I
was sorry that I had told Maud to come back to the house. I just wanted to read the rest of
Charmaine’s diaries. Anyway, she was eager to show me what she had outlined for
Cassie and her children, or as I loved to call them, the ‘migrants’ so I
listened attentively. Maud had developed a plan to keep them out of my way but what was interesting was that it was a seven-day plan instead of the initial
three-day plan that Reverend Julian had proposed. When I questioned her about
it she said that it was just a precaution in case anything came up. I looked
her squarely in the eyes and told her crisply, “You are obviously taking me for
granted and I will not put up with it! They leave here after three days!” She
pretended not to hear me and kept on talking, but if she thinks I am joking she
has another guess coming! Looking over the plan I saw where she made sure that
I would not see Cassie or her children during my waking hours, which seemed
workable seeing that I was returning to the hospital tomorrow. She would also ensure
that they not be around when I came home from work. Maud knew that I treasured
peace and quiet after a hectic day delivering babies at the hospital. The dogs
began to bark which seemed strange at that time of the night. “Are you
expecting anyone?” asked Maud. “Nope!” I replied. Anyone who knew me knows that
I do not entertain unexpected visitors after seven o’ clock at nights. Maud
went to look to see if there was anyone at the gate. She returned and said
that she did not see anyone. It seemed as if the dogs were barking because they wanted water so she had
refilled their water bowls. We finished going over the plan and agreed that
we all should make an effort to make it work. She then left. One thing with
Maud, I have never had to remind her
about locking the gate at night or letting
the dogs out of their kennel. I could hear her putting the extra padlock on the
gate and telling the dogs to be good boys. I always laughed when she spoke to
the dogs as if they were humans. I went back to the diaries. After Charmaine’s
birthday party, she wrote mostly about activities that took place at school and
discussions that she had with Florence and her Grandpa Stanley and the books that she read. I skipped
through the pages of the diary I was reading and started on another one. It was
the same thing. I found the diary that was written in her fifteenth year and began to read it.
It was apparent that Charmaine had no close girlfriend, or any girlfriends for
that matter, that she could share her secrets with. I could not believe that she did not have a best friend at school or wasn't friends with any of the girls who lived on the estate! I never for one minute thought that Charmaine would have been so shy! She still did not like Miss
Markhums and as much as she loved Florence to death she did not feel like telling
her everything that was happening with her, especially about the boy that she
had a crush on. I sat up straight in my chair, ‘Charmaine had a boyfriend!’ I
screamed silently. I laughed. Charmaine did not have a
boyfriend, she just had a crush on a boy. One of the butchers that lived on the
estate had a nephew, named Carlton that came to spend the summer that year with
him. He was seventeen years old and at first Charmaine did not like him because
he was so full of himself! He walked about the estate as if it was his uncle that owned it
and not Stanley Wharbucks! In Charmaine’s opinion, he was lazy and too carefree.
Instead of assisting his uncle with the slaughtering of the animals he preferred
going to the river to swim and frolic with the girls who lived on the estate.
The girls seemed to laugh louder when they saw her passing by as if they wanted
her to know that they were having a good time with Carlton. These girls did not
like Charmaine, not only because she was Stanley Wharbucks granddaughter but
because of her beauty. Charmaine overheard them once saying that she was
behaving as if she was a princess and she was just a little ‘miss goody
two-shoes’ who always had her nose in a book. Charmaine’s feelings towards
Carlton changed the day she saw him helping Florence in Ben’s rose garden. He
was pulling out weeds and planting flowers. He was so kind and attentive to
Florence. It was the first time Charmaine was seeing him like this and she
admitted to herself, there and then, that she liked him. Charmaine watched him
through the window as he went to and fro in the garden clearing out the dead
plants and replanting fresh ones. She heard him telling Florence that he loved
roses and hoped to have a garden like Ben’s one day. She ducked as he got up
and looked in the direction of the window. He almost caught her staring at him!
Charmaine wrote about her feelings for Carlton a lot in her diary and I could
see that she was truly infatuated with him. He was her first love and she had
no one to talk to about him. Poor Charmaine, I said to myself, as I reflected
on my first love. 
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