The Sometimes River

About the Book

Frank Weaver, professor of natural sciences, is advised to move to a warm, dry climate and the isolated valley, Cuyama, meets the doctor’s recommendation and the Weavers’s financial situation. He acquires a deserted homestead and, with his sixteen-year-old daughter, Sarah, moves to the remote community.

Sarah dreams of completing her education with her friend Meg. Meg confides that she is pregnant and their shared dream is no longer possible. Pregnancy, with its sexual connotations, perplexes Sarah. She vows to avoid intimate relationships.

Jason Phillips, a stranger, arrives at the farm and is given a job as chore boy. The professor now has time to pursue his hobby of collecting and identifying medicinal plants, a study he hopes to publish.

Sarah is attracted to Jason, the self-proclaimed hillbilly, but she is convinced it is only brotherly love. They become companions.

A flash flood drenches the valley, causing Jason to speculate that life, like the Sometimes River, is unpredictable in its course. He is proven right when he inherits his old home from his deceased mother. He is now “a man of property.”

The highlight of Sarah’s social life is a party at the Sanchez ranch in honor of Meg and Benny, who have returned to Cuyama. Sarah wears a blue silk gown and is escorted by Jason. She questions her perception of brotherly love when Jason kisses her goodnight.

Jason sells his inheritance and buys a half-interest in the homestead. The deal puts money in the professor’s account, making it possible to send Sarah away to school. Sarah leaves for San Jose.

Sarah rooms and boards with Matilda, an old family friend, who is housemother to a group of school girls. She spends long hours studying to make up for the lost year in Cuyama. When she is invited to the prom by the star of the football team, she has an enlightening evening, but questions why she did not enjoy the obligatory goodnight kiss from her young admirer.

The professor’s health continues to deteriorate, and he is unable to visit Sarah at Christmas. He sends her his published treatise on medicinal herbs.

Jason surprises Sarah by arriving on Christmas Eve. Forgetting her vow that her education takes precedence over an affair, her inhibitions are lost and they embrace.

By Easter, it becomes imperative that she visit her ailing father. Jason comes to San Jose to take her home. He gives her his new coupe to enable her to return in an emergency.

Ending her senior year with honors, Sarah is voted valedictorian but, before commencement, she receives a telegram bidding her return at once to the homestead. Her father is dying. She becomes Jason’s partner, but living there is not an option.

Sarah returns to the city, rents an apartment and accepts a job as assistant to the head librarian. Here she meets Paul Craft, who is the antithesis of Jason. More alone than ever, she accepts Paul’s friendship.

She is a frequent guest at Paul’s home, a prosperous estate on the outskirts of the city. On an occasion when she has prepared a candlelit dinner for Paul, Jason arrives. Concluding there is no future for him with Sarah, he returns to the isolated valley.

Sarah accepts Jason’s abandonment and, with Matilda and Mrs. Craft aiding and abetting, she considers Paul’s proposal, but not without a final visit to the homestead. She is greeted by Helga, who appears to be more than the housekeeper. In a subsequent meeting with Jason, he declares that Helga is the kind of woman a farmer needs.

Sarah returns to San Jose and accepts Paul’s proposal.

Mrs. Craft is delighted with her son’s engagement, and to Sarah’s dismay, assumes responsibility for every detail of the wedding. With no plan other than escape, Sarah flees the city the day before the ceremony.

Sarah drives all night, reaching the homestead before daylight. R

About the Author

Edwina Elliott Petersen is a native of California and her writing reflects her appreciation of the country from fertile valleys to rugged mountains and arid plains. She lives in Santa Barbara County near Santa Ynez.