The English Descendants

22

Richard Seth Drake, son of Anne and Matthew, brother to Daisy, knows that, as the only boy in the house, he must help take special care of his great grandmother Edith. He brings her his schoolwork when he thinks it will be new to her. She teaches him the things she once learned in her own schooling and introduces him to the novels she and Alan collected- Sherlock Holmes, but also Wilkie Collins and Edgar Alan Poe, one of her favourites. He likes Holmes the best. The idea of solving problems through observation appeals to him. He is a quiet young man, a thinker, and a watcher. Edith thinks he is quite a lot like his great grandfather.

Daisy Helen Drake, however, is all spark and emotion. She draws and paints architectural details in her free time, even at ten, carrying a sketchbook wherever she goes, jotting notes about what she sees in the city in the margins so she can finish her drawings when she has more time. Edith wonders if this is Thomas she sees in the girl. So much imagination, so much creativity. She will build the world to suit her, rather than accepting it has any set of given rules like her brother. She takes up playing as many instruments as she can and embraces the folk music resurgence that the flower children bring with them to the city. She is too young to join them, but she loves the colours of their clothing, the ideals they espouse, and the music of a generation ready to take on the world.

Daisy loves her imaginary friend, even when she discovers he is not imaginary. He is her frequent companion, sitting on the floor of her bedroom listening to her tell stories to her stuffed animals, telling him that he is most certainly going to play tea party with her, and, in later years, calling on him to share the music she brings home on shiny black vinyls.

Richard thinks his sister, as fanciful as she is, is impractical and childish. He is only two years her elder, but even in 1965, when she is but thirteen and he fifteen, he considers himself her protector and the wiser sibling. She laughs at his attempts to bring her to reason.

She loves exploring the old brick house and her favourite place is the attic. She discovered it years ago, but never bothered to explore the boxes and trunks. But when Edith does some cleaning, a black lacquered trunk labeled "Enola" surfaces and she is far too curious not to open it. She drags it over to the watchmaker's cabinet where the sunlight streams in from the uncurtained window. When she lifts the lid, she has no idea what she is looking at.

"What is all this stuff?"

Thomas appears beside the cabinet, fading into view slowly so as not to startle her, "It is obsolete."

"Yeah, maybe, but what is it? Look at all these gears!"

"I once built things. Toys. Engines. Music box workings."

"This was yours?"

"Yes."

"How does it all work?"

"Some by the power of steam, some by cranks or gravity. None of it is overly complicated. You should be able to figure it out if you study it."

She sets some of the mechanisms on the bench, "I think I'll start by drawing it. This stuff is just fascinating...and would you look at this lighting!"

Thomas laughs- her delight in his handiwork brings him such joy. He sits with her as she sketches. When her brother interrupts her, she tells Thomas to have him shoo off. He shakes his head and shrugs to Richard. Richard rolls his eyes and leaves them alone in the attic.

As Richard approaches sixteen, he decides that he will be either a scientist or a detective when he leaves school. There are plans to make, colleges to explore, and so many different paths open before him in the wide world that he cannot sort through them all. So when he finishes high school, he tries for the police academy. When he cannot pass their physical exam, being a small, thin young man, he decides that he should try for college instead. While Daisy sketches in the attic, Richard travels the country looking at colleges, hoping that he will find one that is the best fit. He still cannot decide and takes work instead at the Rouge plant, spending his evenings sitting with his great grandmother, dreaming of the things he will do when he finds the right school and gets his degree.