Chapter 18

After Emily left Jamie became restless and decided to go to the river house. After the memories that had been rekindled at the funeral by so many he needed to see it, to feel it and the memories of aunt Ellie that it held for him. He called down to the front desk and asked them to get him a cab. By the time he got to the lobby the cab was waiting. He gave the address and relaxed and watched the city disappear as they passed into more verdant surroundings. The cab dropped him at the front of the house. He couldn't remember if he had ever entered through the front door before. He used the key, that Horace Waters had given him, and opened the door. From the entryway he walked through the silent parlors, the dinning room, until he reached the kitchen.

There were new appliances, new to him at least, and a new table and chairs. There was a blender, a food processor and a new coffee maker on the counter next to the new double sink. Jamie had expected to see the kitchen as it had been when he was a boy and to smell the odors of fresh coffee brewing and aunt Ellie's biscuits and bacon or ham cooking on the stove. He wanted to hear her voice calling him to breakfast as he had heard it each day in those best of times.

Leaving the kitchen he walks down the hall to aunt Ellie's room. Through the open door he can see the unmade bed bare of any sheets or covers. Otherwise the room is as neat and orderly as he remembered. Her den and sitting room looked like she had just left to go to the kitchen for a glass of sweet tea. The only changes, other than newer furniture, were the pictures of him on the walls and tables. These included pictures of him when he graduated from Penn, one in his baseball uniform, he and Vickie from their wedding and other pictures of Vickie and Rain and Jed. Jamie crossed the bedroom and opened the closet and pausing for a moment buried his face in the scent still present on the dresses and blouses before emitting a muffled cry of pain for the lost years.

Before going to his old room he opened the door to the porch and looked out at the yard rolling down to the river. The cast iron cook pots for frying fish and hushpuppies and the grill are the same as Jamie remembered. The fish cleaning table Jamie appears to Jamie as the same. He wondered if Ellie still had the boats. He pushed the door closed and preceded up the stairs to his room. The door was closed. He wondered if it was locked and that maybe Aunt Ellie locked him out of her life after she ordered him to leave. The knob turned easily in his hand and he felt like he was entering a time machine. Whereas there were changes throughout the rest of the house in his room everything was just as he had left it save one. The banners, the flags, the books, the forgotten clothes hanging in the closet, the newly made bed from its last use. There was a second University of Pennsylvania banner with the year of his graduation next to his father's. In the bathroom he found his toothbrush and a fresh bar of soap. There were clean towels and wash cloth as if it was imminent that someone would be needing them. From its condition one would have thought that the room was presently occupied. Both the bedroom and bathroom were spick and span without a trace of dust or soil.

Jamie sat on the bed and took out the letter from Aunt Ellie.

Jamie my love,

If you are reading this you already know that I am gone at last to be with Charlie. Don't mourn me over long Jamie for I have had a good life. My only regret was that Charlie and I never had children.

I have always had the benefit of money thanks to mamma and papa, Charlie and your daddy. There is a great deal of it Jamie. I have already established certain charitable trusts that are self sustaining which I would like for you to administer or at least oversee to assure it is properly distributed and used. Rose Rogers is fully aware of the functioning of these trusts and can help with this and I'm sure she would be happy to do so if you ask. I think Sam is pretty well set but I know you will take care of her if the need arises. Mr. Waters and the accountants have all the papers. Mr. Waters has been taking care of everything for me and I have been more than satisfied with his conduct concerning these matters and of my affairs. I'm sure he would be more than happy to continue if you but ask.

I have always been there for our various cousins when they hit a rough spot and I'm hoping you will see your way to do the same. I realize you don't know them all or at least not very well but they really are good people.

I left the river house to you and Sam as life tenants with the remainder to you or your designated heir. Upon Sam's death it will vest in you outright and if you should die first upon Sam's death it will go to your children or your children's children. I do this with the hope that Sam returns to Savannah to live out her days and stop this gallivanting around the world.

I hope that you will open Charlie's house when you come to Savannah to take care of the business of the bank and the peanut company. You will have majority holdings in both what with the shares your daddy left you and now mine. I hope you will keep the caretaker on as he is really quite good about caring for the house and grounds and you will need someone unless you choose to sell it.

I was there when you were born. Your momma had such a hard time and your daddy was a wreck. I took care of your momma and you for the first few months of your life. Because your momma couldn't breast feed you and you were having trouble on the bottle I put sugar on my nipples and let you suck on it like a sugar tit so you could develop your ability to suck. After your momma got well I came back to Savannah but I left a little piece of me in Philadelphia.

I have had two great loves in my life Jamie, Charlie and you. Other than my years with Charlie those four summers were the happiest of my life. You got a chance to be a boy and find out who your family were and who you were. You even got to meet some of my friends. They still ask about you at Next Street Over. You made quite an impression for one visit.

I longed for you to return. I waited for a call but I'm sure you had your reasons. I kept track of you through my talks with your momma and daddy. Someone who missed you, almost as much as I, is Emily Rogers Johnson, she was just Emily Rogers then. She knew I spoke regularly with your folks and would come to visit and ask about you. We had a good laugh when I told her about the time you lost your shorts in the river and had to walk to the house bare assed. You didn't know that I was standing in the shadows watching you as you came up on the porch to get the towel. We would sit on the back porch with a pitcher of sweet tea and cookies and our memories. Emily sometimes had a special light in her eyes. I often wondered what she was remembering during those moments.

Next to Charlie I think your daddy's dying hurt me the most. Momma and papa were old and it was their time but your daddy was still a young man. Not only did I love him but he was my best friend and he always took care of me and cleaned up my spills.

Mr. Waters is quite helpful and I'm sure will be a big help to you. If not him I would advise someone local. I know all about the big shots in New York and Philadelphia but they don't know or care about things in Savannah. If they try to operate down here these old country boys will skin them alive. They won't know what hit them. I think you'll be better off with someone from around here because they will care about you and what happens to you because your businesses affects them.