Green Door Antique Store
Part II Continues For Another Day!
One more chapter in Part II will be posted tomorrow (hopefully) and then I will take a break and pick up Part III next week. It looks to be a busy week! Today is my birthday so it may take me another day to write the chapter. Maybe to get anything written this week! One of the joys of being this old is I mostly get to do life at my own pace. Thank you for enjoying this story. I enjoy the comments and messages. I laughed about the cupcakes and was glad others enjoyed it also.
Click here for a review post that lists all the Part I Chapters.
Chapter 15: Saturday Lunch in the Café
Chapter 16: A Kitchen Conversation
Want to get back in the mood for reading? Listen to Green Door, What’s That Secret You’re Keeping? again!
Green Door Antique Store: Part II—The Booths
Chapter Nineteen: Booth Conversations—Part II
Bettilynn’s Booth
Thyme entered the Tangy Orange booth with Bettilynn close on her heels.
“What do you think?” Bettilynn asked.
“I feel like I just walked into a California ocean sunset!” Thyme exclaimed.
The antiques lining the shelves were carefully placed with browns on the lower shelf, blues above them, and finally the yellows and oranges of sunsets at the top. Mixed in with the brown items were a mixture of seaside sculptures that mimicked the finds one might find while walking along the beach.
“It is perfect,” Thyme said. “And so organized! The blue shelf is just dazzling. The cobalt blue glassware mixed with sea foam pieces is stunning against the Tangy Orange booth! It feels like this might have been a labor of love for you.”
“Ahhh, yes it was,” Bettilynn answered. “It wasn’t easy for me after I left home. Maybe escaped would be a better word. I had very little money and worked a lot to try to put my way through college. Going to the beach was freeing and healing. I am proud of my younger self who held so many secrets. I didn’t feel like it would do any good to share them—especially with my daughter. I just tried to give her a better childhood than I had. I never had any thought that she might want to know my story. I wonder if she tried to ask. I would certainly have avoided the question. I guess that is why I am here.”
“Maybe sharing this beautiful booth with your daughter when she comes will give you a chance to be more open. She will sense how important what you have done here is.”
“I hope so,” Bettilynn said as Thyme left her booth and headed to check on Lynda.
Lynda’s Booth
When Thyme entered the next booth, Lynda was taking a moment to rest on the church pew that she had the teenagers drag up the stairs to her booth. She smiled at Thyme and patted the space next to her on the pew. Thyme returned the smile and was glad to sit a moment.
They both started talking at once and started laughing.
“Go ahead Thyme,” Lynda said.
“That was very clever of you to test the green door. I wondered who would do that.”
“Yes,” Lynda said. “I would be most likely to test it. I often feel trapped and check every room for an escape route when I walk into it. It is likely why I was also rather rude last night. Evelynn said she came and talked to you.”
“Well, like I told Evelynn, this is all a bit disconcerting and you two will not be the first or the last to have a moment. So, you have decided to stay?”
“Yes, that kind of surprises me. I am always the first to want to leave anything. Jobs have been like that. Marriages have been like that. Friendships have been like that. My faith is important to me, but it never seemed to help my constant desire to escape. I was so angry when I found out this was about secrets—the exact thing I have avoided my entire life. My faith told me to leave my past in the past. I don’t tell people this, but I have dreams that tell me my past is anything but in the past. I was afraid I would scream last night and wake people.”
“I am so sorry to hear this, Lynda. I am glad your faith has been important to you. Maybe your hope for those dreams to stop is exactly why you are here. Maybe you will find answers this week.”
“Do you think that is possible?”
“I have been doing this for many years and have watched it help so many, I can’t promise anything, but I believe it is possible.”
“Then I will have hope because I have prayed for help. Did my daughter tell you I had dreams? I am sure I frightened her at times. And I kept moving and dragging her around. I am thankful that we still love each other. Her life has not been easy.”
“No, she didn’t mention the dreams—I wouldn’t say if she had—but she didn’t. I can say that. What will she think of your booth?”
The two women on the pew took a moment to gaze at the remarkable collection.
“She will be surprised because I included artifacts from other faiths besides Christianity. My comment last night about the Devil getting a foothold was awkward and was something they would tell me as a child. I wanted to dispel that rigid thinking, and this was how I chose to do that. But she will be surprised.”
“That was a brilliant solution! I imagine she will be surprised but this booth is beautiful and reminds me of a chapel I used to visit many years ago. I may come to sit here several times this week.”
Thyme, who felt revived by her time on the pew, stood up and headed to Evelynn’s booth.
Evelynn’s Booth
Evelynn was anticipating Thyme’s arrival and greeted her with a smile.
“What do you think?”
Thyme knew there would be angels after Kaylynn told her she had given her some, but she did not expect so many!
“How did you find all these angels?!” Thyme exclaimed.
There were angel figurines of every possible kind intermixed with cherubim. It would have been overwhelming if Evelynn had not also included antique vases—and somehow found flowers for some of them. It was unexpectedly charming.
Sitting right in the center was a collection of ceramic cactus plants. Evelynn saw Thyme’s quizzical look as her eyes rested on the collection that seemed oddly out of place. Then she remembered the paint color was Cactus Flower.
