Applewhite 06: Doubt and Incredulity

“So Granddad was a miner?”

Roslyn looked very skeptical of the news. Adam took another sip of his coffee, found it was cold, and slugged the rest back with a grimace before holding the mug out to Uncle Edgar for a refill. He cleared his throat then answered.

“Yes, at least that’s the history he gave me, and didn’t you confirm it”?

Roslyn shrugged.

“I confirmed that there was a Johnathan Mooreland born in 1900 California. That he was born to parents who died in a minor cholera outbreak in or around 1913. There’s nothing in what I found to indicate that any of them did any kind of mining or had a stake.”

“Well, all this is what he told me and I believe him. He never lied to me before about anything.”

“Except for the lie of omission in never revealing any of it.”

“He had his reasons, which I will get to.”

Joel leaned forward and put an elbow on the table. He and Kathleen spoke together, both having the same question on their mind.

“Why wait?”

Adam accepted another mug of coffee from Edgar with a nod of thanks as Aunt Wendy got up from the table to start making another pot.

“Well it all ties together. Does anybody remember when Granddad let Mr. Felstein go?”

Kathleen cocked her head to the side but Joel spoke.

“Who was Mr. Felstein?”

“You’re probably too young to remember, he was with Applewhite Liquors. Do you remember Rose?”

“Yeah, he was in charge of marketing and distribution to new markets, right?”

“He was, yes, Granddad let him go after he started pushing ads and shipments to Texas.”

“Why?”

“Because Granddad never intended to sell anything in Texas; as far as he was concerned Texas could be a dry state and never see a drop of anything Applewhite. Jim Felstein went around him and did it anyway, so Granddad fired him on the spot when he found out.”

Satisfied that it would do as intended, Aunt Wendy moved away from the coffee machine. Uncle Edgar could grabbed her hand, gave it a kiss and kept it there so he could pat her behind. She let out a yelp and chastised him before she took her place back at the table.

“You scoundrel!”

“Aunt Wendy…”

“He is, and a pervert too!”

Adam rolled his eyes before continuing.

“Nothing wrong with playfulness between married couples, it’s out of marriage we must look down on.

That last part came with a pointed look at his son Joel, who had yet to marry but a long string of romances behind him.

Joel let out an uncomfortable clearing of his throat.

“So, uh… Anyway, why didn’t Granddad want anything to do with Texas?”

Roslyn creased her brow and put in her own remarks.

“It wasn’t just that he didn’t want anything to do with it, he refused to set foot there, or even send anyone else... He was invited to no fewer than three Brewers and Liquor Conventions, two in Houston and one in Austin that I know of, and he refused to go or send a representative to any of them.”

Adam raised his mug and a pointer finger at his sister and continued.

“I spent more time with Granddad than anyone, and I heard him say more than once that no good of any kind ever came from Texas, with one exception.”

Roslyn looked up.

“I’ve heard him say it too, any idea what the exception was?”

Adam had a quiet smile and he looked at Aunt Wendy before he spoke.

“That’s where he met Grandma.”

There was a moment of silence as the idea of the woman none of them had met washed over them. If anything could have been said to have captured Johnathan Applewhites mind more than God and his faith, it would have to have been his late wife. The woman had died before Adam or Roslyn were ever born, before Adams father Gregory had married Aunt Wendy’s sister Lilly, but Johnathan Applewhite had spoken more lovingly and at length about the late Mrs. Applewhite than he did any other human being, living or dead, in their entire lives. There was no doubt from any of them sitting there that she had been the one and only love of his life. Aunt Wendy broke the silence.

“Well, he’s with her now. So he should be happy.”

Adam kept his face a mask to hide his inner thoughts from the rest of the kitchens occupants.

Kathleen leaned forward and pushed her mug up against Aunt Wendy’s as Aunt Wendy got up again, this time to refresh her, and now Kathleens mugs.

“So tell us about that part, when did he meet Great Grandma?”

“Actually, I’ve already said. The woman on the train, who he, uh…”

“He groped Great-Grandma the first time he met her!?”

“Not intentionally, at least he said it wasn’t intentional. He seems to have been a very different person in his youth so who’s to say?"

“I don’t believe it. And she was married!”

“Well, you’ll see what happened there. If I may continue? He didn’t have a dollar to his name, nowhere near enough for a room. But, while we never saw it, apparently, in his youth he was quite the poker player. So with two bits in his pocket and a bottle of whiskey in his bag to bet with; he went looking for the local saloon…”

Please note all works posted here are at best rough drafts, with the accompanying errors, and may change significantly before actual publication.