I.s would start to wonder if this bank couldn’t afford to lend to them?” She sounded almost wide-eyed and innocent as she earnestly spoke to Marion.

  Marion nodded just as sympathetically and clucked her tongue. “Why, the scandal!” she gasped. Then she turned on the poor bank manager and smiled. “I’m sure you’d like to straighten out this little misunderstanding now, wouldn’t you?” she offered sweetly.

  Unsure of what had just happened and realizing the bad publicity the bank would incur in this small town, he found himself nodding.

  “Oh, that would be nice,” Barbara put in, sounding sincere but knowing if they kept this up much longer, she was going to start laughing.

  Bradshaw gulped again and nodded, trying to smile but looking like his collar had just gotten too tight. “Are you applying for the full mortgage of four thousand for twenty-five–” he left off as the two women shook their heads in unison. They exchanged a look, and Barbara spoke up.

  “From what I read in the government pamphlet, they increased that to seventy-five hundred for thirty years...each,” she corrected him with a smile, showing him how bad she felt for his misunderstanding.

  He gulped again, nodding. “And you would like the full seventy-five hundred...” his voice had an odd little shake to it, “each?” He really looked worried at the thought of lending out that amount of money to women.

  “I don’t think we would need the full seventy-five hundred, do you?” Marion said seriously to Barbara.

  Barbara didn’t dare look directly at Marion or she was going to burst out laughing. As it was, she was digging her short nails into the palms of her hands, the pain helping her keep a straight face. Instead, she looked somewhere over her girlfriend’s blonde head and said, “No, I don’t think we do; however, with the three remaining cabins we wish to build..
.” she seemed to be seriously considering the amount.

  “Cabins? We have to have security against the loan...” he began, sure he could somehow get out of this situation.

  “Well, the island is paid in full, and we’ve done improvements. Furthermore, my understanding is if we list it as a farm, we would be looked at more favorably by the government?” Barbara put in innocently, blinking as he stared at her. She had read that pamphlet thoroughly...twice.

  They worked out a deal whereby the bank would lend them the amount they needed to finish the cabins. They wouldn’t borrow the full seventy-five hundred, just what they needed for now. They wrote checks on their old accounts back in Massachusetts, clearing out all the funds there and transferring them to Franklin Bank. The loan would be in both their names, and a third joint checking account would be opened. After they left the bank two hours later, they nearly cried with laughter in the truck. Mr. Bradshaw was so relieved they had left and hadn’t taken advantage of the full fifteen thousand they apparently knew they were entitled to. He was left stunned and wondering what had happened to him.

  “He didn’t know what hit him,” Barbara roared once they were safely back in the truck.

  “You were great,” Marion laughed. She had never wanted so badly to take Barbara in her arms and hug her.

  “Shall we go order the supplies for the rest of the cabins?”

  “What about the children?”

  “Damn, I forgot...” she began and then started laughing again. Seeing that they were visible from the bank, she held herself in check and drove off, snickering now and then as she thought over what they had pulled on the banker. Small town, indeed! How dare he try the same thing that had been used on them in Massachusetts. They were due this loan for the sacrifice of their husbands! They could easily have gotten the full fifteen thousand, and he knew it! They didn’t, however, need fifteen thousand dollars. They weren’t greedy. They just wanted some help to get their business started.

  “I wouldn’t want to come up against you on anything like this again,” Marion said, still laughing and wiping at her eyes as they headed for the school.

  “Mrs. Whiting, both your children scored very high on their tests,” Mrs. Larson told her when they finally made an appearance at the one-room schoolhouse.

  “The children tell us that you’ve had them studying all summer?” the principal put in as he smiled at the two women.

  “Well, we’ve been reading together a lot as we worked on the island and passed our evenings in the cabin,” Marion began, not sure how to answer that. She wasn’t surprised the children had scored high on the tests.

  “Both of them have tested above their grade levels. I think we should start them in the next level, so they can be challenged. I sense they could easily become bored if we don’t,” the teacher said earnestly.

  “Um, what about my son? Richard?” Barbara put in, glancing out the door to where the children were playing in the school yard. They had a sort of jungle gym out there, and they were enjoying themselves as they waited for their mothers. She had wondered about putting in a playground for the children, but with all the woods for them to play in and trees to climb and swing from, they probably didn’t need it.

  “Richard scored off our chart,” the principal put in. “We aren’t sure what to do with his scores, but again, we recommend the next level, so that he doesn’t become bored. If it’s possible, we would like to test the children again midyear and see how they are progressing?”

  The two women exchanged looks of surprise but nodded in agreement. “As long as we can turn in their assignments here at the school, I’m sure that would be acceptable,” Barbara answered. She was so pleased she could bust.

