Palm Beach insider, Claire Patterson, knew the recipe for success. She had wrapped her life in the security of family, friends and a successful career. Hired as a consultant, Claire surprised everyone, leaving Palm Beach to spend the summer in rural Oh

25,000 SEEDS

Where LOVE GrowsBy Helen Noble

Balboa Press

Copyright © 2012Helen Noble
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-4860-9

Chapter One

Norma was sure she knew what she needed to do. She was looking for the money with which to hire a consultant who could come in to create a new program, know how to fund it, write a grant for the funding requirements, find an off-site location, and supply the building criteria. In the meeting she spoke openly to the board.

"The public school has been hit hard with cutbacks the likes of which we have never seen before. There are no funds available in next year's school budget with which to fund the before-school or after-school child care programs. There isn't enough money to keep the lights on during program hours, let alone pay the staff." Had the board seen this coming? Yes! Had they addressed the problem which had been growing for the past three years? No! As every area in the curriculum was pared back from year to year, they shifted funds around in school budgets, making it appear as though there was enough to go around and deferring fiscal responsibility year after year. Unable to continue this approach any longer, the emergency meeting was called to solve the dire problem in which Salinger now found itself. She continued, "Without a stimulus, the town could lose an essential segment of its future growth - young families. Our schools are one of the most important elements that keep this town viable and a proud, family-oriented community."

As rural towns shrank and families moved closer to jobs, education and child care were aspects of a family's quality of life which determined if, or where, these families might relocate to. Farming families were shrinking, and even in rural America there wasn't always alternative safe and educational childcare. Not that most of these parents necessarily always thought that way, but Norma did. She wanted more for the children of Salinger.

As soon as she realized the before and after-school child care would not be able to continue, she immediately thought of Claire Patterson. She seemed like someone who could provide the solution to their problem. That is, if the number on the business card was still in service. Before she picked up the phone to call, Norma had needed to find out how much the town could afford to pay a consultant. Embarrassed, yet desperate, and not knowing quite what to say, she called Claire anyway.

Back from the beach after an early morning walk, Claire was sitting by the pool having breakfast and going through her mail. It was the last day of March and there was a tropical breeze coming off the ocean with just enough haze in the sky to make it a balmy eighty-three degree day, rather than a ninety degree scorcher. Palm Beach was a unique place; the snowbirds left just before Easter, and traffic thinned out, yet you could feel nothing was slowing down. Restaurant and retail shop owners caught their breath as they were quickly preparing for a second wave to arrive. As long as the dollar remained weak, European and South American tourists would begin arriving right after the first of May.

Claire loved her life but had recently been feeling restless inside. She was craving a change of scenery - something different. This feeling was new to her and she didn't like it. It didn't conform to the nice organized life she had built around herself. Surely this is temporary, she thought. Far too distracted these days she promised herself she was going to slow down her work schedule. She had good people working for her after all, and she did not have to personally be involved on every project. So far though, morning coffee on the lanai and occasional walks on the beach were as close as she had come to bringing some needed balance into her life. I'm working on it! She thought as she considered, Where could I go? What could I try that's different? Something different didn't mean another trip to Paris or London. And she didn't want to take another cycling trip like the one through Tuscany. No, none of these feel right.

Excited, she was looking forward to next week. She was going to see her children. It was always a highlight - and one that took thoughtful planning. This time of year they came down from Chicago and New York. This had become their annual family reunion. Claire, her children, and their significant others gathered every April. Right after her divorce, Claire knew she had to find a way to keep the children coming together and maintaining their foursome as a family. So what started out as spring break in Palm Beach evolved over twelve years into the annual family reunion. This April the twins, Ethan and Kate, were turning thirty. Her other daughter, Ali, was twenty-eight. Their family motto became, "Any excuse for a celebration!" Every year they each had to contribute reasons for celebration to the party. Of course, this year it would be the twins' thirtieth birthday. Also, Ali had recently gotten engaged and Sam, her fiancé, was coming with her. For Claire, this summer marked the opening of the thirty-second franchise of her after-school Children's Centers.

