Sorry about the LONG wait. Classes have kept me quite busy, and I suffer from ADD when it comes to writing. (I have several of them going at once!) I'll try to be more punctual with future posts!
For the next few days, Mother and Mrs. Fickley worked together making sure everything would be perfect for my wedding, so they didn’t notice at all how down I was feeling. Even though the house was always full of people, I had never felt more alone. On the third, we drove up to Twin Shores, a city about 20 minutes away from Sharon, and to The Wedding Shoppe, where my dress was being held. Louise and Mrs. Swartz came along, and we all tried on our dresses for a final fitting. Mother and Mrs. Fickley each tried on theirs, and Louise tried on her dress and Albert’s cousin’s Penny’s dress; Penny being another of my bridesmaids. I never met her before but apparently she and Louise were the same size. I stood lifeless like a mannequin as my mother and Mrs. Fickley inspected every seam, every button, and every bow on my dress to make sure it was perfect. With every passing second I found it harder and harder to breathe.
“Oh, Miranda, this is every mother’s dream. Can you believe our children will be married in only a few weeks?”
“I couldn’t be prouder of my son. He’ll make a terrific husband.”
“And my daughter will be the perfect wife.”
“Of course she will be.”
“And just think, before long we’ll be grandparents!”
“Oh, I already have everything all planned out for them! They’ll go to the finest boarding schools in England and to Cambridge University for their law degrees! And, if they have any girls, I know this wonderful finishing school in Switzerland…”
As Mother and Mrs. Fickley were talking, it felt like the podium I stood on was getting taller and taller, and their voices got farther away. My legs felt weak, and my head started spinning. I tried to take a deep breath but my heartbeat was so fast—I grabbed my chest and gasped.
“I can’t do this right now,” I whimpered.
“What’s wrong?” Louise asked.
Before I could answer, my foot slipped, and I collapsed into my mother and Mrs. Fickley’s arms.
“Oh, dear! Mary!” Mother exclaimed.
“Splash some water on her face!” Mrs. Fickley exclaimed.
“Fan her!” Mrs. Swartz added.
“Mary, are you okay?!” Louise asked.
“I knew it was too hot in here! What kind of shop is this, keeping a room so hot it makes poor, delicate girls faint? I must have a word with the manager!” Mrs. Fickley ranted. She stormed to the counter where the alarmed sales clerk stood. Mother set me down on a chair while Mrs. Swartz fanned me with a magazine. I gasped for breath, and soon my frantic heartbeats slowed down to normal. Mrs. Fickley returned and the clerk she was yelling at handed me a glass of water. I poured it down my dry throat, but it tasted bitter and sloshed around in my stomach.
“My poor little girl. She’s just not used to this Southern heat,” Mother said. “Are you all right now, Sweetheart? I hope you don’t feel too sick to go to Victor’s party.”
“Oh, she’ll be fine in a moment. We can’t have her missing this party, it’s for her and Albert!” Mrs. Fickley replied.
It’s just the heat. I told myself. Everything will be fine.
I felt sick for the rest of the day, right up until we had to go to the party. I would have asked to go home, but my parents and Mrs. Fickley were insistent. Their chipper voices seemed so far away when they were talking, and even my grand entrance with Albert meant little to nothing to me. Mr. Walker gave a speech of how glad he was to share this happy occasion with the Fickleys and wished Albert and me a lifetime of happiness.
It was a wish hung on a quickly falling star.
Once the formalities were over, the party conversation started. Once the formalities were over, I was invisible.
“It was Father’s idea, buying the house in that awful little town. When he was a young man he did like to go hunting, so it made sense to him I suppose. I’d quite honestly sell it, but property values in that area are just terrible,” Albert said.
“Daddy, is Mr. Walker going to take the yacht out on the water?” Louise asked.
“No, dear, we don’t want anything from those fireworks falling on it,” Mr. Swartz replied.
“Fireworks? Today’s not the fourth.”
‘They have a show every night this weekend.”
“Ohhh, okay.”
“What a lovely dress, Helen.”
“Thank you, dear. I got it from a beautiful shop in Florence.”
I leaned against the wall, boring my eyes into the ceiling. My mind was too full to celebrate. This was the life I’ve known for so long, and yet, it no longer felt like it was mine. Everyone else looked happy, why wasn’t I? Staring out into the crowds of people, I imagined the open fields that wrapped around the Miller’s house, and the long stretch of open road that led to Jake’s. I wanted to go back there, to feel the sun on my face, the wind in my hair, the grass on my feet. I wanted to get lost in Riverview County and never have to come back to where I really belonged. Louise started walking up to me, and I floated back down to reality.
“Have you seen Dick?” she asked.
“N-no,” I replied. “I think he’s probably trying to avoid me.”
Louise blushed. “Yes, you’re probably right. He said he was going to take me out on his sailboat before dark.”
“Maybe he went back into town for something,” I said.
“Maybe. Will you help me look for him? I mean, if we see him you don’t have to talk to him or anything, but if you’re not comfortable…”
“It’s all right. I’ll help you,” I said, happy to go somewhere other than the yacht.
“I have no idea where he could have gone. He promised to take me out on his boat. He promised.”
“Maybe he forgot,” I said, stepping through the sand uncomfortably.
“No, he wouldn’t forget. He promised.”
