I’m still trying to write “good enough” stories - maybe for a juvenile level. I’m going to work on this more. Many of my previous stories were Pollyanna stories that all turned out okay.
*****
Emmalee Smith and Penny Krause were teaching at Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon.
*****
When Emmalee returned from her advanced art design class, she had a message on her answering machine.
She moved to her office phone and pressed the button to retrieve the message.
The voice said, “Hello Professor Smith. This is Rachel Nickles from the City of Gresham. Last July you submitted a proposal for a mural for diversity for the Hope Plaza park and your design has been selected. Please call me back at your earliest convenience. My number is 398-555-1212.”
Emmalee sank into her chair. WOW - her design was selected. Sure she was going to get paid, but her artwork would be on public display. Everybody driving by Burnside and SE 202 Street would notice her artwork. She had submitted a design but after Black Lives Matter she had some ideas that she wanted to incorporate. She had done more research into Blacks in the Portland area.
She would call Rachel back tomorrow as it was time for her aerobics class.
*****
After her advanced biology lab, Penny checked her phone. She had a text message from her mother and it wasn’t good.
It was from her mother. All it said was “Call me”.
Penny was glad it was a text. Technically this was an office hour, but since they had a test last week and the new material was pretty straightforward forward she probably wouldn’t have students at her office.
Plus, Mom could be long-winded. So Penny went to the restroom, checked her email, and got a Dr. Pepper from the vending machine. She was thinking it was time to settle in!!!
Finally, she was ready to call.
“Hi,” said the familiar voice.
“Hi Mom - what’s up?” asked Penny.
Mom answered slowly, “Dad’s in the hospital”.
That woke Penny up. “What? How?” were her immediate responses.
“He is at Kootenai Health. He wasn’t feeling good, so I ran him to Dr. Chapman. After a couple of tests, Dr. Chapman sent him to the hospital. It was a mild heart attack and he is expected to recover completely in a couple of days. Seemingly some of his arteries were partially clogged and they will clean those up today.” Penny’s Mom didn’t seem to be too worried.
Penny asked, “So, no surgery?” (As a biologist she had taken a lot of related classes and had thought about a medical career).
Mom replied “Nope. No surgery. I suppose they will put him on a diet to get his weight down, and probably cut out some of the junk food he loves.”
Penny smiled. It wasn’t just Dad - but Mom liked to bake and loved desserts. This would be a change for both of them.
“Should I come home?” asked Penny.
Mom replied “Not yet. You are still coming for Thanksgiving aren’t you?”
Penny said, “Yes, but that’s a month yet”.
Penny had a flash of concern - would Dad’s new diet cut out on all the awesome foods of Thanksgiving? Tofu turkey was not high on the Thanksgiving menu!!
Penny asked, “Can he have calls?”
Mom answered “Yes. Allan is watching the farm anyway, and Dad is in pretty good spirits. Hold on, I’ll go back into his room and put him on speaker.”
It was a minute and she heard her Dad's voice, “Hi Honey. How’s Portland?”
Penny jumped in, “Hi Dad!!! I love you. Are you okay?”
Dad laughed “Well other than a few pounds they want me to lose, and taking better care of myself, I’m doing good. We’ve talked about Allan taking over the farm and maybe God is telling me that I need to take it a bit easier anyway.”
They talked a few minutes longer. Dad wanted to know how her teaching was going. Mom jumped in to talk about neighbors and friends. Mom reminded her that Sherrie Olson was getting married in the summer (which was an implied question about Penny dating anybody and thinking of getting married).
They said their goodbyes and Penny hung up.
She thought about the conversation a minute while she sipped her sugar ladened Dr. Pepper. Maybe this was a good wake-up call for the whole family - including herself!!
*****
Emmalee called Rachel Nickles from the City of Gresham about the mural. Wednesday afternoons were generally a good time for Emmalee to get off campus and they arranged for a 3:30 meeting at the Gresham City Hall.
*****
That day at lunch, the two friends had a lot to share. Penny was eating a salad and having a glass of unsweet ice tea, instead of fries and a Dr. Pepper. Emmalee was surprised and asked Penny, “Are you on a diet?”
