h, This and That

ome time ago Baron Von Lodge was the head of a small country near Switzerland known as Lilliland.

Cousin Rebecca liked to visit Lady Angela of Alpine Castle for several weeks during the summer. Rebecca had a very nice room in the castle that overlooked beautiful Castle Lake. It had a private balcony with a stairway so that could come and go as she pleased.

Lady Angela always wanted to be a gracious and charming hostess to all her guests. Sometimes Rebecca would arrive unexpectedly for a few days, usually giving the reason that her current boyfriend had found someone else. Then Rebecca would be very sad and depressed for a while.

This time she arrived right on time for the summer weeks but told Lady Angela that her current boyfriend, William, was not seeing her as much anymore. She was convinced that the relationship was fading fast.

When Lady Angela asked Rebecca what she was going to do with her time, she would always say the same thing, “Oh, this and that.” For nearly five days straight Rebecca would say the same thing when asked what her plans were for the day. “Oh, this and that.”

Lady Angela asked why she kept saying the same thing every day. Rebecca replied, “Because I like to change my mind a lot, and if I say, ’Oh, this and that,’ I can do anything I want, anytime I want and that is that.”

“But,” asked Lady Angela, “What if someone wants to see you and we don’t know where you are?” Rebecca said that they were just out of luck. Lady Angela said that she disagreed with that but everyone was entitled to her own point of view.

Late one morning, there was a knock on the front door at Alpine Castle. Someone named William cam calling for Rebecca. Lady Angela said that Rebecca was staying with her but no one knew where she was. William waited for two hours and became discouraged and left. He wrote a note for Lady Angela to give to Rebecca when she returned.

When Rebecca came back and saw the note from William, she was very sad that she had missed him. Lady Angela asked where she had been. She said she went horseback riding on one of the bridal trails. Lady Angela said that had she known a groom from the stables could have ridden to find her in time to meet William.

Rebecca must have learned a lesson because when she goes out she usually tells someone where she is going and the time she will return. The note from William said that he had come many miles to see her but since no one knew where she was or when she was coming back, he got discouraged and broke up with Rebecca permanently.