The Ring - Chapter 7

 

MARGO LOUD STEINER

AN ANTIQUE CHRISTMAS tree sat on the small table next to the afghan-covered couch.

The tree had been in Hans-Peter’s family forever, but because Bethany loved it, he insisted Margo take it. That was the year that Bethany had been with her. With all its glass ornaments, not just bulbs but birds, Margo loved it too.

The knitted afghan with its assorted colors hid the holes in the leather. Margo had found the couch discarded by the side of the road. When she had time, she’d go to Goodwill to see if they had anything better.

Tonight was the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. Tomorrow, the earth and the sun would choreograph their dance into spring as they had done forever.

When she lived in Germany, she would watch her husband put real candles on the tree as his family had done for generations. He claimed the trees never caught fire, but to make sure Margo always had a fire extinguisher within easy reach.

The reason for the table tree was Camille might regard a floor tree as an indoor toilet for herself.

Not that she was new-agey, but she also had a few pine branches she brought into her home to mark the solstice. In a way she felt it guaranteed spring would come.

Lasr month, Camille had been welcomed at Heather’s Thanksgiving table, or rather under it, where Margo and Henry slipped her pieces of turkey.

The people around the table were limited to Heather, Grayson, Henry and herself. Over the years, grandparents, uncles and aunts and miscellaneous cousins had disappeared to other tables or had died.

For the first time, their mother wasn’t there to prepare the meal. The cancer had whipped through her body so fast that no one had time to prepare mentally for her absence.

Grace, Heather and Grayson’s daughter, was at her boyfriend’s house in New Jersey.

Bethany was coming for Christmas. Two international trips would be too expensive for her and although both parents were tempted to finance their daughter’s travel, Bethany wanted to stand on her own.

She’d reached the point that she could do some of her research wherever there was the internet; someone else had to take over her lab work. At Christmas, however, some students were anxious for extra work and/or experience. They also wanted to avoid home dramas, leaving Bethany free to fly to the States.

As for Margo, she was looking forward to having her daughter under a roof for the holidays.

So many little things had gone wrong since Thanksgiving including needing a new kiln. Costs for what she wanted were in the $11,000 range. Thank God that the sale of her mother’s house was eminent. Getting the old one out and the new one in place would take some heavy-duty equipment.

Her New York exhibition had been cancelled, because there’d been a fire in the gallery. The owner said he wasn’t sure she would reopen; it was time to retire the owner said, something Margo couldn’t imagine doing.

When Margo woke most mornings, ideas for new designs or decorations on her china were already in her head and she couldn’t wait to get to work.

And there were a series of annoyances since she and Heather had finished emptying her mother’s house. Margo had lost her wallet and spent too much time worrying about getting a new kiln, never mind replacing her driver’s license and other cards.

Good thing she only had one credit card, which had been used by whoever had stolen her wallet.

Good thing she had a record of the email cancelling the card an hour after it was stolen. They still billed her.

When she’d also telephoned the credit card company, they denied she’d contacted them, but she sent them copies of the emails from her and to her saying they received her email. They were still refusing to back off the $3,000 of camping equipment the thieves charged to the card. She hoped the thieves had gone camping and frozen to death.

The next letter to the credit card company would be from her lawyer.

Camille jumped on Margo’s lap. With each passing day, Margo grew more attached to the dog. She slept on her bed above and below the duvet depending on temperature. In the morning she’d wake Margo. If it were raining, the dog decided whatever natural functions were required could wait. It was during bad weather that Margo named her “The fastest dog piddler in New England.”

The dog was almost a fuzzy tumor attached to Margo. Maybe she was afraid Margo would disappear like her former owner.

Bethany reacted to the photos of the dog by saying it pleased her that her mother had company.