Walter's Little Constellation

Ruth got up before Walter to send him off to the university with a hot breakfast. This morning was different, she found herself dreamily humming a tune from when they were young, starry-eyed. Ruth floated around the kitchen in a dream-world, frying bacon however, the scent of toast burning brought her back to reality and Walter scurrying in to see what happened.

“Ruth, darling? Is everything alright?”

“Good morning, dear. I’ve just burned the toast, that’s all. I….guess I’m just not myself, yet.”

Walter ate in silence, absorbed with making notes for lectures that day. Other professors had labs on a weekly basis for their students but celestial events only happened on spiritual timing.

Ruth handed Walter his lunch as he kissed her good-bye.

“Egg salad?” He questioned the scent emanating from the brown paper sack. He peeped inside and grinned. Walter exclaimed, sliding into the seat of his black 1937 Studebaker, puttering down the lane.

Ruth dressed quickly, fixed her wavy curls, light raspberry to her lips and cheeks then left for a doctor’s appointment.

“The doctor will see you now Mrs. Cranston,” the young nurse touched Ruth’s sleeve, as if had awakened her from a dream.

“Oh, yes. Excuse me, Ellie.” Ruth apologized as she drifted down the hall to the exam room.

“Mrs. Cranston….Ruth, my dear girl.” The doctor addressed her, like an old friend as he grabbed her by the shoulders in congratulations. “You are going to have a baby!”

Hot tears rolled down her cheeks in disbelief and she sobbed right there in his office. He congratulated her again, helped her on with her coat and sent her on her way.

It had been so long that she and Walter had been trying, years. But this time, it was real!

Ruth couldn’t wait to tell Walter when he returned home. It was a rare occurrence that she ever sought Walter out at the university. She caught him just before he entered his classroom. “Walter dear, is there somewhere we can talk?”

“Ruth, what’s the matter? You’ve been crying!?” Walter was very concerned.

“Walter, I’m going to have a baby! The doctor confirmed it this morning,” she spat quickly, still in shock. She searched his blank face.

He grabbed her by the waist, picked her up off the floor, then stopped.

“I haven’t hurt you, have I?” Walter, held his warm hand to her belly and looked into her eyes lovingly.

Nine months later, Walter held a wailing pink, bouncing baby girl. In the wee hours of the morning Walter promised, “No matter what happens in this world, your happiness is my first concern, now and always, my sweet little constellation.”

Andromeda Purslane Cranston had the most devoted and doting parents in the world. Ruth worked to make her daughter’s upbringing better than what she’d endured, growing up poor on a hog farm in northern Iowa. Andromeda wanted for nothing. Walter doted on her, too, letting her stay up late, even on school nights to star gaze.

“Look over there by the Big Dipper! Do you see that? It’s a falling star,” he said pointing. “Make a wish!”

Andromeda had wished a thousand wishes in her seven years. Soon, it would be her birthday and she longed for nothing than to be near her father under the stars.

“Mother, don’t forget, tomorrow is my birthday party at school. Can I help you make the cupcakes? Can I?” Andromeda impatiently begged at the breakfast table, oatmeal on her chin.

“Andromeda dear, use your napkin and slow down. Eating too fast isn’t good for your digestion.” her mother warned.

“And yes, sweetheart, I know. Coconut cupcakes, again?”

Andromeda’s eyes gleamed at the thought of taking her favorite cake to school to share with her friends.

“Mother, you know what else is best about tomorrow? We get to go to Miller’s Farm for a tour. Isn’t that lovely?”

“Yes, dear. Now, finish your breakfast so you’re late for school!”

Ruth handed them both their lunches and kissed them before they drove down the frozen lane.

“I love you both!” She waved and blew kisses towards the old Studebaker.

For Andromeda, the hours on the clock seemed to simulate her feet when asked to do something she dreaded, like dishes. Oh, how she hated when it was her turn to dry, her reply to her father, “The water is going to evaporate anyway. Why dry them when they do it on their own?!”

