Nora Ray (Ray Trilogy) (15 page)

“
I’ll be there in five minutes.”

“
I’ll be in the drive way.”

She
met him at his car door.

He jumped out of the car and picked her up and whirled her around. “
Let’s go in before I embarrass both of us.”

Laura had discreetly gone to her bedroom to give them privacy and directed Danny to do the same. Danny had gone to his
bedroom but left the door ajar so he could peek at his sister and Jeremy.

Jeremy noticed immediately that Danny
’s door was open so he intentionally brought Nora in line with Danny’s view and soundly kissed her. Danny giggled. Then Jeremy turned toward Danny’s door and bowed.

“
Nora and I are leaving for a while, so you can come out now.”

Danny came out and Jeremy reached out his hand to shake Danny hand.
“It’s so good to see you again. I feel like I’ve been gone for so long.”

Danny shook hands and tried to
stand taller. “Life sure is more boring without you and Nora here. Aaron and I have a lot of fun though.”

Nora knocked on Laura
’s door, “Mom, Jeremy and I are leaving for a while.”

Laura came out and hugged Jeremy, “
It’s so good to have you home. I feel like one of my children is gone without you here coming and going.”

“
Thank you,” Jeremy returned. “I’ve been here so much; it feels a lot like home here to me, too.”

They left Nora
’s house and drove to the park to talk.

They sat at one of the park tables
holding hands in companionable silence. It wasn’t dark yet and there were children still riding on the tall swings. Others rode around on the merry-go-round, laughing and running beside it to keep it in motion. Two little boys performed acrobatic turns on the monkey bars. The grass had been freshly mowed. The creek that circled around the park was still full from the spring rains. The big pipes that bridged over the creek still tempted Nora to try to walk across them. The swimming pool had closed down for the night.

Jeremy pointed toward the sunset just starting to light up the western sky with streaks of orange and pink, underlining the cumulus clouds with yellow.

She nodded and whispered beautiful.

The parents bega
n rounding up their children to take them home. Jeremy and Nora watched the sunset continue to grow in the sky and then felt the peace of the evening as it began to grow darker.

Nora slapped her arm as a mosquito bit her.

Jeremy laughed and said, “I enjoyed sitting in the park with you but we need to go in now or we’ll be eaten by mosquitoes. How about we go to the Dairy Mart?” He wiggled his eyebrows, “Maybe my girl will snuggle with me.”

She laughed remembering what he used to say about her always scootin
g next to him there. “If you’re lucky. Maybe.”

“
Really, Nora, you are getting to be quite a tease.”

“
Wonder who I learned that from?” she replied poking him in the ribs.

After they got in the car, he pulled her over t
o sit next to him. He put his arm around her. He smelled of her hair and brushed the side of her face and ran his finger over her lips.

She could see the longing in his face. She reached up and felt the pounding of his heart. “
I love you, too.”

He turned a
nd started the car and drove to the Dairy Mart. They ordered ice cream floats.

While they were enjoying the floats, Jeremy spoke, “
Nora, remember I said I wanted to talk to you?”

She nodded.

“I think I’m going to try to get a scholarship to come to OU. I’m not sure how I will work that out yet. I know I have good grades, but I need something to balance the scales in my favor.”

Nora watched in fascination at this side of Jeremy which he didn
’t let her see often. He seemed more mature, being away from home where he didn’t want to be was taking a toll on him, she decided.

“
I took a horticulture science class this past semester. It’s fascinating stuff,” he said his eyes beginning to glow.

“
Really? Tell me about it.” Relieved to see him snap out of his melancholy mood, she looked at him in anticipation.

“
There has been a study during the last few years where they discovered that the hybrid plants that they have been cultivating mostly since the 1930’s, has significantly decreased nutrition in the food that they produce.”

“
Hmm,” Nora replied. “Wonder why that would be.”

“
They have done a wonderful job of choosing desirable traits, such as breeding disease resistant qualities. The production had exceeded all expectations in providing farmers huge yielding crops. There are corn hybrids, for instance, that they have produced through plant breeding where the stalks are shorter but yield much more corn. It’s like the plant nutrition somehow goes toward the making more corn on the cob rather than making a larger stalk.” He stopped and looked at her, “Am I boring you yet?”

“
No, it’s a fascinating topic,” she agreed. “I can see how it would catch your interest.”

“
I won’t go into all of what I’m looking into, but on my own I have been studying molecular biology. In 1953, so this is relatively new technology,” he interjected, so she would understand the significance of it, “these guys discovered that the two helical strands which make up the DNA provide coded information which directs the linear organization of the amino acids in proteins.”

Nora frowned, “
What are you trying to tell me, Jeremy?”

“
My dad wants me to work in his law office everyday this summer,” he explained, “I’m okay with that because he will pay me which will give me a little money to set up a lab in the back of Mom’s flower shop. Nora, I have some ideas about this molecular biology using data from crystallography work on this DNA which could be revolutionary. If I can get my ideas to work, I think this might be my ticket to a scholarship anywhere I want to study.”

“
Wow! Jeremy.” She said in amazement.

“
Do you see how important this could be for us?” he said excitedly. “The work I’m doing is fascinating to me but I’m also looking for some financial independence.”

