***
Deceptions
I still had a few dollars from my last
Coco paycheck, so I decided to drown my sorrows. I found an IGA store and
bought a six-pack of PBR, sat on a city bus bench, and popped a top. At first,
I feared a policeman would come by and arrest me for vagrancy or something, but
at least I would have someplace to sleep if that happened. I was on my second
beer when Sally Mae happened by.
"Junior?" she said, walking in
my direction. She looked even better than in high school. She wore sneakers,
jeans, a dark tee shirt, untucked, and had her red hair tied back in a
ponytail. She still had a sprinkle of freckles over the bridge of her nose, but
she looked more mature, more like a woman. I laid my beer down and stood.
"Sally Mae? What are you doing in
Ellisonville? I figured you'd be in college somewhere."
"I am. I'm taking classes here at the
junior college. It's cheaper than the universities and my credits will
transfer."
"That's great."
She eyed my suitcase.
"Are you going somewhere?"
"I just joined the navy." I
contemplated telling her my sad story, but decided against it.
"Oh." She seemed disappointed.
"When are you leaving?"
"Not for a while, a hundred and
twenty days, in fact." I grinned.
"Are you staying in
Serpentville?"
It didn't look like I was going to escape
telling her the whole sordid story, so I offered her a seat. She sat next to
me and I caught a whiff of coconut and honeysuckle.
"I had a little accident while working
for Coco Construction."
"Was that you? I saw it on the
news."
"Yeah, it was me. Anyway, I lost my
job. Then Uncle Sam told me that he was ready to draft me. My mother kicked me
out. Well, to make a pitiful story short, I'm jobless, moneyless, and homeless.
I couldn't get any more less."
I guess I looked pitiful because she
grinned.
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to laugh at
you. I know you must be depressed, but you sound so…well, so pitiful." She
was silent for a moment. "You never did answer me back at graduation. Why
didn't you like me?"
"You want the truth?" I figured
I might as well unburden myself. I couldn't get any lower than I was. She
nodded. "It wasn't that I didn't like you. It was just the opposite."
"So, why didn't you talk to me or
show an interest?"
"Because you were so popular, and I
was…well, not. I didn't think you would have any interest in me."
She smiled.
"Remember that time in Junior High
when I sat next to you in the cafeteria?" I nodded. "Why do you think
I did that?"
"There were no other seats?"
"There were plenty seats, Junior. I
wanted you to talk to me, but all you did was stuff your face with that awful
stew, and never said a word. I thought for sure you hated me. I finally got you
to talk to me at graduation, and then that idiot, Gary Courville, came over and
interrupted us."
Okay, here she was telling me that I had
been a fool in high school, something else for me to kick myself about.
"So, what are you going to do,
Junior?"
"Right now, I have no idea. That's
why I was sitting here—trying to figure out what to do."
"My uncle manages the IGA here. I'm
sure he can give you a part time job for a few months. It probably wouldn't be
much, stocking shelves maybe, or sweeping. I've got an apartment not far from
here. You're welcomed to stay with me. I have a roommate, but she won't be back
for a few weeks. I can't let you stay in her room, but you can have the
couch."
"I couldn't impose on you like that,
Sally Mae."
She smiled, her green eyes lighting up.
"What choice do you have?"
"None."
"Come on, then. Let's go talk to my
uncle."
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