A piece of the story...Part 5

 Chapter Two

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD May 1938

Henry Cochran ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Medical school sure was exhausting. Of course, it probably wouldn’t have been so bad if he had actually wanted to be there. He grabbed his clothes from the wardrobe, hangers and all, and stuffed them into his suitcase.

His roommates, Jack and Charlie, burst into the dorm room, laughing.

“And the professor’s face was hysterical.” Jack fell onto his bunk bed in hysteria himself. 

“Oh, hey Hank.” Charlie sobered up when he saw him packing. Henry had a reputation for being a no-nonsense, take everything serious kind of guy. If only they really knew him… “Do you have plans for summer break?”

Before he could answer, Jack jumped in. “First, I’m goin’ home to my girl for a while.” A mischievous spark lit his eyes. “Then I start rounds at Mercy Hospital here in Baltimore.”

“I’m just going home.”

“What? Why didn’t you sign up for any rounds, Hank? I heard there was an opening in Emergency; that sounds like fun.”

Henry shrugged, acting like he didn’t know why. Truth was, he did know why. He wanted to actually enjoy his summer, for one. Take a break from the drudgery of medicine. He finished packing his things and pushed out the door with a “have a good summer, guys.” He could hear their confused muttering from the hallway. 

Within an hour, Henry was loaded onto a train bound for home. The usual mix of anticipation and dread filled his chest. The cocktail of feelings when headed for home. Ever since his father had died, home had never been the same. Now it was just a house. Sure, his mother loved him and his sister at least acted like she liked him. But here was a hole. A hole that nobody could fill, especially his mom’s new husband.

He looked out the small window of the train as the outside flew past him. Although technically, he was moving past the outside scenery. But that was beside the point. A smile lit his face when he thought of seeing his little sister again. His sister was the only bright part in his life. Amid the stress and uncertainty of life, she was his ever-steady anchor.

He dozed on and off the rest of the trip, thinking of the past, his present, and the dim future. Hours fly by quickly when you get lost in your own head. Before long, the train was slowing and Henry was gathering his luggage. Outside in the blinding sunlight, he was met by the family butler turned friend on the platform.

John gave him a big bear hug and a slap on the back. “It's great to see you, Master Henry.” The English accent of his old friend had never been more welcome.

“No one knows I’ve come, right? I was hoping to surprise them.” 

“No, sir. I only told them I was picking up a delivery. Which is technically true.” John smiled and turned to load Henry’s bags into the back of the car.

“Excellent.” Henry climbed into the backseat. “Let's go, then.”

John and Henry slipped into silence while the car twisted and turned around different neighborhoods. “So how is everybody?” Henry broke the silence.

John looked at him through the mirror. “No different than last time you visited. Madam Cochran is her same old self, the ruler of her nest.” Though John tried to hide it, Henry spotted the eye role that the faithful servant couldn’t contain. His mother had a reputation. And unlike his, hers was completely and utterly hopelessly true. 

“I expected as much.” Henry grunted. After his father died, she had turned into a completely new woman. The sweet, gentle mother he remembered and loved was exchanged for a self-centered, controlling grouch. And as mean as those words may have sounded coming from her own son, they were true. Without her husband, the love of her life, she had seemed to have lost all reason to live happily. If only she could find the true joy she used to be filled with...if only they all could. “What of Tara?”

“Tara has…grown up. She’s taken up painting as a pastime. And she has at least a dozen suitors.” John chuckled at this. Somehow her beauty made up for her spunky attitude, for Tara had had swooning boys at her doorstep since before she was a teenager. Even though a brother would never admit such a thing, especially to her face, Tara was definitely quite beautiful. And just like his mother used to be. Not that his mother lost her beauty. No, she had lost something more important than that. Youthfulness. True joy in life. Hope. But Tara had those traits...and he wished he could say the same. The things he said about his mother were true for him also, whether he liked it or not. In fact, he had probably sunk even deeper than she had. He set aside that thought, promising to come back to it later yet knowing he never would.

“Painting, huh? I never thought of her as artsy but I guess I have been gone awhile.”

“She’s quite talented, too. She’s painted each of us on staff, your mother, and each room of the house. I do believe she is bored.”

Henry breathed out a laugh. If she found time to paint a portrait of the entire staff AND every single room in the house, she must be bored. At least thirty men and women served as butlers, maids, cooks, and housekeepers in the house with over one hundred and twenty-five rooms. The historical mansion that dated back to the 1700s had been in his step-father’s family for generations, and the money to go with it. He had only dreamt of such wealth before his mother remarried, yet now the money seemed more of a burden than a blessing.