Parva sed apta

“Small but apt.” These words hung above the door of my great-grandmother’s house in honor of the man she loved. They are from a romantic novella about lovers who can only meet in their dreams in a house called, Parva sed Apta. My great-grandmother, Dear Sonny, met Big Leon, a wealthy Cuban magnate, when he came to Hancock, Maryland in the early 1900s for a seance. He had come to speak with his beloved wife from the “other side.” The canny medium channelled the dead wife who said, “Please, Dear Leon, let me go! When you open your eyes, you will see the face of your new beloved. Love her as you loved me.” Much to the medium’s chagrin, Dear Sonny was also at the table. Big Leon took one look at her and fell in love. Leon returned to Cuba saying he could not betray his dead wife, no matter what she said. He did, though, send his son to be raised by Dear Sonny. A gift. Little Leon grew up with Dear Sonny’s two daughters, my grandmother, Kay, and her sister, Jay. Now my aunt lives in the old mill house with a pack of dogs, many cats, a barn-full of horses, a few chickens, and a bunch of kids who come to play in the creek, fish, and help shovel manure. Last summer my kids found the “A” and “P” with a metal detector.