At half past five, Parson showed up again like magic. Her hands closed and unclosed at her sides but she held her chin high. Something in Tate cowered at Parson’s unspoken awkwardness--a person who had been offended and was now standing in the presence of the offender, hurt and angry but not speaking a word of her pain. With strangers, Tate was not afraid of confrontation. Realizing her best friend was wounded and angry with her was quite different. Tate could not bring herself to mention her rude behavior toward Parson, nor could she see herself apologizing. Not that she didn’t want to. But apologizing for a comment she had said in jest was like running up and down in front of all the shops and houses of the prestigious on Main with no clothes on. So she did what she knew best in such situations--she sidestepped.
“That dress looks very nice on you, Parson.”
“Thanks.” Parson’s voice was low with muted hurt, a bit hesitant to show her usual joy around Tate.
Tate wanted to say that she didn’t think Parson would be coming to the diner tonight but that was getting too close to the situation Tate didn’t want to talk about, so she pretended as if nothing was strange about Parson slamming out of her house then showing up several hours later without a word.
“Are you ready to go?” Tate smiled brightly.
“Yes,” Parson nodded.
The two headed off down Berry Lane where Tate rented from Mr. Sanderson, on toward the middle of town to Benny’s Diner on Main.
Tate was not necessarily against socializing, although she had strange moments of fear right before stepping into a room full of people or onto the church grounds when a pig picking was in full swing during their yearly revival mini-series with guest preachers. It was mainly Judd that she shied away from. He had been so much fun in high school but as the years passed by, he became an old man to Tate. He still had the same hairstyle from their senior year and didn’t care that he looked like a country bumpkin with his farmer’s tan. Tate did not go tanning nor had she changed her hairstyle in seven years, but if someone had pointed this out to her she would have said they were missing her point. Tate wanted more out of life, something bigger, something better. Judd loved their small town. It was no surprise to Tate. He always had. But as all the other classmates had married or moved away, Tate had found herself growing slowly angry at Judd. Her anger grew with each year until she purposely avoided Benter Street so she wouldn’t have to pass by the mechanic shop where he worked and was partial owner with old Mr. Kinslow. There were rumors Mr. Kinslow would give his 75% of the shop to Judd when he kicked the bucket. Tate thought being a mechanic was a horrible waste of a lifetime. Her avoidance of Judd’s workplace didn’t mean they never talked. Judd saw her at church, around town when she was snooping out stories, and recently he had taken to stopping by her house in the evening to chat. Usually he caught Parson with her there and he would talk to the two of them. He had been friends with Parson in high school as well, but he never knocked on Parson’s door in the evenings to talk to her.
Tate didn’t know how to explain why her feelings had changed toward Judd. She didn’t even know why they had changed. She just knew that his recent begging of her to go out to dinner with him had grated on her nerves more than anything else he had ever done. But she was in a spot. It wasn’t like he was her boyfriend and she could dump him. They were just friends. One couldn’t dump friends. She enjoyed talking to him now and then, but she wanted to talk to him when she chose to. She asked herself why she did not just ask him to stop by less often. But something told her he must not catch on that she was trying to avoid him.
She had turned him down three times last week to go to the diner for supper with him, saying she had an assignment to work on. Then he had threatened to stop by every evening to ask her until she agreed. Her tongue had jumped to question him why their occasional unplanned lunches and evening chats weren’t enough. There was no law saying friends had to go out to dinner together. But she was afraid to hear his answer so she had told him yes, even promised him, just to keep him from coming by every night. But when the moment came to go, she found she couldn’t bear the thought of a legitimate dinner with Judd. What would the townspeople start to say? Everyone was at Benny’s Diner at night, especially the older men who had no shame about teasing the young folks about their private lives. It was not like Tate had never been with Judd at Benny’s Diner in the evening. In years past they had shared a table as friends. But this was different. If it hadn’t been for Parson, Tate would have found a way out of tonight, even if it would have made her a woman who couldn’t keep her word.
Benny’s Diner was lit from the inside by fluorescent lights. The two large glass windows were bordered with a band of neon light and an open sign flashed on the door one letter at a time. After all the letters had blinked their turn, the whole thing lit up along with a border of neon blue. The summer sky was still bright but a different feeling had come over the town. The feeling of evening. Main street after business hours was a busy, laughing place, with most of the laughter coming from the restaurants and food shops. The retail shops were closed already along with the craft and consignment shops. A few places like the pharmacy and the barber shop were the only non-food businesses open after five. Although, the pharmacy did have an ice cream parlor inside in its own separate room and the barber shop had a soda fountain where they sold 32 ounce-ers for fifty cents.
