The Guesthouse

Wayne Berry

Description

A woman of Quaker background from Pennsylvania meets a man of Mormon background from Wyoming and their relationship flouishes. Both have demanding and stressful careers which ultimately lead to burnout. When that stress threathens to adversely affect their relationship and marraige, they decide to quit both their jobs, move to the Caribbean, and do something they know nothing about by owning and managing a bed and breakfast guesthouse. This "running away to join the circus" proves duanting, difficult, surprising and rewarding, but not as financially successful as they might have liked. However, the success in terms of their personal relationship, as well as a myriad of relationships formed with local people and others from around the world, more than compensate for any disappointment from their lack of business acumen. What may have been a loss on one hand, results in a win in the long run.

Sujets

• Maison
• Entretien de la maison
• Vie de famille
• Relations familiales
• Thrillers
• Guest house
• Relationship
• Wayne
• Suspense
• Berry
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 25 mars 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781449078720
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

THE GUESTHOUSE
A novel by
Wayne Berry


AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
 
 
 
 
© 2010 Wayne Berry. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse 02/14/2023
 
ISBN: 978-1-4490-7870-6 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4490-7871-3 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-4490-7872-0 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010902010
 
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
THE NURSE
THACKERAY GENEALOGY
THE JOURNALIST
SMITH GENEALOGY
PART I
THE BURN OUT
THE NURSE
THE CYCLOPS
WHOOPS-A-DAISEY
A REGRETABLE LOSS
DON’T LET GRAVITY GET THE BEST OF YOU
SAVE THOSE GREEN STAMPS
VEGETABLES ON DISPLAY?
THE STREAKER
PIGGYBACK ANYONE?
WOW!!
THE REAL BURN OUT
A POSSIBLE OUT FOR AMANDA
THE JOURNALIST
PART II
A RETIREMENT PLAN
PLANS FOR RETIREMENT TAKE SHAPE
PART III
THE ACQUISITION
SEARCHING FOR THE RIGHT ONE
PART IV
THE GUESTHOUSE
A DISCOURAGING FIRST LOOK
THE RENOVATION BEGINS
GRAND OPENING & ACREDITATION
THE EYE-OPENING
THE PERKS OF PARADISE MAR Y SOL: LA PLAYA (SEA AND SUN: THE BEACH)
OUR SECOND SEASON IN THE THIRD WORLD
THE RE-RENOVATION
ALL WORK AND NO PLAY?
SACRIFICING SHADE FOR SAFETY
NEW FRIENDS
NEW SMALLER FRIENDS
HOLIDAY FUN
HOUSE GUESTS FROM HELL
YA’LL COME BACK NOW YA HEAR
A PERSONAL CRISIS
REGIONAL VISITORS & SABA REVISITED
HELPING FAMILY LEADS TO COMPLICATIONS
LET CALM PREVAIL
UNITED WE STAND
AN ADDITIONAL CULINARY OFFERING
ANOTHER CRISIS
A RENTAL TOO FAR?
TROUBLE BREWING
RESCUE FROM AN UNEXPECTED SOURCE
THE WEDDING
ANOTHER PERSONAL CRISIS
NEW NEIGHBORS, NEW PROBLEMS
TROUBLE REARS ITS UGLY HEAD AGAIN
THE DECISION AND MORE UGLY CONSEQUENCES
BACK TO WORK
EPILOGUE
THE SECOND RETIREMENT

ALSO BY WAYNE BERRY
 
 
The Beatification of Shirley
A Play in Two Acts
 
 
Is This the Fun Part?
An Anthology

Dedicated to:
 
Rae Walsh, friend and confidant, who always gave
me good advice and kept me laughing.
 
My grandmother, Mabel Bingham, who saw more
history unfold before her than she would ever have
expected.
 
Most of all, Nolan, without whom this book would
never have been possible.