Evelynn laughed, “I know it is unexpected and no one else may understand it but you and the other women know it was the paint color—and I was rather prickly like a cactus that first night.”
Thyme laughed. This quirky humor was a side of Evelynn that she had not anticipated. “Will your daughter understand?”
“I am sure she will. She and I share a quirky sense of humor, and I believe she will know I am admitting to being that prickly cactus. I was so worried about what everyone would think of her and about me as her mother that I poked at her instead of loving her. I hope the other items in the booth will help her see a softer side of me I didn’t always show.”
Thyme was stunned by the deep thought Evelynn was putting into her booth and her reunion with her daughter. While she wasn’t a huggy-type person, she surprised herself when she said, “Evelynn I am so proud of you! Can I hug my new favorite prickly cactus?”
It was a healing hug that did not end until Katelynn peeked her head around the corner.
“Oh sorry! I knew you were headed to my booth next but I need to go to the basement and find one more thing. Can you look at Crystal’s booth first?”
Thyme smiled, “Absolutely. I hope you find what you are looking for!”
Crystal’s Booth
Thyme walked through Katelynn’s booth and found Crystal underneath a table in her booth with only her backside visible. Suppressing a giggle, Thyme cleared her throat to announce her arrival.
“Oh, my goodness,” Crystal mumbled as she backed out from under the table, hitting her head on the way. “That was awkward. I was trying to plug this lamp in.”
“Are you OK?” Thyme asked.
“Yes, except my pride,” Crystal replied. Both women could contain their laughter no longer. Exhaustion on Crystal’s part sent her into laughter that turned to tears.
Thyme handed her a tissue and waited.
“Thank you,” Crystal managed to say between sobs. When she got composed, she said, “I have been doing that since I was a child. I start laughing, and it's as if it cracks the door open to a flood of tears. There is no stopping it.”
“Tears are a healthy emotional release,” Thyme said. “In fact, tears have different chemical makeup depending on the reason for crying. They really are healing. I believe strongly in crying. I may do that at some point before the end of the week. But for now, your booth is amazing. It is Plum Perfect!”
“Thank you. I found the vintage scarves and then began searching for eclectic items that were the colors in the scarf. Somehow it just worked. I was excited to find some macrame and this wicker chair with orange cushions that I have made good use of!”
Thyme sank into the chair and agreed it was a great find. “I have helpers who stock the basement and don’t always know what is there before it arrives in a booth. You found several things I have not seen. What will your daughter think?”
Crystal paused before answering. “She sometimes helps me with my work as a decorator, she will not expect this!”
Thyme noted that Crystal was the least open about why she might be here of all the women she had talked to. She had not walked through that invitation to talk about why her daughter had sent her.
Before Thyme could ask another question, Katelynn peeked into the booth and said, “I am back if you want to come check my booth now.”
Katelynn’s Booth
Thyme stood in the center of the booth admiring the effort that it must have taken for Katelynn to gather and so artfully display so many small items. Some were displayed on mirrors. Others were on cake stands or hat boxes. Still more were inside decorative boxes that were laid on their side so the displays could be set up inside and on top of the box.
There was so much to look at the Thyme was quiet for some time. The silence felt uncomfortable, and Katelyn, feeling like she needed to fill the empty air, said, “I needed another mirror, so I had to run back to the basement. Now it is all finished!”
Then Thyme laughed. “I wondered how you would give a nod to the color Poolside!”
Katelyn also laughed and said, I couldn’t believe my luck to find a vintage Barbie Tropical Pool & Patio Playset. In the original box, no less. I decided to set it up and add a sunbathing Barbie and Ken.”
“It’s perfect,” Thyme said. “While I am here, I wanted to say that I heard your conversation about your blue room as a child and how you lost your small-things collection in a fire. I am sad that happened to you.”
Thyme watched the same deep sadness that Jayne had noticed earlier descend on Katelynn. “Thank you. My family all got out of the house, but my cat hid, and we didn’t find her until it was too late. I never realized that this particular color of blue has always made me sad. I almost asked to change colors, but maybe it is a good thing to have a better memory. I could almost feel my feelings change as I was able to build a new room filled with small items again.”
“That is a wonderful example of how a memory can be reframed. It doesn’t mean it isn’t still sad; it simply takes the powerful emotions out of the memory.”
Katelynn stared at Thyme. “You are right, that is exactly how it felt. I had to go retrieve tissues at one point because the tears just kept coming, but I feel so much better now. I never had another cat. My daughter begged for one, but I never got one for her. Now she has a house full of them.”
“Does your daughter know all of this?” Thyme asked. “Will she understand your booth?”
Katelynn sighed and said, “All she knows is that there was a fire but nothing more. This is the secret I have been keeping.”
Thyme acknowledged how painful memories often do become secrets and then, as she left the booth, she said, “Maybe you can share this with some of the other women tonight—just to ease into being more open. It might make it easier for you when your daughter comes. I imagine there will be many secrets shared this evening. Remember, Dinner is at six o’clock”
Helpful Information:
Happy Birthday from me too!
Happy birthday! May you have a blessed day 😊❤️