A SKELETON IN THE TREEThe Sisters of St. Jane occupy a huge, historic post-bellum home on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi south of Vicksburg. Mother Superior's tranquil life as head of the convent-rehabilitation center is turned upside down with the arrival of Grace Dalton, an elderly widow from Memphis.Grace has chosen St. Jane's for rehabilitation after breaking her hip because she could also visit her sister Kate, now Sister Caitlin of the Order. The two have had no contact for forty years. When she sees Grace, Sister Caitlin turns and runs.Sister Caitlin refuses to see Grace and threatens to leave St. Jane's unless Grace does, but "cannot" tell Mother Superior why. Questioned, Grace "cannot" explain her sister's behavior but secures Mother Superior's promise to try to get Sister Caitlin to relent. Mother Superior is reminded that she has a secret of her own that she, too "cannot" reveal.She devises a strategy which involves Grace and Sister Caitlin telling her their life stories. Mother Superior learns that they were born in Radium Springs, Arkansas in the early twentieth century. Sister Caitlin was jealous because Grace was their father's pet while she had to help with the housework and care for her mother during her many illnesses.Both worked for The Senator, a powerful state legislator from Tennessee-Kate as secretary and Grace as Campaign Treasurer. Sister Caitlin remembers The Senator as being "sometimes" cruel, while Grace defends him as an honest and honorable, if misunderstood, man. In his own words, the Senator has "strong principles but no scruples."Grace describes a difficult relationship with her daughter, Charlotte and says "she was not cut out to be a mother". She complains that both her husband, Edward and Kate "spoiled Charlotte rotten" leaving her "to deal with the worms." Grace describes an open marriage in which she and Edward are friends and business partners. She claims to have been "discreet" in her affairs but also says that Charlotte was aware of them.Mother Superior perceives Grace to be narcissistic and amoral, but admires Sister Caitlin for being selfless and caring.Grace alternately cajoles and bullies Mother Superior into telling her own life story and revealing her secret. Mother Superior repeats her commitment to help.Grace behaves so outrageously that all of the other patients demand her ouster. Mother Superior demands that Grace apologize. When she refuses, Mother Superior orders her to leave St. Jane's immediately. Grace reminds Mother Superior of her promise.Mother Superior summons Sister Caitlin to her office, where she and Grace face off, leading to the revelation of their secrets and to their reconciliation.
About the Author: My qualifications to tell this story are hardly conventional. I began writing in my eighties. My education was in engineering, my fifty plus years of work in sales. I am now ninety-one, or fourscore and eleven-older than our country when Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address, still in good health and enjoying life to the fullest. I consider my age an advantage as it has given me both perspective and experience. To quote Will Rogers, "Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment." I have had three short stories published: THE ICEMAN, MIDLIFE CRISIS and THE SQUIRREL AND THE CROW. A SKELETON IN THE TREE is my first novel.