PROLOGUE
THE NURSE
Very little, perhaps nothing, of what I am about to relate would have transpired had it not been for Amanda. Ever since I first saw her and heard her speak, I knew something special had happened in my life. Watching her take time out of her more than busy schedule to volunteer her talents trying to educate and better the lot of those often left to fend for themselves on the sidelines of life drew me to her like moth to flame. She put her heart and soul into the outreach project of her alma mater and I made it my business to attend every session I could.
My wife is a nurse and an excellent one at that. Where she came from and how she progressed to her present state of grace, as an angel of mercy and saver of lives, doling out TLC like a soothing balm to those afflicted by the worst life can throw at them, is a journey I take great pride in telling. The tale came to me only in bits and pieces over years of marriage and some well rehearsed coercion on my part. I didn’t study investigative journalism for nothing, but you still don’t get the story you really want without a little subterfuge and lots of luck.
Amanda Thackeray’s background is austere and unforgiving to say the very least. Her family has been here since shortly before the Revolutionary War. Though not one of the first families on this shore, hers is one of the oldest, and her forefathers were well acquainted with The Powers That Be when our nation was going through its birth throws. Their predominant religious persuasion was Quaker. Their views on life were stark; their world strictly regimented and their families rigidly ordered. It was a world solely of and by men. Thus, Amanda’s sex alone started her off with one huge strike against her.
A land grant from William Penn settled the family’s place in the scheme of things in post-revolutionary America. The Thackerays began their claim to fame as innkeepers, offering overnight lodging to those headed West along what was then the main route to a destiny yet to be imagined. Unfortunately, the opportunity thus presented failed to flower into what might have become a Hilton, or even a Motel 6 chain. Businessmen they were not, and eventually what might have been a Trump Tower became a sheep farm.
Amanda became a less than enthusiastic Bow Peep, but then no one gets to choose where they’re born, or the circumstances into which they’re thrust. Mother Nature delivers one and says, “Deal with it!”
WWII was in full swing when Amanda was born on the sheep farm without the benefit of her father’s presence. He was off to war in Europe, as was every other male member of the family. It was a house full of women, doing their best to cope at a time when coping was all that could be expected.
Her grandmother, Lucinda, matriarch of the clan, was in charge of keeping everyone housed and fed. How she managed is something I’ve never been able to comprehend. Her life to that point had been harsh in the extreme; a husband dead at 30 leaving her with seven children to raise on her own. Her strict religious beliefs made ameliorating her lot, giving her brood a new father by re-marrying, absolutely out of the question. She considered herself still married to her deceased husband. Remarriage would have been a sin in God’s eyes and, she assumed, bigamy in the eyes of the law.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending upon your point of view, three of her seven offspring never survived past their teen’s, but she eked out an existence running the farm on her own, with the help of her surviving children. She grew everything needed to feed her family on the confines of that farm. The garden was extensive and provided vegetables fresher than those you might buy in a grocery store today. The orchard was yearly laden with fruits of all kind. Whatever fruits or vegetables not eaten immediately were canned and stored in the ample cellar, to be savored when bitter winter snows would otherwise have threatened her family with starvation. There was a cow for milk; chickens for eggs and occasional Sunday dinners; sheep for wool, to provide money for necessities, and the occasional slaughter for meat.
In the spring, when the ewes lambed, there was a rare multiple birth, one which left the unfortunate second born with a recalcitrant mother, unwilling to suckle the extra offspring. Amanda and her cousin, Petor, were always engaged as surrogates, being responsible for saving the new life by bottle feeding. It was the job that didn’t seem exactly like work. It gave them a sense of importance. They both took to the role with relish, which began the development of real affection for their charges, as well as most of the flock. They named almost all of them. In fact, great care had to be taken when slaughtering time approached, lest one of their charges ended up on the table, throwing the cousins into a state of grief and abstinence, refusing to eat for days.
Work was life; life was work. There was no spare time for recreation if you wanted to eat and keep the roof over your head. Amanda had arrived on the scene when any male help was scarce. Unlike many of the Quaker persuasion, Amanda’s male family members had had instilled into them by Lucinda, despite the directive against violence of any kind, a sense of duty to their country and were on active duty overseas. Therefore, work for the women was plentiful and engaged Amanda; her grandmother, Lucinda; her aunt, Rebecca; and mother, Beatrice, full time, as well as the out numbered Petor.
Amanda’s mother, Beatrice, was not a country girl. She was city bred, but chose to shun any comforts the city life might have afforded for the love of her life, Rayford Thackeray. His life became hers more completely and more quickly than she could ever have imagined. She was barely married and transplanted to the family home when she found herself pregnant, her husband off to war, and more work to do than she’d ever imagined in her life. Beatrice Thackeray worked like a farmhand as did her sister-in-law, Rebecca Wolinski.
Rebecca had married “a foreigner,” much to her mother’s displeasure; her husband, Petor Sr., also currently busy with WWII. Petor Jr. would arrive just months after Amanda and, as Rebecca and Beatrice tolerated their pregnancies together, Petor Jr. and Amanda would thrive along side each other as they took their places as the latest generation of Thackerays.
They both grew up in the huge farmhouse, once inn, devoid of adult male inhabitants and with few modern comforts. No indoor plumbing for them. The facilities were a goodly jaunt and a most unwelcome one in winter. The water was fresh and cold, but had to be pu