When Anna Jane arrived in Abilene,
Oscar took her first to the farm so she could see the “fine little cottage” of which his mother wrote. The disappointment was palpable. There was no need for Oscar to even ask. He felt it in the grip of her hand upon his;
the change in her countenance from the joy of being together again to the utter
astonishment over what they had done.
Why did they leave behind California?
How could see have been so foolish to even suggest it? Anna Jane was still a farm girl at heart, so
she knew the “cottage” would not be the
fanciful pictures of an idyllic setting her imagination conjured for her. But this?
She anticipated something a step up from her father’s Colorado farm –
not what her eyes were showing her now.
Sensing her disillusionment and noticing
her hesitation for stepping any further onto the land, any closer to the “fine little cottage” before them, Oscar
started directing Anna Jane’s attention about the property with his plans of
what was to come.
Initially, he would need to depend
entirely upon the buildings Alvin left behind.
They were crude, but strongly built; and though they were suited more
towards the operations of a farm than an automobile garage, he believed he
could modify their structure enough in order to begin. As time progressed, improvements would be
made, and additional mechanics could be hired as they expanded and became
better known across the northern regions of the state. Who knows?
Maybe one day they could even begin selling automobiles along with
repairing them. Anything and everything
was possible. Nothing should ever be
discounted.
Anna Jane’s initial dismay quickly
evaporated with Oscar’s impassioned vision of what laid possible on this land
now theirs. She even adopted a measure
of his farsightedness when he led her into the house for her first impressions. The inside exhibited little difference to the
outside: a dilapidated farmhouse neglected for too long. However, the faith she also held, faith akin
to Oscar’s own, revealed to her the possibilities for how it could be turned
into a home. The bottom floor consisted
of four rooms, all the same basic size and shape. One room would be their bedroom – most likely,
the room to the rear of the house, to the left of the door facing the
road. This room was separated by a set
of stairs leading to another two-and-a-half rooms on the second floor: clearly,
rooms for children, though storage in the interim.
The remaining three rooms of the
bottom floor were a kitchen/pantry, a dining room, and a living room. There was a door between their kitchen and
bedroom leading out to the back. Certainly,
this would serve as the primary source of entrance and exit from the
house. Oscar’s future garage lay within
easy sight.
Call it the foolish optimism of
youth. Call it the blind faith of the
true believers. Call it whatever you so
choose. Just don’t denigrate the hope
that compels any soul to work hard for the rewards they know by faith will
arrive.
That same day, the 8th
of April in the year 1924, Oscar and Anna Jane were married by a local Justice
of the Peace in Abilene. Afterwards,
Oscar took her around to meet the members of his family: his parents and his
siblings, save his sister Lillian, who lived in Emporia with her new husband
Everett Rich. The two had married a
month earlier in Valley Center; and when everything settled down a bit, Oscar
planned on a visit, not just to Emporia, but also to Junction City so as to
introduce Anna Jane to his sister-in-law, Sarah, Alvin’s widow.
Things at the moment, though, were
far from being settled. The meetings
introduced to Anna Jane a family that showed themselves standoffish and
aloof. Everyone was cordial. They spoke to her and acknowledged her
presence as a new factor in Oscar’s life; but no one gave out the “welcome to the family” speech. No one embraced her with a tender affection
Oscar anticipated. Like with himself, no
one asked a word about California; who her family was; how she and Oscar
met. None of it. She was simply the “movie star” gal Oscar Sexton brought back with him from California,
who sashayed about wearing makeup (which
Oscar’s mother loathed) with an air of pomposity that showed how much
superior she was to these simple Kansas farm girls.
Anna Jane wished to set the record
straight that she also was a simple farm girl, a simple Colorado farm, who picked up a bit of knowhow on makeup and nice dresses
from a few people in California; but Oscar held her in check. They needed to retain their focus on their
plans of him building a fine garage, and she creating a warm and loving home. If his family sought to be a part of their
lives, they were welcome; but neither of them should begin to stumble all over themselves
trying to seek approval they would never be offered.
A couple of exceptions did exist in
Oscar’s thoughts as he considered Anna Jane’s earlier suggestion regarding
extended family. His eldest sister
Myrtle gave birth to five sons. Her
husband, Walter Holt, had tragically passed away five years earlier, leaving
the entirety of the farm’s responsibility on the shoulders of these boys, a
responsibility they handled with great maturity, demonstrating not only a
natural ability for farming, but even more so in mechanical aptitude and
carpentry. In other words, the five Holt
boys knew how to fix things; they knew how to build things; they knew how to
grow things. Oscar saw a possibility, in
between the duties of their own farm; he could call upon them for help when
needed.
As to the help Anna Jane would need
in fixing up the house, it seemed to him his sister-in-law Naomi, the wife of
his brother Burt, she might become a confidant over the course of time. Her reaction to Anna Jane was not so much one
of aloof pretentiousness, as it was perplexing curiosity. Who was this woman who stepped out of the
moving pictures show? What did she want
with us poor Kansas farmers? Oscar
foresaw the possibility of a real friendship developing between the two, if
they were ever permitted a measure of time in which for it to blossom.
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