Mr. Sam is Here

"As they watched, Jane and Michael saw a curious thing happen. As soon as the shape was inside the gate the wind seemed to catch her up into the air and fling her at the house. It was a though it had flung her first at the gate, waited for her to open it, and then had lifted and thrown her, bag and all, at the front door." – Travers, from Mary Poppins









1

There were many a day out on Snapdragon Trail when Mary Gates did not see a single car pass the front of the Snapdragon farm. Theirs in particular was a lot that was tucked away in a lush green hollow which had been a previous owners' nature preserve and for good reason. The green contours of the hollow were still open grassland dotted here and there by magical oaks who very much seemed to stand in guard of landscape. When the gentlest of breeze circled in and around the green hollow and up along the higher edges of savannah the oaks themselves of course moved very little and this way took the brunt of the weather whatever conditions. As Mary sat at her kitchen table every morning just as the sun rose, whatever season, and the children had left to get ready upstairs she thought of the ancient oak savannah and what she should do with it next. It had been two years now since Paul was gone and she knew he had wanted nothing more than to leave one of these last remaining remnants just as it was, to love it and preserve, just as if it were another family member.     It was a hobby farm but was very much showing its lack of care. Mary worked in the city, more hours than ever before, to pay off the remaining debt of the farm. She was going through her list just now in her head: do we sell this farm and move to the city? Do we farm this land for real and make our living that way? What do we do with the beautiful oak savannah? Do we seek help? Caitlin was the oldest of three daughters and had suggested that she begin to take care of the three of them. "I have been doing this forever," she had but just as soon her younger sister Paige had opened her eyes wide and said "there is no way. You used to sleep when you babysat us!" It was true and Mary knew. For all of the wonderful qualities that Caitlin possessed – was she going to veterinary school? – she was the very last candidate for the job. Rose had walked in this conversation many times as well. She was in 5th grade and took a bus every morning to school, which she hated and said as much. "Caitlin could at least take me to school in the morning. It is right on its way," Rose would say. Inevitably the morning kitchen conversations ended like this. Caitlin would be gone to college soon. Paige was not particularly in the mood to quit all of the things that she did after school – volleyball, swimming, tennis – so that she could rush home to watch over a 5th grader, and the 5th grader making the case that she would be fine all by herself, as long as she could get a ride home after school. "Mary crossed her arms, looked out over the last remaining color of white New England Aster at the edge of the prairie. "Ok, I have made a decision. I wanted to mention this to all three of you, but I also knew that as soon as I said it out loud there would be so many complaints that I would never send it. But I think we all agree that we can't live on a farm and not take care of it?" The three girls looked at each other with true alarm. Just what was it that mom sent, anyway? Sent them away to some kind of boarding school? Sent out an inquiry to sell the farm? "Now listen, this is going to seem a little unusual. I realize. Mary stood up and plucked out a piece of paper. It looked to have a photograph on the front. "Okay, so I looked into trying to get for us a daily nanny." All three girls, of course, had seen Mary Poppins and images of formally dressed women in bonnets came to mind. "I want to tell all three of you that there are not a lot of adult nanny services out there, not like you would think. Well, you all know what the needs of this place are. This isn't just come over and clean the china, right." She was stalling. Something highly unusual was coming. "Mom, please just blurt it out, this is killing us. You are sending us somewhere aren't you?" Paige lobbed. "His name is Samuel."