“Yes and no”, was Penny’s answer. My Mom called yesterday and my Dad had a mild heart attack. He was overweight, like pretty much all of us in the family, and should recover but he will need to change his eating and activities.”
Emmalee smiled. “Great. Now you can come to my yoga and aerobics groups”.
Penny groaned but said “You’re right. I’ll join those groups next year!!”
Penny had been thinking about asking Emmalee to the Krause family Thanksgiving, so changed the subject.
“Emmalee, would you like to meet my family over Thanksgiving? You won’t be traveling back to Chicago and you can come with me to Coeur d'Alene.”
Emmalee’s face lit up. “That sounds great, Penny. Would we drive or fly?”
Penny said, “Flights at Thanksgiving are so expensive, so we will drive. It’s about 6 hours and through some beautiful scenery.”
Penny was thinking, ‘hmmm - how will my family react to a black artist from Chicago coming for Thanksgiving!!’ That put a big smile on her face. Emmalee was becoming a great friend.
Emmalee told Penny about her mural design being accepted by the City of Gresham!!
Penny was so excited for her friend.
****
Emmalee arrived at Rachel Nickles's office at City Hall twenty minutes early. Better early than late, she thought.
She took a document out of her purse and reread it for the tenth time. It was four pages long and was a description of black citizens in the Portland area.
Hiram Jones came west on the Oregon Trail. When faced with the dilemma of the Columbia River rapids, Hiram worked with Chief Factor John McLoughlin and the local Indians to make safe rafts for the last leg of the journey. Many lives had been lost on those rapids.
Sally Peters was a midwife in the Portland area and during the flu outbreak of 1872, she helped care for pregnant women. Sally also set up an orphanage for the children (white and black) whose mothers died in childbirth.
John Lampert was hung in 1893 on the hanging tree in the Powell Butte Nature area. He had been accused of raping a white woman. After the lynching, the woman finally spoke up that it was her neighbor who raped her (a white man).
During World War I, many blacks took jobs in the local businesses helping cover the loss of jobs by white citizens joining the army. Most had done an outstanding job.
Rev. Jeremiah Smith had been an outspoken proponent of prohibition. He helped run a rescue mission in the Hosford-Abernethy district of Portland and found jobs and new lives for recovering alcoholics.
Lilla Moran established the first school for black girls in the Hazelwood district.
Lemuel Sanderson worked in the famed Portland Rose Garden and was named the director in 1953.
There were many others that Emmalee wanted to include on her mural. She had made some changes to her original design and brought that with her to show Rachel Nickles.
At 3:45, Rachel came out to Emmalee, apologizing for the delay.
The two talked about the design, the timing, and the funding. The mural was to be thirty feet long by 15 feet wide on a wall constructed especially for the mural in Hope Plaza park.
Emmalee pulled the updated design out of her purse and showed it to Rachel. Rachel immediately balked as she saw the hanging of John Lampert.
“This is a civic project, Emmalee”, said Rachel. “We can’t have an image of a hanging”.
Emmalee was ready to defend her inclusion in the hanging of John Lampert.
Emmalee said “We’ve come a long way from 1893, but the Black Lives Matter of two years ago showed us that there are still discrepancies between whites and blacks. We need to be realistic in this artwork to suggest that both good and bad exist.”
Rachel still was unsure of putting the hanging in the mural but asked Emmalee to come to the next meeting of the Hope Plaza planning committee to show off her plan. That was to be in two weeks.
*****
Penny went through her apartment trying to find suitable clothes for an aerobics class. She had looked at the Mount Hood Community College gym classes schedule and found the one that Emmalee attended - 4:30 this afternoon. She’d have to hurry.
*****
Emmalee had brought her aerobics clothes to her office, but with the meeting with Rachel Nickles about the mural, she was going to be late. Darn, she really liked working out. On the way back to campus she decided she would go, even if she was late.
*****
Penny found the room. She was early with about 5 people already there loosening up. Well, if she was going to be embarrassed, this was the time. She approached the instructor and said she was going to try aerobics - but she had never done anything like it. The instructor looked like a fashion model but was nice to the pudgy biology teacher.
