Waterfall Jewelry

by Dan Clotfelter

- Now

Somehow it always looked the same. Mobile homes, frozen in time, the same level of disrepair. Grass that should have been mowed a week ago. Families that were in flux. Children that had never really known stability.

She drove past unit 7 without a glance and parked in front of 8. As always, it looked a little too nice to be in Waterfall Estates. Of course, the inside would be neat and tidy, but somehow the 90-year-old women had always managed to keep the outside in shape.

She exited the rental car and the morning sunlight made her earrings shine. Climbing the front deck to the old women’s trailer, she slid her key into the lock. As expected, the inside looked as if it had just been cleaned. She made her way to the back bedroom and found the old woman’s secret compartment in her bed.

This would be the last time she would come here. The last time she would visit her apprentice. Even now, the thought that she could have taught that lady anything made her laugh.

This time, it also made her eyes tear.

***

- Then

The old woman sat on the front deck of her trailer. It was her favorite place to be at Waterfall Estates, raised slightly above the fray, able to see all the way to the entrance. Waterfall Estates, she thought. That name set an expectation that the property did not even attempt to meet.

The grass needed to be mowed and puddles were everywhere from the overnight storms. The property was just too low and the perpetual dampness gave the whole place a musty smell. But, today, there was just enough flow in the stream to actually create the namesake waterfall into the back pond.

Her attention was called to the gravel entrance as the new occupants of unit 7 pulled in. The car had seen multiple owners, had visible damage to both the front and rear bumper, and was approaching 200K miles. Like the people inside the car, it functioned but did not really look trustworthy.

The new family exited the car. The husband got out slowly, knowing that this was no place he wanted to be, but resigned to the fact that he had no other options. The wife seemed more eager. The old woman would learn that they had spent last week at a short term motel off the highway and Waterfall Estates was definitely an upgrade in station.

The wife opened up the back door and three kids tumbled out, along with some of the clothes and housewares that had made them invisible to the outside world.

The first to appear were two brothers, carbon copies of each other made less than a year apart some 14 or 15 years ago. They spotted the back pond and took off for it at a run. The mother tried to the stop them but they ignored her, and the husband pretended he hadn’t heard the exchange.

Last to appear was a small girl wearing a backpack and holding a book. The book was thick and seemed an ambitious choice for a girl that looked closer to five years old than ten. The girl’s backpack was large and stuffed full. Her clothes were old, but everything about her seemed orderly and planned. She stood in contrast to her family.

The other thing that stood out was the girl’s earrings. They were colorful and bright without being garish. Dangling from her pierced ears, they caught the light and in turn the attention of the old woman. Neither the girl nor the earrings belonged there, and the woman decided then that she would do something to change that.

*

The old women admired the pattern the chocolate icing made on the cake. It sat on a decorative plate that she knew might never come back, but each new neighbor got a cake and a plate.

She knocked on the door to unit 7 and it was quickly answered by the mother of the family.

“Hello. My name is Beverly and I live next door. I thought you might like a little dessert to celebrate moving into your new place.”

The mother smiled, “Well thank you so much. I’m Margie. Would you like to come in?”

The old women smiled back. She knew that Margie didn’t want her to come in. She could see the unit was a mess from the door.

“Oh no. I have food in the oven. I just wanted to get this to you before dark. There are paper plates and forks in the bag. Also, just wanted to let you know that I have a washer and dryer in my unit. I charge a dollar per load for you to do it yourself, but I always let new residents have a week for free. Better than having to go sit at the laundromat.”

Margie smiled again, but this time it held a tinge of excitement. The possibility of avoiding hours at the laundromat was better than cake any day.

“The boys and Ed are down at the pond, but my daughter is here. Ellie!”

Ellie jogged into the main room, big book in tow.

“She is always reading,” Margie said in an exasperated tone.

“I wasn’t reading, Mom. I was working on a new pattern,” Ellie explained.

“My bad! Reading or making earrings. This is our neighbor. She brought us a cake to celebrate the new house.”

Beverly noticed that the girl did not hide behind her mother or look away when their eyes met, except for quick glances at the cake.

Beverly smiled at the child and reached into the bag that held the plates and forks. “Hello Ellie. I’m Bev. I thought you might want your own dessert, so I made you this.”

The clear plastic container contained a single cupcake. Chocolate icing was swirled to perfection. But this treat had added decorations: blue and yellow sprinkles that matched the colors of the girl’s earrings.

“Thank you! Thank you!!” She eagerly accepted the offering and looked up at her mother.

“Better eat it now before your brothers get back or you won’t get any of it.”