She was about to take a bite of her overly onioned egg salad sandwich when Freddie Bashor walked by, flicking her on the ear. Andromeda stuck out her tongue in response. She liked Freddie’s button nose and ruddy cheeks ever since he helped her get her shoe lace unknotted at the school Christmas pageant, last winter.

“What kind of cupcakes are you making for your birthday party, Andi?” Her best friend, Helen asked.

Wiping crumbs from her pink gingham dress, “Coconut!” Mother said, "We will make them together after school tonight.”

“Andromeda! You’ll be late to school if you don’t hurry up!” Ruth warned as she loaded boxes of cupcakes into the back of the black sedan.

“Coming, Mother!” She yelled down the stairs from Andromeda’s pink bedroom.

“My little constellation! It’s not polite to yell across the house,” Walter instructed as he picked her up and lovingly twirled her around, setting her back down to help her on with her new dark pink wool coat.

“This will keep you warm today,” he said, beaming with pride.

Andromeda and the other children in her class loaded up onto buses after lunch for a field trip to Miller’s Farm Menagerie. The trip across town was quick. The children found themselves amongst every kind of animal in the cold early spring air, goats, sheep, alpacas, emus and guinea pigs. The children were enamored but there was something else that caught Andromeda’s eye. A pair of ice skates that hung on the fence at the gate they entered through. They were beautiful. Andromeda had never been ice skating but heard Helen talk about it with such enthusiasm and excitement that she, herself, longed to go.

Andromeda tried to get the skates out of her mind but they nagged her like a cough after a cold that just won’t go away. Finally, Andromeda broke away from the group to get a closer look at the hanging skates.

She sharp-eyed the spectacle, questions buzzing in her mind like an annoying mid-summer fly.

“Why are they hanging outside? It doesn’t look like they’ve been here long, the blades aren’t rusty. I wonder if they’ll fit me.” Andromeda looked up with a start to see Mr. Miller standing in front of her. He didn’t look happy.

“Best if you rejoin your friends, Miss,” he noted then turned, feed bucket in hand, slightly slumped to where you could see a slight hump in his back.

Andromeda was lost in thought on the bus ride back to school, forgetting that she had three dozen cupcakes to hand out before the end of the day.

“Andromeda! Andi!” Helen yelled from the seat behind.

“Go! Those heavenly little cupcakes are calling my name!”

Helen and Andromeda handed out the treats, except to Freddie Baxter, he was allergic to coconut. She handed him a specially purchased vanilla cupcake with strawberry icing.

Normally Andromeda’s attention would be on Freddie’s exceptional features but she couldn’t stop thinking about those skates. Oh, how she wanted to put them on and skate gracefully around the pond behind Miller’s farm. The whole ride home, it’s all she could think about.

“Happy Birthday, to you…” Walter and Ruth, their friends, Professor Schilling and his wife Deidre and the vicar sang as Andromeda blew out her candles. They chatted away the evening as she opened her gifts, the most impressive being a telescope that Walter had purchased through the university, used.

Andromeda gratefully, hugged Walter around the neck, kissed him on the cheek and politely thanked her guests. One by one, they left after coffee and cake.

“Mother, Father, I’m going to bed. Goodnight.” She kissed them both goodnight but with no intention of going to sleep.

“It’s early yet, my little constellation. Don’t you want to try out your new telescope? The sky is clear. We could see Saturn!”

“Not tonight, Father.” Faking a yawn, “I’m so sleepy.” For the first time in her life, Andromeda lied to Walter. She waited until the house was quiet, then slipped on her shoes and coat, then walked two miles down the bumpy dirt road that was rarely used between her house and Miller’s Farm.

