Crain's Landing

by Cayce Poponea

  “Oh, hello, darlin’.” Her husky voice made it clear she was a heavy smoker. Her long, red nails, most likely acrylic, wound around a strand of her over-processed and backcombed hair. “I’m Janice, I live across the street.” I watched as she motioned to the house directly across from mine. It looked like the rest of the houses on the street, except for the white Mercedes parked in the driveway. “Is your husband home?”

  I shook my head no, “No, no husband.” I showed her the lack of a wedding ring on my left hand. I once considered getting a cheap ring, placing it on that significant finger to avoid the looks I got from time to time. But that would have meant I was ashamed of being single and having Peyton and that certainly was not the truth.

  “Oh? Pity, we could use some more men around this neighborhood.” She looked at Peyton, who sat on my right hip. Her facial expressions told me more than her words ever could; the lack of a husband might not have been a big deal in the bigger city, but as my father said, this was a different world down here. “Well, with such a pretty little girl, there must be a boyfriend or baby daddy around. Is he available?”

  Ladies and gentleman, we had ourselves a bona fide cougar. I had seen my fair share of women like this one. She preferred the younger men, regardless of who they belonged to. However, she kept a few older ones around to suit her needs as well. I was certain that her Mercedes was one of those “needs” some poor soul had bought for her.

  “I’m sorry, Janice, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but I have a busy day and I can assure you I don’t have a man of any sort or fashion in my home.” She looked me up and down and scowled.

  “Well, honey, if you don’t mind me saying, you’ve got all the equipment, you just need the right touches and we could fix your man situation. I mean despite being as pretty as you are, your clothes are screaming old librarian.”

  I was certain she was trying to be nice. I took it as a compliment since I was indeed a librarian. “Well, Janice,” I used her emphasis on that word back against her, “I don’t really want any of that type of attention, if you get my meaning. I’m allergic to penicillin and don’t want to worry about any new diseases that are out there.”

  She placed her hand on her hip, pointed her acrylic nail at me, and smiled. “I like you. If you change your mind, I’m right across the street.”

  With that, she turned and began sashaying back toward her house, her skirt not quite covering her ass cheeks. Her five-inch hooker heels clicked away as she swayed her hips. I watched as she waved to several balding gentlemen who were working on catching flies with their mouths hanging open. The house next to hers had an older couple sitting on their porch and I watched as the old man held up his hand to wave at her, only to have his wife slap it down.

  One thing was certain; this was going to be an interesting place to live.

  AFTER MY INTERESTING RUN-IN WITH my new neighbor, Janice, I finally made it out the door and to the market. I picked up just a few essentials, since I was in a hurry, and approached the checkout. I stood there and watched as the slutty-looking cashier talked into her cell phone and flicked old nail polish from her fingernails. I cleared my throat, but she ignored me and continued to talk, her ass firmly parked on the conveyer belt.

  "Excuse me." I glared pointedly at the back of her head. She continued to ignore me. I decided the best approach would be to leave the grocery shopping to last and hope for a shift change. That way I could hopefully check out with someone who actually had a brain, and my milk, meat, and ice cream would still be good when I returned home. With that in mind, I left my armful of groceries sitting there and headed off toward Peyton's daycare. So much for Southern hospitality. I hoped by the time stupid checker hung up and looked on the counter behind her, the juicy package of hamburger I'd left sitting there would have leaked nasty blood onto the counter and soaked the ass of her white, too-tight jeans.

  Southern Darlin’s Play School was located directly behind the library. I walked through the front doors to find the next set of doors locked. There was a keypad on the left side of the door and an intercom button. I pressed the button and waited patiently. Less than a minute passed before I received a response. What surprised me was that the television monitor illuminated and a beautiful blonde lady appeared on the screen.

  "Hello, how can I help you?" Her voice was very calm and pleasant and she was even prettier than my neighbor Janice.

  "Hello, yes, my name is Natalie Reid..." Before I could even finish, the door buzzed and she spoke rapidly as she instructed me to enter.

  "I've been waiting so long to finally meet you!" I was promptly grabbed into a tight hug. "I'm Lily Crain, the owner around here. Mayor Marshall has told me so much about this little beauty." She picked up Peyton's hand and stroked her tiny fingers. It surprised me when Peyton reached for her. "Oh, my goodness, we're going to have so much fun aren't we, sweetness."

  Peyton began babbling and then handed her stuffed puppy to Lily. Lily answered her back as if they were having a conversation and she was interested in everything Peyton was saying. "Ms. Peyton, how about we take your momma on a tour and then I'm going to steal you away for a few hours so she can get acquainted with our town."

