Page 65 of The Party Line

“Who truly knows another person? Now that the secret is out, will folks stop talking about it?” I wanted to ask her what colorherpanties were, but I kept my mouth shut.

“Oh, no, honey,” Brenda chuckled. “Now we want to know who she was wild with. Was it Jasper or some other man in these parts?”

“Not Jasper, for sure.” I would do my best to divert any rumors away from him.

“Why would you say that?” Brenda asked.

“Just a feeling I have. Did you know that he was in the emergency room with an upper respiratory infection?” I said, trying to change the subject.

Brenda nodded. “I heard about that. Poor old darlin’. I’m glad you moved back here to help take care of him. That takes a load off Sarah’s shoulders.”

“Order up!” the cook yelled, even though she was only ten feet from us.

Brenda held up a finger. She brought a sack back and set it on the counter. “Here you go, and if either of you change your mind, just let me know.” She nodded toward the parking lot, where folks were getting out of half a dozen cars. “Looks like church has let out. We’re about to get swamped.”

“Thank you, Jesus,” I muttered on my way out to the vehicle, where Mama was waiting.

I slid in behind the steering wheel and set the bag on the back seat. “We didn’t order Jasper anything to drink?”

“When I called him, he said he already had tea made up,” Mama said. “I’m just glad we decided to eat with him on his porch and not in the restaurant. Brenda had more questions than a four-year-old can conjure up.”

“Now everyone is trying to figure out who Aunt Gracie wore her red panties for.” I started the engine and backed out of the parking lot.

“Bless their hearts—and I do not mean that in a nice way,” Mama whispered. “When will people learn to stop gossiping?”

“When they’re laid out in the cemetery, I guess. Maybe there’s a special little area in heaven for the ones who can’t wait to tell whatthey know. It’s got barbed wire fences all around it so they can’t be a hindrance to the other folks up there.”

“You could be right,” Mama giggled. “Lila, I’ve got to admit, I’m so excited about this trip. I keep waiting for something to come up to prevent us from going.”

“Not if I can help it.” I drove through town and turned onto Highway 16, then made a left onto the road to Ditto a few minutes later. “Do you think this secret stuff will ever completely die down?”

“Someday,” she said. “The next generation won’t be interested in something that old any more than they are interested in their grandmother’s crystal and silver. They probably won’t even know who George Strait is. They’ll be too lazy to pick strawberries, and the big wine companies and jelly businesses will be the ones who are buying the berries.”

I parked the Ford in front of the house. “No secret ... no Strait ... That’s too depressing to even think about.”

She got out of the car and carried our drinks around the side of the house. “Instant gratification is what children are being taught, and they’ll teach their kids the same. Picking strawberries is tedious work. Young folks today are too lazy to do hard work, and they’ll teach the next generation by example.”

Jasper held on to Sassy’s collar while we went through the gate and turned her loose the moment we locked it behind us. “I told her that company was coming, so she got all excited. Let’s eat before y’all play with her. I been lookin’ forward to a big old juicy hamburger all morning.”

Mama set the two drinks down beside his tea on the stump. “It’s good that you’ve got an appetite. I see you’ve already brought out another chair. We could have done that.”

“I keep tellin’ Lila that I’ve got my strength back and don’t need no more medicine,” he said.

“And that rattle in your chest when you cough says otherwise.” I took the food from the bag and set his burger and fries on the edge ofthe stump. “You go ahead and start eating. I’ll get your medicine and be right back.”

“Gracie didn’t just leave her the house and land,” Jasper told Mama. “She also left Lila enough bossiness for half a dozen women.”

“That, she did,” Mama agreed.

“And I love it!” I yelled from my back porch.

Gina Lou was still gone when I came home from helping Mama pack, but Connor was sitting on the front-porch swing. I sat down beside him and set the swing in motion with my foot before pulling both feet up and wrapping my arms around my legs.

“Did you get Sarah all packed up and ready to go?” he asked.

“I did. Where are my manners? Can I get you a glass of sweet tea or a beer?”

He leaned over and picked up a six-pack of sweating bottles. “I chilled them before I came over. Are you ready to get busy picking weeds tomorrow, or would you rather mow?”

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