Sanibel Scribbles (52 page)

They spent their winters on Sanibel Island, then always visited Noah in early May. Afterward, they would drive to Holland for the Tulip Time Festival, in which she proudly wore a Dutch costume and scrubbed the streets in the parade. Wearing the wooden shoes reminded her of who she was and where she had come from. It still didn’t matter after all these years that her blood wasn’t Dutch. She had decided years ago to participate, to become a part of this comfortable town. This she had done and continued to do every year, scrubbing those streets with pride and passion, always dumping a cold pail of water on her husband’s head when he least expected it.

With disposable cameras full of tulips and windmills and yellow sand dunes, she and her husband would then leave for Europe, where they spent every summer and autumn. She especially savored her time there because her daughter, Emma, had met a man while in Europe, and together they had made a home there.

She always walked slowly down the hall framed with photographs, but she heard a bell go off in the kitchen—it had been about forty-five minutes so she knew the cake was done baking—and she bustled along because she didn’t want this cake to be overdone. She inserted a toothpick into the center. It came out dry, so she quickly removed the three nine-inch round pans from the oven and let the vibrant red cake cool on the counter.

Then she walked over to the table and ran her hands over the white paper tablecloth and fidgeted with a bouquet of tropical flowers standing
tall in their vase. She set two white candles in holders next to the flowers, then opened the drawer of a hutch and pulled out a box of crayons. She scattered the crayons across the center of the table and sat down.

She did this every time she had guests. She would tell them to scribble things that they could do that would make their life instantly better, small things, like resting five minutes a day on a park bench where they could sit and think. They liked the activity and often said it changed the course of their future simply by altering their daily activities. It put things into perspective.

She took a pound of cream cheese out of the refrigerator and began mixing it with three quarters of a pound of butter. She felt the tightness of her skirt around her waist and blamed it on all the olive bread she had enjoyed over the years. She never blamed it on the cake she was baking. She made this special cake once a year and never allowed herself any guilt. Sometimes a woman just needs instant gratification without guilt. As she slowly mixed in two pounds of confectioners’ sugar, she glanced up at her wedding photo hanging on the wall in the hall, and her wedding dress to this day still amazed her. She knew she had bragged about that dress for years, but how could she not? Never had a gown been so perfectly designed to fit her body. Well, it wouldn’t fit now after years of olive bread, but it certainly fit back then. The fabric had felt so personal, comfortable, as if painted on with a silk brush. It made her smile, knowing she had made the right decisions concerning her Mr. Right. Now, hindsight offered nothing more than pleasant memories of life gone by.

Once the icing in the bowl was smooth and well mixed, she added three cups of pecans then walked over to the crucifix hanging on a nearby wall and thanked God for the years she had lived, long past her naive fears of death. She knew that without the spirit of God in her life she would never have had the energy or courage to leave old comforts behind and enter new waters. “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever,” she whispered.

Just then, she could hear the cane of her husband as he made his way into the room. He walked slowly now, slower than ever. The arthritis in his knees and elbows only allowed him short journeys from the bedroom
to his favorite chair on the porch or to the kitchen for home-cooked paella. Vicki loved taking care of him because he had always taken care of her. Always. Their age difference only mattered physically and had only started to show in the last few years because he had always stayed active, passionately becoming involved in life and its activities. His mind was as sharp as when they first met, and this was what she loved most about him. Besides, she had known he was older when they met. She knew it when they fell in love, and she knew it when she chose him for her husband. Back then, she knew much about him, yet so very little.

“Dear, when will the Red Velvet Cake be ready?” he asked.

“When Noah, Emma, and the kids arrive, sweetie. You can have some then.”

A mischievous glint lit up his eyes. “There’s something I haven’t told you in a long time,” he said.

“Yes, what is it?”

He took her hand in his and kissed it. His words struck her like fingers gliding across the strings of a harp and they made the butterflies within her silently dance. “Just that -
Te quiero Victoria de los Estados Unidos, te quiero,”
he said quietly, and she realized his words were the symphony’s rondo, the one delightful theme she had heard all along, over and over again.

