21. Summer’s End
Mrs. Craig surveyed the chaotic parlor, sighed and sat down. She picked up a small black notebook and a pencil and started to write headings on separate pages. The first page was devoted to Kit and the things she would need before she returned to Hope College. The second page she labeled “Doris.” Then, with a nostalgic sigh, she headed the third page “Jean.” She knew that plans for the wedding would fill the rest of the book.
Two trunks stood near the door to the hall. Two trunks which would go in almost opposite directions. Mrs. Craig smiled as she looked at the two piles of clothes to be packed. One could tell the differences between Kit and Doris just from looking at those piles.
Kit’s was the larger. Her wardrobe was gay, collegiate and nearly complete. Doris’s was much more utilitarian, but at the same time, more feminine. Mrs. Craig shook herself out of her contemplations and got up. Going to the foot of the stairs, she called:
“Kit! Doris! Girls, please come down. Your things are all over the parlor waiting to be packed!”
Arm in arm, Kit and Doris appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Coming, Mother,” Kit called. They scrambled down the stairs.
“Golly, I don’t know where the summer’s gone,” Kit protested. “Here it is August, and Frank has to go back home, and I have to go back to school, and it’s almost time for Jean’s wedding ... and, oh, Mother!” she threw herself into her mother’s arms. “Why does she have to go so far away!”
“Never mind, dear,” Mrs. Craig said.