Now that the kids were grown and establishing their own lives and careers, this had become the only time during the year when they all took their vacations together and caught up with one another. It reminded her of Christmases when the children were growing up. During these reunion trips they always fell back into being who they were at ages eight or ten. She thought, How they digress when they're here, and how I love it! The four of them were very close, and, while the children were growing up, Claire had a saying that they all took to heart. "If you would pick yourself to be your best friend, you've succeeded. If you talk to yourself like you would want to be spoken to, you're at peace. And if you can feel the warmth of the sunlight when you look up, you're grounded." Now, with their big lives ahead of them, she didn't worry about them anymore, other than the usual motherly angst. She had faith they had grown up to understand a deeper sense of their inner selves. She was always there to talk, giving them a place to vent, laugh, or cry. She was grateful knowing the divorce, and the subsequent years, had not changed any of their closeness.

Watching as three egrets lunged across the yard, her focus shifted. What to do this summer - Something out of the usual. She drifted far away, off in a daydream.

Startled, she found herself on a faraway island somewhere, listening to the familiar sound of steel drums ringing. Steel drums ringing? Ringing! It was the ring of her phone. Back to reality she answered the call, though not recognizing the area code. A Norma Nagel quickly jolted Claire back to reality and was reminding her that they had spoken six years before at an education conference. Then, she began describing how her community needed help. Claire remembered that conference in Chicago. It was where she had given a call for education reform. Those were exciting times. She thought. At the time, she had just returned from Washington after having been invited to testify before congress about setting a national standard for elementary after-school child care. Since then, the results had been adopted in twenty-eight states (and still growing) as "The Safe Schools Off-Campus Program." The program which Claire advocated confirmed that students, who at a young age (kindergarten through the sixth grade) had the care and nurturing of well-instituted educational and creative programs, had greater odds of graduating from high school, staying out of trouble, and going on to college. The young student model was one of her passions. With the cost of education rising, and important areas of curriculum such as art and music being cut from school budgets, the creative arts became central to her school program's mission. Claire felt a big part of reaching a child's innate, unbounded love and creativity were being dampened. Up until then, the "Off-Campus" model had been strictly a private education program which she had created fourteen years earlier when she opened her first after-school "Off-Campus for Kids" Children's Center in Chicago.

That conference where she and Norma first met launched her non-profit school concept by bringing school systems together with their local business communities. She had worked hard to help those less fortunate have an after- school experience nearly parallel to that of her private-school students. The Chicago meeting had been a turning point for Claire and everything about that day immediately came into focus. "Oh yes, I remember, you came with other members of a group from Ohio." On the other end of the line, she could tell Norma sounded surprised Claire even remembered her group. They talked briefly.

After hanging up both women sat perfectly still for a time. They were both amazed - shocked really - at how quickly they had agreed to work together. Claire laughed. The compensation on this consulting project was the lowest fee she had ever taken; the number was downright insane! The amount they could afford to pay and she accepted, was three thousand five hundred dollars. Her standard fee was significantly greater which included a retainer and an hourly rate plus expenses. There was a formula, and it was a fair formula for everyone. That figure assured there would be adequate funds to support staffing, legal work, fundraising initiatives, and travel expenses.

After congress incorporated some of her recommendations, Claire expanded her model to include a non-profit "Safe Schools Off-Campus Program." When school districts in the states which had approved the model learned of this program, she began consulting even though the money was far better when she sold a franchise private school. The "Off-Campus Program" provided a safe haven for elementary school children to learn and develop. By helping school districts maintain a high level of education through the after-school program, children were exposed to things they could not experience at home or, often, at school. Many of the areas which desperately needed these facilities tended to be either inner city school districts or smaller, sparsely populated townships, many experiencing weak economic conditions. There was no doubt in her mind that this would be the case here. Claire opted to spend as few days as possible in the undesirable locales and couldn't wait to return home to take her walks on the beach, attend charity events and the latest art exhibits with friends, or do a little shopping on Worth Avenue. She had grown accustomed to this lifestyle. Although she had to travel often, and spent extended stays at the Children's Center she was working on at the time, she tried to spend as little time away as possible.

Chapter Two

A few days later Norma called back with what she apparently thought was great news. She said she had found Claire a place to stay, a house, which she could rent for three hundred dollars a month. "Norma, that sounds too good to be true." Claire panicked at the thought of living out in the middle of farm country. She tried to bow out gracefully. What am I getting myself into? Norma absolutely insisted that she not worry. It was the gatehouse to a farm which was located just outside of town.

