Chapter 7: Growing Up & New Discoveries

As the years passed, Marion grew into a lovely, popular young woman. She attended school and had an active social life. She also was always near the top of class and loved debate and politics. Her world view expanded with her opportunities.

Grandma & Grandpa Whitney and Grace all encouraged her in her studies, they always took it for granted that she would go to college somewhere. Grandpa Sam bought Marion a camera for her 16th birthday. The young woman quickly became an accomplished amateur photographer. The Whitneys also took the National Geographic magazine, which Marion pored over with a fine-toothed mind every month. Her dreams of travel and adventure just continued to grow.

She wanted to travel and take pictures like the ones she saw in the magazine, but she wasn't sure if women could do that. Her mother and grandparents saw no reason that she couldn't make that her future. So they decided that Marion should attend the University of Missouri's famous Journalism school.

However, Marion never lost touch with her southern Missouri roots. Every summer she would make the train journey to visit Grammy and Grampy Snow and her Aunt Maggie in Steelville. Even through the years of the depression, she would travel to the small town in which she had spent her first 10 years of life. Every time she would go back, she would make sure to spend time in the library to look at "her" painting. The building was so unusual... a little Eastern, a little Western... and she wanted to know where it was, and more importantly what was inside it. But she had no idea of where to find out.

So one summer day after she had turned 16, camera in hand, she took a picture of it. While she was doing this, the librarian, Mary Bass-McArdle who'd known Marion for years entered the room in which the painting hung. She's known of Marion's fascination for the painting since the girl had been staring at it ever since it was hung in the library and had always asked questions about its location and occupants. Just the week before, Mary had been adjusting the painting and some yellowed old papers had fallen out of the back of the frame, which she carefully set aside until she could figure out what to do with them.

Marion was a bit startled when Mary entered the room, but calmed as soon as she saw it was just the librarian, "Taking a photograph of your painting, Marion?"

"Yes, I want to make sure I can carry the details with me. I just hope I have enough light to get a good one," replied Marion.

"It's bright enough in here today, I think you will be able to," the librarian commented. "By the way, I think I have something that might give you at least some clues to help answer your questions about that crazy painting."

Marion almost dropped her camera in anticipation,"Really, what is it?"

Mary related the story of the papers falling out of the back of the painting as she walked to the main desk of the library. When they got to the desk, the librarian handed the young woman a thin manila envelope.

Carefully, Marion undid the clasp and peered inside a moment before pulling the aging pages out into the bright morning light. There were exactly 5, 4 were floor plans and 1 was a letter. She looked through them eagerly but gingerly. At least she had a name for the building now, "Old Central" but that didn't mean anything to her. She looked inquisitively at Mary, who answered with a shrug and look at blank as her own.

"Can I find some way to copy these?" asked Marion.

"I would like to keep them with the painting, but you are welcome to take a picture of them or trace them, " Mary replied.

"Do you have any paper I can use?"

Mary indicated that she had both paper and pencils that the girl could use to copy the papers as best she could. Marion eagerly accepted them and spent the remainder of the June afternoon hand copying every detail.

The Letter:

I.E.,

I hope these words find you well. I have included a painting of the completed Old Central, along with the floor plans for the public areas. I am quite proud of the finished results of our new home. As you can see, there is now more than enough space to adequately host events, as well as means to provide security for guests. With that in mind, I do hope you will visit for a winter season soon. You would be surprised at the growth of my fair town. C.E. and E.E. are doing well enough in their endeavors. Stay well, and write when possible.

Unconquered I Remain,
W.E.

Chapter 6: A Journey & A Meeting

The trip to St. Louis would have been a lot faster, but the train had plenty of little stops to make in all kinds of little towns. They would just get up to full speed when they would have to slow for the next one. The first few town names were at least vaguely familiar to Marion... Leasburg, Bourbon, Sullivan... but the ones with alien names just piqued the girl's imagination... St. Clair, Catawissa, Shrewsbury.

To be sure, there were other names along the way, but they all blended together in a haze of excitement, despite her initial trepidation. Every stop had different people performing a similar routine of departures, arrivals, cargo and mail. All of it fascinated her and she felt like she was part of some great ocean of the indefinable. Marion wondered at every road she could see leading away from the train depots... she wanted to explore them all to their ends and see what was to be found there.

