THE BEANS SELLER

The summer of 1930 was coming to an end when Allison Rush had spent days and nights on the beach, mesmerized by the sand than the ocean, and writing in her dairy faithfully. Her heart felt blank, and she was still able to write her feelings and thoughts out. This summer in particular, was different in ways that could not describe nor understand.

An elderly couple was on the beach just as much as Allison was, selling beans from baked beans to candied beans; they claimed to have had their very own recipes. Children were mostly buying beans from the couple, and at times, the couple would not take any money, and they never accepted money from children.

In the village, it was said that the elderly couple used to own a flower shop, and they had become tired of running the flower shop and decided to sell beans instead. Of course, Allison had lived in Kingston all of her life, and it disturbed her that all of a sudden there was attention of beans being sold on the beach, and nowhere else. But why was she disturbed? These people were not a bother to her in the least, and they were at a distance.

Having to decide if she was ready to look for a job, but not for money, but regain her confidence and independence when she and her parents had caught a horrible flu while looking for a villa in Tuscany, Italy. Her mother died two weeks after contacting it, and her father had recovered, but he died nine months later due to a broken heart by not accepting the death of his wife.

Nothing could have prepared Allison for the loss of her parents in the same year. Two weeks before her father died, her father had come out of his depression, and every day he would spend hours on the beach, staring at the sea. Allison had even found him eating candied beans; she cherished that moment when she saw that. A look of peace and freedom, the freedom to be on the beach eating candied beans without a single care in the world was remarkable. Her father also had a diary, and there was an entry that he had written about candied beans and the beach.

Allison would not allow herself to read the entry. She knew that her father kept a diary, but it astonished her when she had seen illustrations behind the entry of beans and the woman who sold the beans on the beach. What on earth is so special about beans and this woman?! An urge had overcome Allison to despise this woman who was selling beans on the beach and sold beans to her father.

When it came to the illustrations in her father’s dairy, Allison had no idea that her father drew, or was able to draw in an art form. The dairy was in hardcover that could have passed for tremendous value, and this particular hardcover diary she did not recognize. As she continued to go through her father’s things, she was stopped and intrigued by the dairy and the wonderful illustrations. There was a woman in the illustrations that looked just like Allison, but much older.

Feeling anger and resentment towards the bean seller, Allison closed the diary with force and fell asleep on the beach. “Good Afternoon, my name is Allison Rush, and I sell beans of every kind.”