Her Daughter’s Dream

The waitress brought their breakfasts. Mom thanked her and unrolled her silverware from the paper napkin. She might as well have put up a sign: Silence, please! Dawn ignored it. “I’ve never heard you talk about Rachel Altman, Mom.” Not that it was all that surprising. She’d never heard her mother talk about anyone! Now that Dawn had a name from her mother’s past, she wanted to know more.

“Haven’t you?” Mom didn’t raise her eyes. “I thought Granny might have mentioned her.”

“Nope.” If Granny had, Dawn couldn’t remember. “Are you still in touch with her? I mean, if you were best friends and all…”

“No.” The word came out firm and flat. End of conversation. Her mother poked at the fruit and speared a piece of melon. “What classes are you taking this year?”

“English, geometry, social studies, PE, biology.” She’d be studying human anatomy and physiology this year, too.

“What about Spanish? You’ll need a foreign language if you want to go to a university.”

“Spanish, too. I forgot. Not that I’m all that excited about going to college.”

Mom glanced up. “What do you want to do?”

“I want to get married. I want to have children. I want to be a housewife.” Dawn laughed at herself. “Hardly considered a worthy goal, is it? I’m supposed to want a career.” Dawn forked eggs into her mouth, pleased to have shocked her mother. At least she was getting some reaction out of her.

When they headed off again, Dawn yawned. “I’m so tired.” She looked at the map. “I hardly slept last night.”

“I wouldn’t have left you behind.”

Dawn had hoped they’d talk all the way down, but the silences grew longer. She might as well take a nap so the time would go more quickly. As she dozed off, she thought she felt her mother’s fingers lightly brush the hair back from her face.

* * *

Dawn awakened when the car stopped. “We’re here!” Mom sounded light and happy. They were parked in front of a small house with a single-car garage. Dawn got out and went around the back for her duffel bag. She stood on the sidewalk looking down a long, straight street lined with old elm trees and small houses that all looked alike except for the color and landscaping. Oma’s house was yellow with white trim and a bright red door. Red, yellow, and white roses bloomed profusely below a front window. A cement walk led to the front steps and postage-stamp porch.

The front door was opened by a wizened old lady with permed white hair and wire-rimmed glasses. She was wearing a blue dress with white polka dots and collar. “It’s going to be a scorcher.”

Mom hurried up the steps and hugged Oma. Dawn felt shy. Oma’s hands looked like bird claws on Mom’s back. “It’s good to see you, Liebling. And I noticed you brought someone special with you.”

Mom straightened and turned, eyes glistening with tears. “Dawn asked to come along.”

“Did she?” Oma smiled at Dawn. “Well, come on in where it’s cool.”

An oscillating fan whirred on a stool set up in the kitchen doorway, stirring the heavy air across the tiny, simply furnished living room. A gilt-framed print of snow-covered mountains and green meadows hung on the wall. A recliner sat near the windows with a white crocheted afghan tossed over one arm. A reading lamp stood on one side and a side table stacked with books on the other.

Oma waved toward the short hall. “Carolyn, you can take the front bedroom.” Mom disappeared around the corner with her suitcase. “Dawn, the family room is through the kitchen and down the steps on your right. You can use the hide-a-bed.”

Dawn stepped around the stool with the oscillating fan and went into the kitchen. She liked the glossy yellow walls with white trim and colorful chicken-print curtains. An ancient gas stove and a small, round-fronted refrigerator were on her right. Three red vinyl, chrome-leg chairs and a table covered with a blue- and white- checkered oilcloth sat against the back wall. A big window looked out onto a large backyard with a stretch of green lawn and a tree loaded with lemons, oranges, and limes.

Dawn went through the side doorway at the back of the kitchen and stepped down into the family room. It looked more like a library. Shelves laden with books covered the back wall. Dawn dumped her duffel bag beside the green hide-a-bed with needlepoint pillows and took a closer look at Oma’s collection. Each shelf held books on a different topic: the ancient history of Egypt; Babylonian, Assyrian, Chinese, European, and British history; American history; biographies. Several shelves held books on farming and business management. One shelf held novels, all classics, all on Dawn’s college preparatory reading list.

The backyard beckoned. Stepping outside, she inhaled the sweet scent of wisteria, roses, and sweet alyssum mingling with freshly mown lawn. Bees buzzed in the Joseph’s Coat roses climbing posts supporting the white lattice patio cover. Two white wicker chairs with green- and white-striped cushions and a yellow and white couch swing looked inviting. Red, purple, and pink fuchsias spilled from hanging pots.

The kitchen window slid open. “May Flower Dawn!” Oma called out to her. “Iced tea or lemonade?”

How long since anyone had called her May Flower Dawn? Only Mom ever did it, and not very often.

“Lemonade, please.” She came back inside and found Mom sitting at the kitchen table with a glass of iced tea. She looked so relaxed and pretty, her blue eyes shining. “It’s so good to be here, Oma.” She clearly meant it.

Oma’s hand shook, spilling some lemonade, as she set a glass in front of Dawn.

“Drat it all. Lucky I didn’t spill it all over you. I’m shaking worse than ever.”

“What did the doctor say?” Mom wanted to know.

“He said I’m getting old.” She snorted. “As if I didn’t know. I see myself in the mirror every morning when I put in my dentures.” She scowled. “But let’s get serious. Angel food cake now or after supper?”

Mom laughed. “How about now and after supper?”

“That’s my girl.” Oma winked at Dawn. “Still has her sweet tooth. How about you, Miss May Flower Dawn?”

Just Dawn, she wanted to say, but stopped herself. She’d never seen her mother in such a lighthearted mood and didn’t want to spoil it. “Any time is a good time for dessert.”

“Good answer.”

Mom told Oma to sit; she’d take care of serving. Oma eased herself into a chair. While Mom cut the cake, Oma asked about Christopher and Mitch. One question from Oma and words spilled from Mom’s mouth. Dawn had never heard her mother talk so much or so easily. Nor had Dawn ever tasted anything as good as Oma’s angel food cake. Granny’s didn’t come close.

“And what about you?” Oma asked Dawn. “What’s going on in your life?”

“Not much.” Dawn shrugged. “Other than I have a massive crush on a gorgeous guy I met at a youth group.” She couldn’t believe she had blurted out that bit of news. Oma was practically a stranger.

“And you left him all alone to come down here and visit an old lady? I’m flattered.”

“Unfortunately, Jason barely knows I exist.”

Dawn collected the empty plates and put them in the sink. “Would you mind if I sat outside on your patio? It’s so pretty out there, and I love your swing.”

Oma waved her hand. “Make yourself to home.”

Dawn stretched out on the swing, one foot on the patio to push off. She gazed dreamily through the red, orange, and golden blossoms of the Joseph’s Coat above her. She hadn’t known what to expect, but she liked it here. Granny said Oma could be unapproachable and rather cold, a woman who expected perfection, but so far, Dawn hadn’t gotten that feeling. Maybe age had mellowed Oma. If her great-grandmother had always expected perfection, why would she and Mom be such bosom buddies? Mom had broken moral laws and Granny’s heart right along with them.

With the kitchen window cracked open, Dawn could hear Mom and Oma talking inside the house. Though words were indistinct, the constant babble and frequent laughter told her clearly how well they got along, how much they loved each other.

It had always been that way. Granny said they had a private club with only two members and it was no use trying to break in. But Oma had welcomed Dawn today. She had seemed genuinely glad to have her come down for