Beverly started to make her exit. “Come by tomorrow, if you have any clothes to do. No one is on my laundry schedule until 1:00, so you can do several loads in the morning.”

*

The old woman was up when Ellie’s father and brothers left just after day break and returned less than an hour later with three new fishing poles and a box of worms. It always amazed her how people with no money for what they needed always found the money to do what they wanted. Beverly sighed, disappointed that she was being so judgmental, but knowing that she was not likely to change at her age.

She was outside on the porch having a cup of coffee when Margie stuck her head out the front door of unit 7 and asked if it was OK to bring over a load or two. Minutes later, Ellie and her mother were carrying two full garbage bags over to unit 8. The bag Ellie carried looked like it might pull her over, but that still didn’t keep the girl from wearing her backpack. 

“Is it OK if Ellie comes, too?  She’ll read the whole time,” Margie explained.

“Oh sure!” Beverly reassured Margie while smiling at Ellie. “I’m a reader, too.”

Beverly showed Margie the laundry room setup. Margie told her how the family had already devoured the cake, but didn’t mention the decorative plate or its return.

Leaving Margie to her laundry, Bev returned to the front of the trailer. Ellie was at the kitchen table and her book was out, but she was not reading. Instead, the kitchen table had been converted to a work station.

A rainbow of beads were neatly organized in bags by color, shape, and size. Fasteners, loops, and wires were set up for easy access, and several tools sat on a board with edges to keep anything from rolling off.

The old lady prepared to comment on the work station, but Ellie spotted her and beat her to the punch. Reaching into her bag, the girl pulled out Bev’s container and something in a tiny bag.

“The cupcake was absolutely delicious and the decorations were beautiful. I brought you a pair of my earrings. I thought the red and gold would look good on you, but I can make you a set with different colors.”

Bev tried to hold back her grin. Container washed and returned, almost certainly completely of her own accord. A return gift, with thought put into what Bev would like.

“Oh my. Those are perfect. I know just what I will wear them with.”

The old woman wanted to sit down and start the 20 questions, but Margie came down the hallway, “Ellie, you can’t just take over Bev’s kitchen table!”

“It’s no problem. I want to see how she makes these amazing earrings. She is welcome to stay here and work, if you need to run back and forth to your place while your laundry is washing. In fact, maybe I can be her apprentice and she can teach me how to make a pair myself.”

Margie thought for a moment. She really wasn’t worried about Ellie being alone with Bev. She had gotten the lowdown on her from the family in unit 6. Bev was definitely a busybody and a bit of a know it all, but always willing to help out in a time of need.

“Ellie, you can stay and work if you want. But, if you get out of line, Bev is going to send you right home.”

Ellie agreed and her mother made a hasty retreat.

“Ellie, do you know what an apprentice is?” Beverly asked as she sat down across the table.

“Yes! I read a book where a boy left his family to be an apprentice to a wizard. He had to do all the chores and the wizard taught him how to control his magic,” Ellie replied.

“That sounds like a good story. If it’s okay with you, I want to be your apprentice for the day. You can teach me how you make the earrings and I can do any of the boring chores that go along with making them.”

“Well, making the earring kind of IS the chore. But, I will help you make a pair if you want.”

And with that, Ellie proceeded to make a beautiful pair of earrings, explaining every step along the way. Then, Ellie led the old woman in creating her first pair.

“That wire isn’t the same size as the other one.”

“Those colors work great together.”

“That fastener will show up too much against the black beads you are using.”

“I like the size pattern you are using. It is really pretty.”

“That knot is going to allow the beads to wiggle too much. We need to tie it again.”

The mother passed through multiple times over the next two hours, largely ignoring the earring factory until the laundry was done.

She tried to get Ellie to come home when the laundry was finished, but both her daughter and Bev begged her to let them continue a little longer.

“I have Tammy, your neighbor from unit 6, coming to do a load in about 20 minutes. I have to be here anyway and I’m just learning how to make the hoop earrings,” Bev pleaded.

*

That first day of the old woman’s apprenticeship lasted almost 4 hours.

It included the best chicken salad sandwiches Ellie had ever eaten. Somehow, grapes do go in chicken salad!

Their love of books was discussed and Ellie got to borrow a book from the woman’s bookshelf. She picked Where the Red Fern Grows, even though, or maybe because, the women told her it would make her cry.

It also included the decimation of Ellie’s earring supplies. The old woman apologized for using up all of her beads and bobbles, but Ellie was delighted.

The old women promised to buy her new supplies as a payment for her apprenticeship.