And the people, the fascinating people... she excitedly pointed out all the bright colors and strange hats people were wearing. It made her life in Steelville seem so drab in comparison... like stepping out of a photograph into a painting. There was color, like her dreams and pictures in library books. In Marion's mind, color and dreams and strange roads and new people all equaled adventure... suddenly the change which had frightened her was but a quiet hum in the back of her mind.

As they neared St. Louis, the number of buildings and roads and people and cars and busy-ness just continued to increase. The little girl felt both a growing trepidation and excitement, which left her with a strange combination of giddy and queasy. The city thickened and drew in closer and the train went ever more slowly until a building with what seemed to be a million trains and two million people moving about loomed ahead of them. Marion's butterflies fluttered as fast as her heart was beating and she looked up at her mother, who seemed as cool as the proverbial cucumber.

"Mama, what is this place?", she asked with eyes wide.

"This is Union Station, my love," answered Grace.

"I never knew there were so many trains or big buildings or people in the world," answered the child.

Her mother replied, "It's certainly a change for you. It will be a change for me too, having lived in Steelville as long as I have."

Marion continued, "Are people nice here?"

"Marion, people are generally about the same, no matter where you go. What have you learned from all those books you have read?"

The child was thoughtful for a minute, "Well it seems like civilized people are better than the non-civilized."

Grace, always trying to challenge her child, "What makes people civilized?"

"Being American!" exhorted Marion without a second thought.

"Why are Americans civilized?", the mother asked.

This stalled the girl for a mere moment, "Because we have the Constitution and the 4th of July!"

Had the train not stopped abruptly, Grace would have continued the conversation with her daughter. But as it was, people were starting to move about and retrieve their belongings from the overhead racks and crowd towards the exits. Marion and her mother waited patiently for their turn to exit the train.

They descended the steps to the train platform, Grace grasped Marion's hand firmly as they entered the crush of people. On their way to the baggage car, the child noticed an older couple standing out of the worst of the throng, as though surveying it grimly. The woman looked a lot like her mother, she thought. Suddenly these two people were next to them in the thick of the arrivals, smiling broadly.

"Grace? Is that you?", the woman said loudly and as though she were relieved about something.

Grace turned abruptly upon hearing her name, "Mother? It is GOOD to see you."

Marion saw and felt years of grief and worry leave her mother. The child was confused but felt an inner warmth suffuse her body.

Grace and her mother embraced warmly and held it for a long moment. Very soon, however, they turned and focussed their attention on Marion. Before the women could say a word, the older gentleman swept the girl up in his arms, laughing out loud, "You must be Miss Marion! I'm your grandfather"

She was so surprised that she promptly threw up over his shoulder on a passerby. Grace and Dora froze in shock and horror... but Samuel just roared with laughter as he magnanimously handed the man who had been target by Marion's projectile his large handkerchief.

Her stomach settled and herself settled, Marion rode happily in her grandfather's arms, even though she was a big girl of 10. Nobody had ever focussed so much on just *her*... and she found that she liked it. In the blur that followed, they collected the one trunk that had been on the baggage car and were soon on their way to the Whitney's house in South St. Louis.

The house was not large, but was kept neat and comfortable, and had plenty of space for the 4 of them. Grandpa Sam and Marion grew especially close as the years passed. Grandma Dora was a bit stern sometimes, but always loving. Grace settled in comfortably and seemed to be more at ease than she had ever been down south.

Chapter 5: Of Trains and changes...

Aunt Maggie's wagon pulled up to the Cuba train station with plenty of time to spare. The train was expected at 9:45 and they had arrived by 8:25... so the trio went to a small cafe across the street from the depot. Marion was allowed the special treat of a doughnut and milk while Maggie and Grace each had a cup of coffee. The conversation between her aunt and mother was sad, quiet and yet hopeful. The obvious affection between the two women suddenly awakened in Marion a sudden "missing" of her Aunt Maggie, who had always been like a second mother to her and a guardian angel.

The last bit of their time together slipped away and they returned to the depot, Marion and Grace hugged Maggie tightly with heavy sighs on all sides. The two women hauled the meager suitcases out of the back of the wagon and set them on the platform. Maggie then climbed up into the seat of her wagon and turned the horses back towards Steelville while her sister-in-law and niece stood bravely awaiting the train's arrival.

Marion watched her aunt's wagon dwindle in size until it turned the corner some blocks away. She fought back tears, knowing that she had to be brave for her mother's sake and because Aunt Maggie had whispered, "Don't cry. Be the strong brave adventurer I've always known you to be!", in her ear.

