Waiting for Dusk (5 page)

The two teens entered the kitchen.

“Would you like to stay for dinner, Tyson?”
her mother asked.

“Yes, I’d like to very much, Mrs. Roberts.”
Ty nodded his head. He turned to Katie and said, “I’ll get my suit
and be back.”

“Ty is such a nice boy. He’s grown so much
and is more mature. By the way, have you cleaned the pool
today?”

Her mom seemed to be playing matchmaker.
“Yes,” Katie lied as she ran upstairs to get her suit.

She sat on her bed. She didn’t like that Ty
tried to kiss her. The only person she wanted to kiss was Drew and
he was just a dream. She needed to stop that. It was turning into
an obsession, but she didn’t care. The dream was almost becoming
her real world, and she was going through the motions in this
one.

Katie found a bathing suit, and slowly began
putting it on. She couldn’t wait for the day to end.

Chapter Seven

Katie heard a
familiar voice. “Kathryn? Are you awake?”

“It’s Saturday and we don’t have to
work.”

She sat up in bed. “Come in, Anna.”

Anna opened the door and smiled at Katie. “We
don’t have to work but Lucinda volunteered to go in today. So I
thought it was a perfect day for us to be together. I asked Mr.
Johansson to saddle up two horses for us.”

“Horses?” Katie was still waking up and a
little confused.

“Yes, silly, Mr. Johansson has a barn with
two horses in it. He lets us use them whenever we want.”

“Give me some time to get ready and I’ll meet
you outside,” Katie said while she got out of bed.

“Fifteen minutes, Kathryn. That’s all I am
giving you. I packed some bread and cheese so don’t worry about
eating.”

“Okay.” Katie wondered what she would wear
for horseback riding. She looked in a little closet in the hallway
outside her room and found some clothes. She did the morning ritual
in less than fifteen, and then headed out the door.

Anna was already on a beautiful dapple-gray
horse, holding the reins to the second one. That horse was a silky
brown with a black mane and tail. Luckily Katie took riding lessons
when she was younger, her father made sure of it.

“This is Flicka. Flicka meet Kathryn.” Anna
handed the reins to her.

“Nice to meet you, Flicka,” Katie bowed. “And
who is this other lovely horse if I may ask?”

“Thunder!” Anna shouted out as she galloped
away.

Katie mounted Flicka, then followed Anna and
Thunder. After they rode for about a mile, Anna came to a stop.
“This is the perfect place to talk.” She slid gracefully from
Thunder, looped the reins over a low branch and sat down in the
shade of the tree. Katie did the same.

“Alright, Miss Anna. Now that we are alone,
you’re going to tell me everything!” Katie felt the excitement
growing inside. She couldn’t wait to hear the gossip.

“I will tell you everything. But first you
have to tell me how you met Mr. Andrew Martin.” Anna’s eyes grew
wide.

“You know...you know him?”

“Why, yes. Everyone does. He works at the
park, you know. And, yes. I do know...about you and him. You don’t
think I pay attention?”

Katie decided to fill her in on everything
that happened, except for the boardinghouse visit and the kiss.

Anna rolled in the grass laughing after Katie
told her how she fell over the fence on that fateful day she met
Drew. “So ladylike! I wonder if Andrew saw your britches. You think
he’s the bee’s knees, don’t you?”

“The what?” Katie thought that was the
strangest saying she’d ever heard.

“The bee’s knees. You know...you think he is
great.”

Katie rolled her eyes. “Enough of that. Now
on to you. Tell me how and why you came to the Grand Canyon.”

“Actually, Lucinda and I came together. We
met at the Lake Forest Academy—a private high school for boys and
girls. Lucinda was one of my roommates freshmen year and we became
inseparable. Ferry Hall was the girls’ school and the boys attended
Lake Forest Academy. We would have outings together. The school
took us to the beach and organized hikes. In the winter, we ice
skated and went on sleigh rides. What fun we had. Lucinda and I
were the best of friends.”

“I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of that
school.”

“It’s a private school outside of Chicago.
Both Lucinda and I lived at the school because it was pretty far
from home.”

Katie was taken aback by that information.
Lucinda and Anna knew each other. If they went to a private school,
their families obviously had money. So what were they doing at the
canyon?

“Tell me how you ended up here,” Katie asked
again.