  Lily's smile was electric, and Peyton was quite taken with her. I felt a lot better about leaving her here. I followed them down a long hall, the smell of bubble gum and sugar was in the air. We passed several doors made of glass allowing you to see the children playing inside. Every room was brightly decorated and looked fairly clean considering the children actively playing inside. Lily pointed out several safety measures they had, including direct lines to the hospital and fire department. She also told me they had several high school girls come in the afternoon to watch children for their community service requirement for graduation. I asked her about the program and she explained the school system here required every senior to complete at least twenty hours of community service in order to graduate. Most of the seniors wanted more hours as it looked really good on college applications. That information gave me a huge idea. Lily asked me if I would allow Peyton to play with the other children for a few hours today so she would slowly get used to being here. I thought it was a wonderful idea, so I agreed.

  When I had rented our home, the property manager sent me a form to complete. It was standard paperwork I was given to fill out to note any damage to the house when I moved in. I hadn’t seen any so I decided to stop by the office and drop it off.

  The office was directly across from the grocery store, so I swiftly parked my car and went in. Once inside, I noticed it looked like your standard real estate office; pictures and descriptions of current properties for sale. There was a chamber of commerce gold plaque hanging on the wall, as well as a series of Best of Crain’s Landing awards for the past five years.

  I approached the desk, which stood just inside the office. No one was sitting at it, but I could hear a voice talking on the phone. I blocked out the conversation as best I could, but it was hard. The young lady was very adamant about what she trying to tell the person on the other end.

  "But she's such a pretty girl, Grant." She noticed me standing there and the look in her eye as she took me in was one of surprise. She got this knowing look on her face and then held her index finger up to me, silently asking me to hold on for one moment. "Grant, forget what I said, I'll call you back, big change of plans." She hung up the phone and then hurried over to the desk.

  "Good morning! You're Natalie Reid, aren't you?"

  I shouldn’t have been surprised she knew who I was. I smiled as I held out my hand to shake hers.

  "I'm Autumn Cooper and I'm so glad you've finally made it. You've been the talk of the gossip circle this morning. Have you gotten settled in the house? How is your daughter, Peyton, is it? Lily said she's just the sweetest thing she's ever laid eyes on. Don't you dare let Janice scare you away. She's just trying to latch on to any new man who comes into this town. She's been trying for years to get my brother in the sack, but
thankfully he has taste. I swear the skank is so loose that when she was a cheerleader in high school she suctioned to the floor when she did the splits."

  I would swear she'd said all of that without taking a single breath and I was exhausted just listening to her. I sighed with a soft smile as I made certain she was finished with her questions. "Yes, I'm Natalie. Pleasure to meet you. I'm glad to have made it as it was a very long drive. I’m not sure if I like the whole ‘gossip circle’ thing. I have several things I need to acquire in order to finally get settled in. I have to agree with Lily about Peyton, but I am her mother. As for Janice, she's proving to be good for a laugh factor."

  Autumn began laughing along with me as I finished. "She's that and more, I can assure you," Autumn added. “You should have seen her after Rebecca took off, thought she would just slide right into Grant’s bed.” Her words were spoken at me, rather than to me. I didn’t care who this Grant or Rebecca were. Autumn was a classic beauty. Her bright, blue eyes stood out from her sun-kissed skin. Her long, wavy, blonde hair perfectly framed her face.

  "So, tell me all about you. Any boyfriend...girlfriend?"

  I laughed and dropped my head. "No, no time for men, and honestly, I don't ever see myself being with a woman that way." Autumn continued to smile and look at me in a manner that was quite alarming. It was as if she, like Peggy, was planning my future out in her head. "Listen, Autumn, I have several things I need to get done and not a lot of time to do them. Here's the form you asked me to fill out for you. The house is beautiful, by the way.”

  She took the paper and glanced over it quickly. "Natalie, I understand, and please let me know if you need anything. I'll tell my mother that you like the house."

  Her words stopped me in my tracks. "I'm sorry, did you say your mother?"

  Autumn's eyes lit up again. "Yes, my mother has taken it as her personal mission to keep this town in livable conditions. Her mother did it and her mother before her. It’s their unique way of keeping the family name in a good light. I suppose, being a descendant of the founding family, she finds it to be her duty. But I am sure it’s more of a passion for her. She did yours, my brother's, mine, and Lily's. Hell, most of this town has been touched in one way or another by our family."