The little girl squeezed her mother's hand and looked up into the face she loved so well. Grace smiled at her daughter and asked, "Are you scared honey?"

Marion thought about how to answer for a moment, "A little Mama, but I'm trying to be brave."

The mother hugged her daughter a little closer and said, "You're a good girl and that helps me to be brave too."

"Mama, what are Grandmother and Grandfather Whitney like?"

Grace paused at that inevitable question, but continued momentarily, "They really are good people, but when I was young we just didn't agree on some things. I think that will be different now."

Considering that, Marion asked a new question, "What is different now?"

Taken aback, the child's mother said, "Well I have you and your future to consider, before it was only mine. And your grandparents, your Aunt Maggie and I all agree on that."

"What kind of future, Mama?"

"Honey, that story is mostly yours to write, but I want you to have as many choices as possible."

"But did we really have to leave Steelville?"

"Yes, Marion, we did. If we stayed there, you would only have what I chose and none of the ones I threw away so many years ago."

The child suddenly jumped to another track, "Mama, do you think they will like me?"

Slightly confused, Grace asked, "Who sweetie?"

"Well, everybody... Grandmother and Grandfather Whitney, the kids at school... everybody..."

"I'm sure you will do just fine... and I am sure your grandparents will love you just as much as Granny and Gramps in Steelville did."

"Will I get to see Granny and Gramps again?"

"Of course love, there will be visits."

Marion dug the toe of her shoe into the dirt and stared intently at the ground, "I hope so."

However, the time for nerves and wistfulness was over as the train came easing up to the depot. In a rush, their bags were safely stowed in the rack over seats nicer than any the child had ever known, their tickets were checked by the conductor and they gliding towards the big city.

Chapter 4: Moving

4.

In 1927, when Marion turned 10, Grace finally decided that she could no longer make enough money in Steelville for her and Marion to have any kind of life. Grace also despaired of her daughter ever "getting out" of the small town that had trapped her when she was wooed there by Cyrus Snow so many years before. Grace's parents, Dora & Samuel Whitney, had never liked Cyrus, and had, in a manner, disowned their daughter when she married the man, but they always told their daughter that their door was open to her if she left him.

Grace was inordinately proud and bullheaded. Also very intelligent, she was, unfortunately at times, very aware of it. That, coupled with her pride and tenacity, led her into marriage with Cyrus. She ran off with the slick-tongued bastard, and then found herself mired in a situation beyond her worst imaginings. Still, however, only reaching the brink of disaster would bring any admission of error or request for aid.

Maggie Snow worried long about Grace & Marion and had long conferences with sister-in-law regarding their situation. Maggie had tried to get Grace to write to her parents in St. Louis since Cyrus' final departure, but she would possibly have had more luck arguing with a rock. However, once her sister-in-law saw how desperate the situation had really become, she wrote to Dora & Samuel for the first time in more years than she could remember.

The return missive from the Whitneys arrived promptly for 1927, full of welcome and anticipation for Grace and Marion's impending arrival. The most important item in the envelope, apart from $20, was a pair of train tickets from Cuba, MO to St. Louis Union Station, dated for Monday, May 3rd, just weeks after Marion's 10th birthday. The train left mid-morning, so they'd had to leave Steelville in the grey spring dawn to load up in Aunt Maggie's horsedrawn wagon.

Only having made the 8 mile journey to Cuba a few times in her short life, Marion's sense of adventure heightened somewhat, despite the wagon jouncing her brain around for nearly 2 1/2 hours. She experienced growing apprehension as the familiar slipped away behind her Aunt's wagon... every bird and tree and stream were dear to her, as were the cousins and grandparents she had grown up with. Too soon, all she had known was out of sight, but would never be out of her heart.

Vaguely trying to picture what was going to happen today and in the very near future, Marion knew a whirlwind of change was hers, to be sure. Travelling on a train, meeting grandparents of whom she had barely been aware, leaving behind her painting and dreaming in the library, as well as her wild wanderings in the woods and closed up houses around Steelville. Her whole body shook as she thought of closed up spaces, too many people, and feelings of suffocation and darkness swirling sickeningly around her. Marion let her mother and aunt think that the shaking was from the cool morning air while she tried to focus her mind on the adventure instead of her fear.