Cousins

Sandra Kucinich-Horn

378 Charmel Place

Columbus

Ohio

43235

614-352-6748

sandrakhorn83@yahoo.com

1091 words

Cousins

by Sandra Kucinich-horn

Martha burst into the parlor with a letter in her hand. “They’re coming!” She said.

      “Who’s coming?” I asked.

      “Why my cousins from Cleveland. I haven’t seen them in years. And they’re coming here. To see me! All this way.”

      “Martha, that's wonderful. When are they coming?”

      She looked down at the letter. “Why, according to this, in a few days. You’ll love them.”

      Martha and I have lived together for many years. Being single, we pooled our resources, bought a house, and run a Bed and Breakfast in the Finger Lakes of New York to supplement our incomes.

      “Martha, you never mentioned your cousins. They’re going to stay here at The Hideaway Cottage. Our season doesn’t really start until late May. It’ll be great having guests.”

      “You won’t mind?”

      “Of course not! I want to try out some new recipes on them.”

      Martha laughed. “Oh good. Last I heard, poor Alex was still recovering from the war, so this will be good.”

      With that, Martha turned and left the room, leaving me curious.

      Martha was in the kitchen making coffee when I walked in to grab some tea.

      “Hungry? I could make some sandwiches.”

      “No, I think I’ll just heat some soup.”

      “How about I do that for you?”

      I opened the refrigerator and noticed a sugar bowl had been placed in there. I glanced at Martha staring out at the forsythia blossoms in the backyard. “We’ll be using the patio soon,” I said to her as I put a bowl of chicken soup in the microwave.

      “I hope so. We’ve had three snows, so we should be good. I love late April.”

      Setting the table, I asked, “How many cousins are we expecting?”

      Martha looked at me blankly, then recovered, “Oh, just Terry and Alex, I think.”

      “Martha, tell me about them.”

      “Terry and I are close in age. I loved when Aunt Kathy and Uncle Ted would bring her over to visit. Terry and I would play Tacy and Betsy. You know the girls in the Maude Hart Lovelace books?”

      “Gosh, I haven’t thought about those for years. A friend and I always dressed up. Did you?”

      “Uh-huh. We would walk down the street and then down by the lake. We even made brownies one time and sold lemonade.”

      “Is Alex her husband?”

      “Yes, they were high school sweethearts, but Alex got into some trouble.”

      “What kind of trouble?”

      “He started to run with a rough crowd in high school and was caught with stolen things.”

      “Wow.”

      “Yeah, the judge gave him a choice-jail time or enlist.”

      “Great, when was that?”

      “1968.”

      “At the height of the Vietnam War.”

      Martha nodded. “Terry was devastated. She tried to keep him out of trouble, but he just wouldn’t listen. She stuck with him, though.”

      “What happened?”

      “It was sweet. He came home between boot camp and being sent to Vietnam. He wore his dress blues when he took her to the prom.”

      “Was he older?”

      “By a year. She showed me pictures. He bought her an orchid wrist corsage.”

      “How nice.”

      “He went to Vietnam and later that year was caught in an ambush. Alex and two other Marines were wounded, but I remember six survived. Alex was eventually sent home, but not because of his wounds.”

      “What do you mean?”

      “He was caught stealing again. Something about the commissary and other things. It’s been a long time.”

      “Oh.”

      “He received a dishonorable discharge.”

      “Goodness.”

      “Terry married him anyway. While he was in Vietnam, she went to nursing school. By the time he came home, she was an RN. She probably felt she could help him. Rehab, stuff like that.”

      “Where do they live now?”

      “I’m not sure. They started out in Cleveland, of course, that’s where I grew up. Then, I think they moved to Indiana, and Las Vegas after that.”

      Martha decided her soup was going to get cold and sat down to eat. I waited to hear more about these cousins, but she had told a friend she would dig up some Hosta plants and wanted to get to it.

      Not knowing exactly when Martha’s cousins were coming, I went upstairs to the guest rooms to clean. We hadn’t had guests since early December. The Hideaway Cottage didn’t have hot tubs or fire pits like some of the other inns. Plus, since I didn’t enjoy cleaning up after people who were skiing or being asked to clean fish caught by people ice fishing, we agreed we would close until Spring. 

      I kept thinking about this Alex. What would he be like? Martha said he, at whatever point she remembered, or they had been in touch, was still recovering from the war. Okay, Vietnam was horrible. This guy had been wounded. Some people never recovered from Vietnam. But Terry married him anyway. What type of person was he? Was she an enabler? A co-dependent? Did they have any kids? Well, they would be older now, anyway. Oh, my. Had he continued to steal? Has he done jail time? What if they had to keep moving around to keep him out of trouble?

      By dinner time, I was anxious about exactly who we were inviting into The Hideaway Cottage. Making one of Martha’s favorite dinners of beef stew, I thought we could talk a little more about her cousins.

      We sat down and I listened to how many Hosta plants Martha had removed from the backyard garden. We talked about what herbs we were going to put in our kitchen garden. Then I brought up the subject of Martha’s cousins.

      “Martha, you didn’t tell me what Alex did after the war. You know, what was his career?”

      Martha’s face was blank. She smiled and tilted her head. “Who?”

      “You know your cousin Terry’s husband.”

      “Oh, I don’t know. I haven’t heard from Terry in, geez, a long time. What made you think of them?”

      After dinner, I went to Martha’s study. We both had one so we could work when guests were here. I looked on her desk to find her letter. An envelope was sitting on top. I don’t usually pry, but I had to know when these cousins were coming.

Celebrate!

Watkins Glen celebrates Spring at The Harbor Hotel

Enjoy live music, cooking demonstrations, food, wine, and so much more from local vendors and artisans!

Featuring

Alex Terry and the Mountaineers Bluegrass Band

April 28, 29, and May 1