Trip to Sequoia-Ch.1-part2

    

Trip to Sequoia

      I came to know Lee and Ann from the time they accidentally first visited my wood studio. Accidentally I say as they had turned up my lane to park and make out and wandered to far. I happened to be out raking hay and noticed the car. So i took the tractor over to see what was happening. Nothing much had started and they saw a carving of mine, sitting alongside the driveway and began to talk about it. One thing leads to another and I started my sales pitch which usually leads me nowhere, but what the heck you never know. Then I offered a tour and even though they could have just left. They enthusiastically said yes and we were off to tour my sculpture garden. Lee was a tall lanky man, a bit rolled over at the shoulder indicating some back trouble, but he had a smile as he had Ann on his arm.

        Ann was a great looking woman with a beautiful Mona Lisa smile. a little smirk of orneriness that hinted at secrets only she knows. A private warm smile is all Lee ever saw.  He cared for her deeply. Ann seemed oblivious to his glances and seemed quite at ease at times ignoring him. It wasn't as if she had eyes for others but instead was so wrapped up in the moment she knew nothing else. These actions i have seen from her at times since I have come to know her and Lee. 

        Lee would sit at the table and just listen as he would let Ann just go on and talk. At times i thought he just loved hearing her voice. After I listened to her awhile knew that could not be the reason. But then I wasn't married to her and would never be. Lee would nod appropriately at those spaces where she required affirmation but basically Ann would take over and command the conversation. 
       Lee wasn't stupid, in contradiction, he was quite smart, having gone to college with no degree for his effort, and his levels of instruction varied widely, but at times Lee said he knew enough about everything to make him dangerous.  Reflective of his education, Lee was a jack of all trades and master of none. He had been a painter, carpenter, draftsman, electrician and plumber wrapped up into one. He loved my sculptures and loved to drag Ann around and they would sit in my sculpture park and later we would have tea in the greenhouse and sit around on the chaise lounge in the late evening when the greenhouse had cooled and the warm earthy smells laden with intoxicating thick floral aroma, would dance on the air as it wafted in the cool evening air.  We would sit under the moon light and talk and sip tea till it was so dark we would have to light a candle, to light the path to the house and to their awaiting car. 

      But we would exchange tales as we sat there two or three times a month just talking. We would listen mostly to Ann but at times she would yield the floor to Lee who would tell tales of amazing proportions that left you wondering if mankind was really that naive. At times he would pick your brain and leave you wondering still at unanswered questions you both may have. Lee’s first work after high school came during the oil field boom of the 70’s around this part of Ohio. Lee started as a truck driver and eventually progressed to an equipment operator. he was driven by freedom of finally escaping the farm and finding himself. Alcohol and wild parties were the norm as well as smoking marijuana; Lee was always a willing participant when it came to parties. this alcoholism led to a traffic accident which almost crippled him. he recovered and had only in his midlife found Ann sitting at a Dairy Isle licking an ice cream cone and cooling off in the heat. She mentioned something about his dog and truck and they hit it off in a conversation that soon ended in an appropriate date. 

      Ann would talk about work, her kids as she was divorced also.  At times she would curse her ex because he screwed up everything for her, but then it was going to be screwed up anyhow as they were two entirely different people headed on different paths. She liked, and one would say even loved nature. That is why they would come over to my place and walk through my gardens as i try to have a surprise at every turn. For this two  or three times per month they would come ,and would settle on bringing back to their house a new plant usually a perennial I would select and grow . This and conversation is how I was paid. But these people held my interest whenever around.(to be cont. )

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