Ellie decided that they would give a pair of earrings to all the girls in Waterfall Estates and they even made an earring for the old man in Unit 2. The old woman said he had been in the Navy for 50 years and had tattoos to go with his pierced ear. Ellie was looking forward to that delivery the most.

*

Four weeks later, the jewelry maker and her apprentice met at the old woman’s car at 6:30 on Saturday morning. The car was packed with fifty pairs of earrings and ten necklaces made for the special occasion.

The two had painted signs that advertised the plastic beaded earrings for $10/pair. Ellie thought the old woman was crazy. They had figured out that the plastic beaded earrings cost no more than two dollars to make. Who would pay ten dollars for something that cost less than two? But the old woman had insisted. She had named herself Apprentice in Charge of Pricing.

Eight pairs of the earrings, and half of the necklaces, were made from new metal beads and leafs that the old woman had given the girl last week. They didn’t have prices for these on the signs, but the old women said she would handle the customers if they were interested in purchasing one of those.

On the way to the market, they ate biscuits the old woman had packed for the trip and the girl and her apprentice made special plans. If the old woman told the girl a customer was driving a hard bargain, the girl would say, “That is one of my favorites, but I guess we can let it go for that price.”

If the woman asked the girl what she thought of a deal the apprentice was making with a customer, the girl would say, “I just don’t think we can let that one go quite that low. Can you do a little better?”

They arrived at the I-40 flea market just after 7:00. By 7:30, everything was set up in their small booth. A minute after sitting down, they made their first sell to the women selling candles in the next stall.  

Ellie’s favorite part was presenting the first Certificate of Authenticity, a tiny scroll tied with a blue and yellow ribbon: Waterfall Jewelry by Ellie. Scrolls in her favorite books always seemed so important.

Before the gates had opened, they had sold three pairs of earrings to other vendors at full price and had negotiated a trade with a food truck: a metal beaded necklace for two full lunches and all the snow cones the girl could eat during the day.

By 10:00 AM, the old woman was agitated that they didn’t bring enough jewelry. The little girl laughed; she knew the woman was happy but wasn’t going to show it.

The little girl made new earrings with her supply kit and even made some custom orders, trying to keep up with demand. A small crowd gathered and watched her ply her trade.

Late in the morning, a woman came to the booth and watched the girl make a new pair of earrings. A steady stream of customers eagerly purchased the offerings without haggling over price. The woman waited for a lull, then approached the table.

“I absolutely love these earrings. It looks like you have about ten pairs of the plastic bead earrings left. Do you think we can strike a deal? Maybe sixty dollars for all ten?”

The girl looked up from the work bench. Sixty dollars sounded like a lot of money. But the old woman did not look pleased.

“Looks like we are going to sell out today. We are not really looking to strike any bargains, but maybe we could make you some and deliver them this week. Maybe $9/pair?”

“I live in Grant Town,” the woman replied. “Could you deliver twenty for $7/pair?

The old woman winked at the girl, “This woman drives a hard bargain. Do you think we can make twenty by Wednesday, if she makes it $8/pair?”

The girl shook her head, “It’ll be tough, but I guess I can skip the pool on Monday to get them done!”

They had completely sold out by the end of lunch time.

*

The old woman made a sign to leave in their spot promising to be back next week.

The food truck made great hamburgers and Ellie learned that three snow cones in four hours was just right, but four was way too much.

Ellie spent $20 on candles for her mother and tried to spend $30 on fishing lures for her dad and brothers, but the fishing vendor realized she was the girl that made the jewelry. He drove a really hard bargain and gave her twice as many lures as she was going to buy and a ‘really nice’ fishing pole if the girl would bring a matching metal bead necklace and earring set in his wife’s favorite colors the next week.

***

- Now

Ellie pulled the jewelry chest from the secret compartment. It held gold, diamond and ruby earrings, bracelets, and necklaces that could go a long way toward buying Waterfall Estates. In a clear case, there were the first earrings that she had given the old woman as a thank you for the cupcake.

There was also a letter addressed to her.

Ellie,

I am so lucky to have been your apprentice.

I am amazed that you made it back to visit me so often. Forgive me for refusing to move to the big city. The visits were always fun, but this is where I belong.

The rent is paid for a year in advance. Sarah in unit 2 lost her husband last month. She is going to move in and stay for free until my lease runs out. The only condition is that she lets everyone use the washer and dryer.

There is a boy in unit 3 that is going to be an amazing artist and writer. He really needs an apprentice. I know you can’t be here, but maybe you can make sure he gets a chance.

I want to wear that first pair of earrings to the funeral. And make sure everyone that comes gets a cupcake.

Bev