This is a short story that I wrote yesterday on my front porch.
The family loaded into the truck. The local paper had an advertisement for a truck load of aged horse manure for 50 dollars. The husband had some notes about where the house was located. The husband's moniker was dialogue Danny. He could have a conversation with a post. The written notes, there was no need for Google maps on the low-end smartphone with the limited data plan. The couple was all about saving money.
The wife sat in the front cab wondering how she had come to do hard labor. Life was now about homesteading. The teenagers were complaining in the back. The truck's air conditioning didn't work, and only the front windows rolled down. The wife looked elegant with her hair in a French twist, silver hoops, pearls, and a red lipstick. The Jackie O sunglasses completed the look. Her outfit was cropped pants and a crisp teal blouse. The wife glanced around the truck thinking of their first date. His truck was as messy as it had been in those early days of courtship. Danny had lost his breath when he had seen how fastidious her car was and later her house.
The drive to the 7400 road was pleasant enough. Then, they couldn't find the house. "Loretta said to go on the 7400 and take the second right after the traffic light onto the Evans Road... The mailbox should say 61##6, she said they are two numbers missing off the mailbox."
The wife looked at her husband in disdain. Complete disdain. "You spent 36 minutes taking to her, and you didn't get a complete address."
"Just stop, Janie. Just go with it. We will find it."
"Dad, you can't be serious. We have been driving over and over in a circle. "
"Will, you all get off my back. We have already burned through 20 dollars of diesel."
The wife sighed with a scoff. She keyed the partial address into google map. 17 minutes later, they arrived at the farm. A slight, wrinkled woman with a sensible farmwife's demeanor. "Well, hello, you certainly have been tarrying all over."
The family got out and took out the shovels. The teenage boy walked with his iPhone and his neck hunched over the screen. The teenage girl needled her brother, "We need to get to work."
The husband worked out the fee for the manure. He had 60 dollars cash. Loretta didn't have change. "Janie, do you have 10 dollars?"
"No, I never have cash."
Loretta looked at Janie in awe as Janie picked up a shovel to start filling buckets. Janie stood a full 8 inches over the barely 5-foot woman. "Are you, his wife? You are going to load this truck up?"
"Yes, I am. I can hardly expect the children to do all the work. Our son is a bit allergic to work. We have a homestead to keep up. I canned 1700 jars of fruits and vegetables last year."
The old woman nodded with respect. "Smart, you know we are in the end times. Jesus is coming back soon. Israel is one of the signs of the end times."
Janie smiled and felt a bit uplifted. Janie liked to play with conservative people, actually people who had religious zealots. "Yes, the seven seals of John of Patmos. I was reading the signs of Armageddon last night. The plants and trees will fill with dew and blood. The waters burn from east to west."
Loretta practically sworn with fervor. "It only a matter of time before we hear the seven trumpets of seven angels."
"I am sure the rapture is only a matter of time." Janie whispered.
"Janie, you are scaring the children."
Janie smiled, "It's so hard when a woman can't bring her children and husband to religion."
"God, mom you know we are atheists."
"I told you both, you cannot be atheists until you have read the bible twice through"
Both children scoffed and began filling the buckets along side their mother. The three were muttering under their breath that Danny was a parlor general. They used to use the word straw boss. Parlor general was a private joke between the three.
The work went quickly. Loretta came over, "How old are you? The mother knew Loretta was asking her. I am 42, I tell the kids to say I am 32."
Loretta was quiet. She studied Janie. "I am 80. I came to this farm as a new bride. I hate what the wind and sun has done to my face."
In that sentence, Janie knew that all women see themselves as woman. Janie's choice of grooming and clothing was to remind her husband today, she was a woman. Not a workhorse, not a pal to tell of his sexual conquests. She didn't need to be reminded that she wasn't the first wife, the second wife, she was the third. Number 3. She hadn't expected to be forgotten as a woman. Other men hadn't forgotten she was a woman when she was in the grocery store. Many a man was surprised she was Danny's wife. Her latest hurt was when Danny had failed to introduce her to a very old friend. She had stood there for 6 minutes. Nothing, Danny had yammered on and on. Janie had gotten in the car and pouted. 20 years ago, she would have introduced her and left Danny on the spot for good.
"Janie, don't start wearing that look of disappointment on your face daily. Men see it and take an excuse to not try to be better. "
The woman's eyes met; each understood the other's hurts. The loading of the manure was finished. Goodbyes were said.
Janie felt dirty from the work and from what she had allowed her life to be. Janie hated physical labor. The trip home was quiet. Janie went directly to shower and cried.
copyright 2024 India Marque
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