"I usually drop by and say hello.
You don't have to come with me,
though. He's eighty-two now, and
Hiram says he's not doing very
well."
"I don't mind. I'll do whatever you
want." Marty's stomach rumbled
loudly. "Did William know about you
and Rhonda?"
"Lord, no." Louise reached into a bag at her feet and presented
Marty with an apple. "The only
reason we even told Hiram was
because we needed his legal
advice on buying a house
together."
"I hope Hiram and Judy like me."
"Of course they'll like you. Why
wouldn't they?"
"You didn't like me the first time
we met."
Louise frowned. "You're right.
Maybe they won't either."
"Lou! Now you've got me all
nervous. What if we get there and
they don't like me?"
"Then we'll get back in the car and
leave, sweetheart. Simple as that."
Louise reached for Marty's free
hand and intertwined their
fingers. "But it's not going to
happen. They'll love you because I
love you. And Hiram will love you
even more because you're a golf
pro."
Hiram Stevens rocked steadily in
his chair on the wide front porch.
The odor of pot roast wafted
through the window from the
dining room, making his mouth
water. Louise and her new friend
were due any time now, and they
would all sit down to eat a big meal
and hear tales of Florida and the
North Carolina mountains.
"Any sign yet?" Judy called.
"Nope."
She emerged from the house and
took a seat on the swing. "You
reckon we'll like this new woman?"
"We better. Lou made it sound like
it was permanent."
"I was a little surprised, if you
want to know the truth. I always
figured she wasn't really like that
… you know? She went out with
boys back in high school."
"I know. But Lou said she always
knew something was wrong back
then. She just didn't know what it
was until she and Rhonda fell in
love with each other."
A silver Mercury Sable pulled to
the curb in front of the house.
"There they are," Hiram
announced, standing up and
thrusting his hands into his
pockets as he watched his sister
and the new woman get out of the
car.
Judy stood beside him and took
his arm. "Well, she's not as pretty
as Rhonda," she whispered.
Hiram broke into a huge grin.
"Maybe not, but she's got my little
sister smiling again."
Louise closed the door to the
guest room and pulled Marty into a
hug. "Hiram and Judy seem to like
you. I thought they would."
Marty returned the squeeze and
rested her head on Louise's
shoulder. "They're really nice. I
can't get over how much you and
your brother look alike."
"Everybody says that, but I just
don't see it."
"Oh, yeah. Both of you have the
same wiry build, and the same
smile … not to mention that silver
hair."
"Maybe a little." Louise pulled away and started to get undressed. "I
hope you didn't mind sitting with
us and going through all those
photo albums."
"Of course not. How come you
never told me you were so cute
when you were little? I was ready
to swipe some of those while Judy
wasn't looking."
Louise laughed. "I have all those
pictures at home in the attic. I got
them when Daddy died and made
copies for Hiram. I even made a
few for William."
"I noticed William wasn't in many."
"Like I said, he didn't come
around very much." Louise pulled
her gown over her head and let it
fall. Then she removed the floral
bedspread, folded it, and stowed
it in the closet. Finally, she placed
Petie's blanket at the foot of the
bed and lifted him up. "Here you
in a heap, exhausted from the
drive up from North Carolina.
"I'm worn out too, boy." Marty
gave him a scratch before
climbing into bed on her side.
"Am I going to get to see a whole
bunch of little Marty pictures
when I get to Michigan?"
"You better believe it! Mom has a
ton of Betty and me when we were
growing up."
"That'll be something. I bet you
were cute too."
"I was adorable … just like I am
now."
Louise chuckled and moved toward
the center of the double bed.
They were accustomed to sleeping
in a queen-sized bed, but neither
objected to the close quarters.
"How old were you when Betty was
killed?"
"Fifteen. Betty was seventeen."
"That's so tragic. It must have
been horrible."
"It was. Mom wouldn't let me get
in a car with my friends for over a
year."
"I bet it's sad for her to look at
pictures now."