She nodded.

“After work at the law office, I can spend my evenings working on this project. Maybe I’ll be successful, maybe I won’t but I want to try.”

“
Okay,” Nora agreed, “You’ve answered a question that I wanted to ask. I put in an application at the hospital, my question was whether I should stay and work here or go back to college and take Summer classes.”

“
Would you rather take Summer classes?” Jeremy asked.

“
I did want to take Summer classes, but if you are here, I would rather spend time here with you.”

Chapter Thirteen

When Nora interviewed for the job at the hospital, again she had to face Mrs. Williams, the Director of Nursing.

“
Come right in, Nora. Have a seat,” Mrs. Williams said waving toward the chair.

“
So, you have one year of premed classes under your belt now,” she said smiling at Nora.

“
Yes, Ma’am,” Nora replied. “It’s been very interesting to study Anatomy. Most of my classes at this point have been basics, but I have spent a lot of time in the library studying subjects which give me insight into subjects I will take later.”

“
That’s interesting. Most students play the first year or two at college.”

“
No, Ma’am, I would never do that,” Nora denied shaking her head. “I worked too hard to get where I am to not take advantage of the opportunity to study.”

“
I heard that you lost your father this year, I’m so sorry,” Mrs. Williams shook her head sadly.

“
Yes, Ma’am, it was a terrible blow to receive but not unexpected. His heart has been giving out on him for the last few years,” she explained.

“
So, I understand that you want to work here for the summer break,” Mrs. Williams commented. “What I can offer you is a shift from ten in the morning until six thirty in the afternoon. Would that interest you?”

“
Yes, ma’am, I can work that shift. Thank you.”

Nora left the hospital, happy that
she could work in a job where she could get more experience but also have spending money for the summer. When she got home she called Jamie, “Have you had your interview at the hospital yet?”

“
Yes, I work the afternoon shift from three to eleven thirty. How about you?” Jamie asked.

“
Just got home,” Nora told her what her shift would be.

“
Great!” Jamie exclaimed. “I guess we’ll see each other for part of our shift.”

After getting off the telephone with Jamie, Nora looked around for something to do.
I know, I’ll go to the library to study molecular biology. If I know something about the subject, it would be fun to help Jeremy with his research.

The first time Jeremy got the chance to pull his mother aside, he explained that he needed a lab, mostly some space
to work with tables and a microscope. If she could, he preferred a space in her work room in the back of her flower shop.

“
What are you doing, Jeremy?” Samantha inquired. “Is this a project for school?”

“
Yes and no.”

“
Well, that makes it as clear as mud,” she stated a little puzzled. “Could you explain a little more why you need this? It sounds a bit expensive, and I would appreciate a little more information. I do use that workroom.”

Jeremy glanced
around and decided, “Mom, would you take a walk with me. I want to talk to you.”

They walked around to the back of the house and sat at the table under the canopy in the far back of the yard.

Jeremy sat on the bench at the table and leaned his elbows on his knees, “You know how Dad has always had his heart set on my following his footsteps and becoming an attorney like him. I’m his oldest so he has a lot of expectations of me. I totally understand that. I don’t want him to be disappointed in me. It’s like, if I don’t set the example for the younger boys, they may not be successful or something along that line.”

“
I have noticed that. Yes,” Samantha nodded.

“
Have you noticed that I have chosen to study Business Law?” he asked.

Again she said, “
Yes.”

“
Remember sometime back when I told you about Nora telling me that her dad suggested my major being Business Administration with Horticulture as my minor?”

“
Uhm,” she stretched out her legs, it looked like she might be here for a while. “I thought that would be a good choice for you to take over my business someday, but you have to make your own decisions.”

“
You mean, make my own decisions, providing Dad approves.”

She nodded, “
To a point, yes.”

“
What do you mean, to a point?”

“
You are a young man, not a boy. You will turn twenty years old this summer. In spite of what your father says, it’s your life,” Samantha thought,
this is what pushing your child out of the
nest
feels like.

“
I’m not trying to make trouble for you and your dad, but if you look close enough there will be a solution that will work for both of you,” she stated turning around toward him to see if he understood what she was saying.

“
That’s what I’m talking about, Mom. Why I need this lab. If you can’t spare a space in your workroom, I need somewhere I can work. I need a very good microscope.” Jeremy began to tell her about his studies and what he had learned about molecular biology, the studies into plant breeding, how he felt that he had an idea. If he could perfect it and present it to his professor that he hoped for a scholarship or hopefully a reward that might help him to be financially independent until he could get out of school.

“
That’s a very ambitious for an after work science project.”

“
Mom,” Jeremy said indignantly. “Are you taking me seriously or are you treating me like a school kid?”

“
At this point I think that your dad expects you to work every day in the law office. Do you seriously think you will have enough time to devote to a project as serious as this?” she asked.

Jeremy stood up in frustration and ran his
hands through his hair, “Maybe I can’t accomplish this in one summer or even two, but, Mom, I have to try.”

He walked back and forth a minute with his hands in his pockets thinking, then he blurted out, “
I need to be with Nora. This is the only thing that I have thought of that gave me any hope of a solution.”