Chapter 9

The day became much brighter when I ran into Anna, as she was walking down the path.

"Hello," she said. She wore a big smile on her face.

"Kak dyela?" I asked.

She seemed puzzled. I guess my attempt at Russian had not come across very well.

"How are you," I asked again.

She laughed.

"I need teach you Russian," she said with a sigh.

I walked with her over to my camp. I was pleased to learn that she had the whole day to spend with me.

"Clint, I leave tomorrow." I could see a look of concern on her face.

My thoughts ran all over the place. I knew I would need to make the best of my time. I realized that in a few blinks, this day would already be gone.

Life! Isn't it a strange phenomenon? One day you are a teenager who thinks you know all there is to know about life. You might see someone in their thirties and wonder what it would be like to be that old.

Now blink a few times.

You open your eyes and you are in your mid-thirties. "How did it all happen?" you ask yourself.

There is no turning back. You can only move forward. Time ... the curse of the garden.

She looked beautiful, as usual. She wore a dress with a flower print and a pair of sandals. I quickly changed into my cargo shorts and sandals. Then we hopped into the Rover to begin our adventure.

I wanted to make sure that our last day would stick out in her memory. I had searched diligently for an agenda that would fill that requirement. I knew that she had already visited the aquarium. She had said that she wanted to visit a plantation, but our time was running out.

I remembered asking her earlier if she had been on a carriage ride.

"Nyet," she had replied.

"Have you visited Fort Sumter?" I asked.

"No," she again responded.

Using her answers to those two questions, I began to formulate my itinerary.

Once we were each buckled up in my vehicle, we began the drive up to Charleston. Anna asked about my hobbies. I told her that I loved to hunt and fish. I learned that she also had a great love for the outdoors. She told me that the open spaces in Russia extended for hundreds of miles. She informed me that it was very beautiful in the countryside.

I learned that her cousin had come over about fourteen years earlier and had found work in the building trades. Because of his skill and determination, he had moved up in the ranks until he was a crew foreman. Eventually he had broken off and started his own company.

His wife was of Ukrainian descent. According to Anna, she was very beautiful. They had two teenage daughters and a ten year old son. The children definitely loved everything American, but the parents occasionally longed for the old country.

I also learned that rules for travel to the U.S. had become more stringent in the past few years. Often the visas would be issued for only a portion of the family to travel. I guess the idea there would be so that the family would return and not defect.

We parked in the visitor parking and took the shuttle to the carriage barn. Though there were numerous carriage companies, I chose the one I had hired before.

Time was not a factor. I wanted to enjoy everything to the max. I even wanted to enjoy the shuttle ride. I glanced over at Anna at every opportunity possible.

Her eyes were so blue. I could not stop looking. Every time I would look at them, I would be amazed. It was like I was seeing them for the first time. In my estimation, they were definitely the main attraction of a beautiful face.

I studied everything about her. I wanted to lock up every bit of information into a specific chamber of my mind. I wanted it to be there for later recall when we were no longer together. From experience, I knew that my memories' would begin to fade.

This time, however, I was determined to defeat the barrier of time.

I also took pictures. I took pictures of Anna. I tried to compose them so that Anna was the center of attention in each one. I realized how valuable they would be in the upcoming days.

The shuttle dropped us off and we walked the remaining few blocks to the barn. We waited while the carriage was prepared and then climbed into the seat at the rear. There were other people that would be riding with us. I was pleased to see that it was a different driver. I hoped to learn additional information about the history of the area.

In Charleston, there are so many carriages going out, that a lottery has been established. This luck of the draw directs the driver as to what sections of the city his tour group can go to. We were fortunate in that we drew the lot for the tour that would take us past the old mansions along the shoreline. I figured that Anna would enjoy that immensely. We headed out, with the driver stopping occasionally to point out some historic church or building.

It sure seemed like Anna was having a good time. I was impressed that some of the buildings were in such good shape, despite the fact that they dated back to the early seventeen hundreds.

When I mentioned that to Anna, she responded;

"We have structures in Russia that are a thousand years old."