The instructor said, “I’m Natalie Sanchez. Why don’t you stand in the back and watch those in front of you. That way you can get the moves down”.
That was ideal for Penny - she sure didn’t want anybody to watch her!!
Penny asked the instructor, “Is this the class that Emmalee Smith is in?”
The instructor answered, “Yes. Did she invite you?”
Penny answered, “Not really, but I need to do something physical”.
She took her place at the back. Fortunately, there was a lady that was also on the pudgy side. The lady said, “Hi, are you new?”
Penny answered, “Yes. I’ve never done anything like this before. Can I watch you?”
The lady laughed, “Sure - watch me if you want to see how not to do it. I’ve been doing this for two months already and I think I’ve lost most of the balance and coordination I had. My name is Vicki Grant and I’m in the financial aid office.”
Penny replied, “I’m Penny Krause and I teach biology.”
They shook hands.
Others filtered in and soon the room was mostly full - but no Emmalee. There were about 25 people there - 23 women and 2 men. Most seemed to be students, with maybe five staff or faculty members - counting her and Vicki. Penny recognized two of her students in biology classes.
Promptly at 4:30, Natalie started the music and gave commands. Almost immediately Penny was lost, but she looked at Vicki and kept going.
After ten minutes, Penny knew she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was sweating. She leaned against the back wall for a few minutes. How did they do this? This was torture!!
Vicki smiled at her and said, “You can do it, Penny”.
Penny stepped back on the floor as the door opened and another aerobics student walked in. Through her strained eyes, Penny recognized Emmalee!! About time, she thought.
Emmalee took her place on the right side in the second row and immediately got into the exercise.
About five minutes later the class was to do steps around their aerobic step, and as Emmalee turned around she thought she saw Penny in the back, but it was her back so she wasn’t sure. When the next routine started, she looked back and saw her friend. Penny wasn’t looking at Emmalee. Actually, Penny was looking (and feeling) most like a seasick sailor and turning green.
Emmalee picked up her aerobics step and moved to the back. When she was almost there, Penny saw her. And, that was enough - Penny lost her salad lunch on the floor!!!
Emmalee and Vicki got to Penny as soon as she vomited. The instructor stopped the class and now Penny was turning a bright, embarrassed red. Emmalee ran to the locker room and grabbed about 30 paper towels, about half she doused in water and ran back to help clean up.
Natalie stopped the class for a minute - and reminded the class that many of them had felt that way on their first time in aerobics. Natalie gave a story of when she had been sick in an exercise class. That seemed to help a little. Then Natalie picked an easier routine for the class and they started again.
Meanwhile, Emmalee and Vicki had gotten the floor mostly clean, and Penny was feeling much better. Penny sat on her aerobics step and watched the rest of the class. If she was ever going to do this, she needed to be brave.
After class Penny’s two students came up and asked if she was okay. About three others came over and talked about their experiences of being sick in an exercise class. Natalie came over to check as well. Penny managed a thin smile and a laugh!!!!
*****
Emmalee sat with Penny outside the aerobic room.
Emmalee said, “Hey, that's pretty brave of you to try aerobics.”
Penny, feeling a lot better quipped, “It was pretty brave of me to puke on the floor too”.
The two friends laughed.
Penny turned and looked her friend in the eye. “I guess I’m a little scared because my father had a heart attack. I've been slowly adding on some weight and if I don’t nip it in the bud I’ll be in the same boat soon.”
They talked a little longer.
Emmalee said, “You know, I really would like to go to your family for Thanksgiving”.
Penny beamed, “Awesome!!” She paused and then added, “Thank you for being my friend”.
They got up to leave and the two friends embraced.
*****
That night Penny was reflecting on her first half-a-semester as a college teacher. She was really happy.
From then on, Penny kept coming back for more on the step aerobic class.
*****
(Next week, what’s happening with Penny’s Dad; how Emmalee confronts the art council; learning to do step aerobics with Vicki and Natalie; how Alijah came out and some new issues; water checking and new issues; marijuana in the college, and more.)
*****
I’m still working on this.
Karen
Saturday, March 26, 2022