Claire had been thinking more along the lines of finding a suitable apartment in Columbus and setting up a commute between Indianapolis, Indiana and Salinger. Working on a franchise school in Indianapolis made the decision to take this project in Ohio easy for Claire. She had heard Columbus had a great downtown, did her research, and was actually looking forward to renting a place in the Short North area. That would be something different this summer, and seemed like it would be the safer option. However, Norma was adamant that this was the solution and that Claire would find the little house quite adequate. While she and Norma talked, Claire "mapquested" Salinger to Indianapolis. As suspected, they were close enough, less than two hundred and fifty miles apart - an easy three-and-a-half hour drive. This could work out! She optimistically thought, as they continued their conversation. "Ok, thank you, I'll take the house." Considering what other options she had, she decided to trust Norma's house hunting skills knowing she had the best of intentions.

The logistics with the Ohio project were an exciting challenge. It appeared the place to live might be solved. Now she needed to get up there and get settled in as quickly as possible so she could get the ball rolling on the assignment. It was already the middle of April. The town needed to fund, staff, and build a new school by Labor Day. Since February Claire had been flying back and forth to Indianapolis and the franchise private school there was due to open during the summer. This time she would drive up, wanting her car there so she could work both projects and complete them by the end of the summer.

Claire checked the weather up in Ohio and packed every warm article of clothing she owned, as well as some summer things. Thinking this through, Stella McCartney and Burberry may not have been the right wardrobe but that's what filled her closets. Living in Chicago, Claire had developed a taste for designer clothes and accessories, and she liked wearing beautiful jewelry. She had an attractive figure, was 5'6" tall, had shoulder length brown hair, and kept a year round tan.

She packed sweaters, a couple of blazers, slacks, several blouses, a quilted jacket, several tee-shirts, jeans, and a couple of sundresses. She knew she would only need a dozen pairs of shoes and sandals to get her through the summer. Her only new purchase was a pair of tall green Hunter boots. Ali and Kate, her daughters, insisted they were a must for where she was going. She packed five big boxes with her clothes, the paperwork, and some books - she always read lots while away; took them to the UPS Store; and shipped them to her new summer address. Driving back, she thought, this is not what I had in mind when I said I wanted something different for a change! This is me just doing the same thing over and over again. Didn't Einstein say that was the definition of insanity? Out loud she declared, "I will take time to be good to myself this summer - not sure how, but I will!" With a little coaxing, the feeling this was the right thing to do suddenly began welling up inside her. It'll be like an adventure! It was not just the project to which she was looking forward to now. She was looking forward to driving through the Midwest again. She had not done that since leaving Chicago; really, since the kids were young. She thought about how she and James would drop the kids off at camp in Michigan. From there, they would go straight to Mackinac Island and check in for long romantic weekends. But even before that, she remembered being in the country as a child. She hadn't given this very much thought in a long time.

Thinking about the summer ahead, she supposed she was still a Midwesterner; just one who liked a little glitz and glamour. She was feeling a child-like excitement and caught herself singing the Green Acres song over and over again. It was infectious, much like any annoying song you can't stop singing. She had googled Salinger, Ohio, Ellis County, and as suspected it was in the middle of nowhere. It looked to be a mostly agricultural area. Maybe there would be the opportunity to ride a tractor or milk a cow.

When she told friends where she was going, no one showed the same enthusiasm she did. The comment was standard, "Oh, its Ohio - you'll be bored to death and back to commuting." She explained the Indianapolis project already had her in the area, so logistically, this made sense. Her friends' comments made Claire consider, Have I swung that far out of balance? True, she did not need to take this job. As much as she worked, she had cut back the number of projects she personally took on this past year. Shaking it off, she laughed at herself thinking – living in the small town of Palm Beach, Florida, and living in a small town in rural Ohio were as dissimilar as drinking Dom Perignon from a paper cup would be.

She had to have her car up there, so recruited David, her best friend, to help her make the two-day drive. Making the trip regularly, he was on his way back up to Chicago anyway. His business was based up there, and he flew back and forth. He let her know that a road trip was not his idea of fun, and she owed him in a big way for this one. They were close friends and had been there for one another for nearly twelve years, so she knew it was nothing that a kiss on the cheek couldn't smooth over. The plan was to drop him off at the airport in Columbus, where he would take a flight the rest of the way to Chicago. For her, it looked as if she still had a nearly two-hour drive to Salinger from there.

Shortly after Claire moved to Palm Beach, she met David Hurst. They lived on the same block and kept seeing each other getting the mail or spending time out on the beach. Soon they began running into one another at restaurants and events. Discovering David was also from Chicago gave them even more to talk about.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from 25,000 SEEDSby Helen Noble Copyright © 2012 by Helen Noble . Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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