Andromeda couldn’t feel the cold, skating was all she could think about. Quietly, she walked up to the gate where she’d seen the skates, wondering if they would still be hanging there. Approaching in the moonlight, she saw the blades shining. It wasn’t long until she made her way to the pond, skates in tow. She sat on a tuft of pine needles while she tried them on.

Frigid is the only word to describe how cold they felt on her woolen bound feet. They were snug, but she got them on. She looked around to make sure no one was around then took her first step onto the pond. Not a sound, other than sheep and goats in the distance was heard except for the blades scraping the surface.

She fell initially, bruising her elbow. Dauntless, she rose, learning from every wobble replacing it with grace and ease. Worried her parents would find her gone, she put the skates back where she found them and returned home.

Ruth wasn’t concerned when Andromeda didn’t come down for breakfast, making her favorite, blueberry hotcakes. They had long gone cold when she bounded down the stairs, braiding her long tresses as she entered the kitchen with a voracious appetite.

“Mother, what, no breakfast?” Andromeda peered over the refrigerator door as Ruth stored some lamb for Sunday’s dinner.

“Well, little slugabed, it’s about time you came down! I never dreamed you’d sleep so late after a few gifts and cake. It wasn’t even ten o’clock when we went to bed!” Ruth commented as she scooped the hotcakes onto a plate from the warm oven.

“I must be growing.” Andromeda offered as she filled her mouth with a generous portion.

“Ruth! Ruth!!” Walter called from their first floor bedroom.

“Father!” Andromeda scolded, still chewing her blueberry laden hotcakes.

“It’s impolite to yell across the house!”

Walter entered the kitchen, putting a hand to Andromeda’s shoulder.

“Since when did you start listening to me?” Walter smiled. “And slow down dear, eating too fast is unhealthy for your digestion.”

Rolling her eyes so that he could see, Andromeda took a larger than usual mouthful. “

“Hey, I’m going over to Miller’s Farm to see about purchasing another leg of lamb for tomorrow’s feast. Do you want to come along, my little constellation?” Walter asked.

Andromeda thought she might choke when he asked her, careful not to seem guilty she stared at her fork as she twirled it in blueberries. “Um, no thank you. I think I’ll stay here and finish my hotcakes.” Then quickly, she forced another bite though her stomach told her not to.

Walter slowly pulled his aging Studebaker in the snowpacked driveway near the barn at Miller’s Farm noticing Henry Miller rubbing his chin.

“Something wrong Henry?” Walter asked.

“Well, Walt, it’s the strangest thing. I know we had Mrs. Damson’s third grade class out here yesterday and there are many, many footprints but there’s one thing I can’t quite figure.

“What’s that?” Walter asked, truly intrigued.

“You see this one set of footprints here?” Henry Miller pointed to small shoe prints that led from the gate to the pond behind the barn. “These here got the wife very upset. I had to call on Dr. Johannsen to come out and offer Martha a sedative.”

“I’m sorry, Henry. I know it’s been tough.” Walter laid his hand on Henry Miller’s shoulder gently to offer his support.

“My Martha hasn’t been the same since…..” His voice trailed off, fighting back tears as they walked towards the pond.

“Just look at this. It’s as if she were still here, skating like it were any other day. But, it can’t be Walt. It just can’t be.” Henry complained, taking off his woolen cap to scratch his head in confusion.

“Now, I know you didn’t come here to help me solve a mystery. What can I do for you?” Henry gathered himself quickly, knowing work still had to be done even if his little Katie Eloise was gone.

“I didn’t mean to come at a bad time Henry, Ruth and I are having guests for Sunday afternoon for dinner. Would you happen to have another leg of lamb for sale?” Walter asked, embarrassed for having come at such a terrible moment.

“I’ll throw in a dozen eggs if you’d like. We’ve got more than the wife and I can handle and I can’t eat another deviled egg.” Henry half-smiled, rubbing his all-too-thin belly.

