CHAPTER 2
Late Summer, 1970
Edith Alice walked home from church with her Aunt Reenie. It was a lovely Sunday, Labour Day weekend. The noontime sun was high in the sky and a breeze rustled the grass of the fields on the way back to Reenie's house. Edith had noticed it again that Sunday morning.
"Do you like going to church, Reenie?", the 16-year-old asked her aunt. Irene Kinzer - "Reenie" was the best that baby Edith could muster and the name stuck - was only 30 and the two shared a relationship that teetered between aunt-authority figure and older sister-best friend.
"Well, sure, why do you ask?", Reenie answered, idly swinging a stick at the grass on the side of the road.
"Well, you don't seem to have many friends there and people seem to treat you...weird," Edith answered.
Reenie grinned and looked at the ground before answering. "Let me tell you something about church, Edith. It's full of broken people just like any other place on earth. You're going to find wonderful, caring, loving people but you're also going to run into...well...people who are not so much". Edith looked at her aunt. "Don't forget, kid, I'm a divorced woman. Some look at that as a real failure on my part and...well, maybe its just they don't know how to relate to me".
"That doesn't seem right".
"No, it's not right. But...people are human, Edith. It's easy to forget that Jesus sat with the tax collectors, with the harlots, with the sinners. People on the fringes. They're the people Christians should be focused on most. So if being a divorcee puts me on the 'fringe'...". Reenie looked across the expanse to the horizon. "I don't begrudge 'em, though".
Edith looked at her Aunt Irene with affection.
Truth be told, Reenie Kinzer was a challenge for the townsfolk for a couple of reasons. Todd Kinzer came from a prominent local family. He excelled in high school and went to college on a full scholarship and when he came home with his degree, he promptly married his high school sweetheart, Reenie Scott. Todd and Reenie had grown up together and their families had attended Leacock Presbyterian for generations. Reenie loved her church and her hometown and, as a young bride, she became concerned when she sensed that those two things didn't mean as much to Todd as they did to her. As Todd's job offers rolled in, he expressed excitement at being able to work in any of the four corners of the US. Reenie realized that maybe she hadn't thought this through. Somehow, she had never considered that marrying Todd would mean leaving everything she loved, everything that made her her. Or perhaps Todd hadn't been completely honest with her. When the couple learned that Reenie couldn't conceive, Todd began to think the same about her. Todd leaving his wife to start a new life and career in Chicago was the talk of their small community. Reenie had been almost saved by the death of her sister, Mary Alice. As the only remaining Scott heir, Reenie inherited the large family home and the acreage it sat on. But perhaps most importantly, she inherited Edith Alice. Reenie know knew what her role in life would be. Had she moved away with Todd, she wouldn't have been there to take Edith into her home. And the two would never have become the team the last two years had made them.
The other thing that made the townsfolk look at Reenie askance was the fact that she was a straight-up "hippie". In this small, rural community hippies were anachronistic and synonymous with panhandling, homelessness and joblessness. They could not conceive that a "hippie-type" like Reenie Scott could also be a good Christian. But that's exactly what she was and the more judgemental of the citizens derisively called her not a Christian but a "Jesus freak". Reenie simply kept her focus. She loved her home and she loved her niece.
"Why did you stay here, Reenie?", Edith asked carefully. The two had yet to speak openly, woman to woman, about Reenie's failed marriage.
"I love this place, Edith", she answered wistfully, "and I feel safe here. But I'll admit...", her voice trailed off and Edith waited. "I would love to see this country. I would love to not need stability...but I know I do", she finished, smiling at Edith. Edith Alice smiled back.
They entered the yard of their home and Sam, their mutt, trotted up to them, tail wagging. Edith made a love noise in her throat and patted the dog vigourously.
While this is a work of fiction, it is based on characters and scenarios created by Jo Heims for the 1973 Universal picture Breezy.
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