Chapter 16

Emerson went to the jeweler’s around the corner from his favorite diner and pored over the cases at length before deciding on his purchase. The case attendant seemed suspicious of a single man in the store early in the morning carefully examining every item, but in the end, the clerk was pleased to assist him in purchasing not one, but three pearl necklaces in velvet boxes. He gleefully rang up the order and handed Emerson back his charge card with his bag of goodies. He even waved as Emerson rattled through the glass door.

Em, for his part, little noticed the clerk’s behavior. He had ceased trying to understand what motivated anyone to do anything. As far as he was concerned, people were a great mystery never to be unraveled.

Once home again, he painstakingly filled out the cards in his small, even handwriting. For the first two he knew what to write and went through them fairly quickly. For the third and final necklace, he stumbled after he wrote the salutation. After several agonizing moments, he decided to leave the From section blank. He pocketed the gifts and returned to his car, driving slowly out on the street that led to his property.

He sat in his parked car outside the entrance to the long driveway that led up to the Hawke’s farmhouse. He swallowed nervously, in great debate with himself over the current propriety of his actions. It was still early in the day, but the usual farm workers were bustling back and forth in the orchards. He finally screwed up his courage and drove a little recklessly up the driveway. Then he jumped out and dropped the package on the front door. He drove away as haphazardly as he had come in, stirring up dust and making a little bit of a scene. It did not occur to him that other people might be able to identify him in the future.

He drove up to his property, sat on the now dried patio, and smoked a cigarette while he watched the house below. He sat without moving for nearly thirty minutes, but then suddenly his patience was rewarded when she opened the door and stumbled over the gift on the porch.

He watched her clumsy pantomimes as she opened the package. He tried to imagine her face as she opened the gift. He hoped she would like it.

Within moments she was on the edge of the porch looking back and forth, craning her neck, but alas, the generous gifter was nowhere in her sight.

His heart pounded until she went back inside her home, then he was able to relax his shoulders and settle back against the open frame of his own home. He wondered at himself, and his own confusing motives. He decided not to analyze it just yet.

He sat back and thought of nothing as he looked at the sky.

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