Walter wondered all the way home who would play such a cruel trick on a couple who’d lost so much. He related the whole story to Ruth who was steadfastly looking for a recipe in a large file box. She replied, “He and Martha had lost entirely too much. Their first born, Charles Henry was about to leave for bootcamp when Martha found out she was expecting. Three weeks later, he was killed. It put her in bed for a month, fearful she might lose the baby. She didn’t even go to the funeral.”

Andromeda was anxious to see the world through her father’s eyes every day of the week but a new love had entered her life. She spent the rest of the day dreaming of the night, not to catch the glimpse of some far away galaxy, but to steal away a few moments on Miller’s pond.

The Crantston’s enjoyed a leisurely dinner then listened to Jack Benny on the radio.

Walter pulled Andromeda over to his side, “What do you say we bring your new telescope downstairs onto the porch and see what treasures await?” Andromeda knew if she said yes, that they could be up for hours. All she wanted was to pull on those skates and feel the gentle breeze blow across her face.

“Father, I think I’m coming down with something, maybe we should wait,” she lied. Again, she feigned a yawn, brushed her teeth, donned her new pajamas, kissed her parents good night and put herself to bed.

“What’s gotten into her, Ruth?” Walter asked, perplexed.

“Walter, she’s growing up,” His wife responded, one eye-brow raised as if he should already know all about girls.

“But, Ruth….that’s our thing. We are starry-eyed, star-gazers. What happened?” Walter went to bed early, hurt and confused.

Once again Andromeda quietly left the house and walked to Miller’s Farm, put on the skates that hung on the gatepost and took to the ice like the blades were an extension of her body. In no time she was skating backwards, avoiding tree branches around the almond shaped frozen playground. There were several large rose bushes gathered at the farthest end away from the barn, avoiding them so as not to snag her new coat. It was as if she was floating across the ice, bending the blades to her will. Suddenly, she remembered seeing a photo of a skater who had done a jump. She looked like a bunny with her feet underneath her simultaneously. Andromeda gathered her will, gained speed and in one quick motion, pulled her feet up but she needed more room to land safely, ran into the stickery bushes where the ice was thin and was under the freezing water in seconds.

She tried not to scream but her tiny body felt as if a thousand sharpened needles were penetrating her body. The more she grabbed for something solid the weaker she felt. There was an undeniable feeling of being dragged under, then someone grabbed her pulling her to safety.

“Father!” She cried as she hugged his warm body, shivering.

“No, child.” It was Henry Miller. He took her to the barn, put her under the heat lamp they used during lambing season and covered her in warm woolen blankets.

“Violet, you rest easy here….wait.” Henry grabbed his forehead, “No, no…she’s gone Henry, she’s gone.”

“Ss….sssir. My name’s Andromeda, not Violet.” Andromeda corrected, lips turning blue.

“Are you Walt’s girl?” He asked, sheepishly.

“Y…y..yes,” she managed.

“You stay under that lamp. I’ll be right back, Miss.” Henry said as he hurried off towards the house.

He brought back a cup of warm milk and dry clothes. “Here little one, these will fit you. You’ve got to get those wet things off or you’ll catch your…..” Henry tried, but couldn’t fight back the tears.

Andromeda went into a nearby stall and changed into a long flannel nightgown and slippers that Henry offered, wrapping herself in the wool blankets that Martha made from the wool they gathered from the spring lambs.

“How did you hear me all the way from the house, sir?” Andromeda asked, looking confused.

“Little one, I’ve known you’ve been skating here in my Violet’s skates for over a month.” Henry replied with surety.

“But that’s impossible! I’ve only been here twice,” said Andromeda.

Henry thought maybe her time in the icy water had clouded her thinking. He warmed the old farm truck he used for deliveries and took her home.

“Thank you Henry, for bringing her home. We were so worried! Ruth got up to check on her fearing she was coming down with something and she was gone. I was just getting dressed to go out and look for her. Won’t you come in for a drink?”

“No thank you, Walt. I’m going home to wait for my little girl.”