“Lucinda read an article in the paper about
the Harvey girls. They were young, single and liked adventure. Fred
Harvey hired pretty, smart girls with good moral character and
backgrounds to work at his restaurants out West. It said the girls
were provided with room and board. There are also managers, like
Mr. and Mrs. Johansson, to watch over the girls. Plus the girls
were also given free railway passes. We figured we’d see the
country together, maybe meet a rich rancher and settle down with
our husbands in a new part of the country.” Anna laughed. “I’m
probably boring you.”

“No, I find it quite interesting. Go on.”

“We knew we had the qualifications so we
wrote letters to the company. It would be hard to convince our
families while we were still in high school so we didn’t tell them
until after graduation. They didn’t like it at all. My family
really wanted me to go to college and I tried a semester. I had to
prove to them that I really wanted to do this.”

“And what about Lucinda?”

“Lucinda’s family finally just gave in. When
she came home from Ferry, she did nothing. She went on strike.
That’s Lucinda for you. She got her way.”

“And you did too,” Katie finished for
her.

“Yes, I did. We arrived here by train in
April. No regrets. The money is good, plus we get time off whenever
we want. Lucinda and I never did get to travel together...” Anna’s
voice trailed off.

“What happened? If you two were best friends
for years, what could have happened?” Katie looked at Anna and saw
sadness in her eyes.

“A boy. A rancher’s son, named Daniel.” Anna
looked away.

“Go on,” Katie prodded.

“Lucinda met Daniel first. He liked to come
for lunch at El Tovar. We, of course, were just learning how to be
waitresses and were working in the back kitchen. She caught a
glimpse of Daniel out in the dining room and was determined to meet
him. She charmed her way out there and then went over to their
table asking if everything was alright. She started up a
conversation with Daniel. The next thing you know they had a date
to go riding.”

“I can picture Lucinda doing something like
that.” Katie giggled.

“Of course, Daniel said he would come to the
boardinghouse first. Mr. Carl had to meet him and approve the date.
When he showed up the next day, I was grooming one of the horses.
He came into the barn looking for Mr. Carl. I never meant for this
to happen, I swear I didn’t!” Anna threw herself onto the ground,
crying.

“It’s okay, Anna. It’s okay,” Katie assured
her. “How bad can it be?”

“It was love at first sight!” Anna wailed
even louder.

“For you?”

“For both of us!”

Katie saw that it was quite a problem. You
can’t help who you fall in love with, and you can’t make someone
fall in love with you. Haven’t all the fairy tales in the world
proven that? Look at Cinderella. She fell in love with the prince
and it was love at first sight. Her stepsisters tried and tried to
gain his attention but he didn’t notice them. In the end, the right
girl ended up with the right guy. Katie guessed that Anna’s story
didn’t have the same happy ending.

She waited for Anna to calm down.

Anna sat up and continued. “Lucinda was head
over heels for Daniel. I couldn’t react. I couldn’t hurt her like
that. Daniel went on the ride with Lucinda. He did like her. How
could anyone not like her? She was fun, smart, pretty and
charismatic. He liked her as a friend. Daniel decided to stop
seeing her when he realized she thought it was more than that.”

Anna was quiet for a moment. Katie reached
for her hand to give her support.

“Daniel wanted to be truthful. He told her
how he met me in the barn and that he would like to start seeing
me, if it was alright with her. It wasn’t, of course. There was a
big blow up between them outside the boardinghouse. I never heard
such screaming come out of Lucinda’s mouth. Then she began to cry.
I looked out of my window and saw Daniel holding her. He walked her
to the door, got on his horse and rode away. The next thing I knew,
my door flew open and there stood Lucinda. ‘Don’t ever talk to me
again, you traitor,’ she screamed. ‘How could you?’”

“What did you do?”

“I tried to explain that I didn’t do
anything. I told her we talked in the barn one time and then I only
saw Daniel was when he came to get Lucinda. She didn’t seem to
believe me.”

“Wow,” was all Katie could say.

They sat and stared up at the blue sky that
seemed to go on forever. Finally Katie had to ask, “Did you ever
start seeing Daniel?”

“Yes,” Anna’s voice was barely a whisper. “It
was wonderful.”

“So then, what happened? Where is he?” Katie
couldn’t stand the suspense.

