| One day in late September when I came home very late from school, Mom
said, "Speedy, You missed Martha Jane's call. I told her I didn't know
where you were. By the way, that reminds me, she called a couple of
weeks ago, and you weren't here then, either. I guess I forgot all about
it. Where've you been all day? It's after supper."
I opened an upper door of the kitchen cabinets and fetched a clean
glass. I said dully, "I had to stay late in the library at school."
"Oh, well...Martha Jane's gonna be here next Sunday with her new
husband, you know, that guy from Connecticut that she married. We're
gonna have a little barbecue out back on the patio. Your daddy's out
there repairin' the barbecue stand. Anyway, you gonna be here next
Sunday afternoon?"
"Yeah," I said, pouring a glass of ice water. "I guess so."
"I tell ya, that girl's stepdaddy, that Mr. Buchanan, he's a hoot,
Ain't he? He won't even let her and her husband come to his house. I
tell ya, some of these rich folks are nuts. I cain't figure him out, I
thought he wanted his daughter married. Anyway, Martha Jane will be
here, and her mother and her sister Evelyn will be here, they're gonna
sneak away from Mr. Buchanan and be here Sunday. And Evelyn Graham's
husband, too. She's married, too, you know. Some guy at the First
National Bank."
"That's nice," I said as I emptied the unused water into the sink.
"I'll be here, I guess."
"Well, it'll start at four-thirty or so, we figure it'll be nice out-
side and cooled off by then..."
As she rambled, I went into my room without a word and closed the
door. Many of my belongings had been packed in boxes standing against
one wall. My family was preparing to move in a few weeks to an older but
Complete story |