"It used to be. But then one day—
it would have been Betty's twenty-
fifth birthday—she took out a
school picture and set it on top of
the TV with all the others. It was
still there the last time I was
home."
"How long has it been?"
"Hmmm … three years."
"You shouldn't stay away so long,
Marty. Things can happen so fast
and before you know it, you don't
have any more chances to see the
people that mean something to
you."
"I know." Marty snuggled close and wrapped her arm around Louise's
waist. "That's why I'm never
letting you out of my sight."
Louise let out a contented sigh and
snuggled into the embrace.
"And this is the last stop on the
tour, where I went to high
school," Louise said, bringing her
car to a stop.
"It's a vacant lot."
"I know that. They tore down the
old building back in 1973. It was
condemned by the fire
department. They built one big
high school for the whole county
and closed down all the little ones."
Marty looked at her watch.
"That's all of the tour? It's only
ten-thirty. And you didn't even
show me where you got your first
kiss."
Louise pointed to a tall stand of
weeds that had grown up around a
discarded tire. "It was right over
in there somewhere … just outside
where the gymnasium used to be."
Mart
y closed her eyes and started
to hum. "I'm feeling this wave of
maniacal jealousy. Who was he?"
she demanded playfully.
"I don't even remember. Henry or
Harvey something. It was at the
senior prom and somebody had
spiked the punchbowl. All I
remember is gin breath."
"You were a senior in high school
before your first kiss?"
Louise looked at her indignantly.
"What's wrong with that?"
Marty chuckled. "Nothing, I guess.
I was an early bloomer."
"I'm afraid to ask."
"Fifteen."
"When you had your first kiss?
That's not all that early."
"Mmmm… not my first kiss."
"Marty Beck!"
"I was curious!"
"We were all curious. But some of
us exercised self-control."
"That's always been one of my
problems," Marty conceded. "How
far is it to Greensburg from
here?"
"About an hour and a half. Why?"
"Let's go. I want to see where you
taught school and where you and
Rhonda lived."
Louise shook her head slowly. "I
don't know, Marty. It's hard to go
back there now … after that
school board meeting."
"But that's what this whole trip
was for—so we could show each
other the important people and
places in our lives. You talk about
some of the places that meant
something to you."
Louise finally nodded. "Okay."
Marty took her hand. "If it gets
hard for you, Lou, just remember
that I'm right here."
Ninety minutes later, they pulled
into the vast, nearly-vacant
parking lot of Westfield High
School.
"This place is huge!" Marty said. "I never pictured you in a school this
size."
"We had over two thousand
students."
"I want to see more. Where did
you used to park?"
"Why on earth do you want to
know all this stuff?"
"You see me go to work every day,
Lou. I'm just trying to imagine
what a day was like for you."
Louise shook her head in
resignation and drove slowly
through the lot to the corner
nearest the entrance to the
school. "I always parked right in
here somewhere. The sooner you
got here, the closer you could get
to the building. Rhonda and I
always came early, especially when
the weather was bad, so we
wouldn't get stuck way out in the
lot."
"See? That's what I mean about
learning things about each other.
Now I know why you lay out your
clothes every night and set the
coffee maker. I bet you got in the
habit of doing things like that just
in case the weather was bad and
you had to leave early."
"I never really thought about any
of that before, but you're
probably right."
"Where was your room?"
"Let's see … for the first thirteen
years, I was in that classroom all
the way at the end." Louise leaned
into Marty's lap and pointed to a
room on the second floor. "And
for the last twenty-seven, I was
there, right over the office." This
time, she pointed to a room
directly above them.
Marty propped her elbows on the
open window and rested her chin
on her arms. "That's really
something, Lou. Forty years of
your life inside that building."
Louise smiled for the first time.
"Hard to believe, isn't it? That
place is full of memories."
"Don't you miss it?"
"Not like I did when I first left."
"Why do you think that is?"
"I have you now. There's nowhere
else I'd rather be than where you
are."
Marty turned back and grinned.
"Let's go see your house."
