Flights of Fancy

Borneo and Juliet

Clara was sad, but not distraught. The funeral for her mother had been a lovely affair and served to remind her how much Juliet was loved. It is not often that a ninety-one year old woman of  color could fill the church of a predominantly white congregation.

Clara sat back and looked around her mother's house. The artifacts on display were amazing. They had all been collected during her parent's ten years of missionary work in the Pacific, preaching the Word from one island to the next. Clara became a bit wistful thinking about how hard it must have been for her mother to lose her husband, Clara's father, at such an early age, in such a distant place as Borneo.

She scanned the room, her eyes settling not only on the beautifully carved weapons, masks, and magnificent shields, but on the more macabre items like the human skull and knife made from a man's leg bone.

There was a photo of her father in his collar, taken after one of his Sunday sermons shortly before his death in 1963.

It must have been hard, she thought, for a black woman and a white man to be married in Mississippi in the 60's. No wonder they spent all that time overseas.

There was a noise at the door. Her older sister Flora entered the house and sat next to Clara. She was silent for a while, then spoke, "She was sure something, wasn't she?"

"She was," Clara affirmed, "I wonder what dad was like. Do you remember him at all?"

"No girl, I don't. I was only 3, of course you were still in Mama's belly when he died."
Flora reached into her purse and pulled out a weathered old book and handed it to Clara.

"What's this?" Clara asked, examining the small leather notebook that was secured by a locking strap.

"Mama's lawyer, Mr. Pope, gave it to me. Said she wanted us to have it after she passed. Didn't have the key though. Said he thought it was a diary."

"A diary? Oh my." Clara smiled broadly, "I hope it's scandalous."

Flora guffawed, "Scandalous? Our Mama? Dream on girl!"

"You never know." Clara intoned quietly, clutching the precious reminder of her mother tightly to her breast.

The sisters decided to take turns with the book. Flora agreed to leave the book with Clara first and to let her deal with opening it. The only demand that Flora made was that her sister not reveal any spoilers about the book's contents.

The thought of learning a secret or two about her mother aroused Clara's curiosity and as soon as Flora left she began looking for something with which to pick the lock on the mysterious book. She decided on a bobby-pin and after some struggle managed to pop the lock.

Clara moved to the kitchen table and opened a bottle of red wine in preparation for her reading marathon. When she was settled in, she began to read with eager anticipation.