“Gone,” Anna said. “He’s gone.”

Chapter Eight

Anna turned to Katie.
“Let’s go. Let’s ride!” She ran, jumped onto Thunder, then seemed
to disappear over the horizon.

Katie gazed down the road watching the swirls
of dust as she contemplated all she just heard. Another horse was
coming down the trail. As it grew closer, Katie saw the rider was
Drew.

“Kate!” he called out. “It looks like you’ve
been left in the dust.”

“Yes, it seems so,” she called back.

Andrew stopped in front of the tree. “Well,
it is your day off. I’d like to show you more of the Canyon. Are
you up for it?”

Katie hopped up. She took Flicka’s reins and
mounted the horse gracefully. She was pleased with herself.

Thanks, Dad, for those lessons,
she
thought as they headed off toward the canyon.

It was a short ride, shorter than Katie
remembered. She loved that she was following Andrew on her horse.
She looked at his broad shoulders and smiled. She loved how his
dark hair just covered the back of his collar. He was even handsome
from behind. Speaking of behinds...she stopped herself. I’m being a
little naughty now! She laughed aloud.

Andrew turned around, “Is everything
alright?”

“Yes. Everything’s fine.”

Andrew stopped and dismounted. “We’re here.”
He came back to help Katie off her horse.

“Thanks,” she said as slid into his arms.
“This is beautiful.” She couldn’t get enough of the Grand Canyon.
The colors were dazzling in the afternoon sun. They didn’t speak.
Drew took Katie’s hand as they walked along.

“Summer’s coming to an end. I’ll be going
back to school soon.” Andrew broke the silence.

“Oh, me, too,” Katie nodded in agreement.

“You’re still in school? The girls here are
usually done with school. I thought you’d be here on semester break
when I come back.”

Andrew’s face changed to surprise or
disappointment. Katie couldn’t tell which. “Where do you go to
school?”

“Back in Ohio. I’ll be a Junior this
year.”

“I’ll be a Senior. I can’t wait to get done
and get back here. My parents want me to go to college on the East
coast but I’d rather be out here.”

“You live on the East coast?”

“New York—New York City to be exact. I go to
a private boarding school.”

“Oh.” Kate couldn’t help thinking that New
York was pretty far from the canyon and perhaps his parents wanted
to keep him closer to home. “Have you thought about a major?”

“Biology for now. But let’s not talk about
the boring stuff. I want to hear more about you.” Andrew spun her
around and looked deep into her eyes. “Is it too early to say ‘I
love you’?”

Katie laughed and playfully pushed him away.
“Drew, you have a great sense of humor.” Her heart pounded. She
wanted to say that it was not too early. She would love to hear him
say it again and again. She chose to talk about herself instead
because that seemed like a safer topic.

“I live in a small town outside of Oberlin,
Ohio. My mother works at the college there. Have you heard of
Oberlin College?”

“Of course, I have.” Andrew nodded. “It is a
liberal arts college that’s very accepting of women and
Negroes.”

“What did you say?” Her eyes flashed, then
she remembered this was a different century, a different time.

“I said that Oberlin is very accepting of
women and...”

“...Blacks, African Americans,” Katie
interrupted.

“Alright then. If that is how they say it in
Oberlin, so shall I. I’m progressive and open to new century
ideas.” Andrew smiled.

Katie returned his smile. She knew she better
change the subject and fast. She just might give away what century
she was really from. “School starts the last week of August. It
will be here too soon. I only have three more weeks here.”

“Sad to hear. My first term does not start
until September. Hopefully we will meet up again.”

Drew pulled Kate close to him and she did not
resist. She wrapped her arms around his waist, then felt him rest
his chin on her head. The sun was lower in the sky, and the canyon
took on another mystical glow.

“I feel like it’s close to suppertime,”
Andrew said. “If you would

like, I will ride with you back to the
boardinghouse.”

“Yes, I would love that.”

They rode side-by-side on the way back,
chatting about the canyon, the weather, and the people they worked
with. When they came close to the boardinghouse, Katie turned to
Andrew and said, “I think I’ll go the rest of the way on my own.”
She didn’t want to get into trouble with the Johanssons. They
didn’t know she was with Andrew, plus she hadn’t cleared it with
them.