On the way to her old
neighborhood, Louise pointed out
some of her usual stops, the
grocery, the bank, a few of her
favorite restaurants. Marty
seemed fascinated by what Louise
would have described as mundane.
"Here it is." Louise pulled up in front of a two-story gray house.
Children's toys filled the front
yard and a swing set was visible at
the end of the driveway. "The new
owners have painted it and closed
in the front porch. They must have
put in air conditioning because you
couldn't live in that house in the
summer without the breeze from
the porch."
"What color was it when you lived
here?"
"We always had it white with red
shutters."
"Which one was your bedroom?"
"The gable on the left was the one
we shared. After Rhonda died, I
moved over to the other side."
"How long did you live here?"
"Thirty-two years."
"Wow." Marty took one last look at the house. "Now I want to see
where you lived when you lost your
virginity."
Louise sighed heavily. "You can't
be serious."
"I am." Marty leaned back and
waited. "Come on, let's go."
Shaking her head in dismay,
Louise started the car again and
drove another fifteen minutes to a
part of town filled with row after
row of rundown apartment
buildings, all roughly the same size
and shape.
"I can't picture you living in a
place like this, Lou."
"It was forty years ago. My
building was new then, and most of
these places weren't even here."
She drove slowly so she could
study the subtle differences
between the buildings. "I won't
swear to it, but I think it was that
one right there … the third
window from the left was our
kitchen. The next window was the
living room. It had two bedrooms
but they were on the other side."
"So I don't get to see the
bedroom, huh?"
"I'll wait here if you want to go
knock on the door," Louise
answered sarcastically.
"Is that the end of the tour?"
"I'm afraid so. Why don't we grab
a quick bite to eat and head on
back to Wheeling? Hiram's taking
the afternoon off so he can show
you his swing. Judy said he was so
excited about getting some real
professional advice."
"I hope I can help him."
"Honey, I really appreciate you
being willing to do this. It means
so much to him and to me too."
"It's no big deal."
"I know, but this was supposed to
be your vacation away from golf,
and then he asked if you'd play
with him."
"You know I don't mind. Besides,
he's family, and family is special."
Louise grinned and grasped
Marty's hand. "That's right."
Louise peeked out into the back
yard again. "What in the world
could they be doing out there?
It's almost ten o'clock."
Hiram had turned on the back
porch lights so he could continue
to practice his swing with Marty.
The ball catcher—a billowy target
enclosed inside a large net—
allowed him to hit his drives full-
force. From time to time, Marty
would step forward and make a
correction in his stance or his
grip, but mostly she just watched.
"He does this every Friday night
to loosen up for Saturday. That's
when he plays at the club with his
friends." Judy came to join her at
the window. "Marty sure is being
patient with him."
"She's always pretty easy-going.
That's one of the things I really
like about her."
"Did you see the look on Hiram's
face when she agreed to play with
him at the club tomorrow? I
haven't seen him that excited
since Alicia was born."
Louise chuckled and looked back
through the window one last time.
"I think I'm going to go on to bed.
No telling how long they'll be out
there."
Twenty minutes later, Marty
entered their bedroom.
"Well?"
"He's … okay. He's picked up a lot
of bad habits over the years, but
he's willing to work on fixing
them."
"Did he offer to have you move
in?"
Marty laughed. "Practically. He
wants us to stay another week. He
even said he'd take the week off.
But I told him we had to go up to
Michigan and see my mom."
"You're really sweet to help him,
honey."
"Hiram's a nice guy. I can see why
you're so close to him."
"He's always been there for me."
"Just like a big brother should,"
Marty said as she got ready for
bed. "Speaking of big brothers,
are you going to see William
tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I think I'll go while you two
are playing golf. I called over
there right after supper and
Glenda said anytime was all right. I
dread it, though."
"How come?"
Louise laid down the book she had
been reading and settled into bed.
"I just hate to see him so sick.
And I guess a part of me knows
that I probably won't ever see
him again." A tear leaked out of
the corner of her eye and she
pushed it away with her hand.