She said it, more as a matter of fact, than any attempt at competition. I was reminded once again; in talking with Europeans, our country is still relatively very young.

Anna was very impressed with the mansions. We learned that there were sometimes two sets of steps leading up to the front door. One step would be for the lady and her long beautiful skirt, while the other would be for the man with his possibly muddy boots.

It was an educational as well as relaxing ride. Anna would ask me some questions and I would occasionally have the answer. When the ride was over, we thanked the driver and I took a picture of Anna standing in front of the horse and carriage.

After that, we walked over to the start of the Museum Mile. It is a famous street known for its shops, historical houses, and churches. As we walked along the sidewalk, we would occasionally obtain glimpses into the yards of some of the mansions. Something of historical significance seemed to be on every block.

On one of the side streets, we had a close call. We had decided to explore a narrow corridor, in order to check out some of the smaller houses. Many dated back to the mid seventeen hundreds. Anna was concentrating on studying the flora of a beautiful garden, when I noticed a horse coming right for us at a full gallop. A rope was tied to the bridle and on the end of the rope was a large item that was bouncing violently off the pavement in all directions.

I didn't have much time to react. I dove at Anna and forced her into a large bush. I heard her exclaim her annoyance at my actions. The item at the end of the rope just grazed the bottom of my shoe. Even that slight encounter struck with a good amount of force. I looked down the street to see that the horse was continuing to run out of control. This time I could see that the item attached to the rope was some sort of wooden fence post. It wasn't more than a couple seconds before I saw a livery attendant running after the horse.

I quickly gathered a surprised Anna into my arms and gently helped her to her feet. After carefully brushing her off, I apologized for the surprising action.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You were almost hit by a run-a-way horse. I hope I didn't hurt you."

"You surprise me," she stated. "Thank you."

I checked her again and made sure there wasn't any serious damage. She had a scrape on her arm from the bush, but nothing of any serious consequence was evident.

"I fall off horse in Russia, but never have horse run at me."

We laughed. She laughed. Anna didn't scold me or complain. She just took it as something that happens in life. I was amazed by that. It was not a normal reaction I would suspect from another person.

She grabbed my hand and we returned to our walk down Meeting Street. At one point, we stopped and purchased several cups of gelato. I watched as she took a spoonful and slowly savored it between those beautiful lips. Once again I marveled at my good fortune. Of all the men in the world, I was the one.

Near the end of the Mile, we came to the battery. We located a bench where we could sit and watch the people as they walked by. Young and old, rich and poor, families and singles all seemed to be in good spirits as they passed our spot. Some nodded in our direction, while others seemed to be wrapped up in their own thoughts.

After some time, we resumed our walk and headed over to the loading area for the trip out to Fort Sumter. We were fortunate enough to find a spot on the last boat for the day. The upper observation deck of the ferry still had several openings available for us. We ended up in the center of the boat, but we were still able to observe the open sky and the harbor as we headed toward the fort.

I heard some folks say that they had spotted dolphins. There seemed to be no way that we would be able to wedge our way in to see them, so we contented ourselves with what we could see. Anna told me that she would often take a ferry in Russia. She seemed content to watch and observe the sky and water around her.

I explained that we were going to the Fort where the first shot of the Civil War had been fired. From what I could tell, she had some understanding of the war in which Americans fought against other Americans. I explained that it was a very sad time in our history, and that the structure that we were going to see had sustained massive attacks.

When we arrived at the dock, I opted for going on our own tour, rather than listening to the presentation. We walked to the ocean side of the inner walls and found cannon after cannon pointing out to sea.

"We have cannon in Russia. It Tsar's cannon. It biggest cannon in world." Anna stated.

I had actually done some studies on armaments and knew that the Tsar's was indeed the largest cannon in the world. I also knew that it was located inside the walls of the Kremlin in Moscow. There was actually some disagreement as to whether it should be defined as a mortar or a cannon. It had been cast, mainly for decoration, but there was some evidence that it had been fired at least once. Napoleon had considered taking it back to France as a trophy, but had later scrapped that plan.