She laughed. “I love you too, Rafael de España, and you just told me that an hour ago.”

VICKI’S FINAL SCRIBBLES

ON THE WHITE PAPER TABLECLOTH

Live within the present
.

Find a domain and bring passion to your life
.

Anchor long enough to repair and refuel and make your way through dark waters
.

Celebrate life
.

Build your own fortress with walls made of boundaries
.

Surrender your dreams to God
.

Start fresh daily, adding beautiful colors to your plain white canvas
.

See something new out your same old window
.

Add laughter to your life
.

Discover an island where you can stop and think
.
Think magnificent thoughts you have never had time to think and notice magnificent details you have never noticed before
.

Hop, skip, and jump toward goals
,
enjoying the process as much as the destination
.

Get to know yourself
.

Abandon comfort zones and discover adventure
.

Never rush any part of life. Savor it like a delicious meal
.

Indulge in fiestas but never lose your dignity
.

Get on with your life. Live life!

Dance through life
.

Nourish the heart with red wine, olive oil, romance, and careful listening
.

When death comes around, stare it in the eyes
.

Do as you like in the silent moments
.

Remember the tulips
.
Just as their season of stardom comes
and goes, you too will one day
.

RED VELVET CAKE

The Bubble Room
15001 Captiva Road
Captiva Island, Florida

CAKE
3¾ cups self-rising flour
2¼ cups sugar
3 eggs
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1½ teaspoons vinegar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1½ teaspoons cocoa
2¼ cups vegetable oil
1½ cups buttermilk
3 oz. red food coloring

ICING
1 pound cream cheese
¾ pound butter
2 pounds confectioners’ sugar
3 cups pecans

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients together and pour into three greased and floured 9” cake pans. Bake for 45 minutes to one hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out dry.

For icing, mix cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add sugar and mix. When smooth and well mixed, add pecans.

Yields one three-layer 9” cake

S
ANIBEL
S
CRIBBLES

READER’S GUIDE

1. ISLANDS.
Simon the dockmaster says everyone needs to discover an island. The island he refers to is symbolic. What does it represent? Do you believe everyone needs to discover an island of their own? What sorts of “islands” do you go to in your life?

2. VESSELS.
When talking to Vicki, Denver says the staff house is a harbor full of vessels and then describes the other characters as vessels. Did you find these classifications illuminating or limiting? If you were to classify yourself, what sort of vessel would you be?

3. OUTLOOK.
Vicki savors her view out a window at the staff house. What do you think the view out the window or the water represented to her?

4. TIME ALONE.
Vicki tells Ben, “A tulip needs morning sun to open. And as much as that tulip needs morning sun, a woman needs time alone. She discovers immense power from within, power she never knew she had, once she spends a moment with herself.” Do you agree? What sorts of things do women do when they’re alone and without their friends or family? Do they discover this power?

Do you think women appreciate their own company and times in which they are alone? Why do you think women sometimes might feel uncomfortable being alone?

5. JOURNEYS.
At one point Simon encourages Vicki not to “underestimate the journeys you’ve been on. They don’t have to be geographical or physical journeys.” What sorts of journeys do Vicki and some other characters go on? What sorts of journeys have you been on? Do you agree with Ruth who said, “Often these journeys make up the women that you are and the ones you are becoming”?

6. SIESTAS.
In a letter to her grandmother, Vicki describes Spain’s siestas. Do you think siestas would work in America? Would you want them?

7. SYMPHONIES AND SILENCE.
The motifs of symphonies and silence appear in different parts of the novel. What do you think symphonies symbolize in different parts of the story? What is significant about the silences?

8. MAKING TIME.
Vicki promised that when she returned to the United States she would carry a blanket in her car at all times, and stop and sit in parks whenever time allowed. Oops! Time would never allow such a thing, so she would have to make time instead. And she goes on thinking of all the things she would make time to do. What sorts of things do you wish you had more time for? What is the one thing you think you could make time for in your everyday life that you aren’t currently doing? What would you scribble on a paper table cloth?