The Red Door

Part One: Summer 1929, Chapter 1

Chapter One

Even as a young girl the sweet smell of magnolias and the cool shade of a tall tree were special to me. I enjoyed pretending I was an adult and that I knew what it meant to be calm and appreciative of simple things. There were many days I felt that I was a thirty-year-old woman trapped in the body of a young girl. On the days I got the urge to learn to cross stitch instead of play tag, I thought maybe I was meant to be eighty, and skip all the childish things. But then there were the days I spent wandering in the woods just east of the Buckhannon River, digging in the dirt with Howard, the round-faced, sandy-haired boy that I called my best friend. It was days like that when I was reminded of my true age.

 

For as long as I can remember I've felt more in tune with the past than the present. I've always found an unexplainable feeling of nostalgia and comfort in tangible objects that were rich in history, the kind of objects that transport you to a different time and place by simply being in their presence. One of my earliest memories is from the day I found one of those objects. The first of many that I collected were silver buttons I found near an old sycamore tree just off the river. It was the first time Howard and I had wandered that far from home, and it was weighing on my six-year-old conscience until I saw the faintest glimmer of silver in the dirt next to my bare feet.

"Come on Mollie!" Howard hollered at me through the trees, "You're gonna get in trouble!"

"Wait a minute!" I hollered back, digging as fast as I could in the damp, cool soil.

"Mollie! Come on!" He yelled again, stomping through the brush, trying his hardest to be as stern as a six-year-old could be.

"Wait a minute, I said! Can't you hear?!" I retorted sarcastically.

"Aw, Mollie, why are you digging in the dirt?!" Howard whined as he cleared the branches in his path to me.

"Because I found something, help me dig!" I said, dusting off a fourth button.

Howard crouched down next to me.

"Wow!" he gasped, holding a button up in front of his face, his eyes wide.

"Told you!"

"Yeah, yeah. You're still gonna be late."

"So, what?" I shrugged, frantically digging for more buttons.

"What do you mean so what?! You know what!" He whined.

And I did, I knew. If I was late for supper I didn't get any. But it wouldn't be the first time I went to bed hungry, and I wanted those buttons.

"Come on, Mollie, we can come back tomorrow and look some more," Howard said, standing up, trying to bring me with him. I could hear the worry in his voice, and it hurt. It should have been my worry, for I was the one who would be hungry.

"Okay! Okay!" I said, filling the hole in with the loose dirt. I stood up and looked around. I studied the sycamore tree, the dirt and leaves on the ground, the brush around me, and the river as I saw it from that angle so I could easily find it again. I was determined to find more buttons, but not at the expense of Howard's conscience. I put the four silver buttons in my dress pocket and Howard grabbed my hand and we took off east. The twigs and branches were sharp under my bare feet, and I knew if I kept with my slow pace I'd surely miss supper.

"Hurry!" Howard said, "The sun is almost behind the trees!"

"I know!" I said, "I'm going as fast as I can!"

Howard ran back towards me, then turned his back to me.

"Hop on," he said, "I'll carry you."

We were nearly the same size, but all I could think about was the relief of my bare feet, so I jumped on his back and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He ran as if his supper depended on it, but his parents would never do such a thing.