Right after breakfast the next morning Lauren and Abigail jumped into the car and headed back to her grandmother’s place. The roads were fairly busy considering it was still early and not many businesses were open yet. After a while Lauren realized where a good number were headed as the parking lots of the many churches along the roadside began filling up.
They passed a large Catholic church, but most of the churches were small with white clapboard or brick sides. There were a few signs proclaiming the buildings to be Lutheran or Methodist, but Baptist seemed to be the predominant Christian sect.
Slidell House of Worship, Lauren knew, was her grandmother’s place of worship and it was less than a mile from the turnoff to the cottage. When they approached the church, Lauren slowed down and took note of the time the services were held.
“Abby, I think it’s time we talked to Grand-mere’s pastor. It looks as though there is a break from the late morning service until one held at 3:30. Maybe he’ll have a few minutes for me then. We’ll go right after lunch.”
Continuing on, Lauren took the turn into the long drive leading to the cottage. The first thing Lauren headed toward upon opening the door, were the bookshelves. “There are so many books, magazines and papers cluttering up these shelves, I should see which ones should be tossed or at least organize them so I know what’s here.” Abby seemed to agree as she jumped up onto the back of the sofa to get a better view of the entire proceedings.
Lauren grabbed some rags and started taking everything down from the shelves. She wiped the dust off of each item as she browsed through them to determine which pile it should be placed: keep, junk, maybe. Lauren had to keep herself to the chore; it was very hard not to abandon the task at hand and start reading some of the books and articles, they all seemed so interesting.
After several hours, Lauren sat back and looked at the piles she had amassed. The Keep pile was huge, followed by a rather small Maybe pile, with very little in the Junk pile. “Abby, I guess I’ll put all of the Keep books back, pretty much in the order they were in originally, Grand-mere had the same type of filing system I have. I know I can get some storage boxes for the magazines and papers, and then they’ll fit much better on the shelves. I’ll work on the books first, clean up a bit, and then we’ll have some lunch. I see your ears perked on that.” She teased her friend.
It took another couple of hours, but the books were back on the shelves, and the magazines were stacked waiting for the storage boxes. Lauren had washed up and she and Abby had finished their lunches.
She went into the back bedroom, grabbed the Bible and placed it in a large canvas bag. Lauren and Abigail climbed into the car and headed off to the Slidell House of Worship. Within minutes she turned into a gravel lot which now contained only a few cars.
Lauren parked under a large shade tree, cracked open the car window leaving Abigail inside and headed toward the building. The church was probably built in the late fifties, small but with that mid-century modern look where if placed somewhere else and without the crosses and stained glass, it would look like a skiing chalet; all angles and heavy on the glass.
The front door was open and Lauren tip-toed in. The height of the ceiling gave a feeling of vast openness that contradicted the smallness from the outside. The stained glass took on a glow and cast its vibrant colors on everything inside. Lauren felt a calmness and gentleness within the walls. She imagined her grandmother seated in the front pew on the right; the choice spot so that the morning sun would not shine in her face. The image was so vivid that Lauren had to blink several times to rid herself of it.
In one of the front pews, a man was deep in thought, head down, perusing through a binder he held on his lap. Not wanting to intrude, yet needing to find the pastor, Lauren walked down to the first row and stood in the aisle, waiting for a moment to interrupt. In a few moments the man sensed her presence and looked up.
YOU ARE READING
An Inheritance
General FictionLauren heads to Louisiana to attend to her grandmother's 'estate' ... she had never met her and in fact, none of her relatives had even known she had still been alive all of those years ... as Lauren unravels her grandmother's past, she begins to un...
