Scene two
By Don Marlin
Richard and Sally had the ideal setting for raising a family and growing their careers outside of Somers, Connecticut. Sally taught English at a local middle school five minutes from the house with only eighteen kids in each of the four grades of classes. Richard was content with a commute of twelve miles north, south and west from the house to advance high school students in the finer tones of the French horn. Their short commute and slower lifestyle allowed them plenty of time to take their 1756 Elizabethan cottage and bring it back to life with their excellent hobby skillsets of woodworking, vintage electrical repair, upholstering, and keen eye for the original piece of art or furniture. They were diligent, attentive to their tasks, and never put off what they could do today.
Their neighbors were always shocked by their findings and ability to make the trash of others the antique roadshow collectibles of today. Through a variety of vintage wine tastings, we had a chance to run into Richard and Sally out in Monterey, California for the annual reserve wine presentation and multiple course menus dégustation. Though we originally had commonalities in the grape it did not take long for us to recognize that both couples loved restoration and furnishings of the past two American centuries. With the age of the internet, we were always contacting each other with regard to rockers, cabinets, tables, chairs, hutches, and new techniques to bring the ancient materials back to life.
Our favorite find was the pair of George II giltwood oval mirrors made in the 18th century that Stella Spencer brought to Colorado from New England in the back of a wagon and never left the pine crate that we uncovered in the collapsed woodshed on the back of our property. Richard’s careful restoration renewed the egg and dart carved frame overlapped with acanthus clasps to the sides, top and bottom, and hung with swags of oaks and leaves to the splendor of the day they were created. Our arrangement split the pair to Colorado and Connecticut. It was the one of the two oval mirrors that we were both now unsteadily standing in front of that held us breathless as we stared at the sleeping faces of Richard and Sally in their Somers home from our bedroom in Tarryall, Colorado. Richard had a grimace on his face as if in deep troubled sleep while Sally rested peacefully on his shoulder with a smile that registered no stress in her life but the dangling participles that she had to identify and return to the 5th grade class in the morning.
Scene three preview:
The temperature of the ice cold well water on my face didn’t offset the pain in my right side, but it did clear away the light sleep and shock in my facial features …