Big Dreams, Part I

April 1958

Michigan

Lois and Bill’s engagement party was in full swing, the volume deafening. Bill tapped on his glass with a spoon and raised his beer. The room quieted.

“To my beautiful almost sister-in-law, Florence, thank you for the cake. You make the prettiest ones around and delicious too. And thank you to you and the girls,” he tipped his glass in the general direction of the small crowd gathered around the long table loaded with a three-tiered cake and gifts, for the real nice decorating job.”

Somebody hollered, “Hear, hear.” And the clinking of glasses commenced around the room.

“To Clair, my-soon-to-be brother-in-law, thanks for letting us use your home.” He swept an arm around the cool interior of the brick-walled basement, where the Edinger family, all five of them, lived while finishing the upstairs of their dream house. “For our engagement party.”

He draped his sweeping arm over Lois’s shoulder and pulled her close. She grinned and snuggled into his side.

Larry, the eldest Edinger boy, at fifteen almost as big and tall as Bill, whooped and hefted his glass of coke. “To Aunt Lois and Uncle Bill. May you always be as happy as you are right now.”

“Yeah!” Fred yelled. Fred was the youngest of the three Edinger siblings. Skinny and pale, eleven-year-old Fred had been a sickly kid throughout his baby and toddler years. In the last few years he’d grown strong and had recently experienced a growth spurt. Fred was shaping up to be a pretty good basketball player, thanks mostly to years of nursing and are by his mother and his Aunt Lois. Lois had been his live-in babysitter during her teens and early twenties when Florence was out all day working her fingers to the bone at Camp Withers. She had taken on the task of caring for her sick nephew as though he were her own son. “And you better take good care of my Aunt Lois or you’ll have to answer to me!” The boy’s heartfelt sentiment rang out and the crowd roared with laughter. 

“And me,” Larry added, raising his voice to be heard above the happy din.

“And me too,” Lorraine piped up. “And Aunt Lois has to take care of my Uncle Bill too.”

Bill’s eyes twinkled as he laughed. He raised his glass to the kids and sobered. A hush fell on the room. “I swear to do my best to do well by her. And if I don’t, I’ll let you kids tan my hide.” 

  Larry, Lorraine, and Fred stood still and quiet for a second, then all three grinned and raised their cups. 

“You got it, Uncle Bill,” Larry said with a wink and a smile.

to be continued... 

*Note from author: My apologies for being silent for so long. We had several out-of-town guests (including my sister, Lori) over the holidays and for my birthday and that's my only excuse. I will be cutting my posts back to once per week, but will make them longer. Thank you for sticking with me through my journey back in time!