Bits of life

A-13 Words-1150

Ashley followed us as I led in front. I could hear the magical voice of Shakira from music system of the van as I drove past Ashley. She looked sidewise, smiled at me and waved her hand asking took her in for a cup of tea before we left. Now the only persons still to join us in the trip were Ashley and her friend Elvira Hudson. She roused a lot of curiosity in me with her uncommon name and yet to be known background. Who is Elvira and how does my love Ashley know her? Lost in my own thoughts standing in the backyard, I hadn’t realized that Ashley and her friend arrived. My mom’s voice rang pleasantly through the morning air as she spoke to Ashley.

“Hi there my girl, how are you this morning? And how is your lovely friend?” she asked.
I heard a new voice saying “Hello Mrs. Mackenzie, so kind of you to let me come.” Unable to resist my sense of curiosity I walked to the front side of the house. Oh what a vision this woman was! She looked around thirty five but she carried her years pretty nicely. Oval face, cream and roses complexion, long blonde hair, irresistible dimples I noticed as she smiled and nodded to my mom were the first few things I noticed as I approached the group assembled near my car in the drive way.
My mom saw me coming to them and said, “Come on Jim, come and meet Elvira our new friend brought by our dear Ashley. Isn’t she graceful?” she didn’t spare Elvira’s blushes. My mom was pretty impulsive when and generous when it came to paying compliments to people.
As I went to them Ashley came to me and kissed me “Good Morning my darling. What a lovely day it is! We need this blazing sun for a while to supply us with vitamin D,” she joked as I flinched from the burning sunlight.

Hand in hand we went to the others standing under the big maple tree and I was introduced to Elvira by Ashley. “Meet Jim, the wonderful would be partner of my life, Elvira. He is the best organizer of things around here after his uncle John. I am sure you will appreciate the truth of my observation once you meet John, a remarkable man.” Then she turned her lovely flowerlike face to me and said, “ Jim darling, this is Elvira, the lady I said I would bring along to the wine harvest festival to be held at uncle John’s vineyards.”

I took Elvira’s hand into my hands and said, “how are you Elvira. You did the right thing to come along to join us in the trip to my uncle’s place. Please feel free to move around. We don’t stand on ceremony here.”

Elvira smiled pleasantly and said, “I can see that Jim. Thank you for your generosity and hospitality. I am sure it is going to be one of the most pleasant times of my life. I can’t wait to get to the place you are taking us. I heard so much about it from Ashley.”

“Yes, that is true. Even now I feel excited whenever we head to Emerald Farm, which was originally my grandfather’s homestead. Only uncle John inherited his father’s farming abilities and stuck to the place for good. He never missed city lights or the attractions it held for others. Thank God we have our uncle there in the village to go to, whenever we feel like having a change of mood or climate. You just wait and see the variety and range that you will find at the Emerald Farm,” I gushed on and on.
Elvira nodded her pretty blonde head and said, “ I am all curious to visit this wonderful and magical place.” I left her side saying, “You won’t at all be disappointed.”

Then I looked at the watch and noticed that if we leave now we would be at uncle John’s place in two hours straight. Just in time for a delicious and hot lunch. The thought pushed me on and I got all of them fitted into the two cars we had. Ashley’s brought a van, which I later learnt belonged to Elvira. It was much bigger and can seat more people in it. My mom, Jonathan, Ashley and our bags went into that vehicle. Ashley would drive it. In my own car came along aunt Sarah and Elvira. Everyone liked this arrangement and got in the vehicles. The rush hour on the high way had just passed and the roads were comparatively less frequented by the racing automobiles. As I passed by Ashley driving the van, I could hear the magical voice of Shakira from the music system. She gestured to me to go ahead of her. I drove to fall in place before them.

“There is water and cucumber sandwiches in the hamper, aunt Sarah if anyone of you wants to munch some,” I told them.
That was my mom’s idea. She thought, with the climate being so warm we might feel a bit hungry and thirsty en route Emerald Farm, and so she packed two food hampers to go into the two cars. I already felt like a break and so I asked for some sandwiches to be passed to me. This got the others follow suit. Elvira got hold of the hamper and extracted the sandwiches. She took out the Styrofoam plates and put two sandwiches on each of them and passed to each of us. That food was delicious. It was a simple fare yet it quenched our hunger and thirst at one go. Cucumber was such a cool salad vegetable, especially appealing in the blazing summer.

A little later I asked Elvira, “so how does Ashley know you? Were you friends at school or college?”
Elvira replied as she munched on her sandwich. “It was by accident we met, Jim. We were not together either at school or in college. You, see I come from New York City. My father is an attorney in a big firm of lawyers that take cases from the bigwigs of the city. You know New York is the playground for billionaires and millionaires. My childhood was spent on one of the affluent localities in the city. I went to the best schools and graduated from Colombia University in New York. My electives were commerce and agriculture. I graduated with a first class and eventually went to the PhD program. I recently defended my thesis in my findings on the latest natural methods of cultivation in our country side. My thesis was found to be interesting as I came to know during my defense talk. There were several questions regarding my findings. I could answer a majority of them without hesitation. The judges were unanimous in