“Wow! Do you look rough! Went out on the town
last night? “Glenda shrilly exclaimed as Angeline
sat at her desk, going through the never-ending pile
of papers.
“Don’t you have something better to do than try
to mind my business?” she answered curtly, refusing
to acknowledge Glenda’s existence by looking up.
“Touchy, touchy,” Glenda muttered as she went
back to the fitting area.
The truth was that the past two years since her
father’s death were finally catching up with her.
She had stuffed all her emotions away but now was
starting to get tiny cracks in the china doll façade
that she so carefully pasted on each morning.
Angeline’s mind wandered as she struggled
to concentrate on her work. She thought back to
graduation. Her conversation with Elaine had
started shallow enough as they stood on the football
field, a swell of graduates, parents and friends
talking and snapping pictures all around them.
“What’s wrong, Ang?” Elaine had asked.
She could always tell when Angeline was having
a hard time even when she tried to cover it up.
“Nothing, why?”
“Come on now you can talk to me. It’s Elaine,
remember?”
Staring at her, Angeline wrestled with whether
she could trust her to talk to or not. Elaine’s
daughter Sandra ran up with a few friends in tow
and, after hugging them both, chattered eagerly.
“Come on Mom. We’re all going to Joshua’s
house for a pool party! His folks have gone all out
with food and everything, even a live band! His
mom said you just had to be there!”
“Okay, okay. I will meet you there. Drive
carefully!”
“We will. Love you!” She called over her
shoulder as the young people made their way to the
parking lot.
“I want to talk to you, seriously,” Elaine said
as she turned back to where Angeline was standing.
“What time do you get off Saturday?”
“Three o’clock.”
“Good. I will meet you at the coffee house
then and you better have some answers.”
“I’ll be there. I know better than to argue
with you,” she said, forcing a grin so Elaine would
feel better.
Driving home slowly, Angeline pulled into
Burger Time and ordered an extra large chocolate
shake. Chocolate seemed like a cure for anything
and she had a pain deep in her stomach that would
not go away and it wasn’t physical. For too long,
she had refused to face her grief and her only
outlet was bitterness and cynicism that surfaced in
moments when she lost control. Binge eating during
these times had given her the ten extra pounds.
Anyway, here it was Friday and Angeline was
back at work after sleeping little the night
before. If she did not get at this pile of invoices
on her desk, sleep would be the least of her
problems. Maybe Elaine could help her tomorrow, she
thought.
“Nice piece of reporting last night,” Ben said
as Latoya finished her write up of the evening’s
news story on low restaurant health ratings.
Latoya rolled her eyes, “Not exactly Pulitzer
prize winning stuff.”
“You’re doing fine I think.”
“Latoya, could I see you for a moment?” asked
Stacy Richardson, who was the station’s assistant
manager.
“Yes, ma’am.” Latoya said, stepping into her
office.
“I liked the graduation piece last night,
especially the part with the girl in the
wheelchair. Stuff like that really pulls at the
heart strings of the viewers.”
“Thank you ma'am.”
“The girl said she was getting married in
August?”
“Yes, a wedding outside at their farm and some
lady from here in Central City is designing her a
special dress.”
“I want you to follow up on this story, the
first week in June being our big series on
weddings. We might even lead off on Monday with
this story. Look for the angle that will garner the
viewer’s empathy.”
“I understand, Ms. Richardson. I’ll get right
on it.”
Walking back to her desk, Latoya found the
notepad where her notes from the graduation were and
the name Estelle Granger jumped out at her. She
picked up the local phone book and began thumbing
through the pages.
Homer had not slept well, though the graduation
party was over and had been cleaned up by eleven
o’clock. Their neighbors and friends were kind
enough to help. Everything was put away. They
stacked the tables and chairs in the barn so Matt
could take them back to the church before Sunday.
The evening had gone smoothly but Homer could not
relax. He could only think about the truck and his
crops and the wedding.
He sat up for hours knowing there was no way
there would be enough money for the truck and the
dress. And Betty so had her heart set on it.
Finally he drifted off to sleep a few hours before
morning but it hadn’t helped. Morning was here, the
money was no different and Ms. Granger would be
arriving shortly.
Martha made pancakes, light and fluffy, with
fresh strawberries from their back yard for the
topping. Betty had already dressed and ate slowly,
thoughtfully, Homer decided. Her eyes seemed red
but he guessed it was from being up late.
“Papaw, where is your truck?” she asked, out of
the blue. “Matt noticed it was at the garage
yesterday evening and I couldn’t see it out my
window as usual this morning.”
“Well, Kenny at the garage is looking at her
and I am sure it’s nothing serious.”
“Papaw, look at me.”
Homer had not realized he had been staring at
his food while he was talking, unwilling to look
Betty in the eye.
“There’s something bad wrong with the truck,
isn’t there? I noticed last night at the graduation
party you were upset and I heard you get up several
times last night.”
“It’s the rear axle.”
“How much?”
He stared at Betty and thought again how much
she looked like her mother with that same determined
set to her jaw. He couldn’t answer.
“Five hundred dollars,” Martha finally spoke
up. “It’ll take that much to fix it.”
Betty sat in silence and thought back to the
night before and how she and Matt had talked on the
back porch swing until late.
“I just know it’s something bad with the
truck. You could just see it in Papaw’s eyes.”
Her eyes brimmed with tears and Matt held her
close, wishing he could stop her pain.
“It’s just not fair,” Betty said, despair mixed in
with the tears. “First, my Momma dies, my father leaves
and I am left like this but at least I have Mamaw and
Papaw and you. The wedding would make things better and
now the only thing I really wanted, the dress…”
She sobbed for several minutes and gave in to all
the emotions stemming from graduation and everything
else.
“I could get a second job, maybe nights or
something,” Matt offered.
“No, I’m…I’m just being silly. You are going to be
working enough hours as it is. And with your dad being
laid off, you might need to help them. I know he thinks
he will be called back soon but…no, I’ll just make do.
The important thing is we are getting married. I mean
it’s just a dress.”
Matt held her as she sat quietly, knowing that she
would not have her dream wedding and despising at times
what life had done to Betty.
While all these thoughts flooded Betty’s mind, Homer
fumbled for the right words to say.
“I’ll think of something,” was all he came up
with.
“No, Papaw, it’s okay really. I mean the truck has
to be fixed. And I don’t want to postpone the wedding
to wait for a dress. I’ll just wear the white cotton
dress that Mamaw made me for last Easter.”
“It’s not fair! I should be able to provide better
for you. It’s just not fair!”
Homer’s voice faltered as despair set in. He tried
always to hide his feelings from Betty. After all she
had enough to deal with.
“Papaw, the wedding will be enough. You’ve done
everything for me and I love you so much.”
She wheeled her chair next to him and hugged him
the best she could.
“It’s okay and I will just tell Ms. Granger how it
is. She seemed like a kind woman and she’ll
understand.”
Homer wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
“I will offer to pay her for her trouble, when I
can that is.”
Martha cleared off the table while Homer
straightened up the living room. He hated the way
things were working out but didn’t know what else to
do.
Stay Tuned for CHAPTER 7.
© 2009 Jennifer Hallmark. All Rights Reserved.
