"Good morning darling" a spirited Jan Weston declares as she pulls open the blinds in Rita's room. The warming and bright sunlight rushes in to dance reflectively off the mirror and memorabilia Rita has around her walls.
"Argh, no, can't be just yet." Rita grumbles, squinting her eyes and trying to hide under her colourful forest bed cover, something she bought from home her Mother gave her last year.
"Come on now, Luke Jenkens is coming this morning remember? He has some things to give you and talk about."
Luke was coming over again, to deliver some things of Rita's parents and offer some more help. He had remained in contact with Rita and the Weston's since the funeral, and seemed only to be wanting to help Rita move through this tough time.
"Ok, can you turn the sun down for a bit though? It's really bright." Rita asked as she rolled around in bed, almost entangled in her two piece pyjamas trying to hide from the daylight.
"Nope, up you get princess. I have breakfast ready for you when you come down".
Rita froze as Jan left her room. Her words, so similar to her Mothers words on that last morning. replaying the scene in her head, as if a dream, she remembered the morning, the breakfast, her Dad's silly facts about 'egg in the hole'.
Rita chuckled remembering the conversation with her father about the breakfast, good timing as she was just about to cry missing them, she was reminded of their strength and love.
Tossing the cover aside, Rita rolled out of bed and soon after heading downstairs to see the rest of her new family. Bonny, her best friend and pseudo sister, and her new guardians Jan and Doug Weston.
"Hey Rita, saved you some eggs." Bonny cheerily announced as she saw Rita coming down the stairs. Doug and Jan were at the table and turned to smile at Rita as she strode toward the table, all the breakfast plates laid out meticulously, each place set, each plate with eggs, toast, bacon and little tomatoes. It looked like a restaurant meal, complete with fresh flowers from Jan's garden.
After breakfast, Bonny and Rita cleared the table and went upstairs to dress for the day ahead. Luke Jenkens was coming in about an hour. Rita sat with Bonny and talked about an idea she had, to continue her parents work.
"I know Luke is here to help, but I have been thinking of something I want to talk with you about."
"Ah, yeah? Go on." said Bonny hesitantly.
"Well, I keep thinking about my parents work, all the good environmental stuff they did, and, um." Rita paused.
"Right, um what?"
"Ok. So I've not figured it all out yet, and I have a weird feeling that tells me to keep this to myself. But, I want you involved, we just can't talk to anyone else about it yet. Ok?"
"What? Is it bad? What about Mum & Dad?"
"No silly, it's not bad, I just have a feeling that we should keep it secret until we know if it will work. Call it a gut feeling, something I can't explain but I also feel guided to do something, while also being guided to not tell anyone. I know, It's crazy but can you stick with me on this please? I need you."
"Ok, Ok." Bonny replied, holding up both hands in front of her as if surrendering her questioning and going ahead with Rita.
"Great, thanks." Rita gave a big smile before going on to discuss her ideas with Bonny. The pair chatted for some time before being called by Doug, Bonny's Dad, to come downstairs as Luke had arrived.
Downstairs, Jan, Doug, and Luke were sitting in the lounge room talking when the girls walked in. Luke instantly stood up and smiled at the girls with a warm, caring smile. Luke was in his late 20's, an average kind of guy by looks and size, but he had a warm smile and genuine look that seemed to make everyone feel at ease.
"Rita, Bonny. How great to see you again. How are you ladies?"
"Hi Mr Jenkens" the girls replied, almost in unison. They looked at each other quickly, then laughed at the synchronicity.
"Haha, please, call me Luke. Come, sit down."
Conversation continued in a generic way for a short time, before Luke picked up a medium size duffel bag and placed it on his lap, before removing two large binders. He placed each folder on the table in front of him. Rita Gasped when she saw the cover.
"Mum and Dad!? What are these Mr Jenk... Ah, Luke. What are they please?" Rita asked in an excited and concerned voice.
"Well young lady, these are the Santobahn Dossiers of your parents. They encompass their time with the foundation their good works, achievements, some fun photos, and basically their mission statement, or direction of what they wanted to achieve through the foundation."
Rita was by now on the edge of her seat, excited, yet also hesitant to look inside the large binders. The thought of the conversation between her and Bonny earlier, they looked at each other and nodded. She looked at the photos of each of her parents on the covers, half listening to Luke while her pulse raced to find out what was inside.
"So, there you have it Rita, go ahead. These are yours to keep. We usually keep these dossiers of all staff to update as they progress and present to them on their retirement. Though in this case, sadly, well, I wanted you to have it so we made some exceptions so you could have a look at the wonderful work of your parents. Go ahead Rita, have a look."
Needing no further encouragement, Rita picked up both binders, they were quite heavy and bulky. Giggling, she gave one to Bonny and opened the other one, her Father's binder. Rita started reading intently though the pages and photographs.
Bonny sat close by her side, looking at the pages with Rita while holding the other binder. They both fell into another world as they reviewed the files. Doug and Jan looked on with a heartwarming smile, while Luke continued talking with them about the contents and moving onto general chatter about progress, and anything that may be needed for the girls that he, or the Foundation, could help with.
"Luke darling, thank you so much. Your support has been the world to us." Jan said, with an appreciative smile to Luke.
"Yes, thank you Luke. You have been a great support to us and the girls, please ensure our appreciation is shared with the Foundation. Would you like snack or drink?"
"Thank you Sir, yes please. Coffee would be lovely."
With that, Doug excused himself to fix coffee. Jan stood up and motioned for Luke to follow her, he obliged and they walked into the study nearby, but far enough so as not to easily be heard by Rita and Bonny who by this stage, had not even noticed they were gone.
"Luke, I know it's early days, though Doug and I were thinking it would be amazing if Santobahn were to offer the girls some kind of scholarship or apprenticeship in future, that they may continue where Heather and Brian left off so to speak. Could that be something in future?"
"Wow, it's like you are a mind reader. I have already discussed this with the team, and subject to the write entry criteria, plus a little support from me, I'm sure we can arrange that. We would love to have Rita, and Bonny too if she is interested, working for Santobahn to continue the great work. Lets give it some time though, I'm not going anywhere in a hurry, so I will be your liaison to work it out once they finish school."
Jan's face lit up, excited at the prospect to help Rita, and Bonny, get into a sound employment opportunity with the large foundation. At the same moment, Doug came into the room with a tray of coffees.
"Ah, here you are. Coffee's on, here you go. Hey, what's all the smiling about?"
"Jan and I were just talking about options for the girls to continue the work of Heather and Brian once they finish school, in an apprenticeship with the Foundation." Luke said, with an equally large smile on his face.
"Excellent, thank you. That would be great." Doug said with a smile. Not long after, Farewells were said, Rita shook Luke's hand in thanks bidding farewell as she returned to the binders with Bonny. Doug and Jan waved from the front door as Luke left the house, also smiling and waving.
Luke walked down the path and across the road to where his vehicle was parked. It was a large white van with dark windows. It looked very new and clean, fresher than most of the other commercial vans in town, not quite what a public relations officer would usually drive. Though it could be said he may have to transport resources at times, no one really thought twice.
Luke's phone rings as he drives from the house.
"Hello boss. Yes, just leaving now. Yep, perfectly. No issues, gave then the binders and they loved them. And yes, Jan asked about the possibility of the girls, both girls, being able to work with us in the future! Yes, I know. Excellent. This is working better than we planned. Yep, see you tomorrow, I have another 'errand' to run."