Page 7 of The Party Line

“Nope. Annie is rock solid. She probably hears a lot of gossip in this place, but she don’t spread it,” Jasper said out of the corner of his mouth.

Argh.“Good to know. I’m glad you thought to order some takeout for tomorrow. I’ll take a dinner to Mama and keep one.”

Annie brought out our glasses of tea and set them on the table, then hurried over to wait on another group that had come in out of the rain.

“The chicken and dressin’ won’t be as good as Granny’s, but it will be my supper for a couple or three days,” Jasper said. “We only had it on Thanksgiving and Christmas when I was a little kid. Granny made it for parties that Miz Betty and Clarence had up near the holidays. ’Course we always had plenty to eat because the missus did not eat leftovers.”

“Why?” I wondered out loud.

“She had her own ways about things, but it was a good thing for us,” Jasper replied.

The rain came down harder, and a flash of lightning zipped through the sky. Some folks hurried out of the café, but the smarter ones ordered dessert and stayed inside, probably hoping the storm would pass quickly.

Jasper tilted his head toward the window. “Looks like we got lucky.”

“Because we got here before the rain started?” If he had tried to shuffle his way from the café to my vehicle, he would have been soaked to the skin.

“No, because it didn’t hail. The strawberries will be fine with a good rain. Hail would have destroyed the crop.”

“I would have whined until Christmas if I didn’t get at least one strawberry shortcake,” I told him.

“I’m putting those on the menu next Sunday,” Annie said as she set a red plastic basket in front of each of us.

“We’ll be here, good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise,” Jasper chuckled.

“People are going to say that you’re datin’ a woman young enough to be your granddaughter,” Annie teased in a low voice.

“Hmmph ...” Jasper almost snorted. “Try young enough to be my great-great-granddaughter. And me and Lila don’t pay no attention to rumors.” He winked across the table at me. “Do we?”

“No, sir, we do not!” I exclaimed. “And we’ll look forward to that shortcake next Sunday.”

“If it gets low, I’ll save back enough to make y’all each one,” Annie said. “I’ll have those to-go boxes ready by the time you leave.”

“Thank you,” Jasper said as he unwrapped the paper from his burger and took a bite.

“Just like you remembered?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah,” he said with a smile. “You reckon we might go by the cemetery and see Gracie after we eat? If it’s rainin’, we wouldn’t have to get out. She just needs to know that I ain’t forgot her.”

“We can do that,” I agreed. “How about we go see her after Sunday dinner each week?”

His green eyes glazed over, and his chin quivered. “I’d like that very much.”

Texans often tell folks that if they don’t like the weather to stick around thirty minutes and watch it change. That’s what happened that Sunday morning. One second, it was raining cats and dogs and baby elephants. The next, the sun was shining brightly, and a beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky.

The cemetery wasn’t far from the café, but then Poteet only boasted a population of a little over three thousand people. Driving in a small town was nothing like going from one side of Austin to the other. I hated those years when the pandemic hit and I’d had to stay home, but I was more than glad to not have that hour-long commute to work every day. When things settled down, the folks decided that I could do my job from home permanently. That made it easy for me to move back to Ditto and set up an office in Aunt Gracie’s house.

I drove slowly through the cemetery, and when I braked and pulled off to the side of the narrow road, Jasper threw the door open and grabbed his cane. He shuffled over to the tombstone with MARYGRACEEVANSengraved on it.

He pulled a bag from his pocket, removed a huge strawberry from it, and laid it on top of the stone. “This and the rainbow in the sky is for you. I’m right sorry I haven’t been out here before now, but Lila says she’ll bring me every Sunday from now on.” He placed his hand on the top of the gray granite and didn’t even try to hold back the tears. “Tell Davis hello for me,” he said between sobs, “and y’all keep a watch on the gates. I’ll be knockin’ on them before too long.”

His words brought tears to my eyes, and soon they were streaming down my cheeks and dripping onto my shirt. The memories of all the good times my aunt and I had during my growing-up years flooded my mind. He patted the stone, straightened his back, and walked on a few yards farther. A small headstone marked RITAPOTEETwas next to one engraved DAVISPOTEET. Jasper dropped to his knees right there in the wet grass and laid both hands on his old friend’s name.

“She’s with you now,” he whispered. “I don’t know why the good Lord ain’t come for me. I know there’s one more job I have to do, butI’m not sure I can handle it all by myself. I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place, my friend. I want to run through heaven with y’all like we did when we had races to the old barn and back, but ...” He paused and glanced over his shoulder at me and clamped his mouth shut.

He started to rise but stumbled. I grabbed him and hugged him close until he could get his balance. He wiped his eyes and chuckled. “Darlin’, if folks see us like this, therewillbe rumors.”

I took a step back. “I don’t really care what people think or say. I’m not going to let you fall and hit your head on those tombstones.”

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