Dialogue Essays: Ambur’s Walk

Ambur's Walk

“Mom?” asked Lucinda, “What are we having for dinner?”

“Don’t know yet ... Frances, what do you and your mom like?”

Frances asked, “What do we like, or what do we eat?”

Kimberly thought about that question for a second and then asked, “Frances, what would you and your mom love to have for dinner tonight … let’s pretend you won a free dinner at a nice restaurant and there was no check that you had to take care of? Now … what would you order?”

Frances thought this was a great question. It’s fun to imagine ‘what if’ every once in a while. “I think we’d both have steak … definitely steak. We don’t get that at home.”

“So steak it is! See how easy that was?” said Kimberly.

Then the girls walked out to the back porch where Lucinda’s dad was playing his guitar. It’s a pleasant afternoon, not too hot, and he wanted to spend some time outside. He stopped playing though when Frances came out and she said, “You play the guitar very nice, Dr. Sagal.”

“Thank you, Frances,” he said. “I heard you played the piano at Ambur and Honeysuckle’s place today. She has quite a fancy piano from what Mrs. Sagal told me.”

“Yes,” Frances said. “It’s a piano only one can dream about. It’s the only one like it on earth I imagine. It kind of makes it hard for me to go home and play on the old one we have. But at least we have one, and it’s in tune. So I guess I have that to be thankful for.”

“Yes,” Steve said, “there’s always things to be thankful for.”

“Did you hear that Lucinda and I played a duet?”

“Yes, I’m sorry I missed it! I’m sure I’ll hear you two play another time though,” he said.

“Dad, I guess mom told you about the gold we found.”

“Yes, she did. And that was a good reason to invite Frances’ mom over. We don’t see her too ...

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...an help you and Frances out.”

“I don’t know what to say,” said Brenda. “When I first heard about these trolls I thought it was a bad idea all around, you know, getting too close. I now see things differently. Steve, I don’t know anything about selling gold.”

Steve said, “That’s not a problem ... let me help you.”

Honeysuckle was still up when Ambur and Sampson came home.

“How was your walk dear?” she asked.

Ambur said, “I walked over to Frances' house ... no one was home so I took the ‘Opportunity Tour.’

“What did you find out?” she asked. Ambur told her about the house and that it looked like they were struggling financially.

“I left one of my special coins on top of her work schedule with a little note. I hope that along with what Frances has will help them out a little.

“Oh, I’m sure it will,” said Honeysuckle. “Now come to bed. You need some extra sleep.”