I followed Louise across the beach as she searched for Richard. My shoes were not at all appropriate for walking in the sand. But taking them off was a big mistake, because when I did, I found out the sand was too hot to walk on.
“Ouch! Ouch!” I yelped as I ran to the shady, grassy playground that was near the beach. Louise was so focused on her search for Richard she didn’t even notice I was gone. I rubbed my feet and walked over to a small building I took to be a public bathroom. The cool cement floor felt much better. The door to the women’s bathroom swung open. A woman wearing a very skimpy bikini and holding a bottle of beer came out, and I recognized her right away.
“Babs!” I exclaimed.
“Hey, Baby, good to see you,” she said, leaning up against the wall.
“What are you doing here?”
“Oh, Donnie and I decided to spend the day at the beach. Get a little sun, a little sand, all that jazz. What’s your story?”
“I’m…um…at a party.”
“Ooh, a party. Sounds like fun,” Babs said.
“I guess.”
“Oh? Not fun?”
“I just don’t really feel up to celebrating.”
“Rough day?” Babs asked, taking another sip of beer.
“You have no idea.”
“Well, if you’re not having fun here, why not come with us? Donnie and I are going to the bar he works at, John and Becky will be there too. It will be fun.”
“I don’t know…”
“Mary!” I heard Louise call.
“Oh, I have to go, that’s my friend calling for me.”
“She can come too if she wants,” Babs replied.
“No, I—”
Louise walked up to where we were standing, and practically froze in place when she saw Babs. I was pretty sure she never saw a woman in a bikini drinking in public before. Babs gave Louise a friendly smile. I tried to bring Louise around. Babs really was a nice person.
“This is Babs. She’s a friend,” I said. “Babs, this is Louise.”
“Nice to meet you,” Babs said.
Louise tried to mask her disgust, but didn’t do a very good job of it. Babs simply took another drink of her beer.
“I can’t find Dick anywhere,” she said to me. Babs chuckled quietly.
“Well, I’m gonna split. Hope you two have fun at your party. Good luck with your search for…Dick.” Babs said, snickering again. I wasn’t sure what was so funny, but Louise looked slightly embarrassed. Babs started walking to the parking lot, and I had this strong urge to follow her. My feet twitched; they wanted to move but my knees wouldn’t bend.
“Ooh, what a horrible, uncouth woman!” Louise muttered. She looked up at me and smiled. “Should we get back to the party then? Maybe Dick is—Mary?”
“Wait! Babs!” I called, running up to her. Louise grabbed my arm.
“What are you doing?” Louise asked.
“I…I just got to get out of here,” I said.
“Get out…what?”
“Please don’t say anything,” I darted away as Louise tried to protest, but she could only stammer. I swiftly followed Babs to her blue Coupe that was sitting in the parking lot, and I saw Donnie lounging on the roof of the car drinking his own bottle of beer.
“Another rescue?” Donnie asked when we approached.
“You could say that,” Babs replied. She opened the door to the backseat of her car. “Hop in,” she said to me. I smiled and climbed into the backseat.
Turns out I didn’t need Louise to keep my secret this time.
“MARY!” my father’s voice roared from the pier. I looked back and saw him and my mother, Mrs. Fickley, Mr. Swartz, and Mr. Elias all running right towards us.
“Oh, shit!” Donnie exclaimed. He jumped off the car and into the passenger’s seat. The bitter smell of the beer that spilled on his shirt filled the car. Babs turned the key over and over. The engine sputtered and chugged, and just when I thought my father was going to make it in time to yank me out of her car, the engine roared. Babs quickly pulled the car out of the beach parking lot and sped down the road. The polished vehicles of my pursuers followed us like cops chasing after a getaway car in a movie. I was scared but at the same time, very excited.
“Time to give these squares the slip!” Babs said. She suddenly veered onto a dirt road, and the back end of the car swung like a pendulum. The other cars disappeared in a giant cloud of dust, and I knew my father had to be very angry not only about my escape but also that the cars were getting dirty. I found it very hard to care; I was having fun! Babs made a series of turns and roundabouts that made me wonder if we were getting lost, but she seemed to know the roads pretty well. Soon enough, we were back on the paved road that headed to Sharon.
Babs drove down the same road I had traveled on earlier, and stopped at a place I didn’t notice before. It was a run-down building with an old, faded sign that read “Hudson Street Bar.” Dozens of cars were parked in the lot and along the street, even a tractor of all things! As Babs looked around for a place to park, which took a while because there hardly were any, I caught sight of a familiar red truck.
“Oh! That’s Jake’s truck!” I exclaimed.
“Is it now?” Babs asked cunningly.
“You knew he was here?”
“I liked to keep track of where the cops are. Helps me stay two steps ahead of ‘em!” Babs said, and she laughed. I didn’t know if she was joking, so I laughed as well. Babs finally found a small empty spot alongside the road and her car rolled to a stop. Donnie and Babs got out of the car, and Babs walked over to the rear of her car, opening the trunk. She pulled out a stylish red dress and slipped it over her head. Donnie also got out of the car, looking me over. He laughed.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“You’re gonna stick out like a sore thumb here,” he chuckled.
“Shh! She’ll be fine,” Babs said.
I looked towards the dilapidated building and wondered what kind of world was inside of it. I suspected it was a lot nicer than how it appeared.
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