  “I’m going to give you the assignments I give our third graders. These might be too much for Brenda, but I’m sure she’s up to the challenge. It appears she strives to learn as much as the boys. Here are the assignments for fourth grade. They are a little advanced for Richard, but I think he might prove up to the challenge,” Mrs. Larson told them, looking between the two mothers and wondering at their relationship. She had heard in town about the women who bought Whimsical Island, and the children confirmed they had been living on the island since early spring and building cabins. “Could you tell me how the children know basic geometry and algebra already? That isn’t taught until much later in the curriculum.”

  Marion started to laugh as Barbara answered, “We’ve let them become involved in building the cabins. Because we are having to do so much of the work with limited supplies, our motto is ‘measure twice and cut once.’ The children understand that and work closely with us. They are fascinated. While we are working on the cabins, we are discussing things they have read in their homework.”

  Mrs. Larson was fascinated. “Brenda is about even with her sibling, and that’s amazing.”

  “Well, little girls tend to be ahead of the boys,” Marion pointed out, remembering basic psychology, but she was so pleased to hear this. “She is also a little sponge, soaking up everything the boys talk about and even reading their books.”

  “Do they have plenty of downtime? Playtime?” the principal asked, concerned that the children were working and studying all the time.

  “We have chickens, guinea fowl, dogs, and cats. The island is a veritable biologist’s dream. They are learning all the time, as we are,” Marion added, pointing with her thumb to herself and then Barbara. “It’s so much fun too. With the beachcombing and the hiking, we are having a gas.”

  Both the teacher and the principal smiled. These two young mothers were so enthusiastic. They both wished more parents were as involved in their children’s education. “Sounds like paradise,” Mrs. Larson commented.

  “Not yet, but we are working on that,” Marion laughed.

  “Next spring, at the end of the school year, why don’t we have the entire school come out on a field trip?” Barbara offered generously. “They could even sleep outdoors in sleeping bags, if you want to make it a camping trip.”

  “Oh, that sounds lovely. It would be too cold for swimming,” she mused as she thought about it.

  “Well, maybe the end of summer before the school year starts then?” Marion put in, smiling at Barbara for thinking of it. The children needed to get to know children their own age. “It would give the town children a chance to socialize with each other before the school year started.”

  “That is certainly a wonderful idea and very generous,” the principal put in.

  “Well, they will need to bring their own supplies of course, but they’d be welcome to come explore...and learn, of course.”

  Mrs. Larson fetched the books and materials the children would need and handed them to the two women. She smiled, delighted with the two mothers as they left the small school.

  “If more parents took the time...” she murmured to the principal.

  “Amazing,” he agreed, watching the women get in their truck with the children.

  * * * * *

  They stopped at the lumberyard and asked about the supplies they would need to finish the remaining cabins but decided not to order everything yet since they didn’t have the areas cleared. The foundations weren’t laid yet, so they weren’t quite ready. They liked knowing they had access to the funds if they needed it, but they wouldn’t spend it until spring when they had moved things further along.

  “We have got to figure out the plumbing,” Barbara murmured as they passed the pipes. They’d put in a smaller tank for waste from the one cabin that was nearly finished, but they needed to figure out how to hook up the water after they decided where it would come from.

  “Are we going to need a tank for each of the cabins?”

  “What if we want a row of cabins for people to enjoy? Will we have to rip out all those tanks and put in one large one?”

  They discussed everything as they picked up a few items, wrote a check, and then headed for the post office.

  “Mom, can we get an ice cream?” Rich
ard asked.

  “After what that teacher told me about you three, you certainly can.”

  “What’d she tell you?” he asked, suddenly concerned. She wouldn’t be letting them have an ice cream if she was angry, would she?

  “She didn’t tell you?” she teased, surmising they didn’t know. She glanced over at Marion in the front seat next to her, and they shared a quick smile. They were both proud as could be.

  “Noooo,” he put in, suddenly worried.

  “Well, you have a lot of potential,” she told him. “You all tested higher on the tests than they expected. You are doing wonderfully!”

  “We are?” they chorused.

  “You sure are, and you can have an ice cream sundae or even a banana split if you want,” she told him, wanting to celebrate. She wouldn’t mention that Richard could do higher grades’ work if he wanted. She didn’t want to single him out in front of the others.

  They stopped at the dime store, and the children’s eyes proved larger than their stomachs. They couldn’t finish the banana splits they each ordered. Both mothers were amused as the children reluctantly admitted they couldn’t eat one more spoonful. They shopped for a few things and then headed down to the pier to get some more things from the trailer and gather any additional pallets that had accumulated. They took the ones that were sliding around in the bed of the truck and attached them to the front of their boat.

  “Hide this,” Barbara told Marion quietly, handing her a pouch.

  “What is it?” she asked her partner just as quietly.

  “It’s a .22 pistol,” she answered, looking hard at the blonde.

  Marion slipped it below the seat on the boat, shocked for a moment but quickly hiding it. “Where did you get that?” she gasped, looking to see the children bringing boxes down to the pier. Barbara also handed her a box and looking inside she saw it contained boxes of ammunition. She quickly slid that below another seat.