Tate and Parson crossed the street and stepped up onto the sidewalk in front of Benny’s. Tate could feel Parson’s mood lift with each step, but her own got lower and a hum of nervousness grew in her stomach. She had her arm linked through Parson’s and she left it there so she could clasp her hands together. She was afraid if she would reach out for the door her hands would shake. She maneuvered her steps so that Parson was closer to the door and naturally reached out to open it. As the two passed through the door frame, a renewed strength came over Tate. Worse than this dinner with Judd was him finding out how badly she did not want to be there. It was time to be an actress and put on a convincing performance that she was impartial to his company.
“Do you know why no one wants that old farmland?” Tate heard Bob Callbrook saying as she and Parson walked through the door.
“Bob, don’t go on one of your superstitions rants. We’ve heard your speculation about Thurber farm already. What we want to hear about is who this new schoolteacher is that the board has hired. Word is she grew up here but none of us recognize her and she has no accent. You’re on the board, Bob. Who is she?”
Bob continued on his own subject as if no one had interrupted him. “Because it’s cursed.” His voice ended in a slight shriek. “Old Adelaide Thurber fed her husband poisoned pinto beans that they grew from that very ground. She hated him fierce but no one ever knew it until they found him dead in the field the next morning. Old Adelaide pretended to have him buried in the churchyard, but she knew she couldn’t because she had killed him and his unsettled spirit would wake all the souls in those graves. So that night she dug him up herself and buried him somewhere out in their bean fields. Johnson Dickson tried planting corn there after he bought it from her later that year but nothing would grow. Nothing…” He stopped and looked around eerily, “...but pinto beans.”
“Oh hush with ya,” Deacon Hill said. He had been the one talking about the new schoolteacher. “The way you talk I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re the new writer for Big Anita’s gossip column.”
Everyone knew Sherry Speare had quit because she was having a baby, but there was thick talk that she had coerced her timid-mannered husband into procreation because she was tired of being hated by the town for writing the gossip column for Anita.
Tate swept past the men pretending she wasn’t as interested in what she heard as they might think were they to glance at her. She had almost succeeded in passing their table when Bob looked up and saw her. Besides being superstitious, Bob was also cruelly sarcastic and always knew what barb would shoot the most poison into a person’s most vulnerable wound. His fanaticism with ghosts seemed to have gotten to him and turned him into a maniacal tease.
“So how’s that book coming along?” he asked with a small smile on his face, one side of his upper lip lifted making him look like a snarling dog. Tate felt her stomach clench at his accusation and took secret delight in noting his two yellowed teeth showing from the opening in his lip.
“Perhaps he is publicly humiliating me by making fun of me, but I would never look myself in the mirror again if I had teeth like that,” she thought.
“Your landlord told me you were working on a doozy. Gonne be done soon is it?” Tate knew his question was not really a question.
Not feeling like taking his bait and being annoyed at meeting Judd and having a somewhat sullen Parson on her hands, she just gave a tight smile and passed on by. She was sure he, Deacon or one of the other men in their little gossip club would have enough to say to her after they saw her sitting with Judd. There was no need to double her punishment.
“Judd, hi. Sorry we didn’t come right over. Bob stopped us for a moment.” Tate grew proper in speech when she was nervous. The big smile on Judd’s face irritated her but she smiled calmly and took a seat.
“Tate, Parson. Glad you made it past those hungry wolves.” His smile didn’t leave his face as Tate settled opposite him.
Tate didn’t need a menu but she picked one up anyway and used it as a sort of shield between her and Judd.
“So, there’s a new teacher?” she said raising her eyebrows. “Hopefully someone interesting. The quality of society around here is sadly lacking.” Tate thought she detected a hint of light go out of Judd’s eye at her remark, but when she glanced up again, he was smiling.
Judd ignored Tate’s questions and turned to Parson. “Thanks for dragging Tate here. I didn’t know it was so hard to get together with a friend.”
Parson’s brown eyes lit up at being directly addressed. And as she and Judd made small talk, Tate pretended to read the menu as she righted her thoughts and emotions. In spite of the whirlwind in her stomach, the smell of burgers and onions on the grill mixed with the scent of the eggplant parmesan from Benny’s warm kitchen, and Tate embraced the feeling of home and belonging she felt to her town, small and pathetic though it was in her own opinion.