  Crain’s Landing... Autumn was a member of the founding family. I felt stupid at not realizing she had married and dropped the Crain. I wanted to meet Autumn's mom, she had an amazing talent and impeccable taste, and I hoped she would lend a hand if I ever decided to buy a house. However, I had to get through my conditional employment first. "Well, please tell your mom thank you for me."

  I left the office and decided to stop by the library. I wanted to see for myself, besides the obvious stuff, what the problem was with it that was causing less and less people to use it. there were a number of empty beer boxes, broken beer bottles, and cigarette butts near the back door. Random trash was literally everywhere. I would have to speak to Sheriff Chisholm to see if he could patrol here at night. I glanced up only to discover the security lights were busted and made a note to have them replaced on Monday.

  The first thing to grab my attention when I went to open the door was that there were no identifying markers indicating this was the library. I was certain if you had lived here your entire life, you would naturally know. However, if my dad hadn't shown it to me, I would have never guessed it. There were no hours of operation posted and the glass doors looked as if they hadn't been cleaned in several months.

  Once inside, my nose was hit with what reminded me of an old wet diaper and not the sweet smell that was traditionally found with the pages of books. I covered my mouth and nose as I continued in, the smell intensified as the door closed behind me. On one wall was a vending machine that was mostly empty; only a few haphazard crackers and potato chips remained. Next to it was an ancient Coke machine. I watched in horror as a cockroach crawled between the Coke sign and the glass. There was a stain on the carpet that appeared to still be wet, most likely the true cause of the putrid smell. I glanced around to find the carpet torn in many places and wondered if the fear of a patron getting hurt ever entered their minds. The tables looked to have once housed lamps in the center, were drawn on and only a few chairs remained. Two women were working behind the desk. The first was a very pretty dark-haired girl. She was busy stacking books and removing due-back cards from the front sleeves. The second was a blonde-haired girl who was sitting atop the counter, talking on her cell.

  Approaching the elongated desk, I cleared my throat as I spoke. “Miss? Excuse me, Miss?" I tapped my hand on the counter to get her attention. It worked only to aggravate her as she met my gaze and then proceeded to snap her fingers at the brown-haired girl whose arms were now full of books. The brown-haired girl looked at her, the blonde mouthed to her that she was on the phone, and then she pointed at me. The poor girl looked as if she were worn out. I shook my head at her and looked back to the blonde who I had figured out was talking with a boy. I had witnessed enough. This was going to be a tough job and one I wanted to tackle head-on.

  "May I help you, Ma'am?" The brown-haired girl had loaded the book cart and returned to help me. Looking at her, she reminded me of myself in so many ways. Her long dress was nearly touching her white tennis shoes and I could tell the gray cardigan she was wearing was her favorite, as it was well-worn and fraying at the sleeves. Her hair was pulled back at the top half of her head, her glasses perched and secured to her face.

  "Yes, your name, please?"

  "Ashley, Ashley Porter."

  I saw the blonde roll her eyes and continue to talk on her phone. "Hi, Ashley, I was wondering if you could show me where any of your classic literature books are located?"

  Ashley unnecessarily pushed her glasses up against the top of her nose. "If we had copies of any, I'd gladly show you where they were, Ma'am."

  I looked at her puzzled. Had any? "You don't have any? No Cervantes, Poe, Austin?"

  Ashley shook her head as each name left my lips. “Not even the Bronte sisters.” She added that information in a hushed voice as the blonde was pushing her phone closer to her ear, our conversation aggravating her. Ashley looked to the blonde and then lowered her face.

  I'd had enough of the rudeness of the blonde, so I turned my attention to her. I'd had this professor in college who was duller than watching paint dry. Many people fell asleep in his class. When he caught one of the students doing that, he would make his way over to their desk and place his face directly in line with their sleeping one. When the sleeping student awoke, his face was right there to scare the shit out of them. I decided to use what I had learned from him. Turning my back to the desk, placed my hands behind me, and lifted myself up to sit on the desk. The blonde was too busy talking and didn't notice me. I then turned my entire body around and faced her.

  I wasn’t certain how long I sat beside her before she noticed me, but I learned a guy named Colton was screwing someone named Ellen, behind his cousin's back. I learned the football coach at the high school was very hot when he wore his muscle shirt and flexed for the girls. Also, her aunt had volunteered to take Kathy's baby to the doctor so she could get a good look at Dr. Crain.

  I was becoming nauseated at her ramblings on the lascivious behaviors of others, so I reached over and took the phone from her hand. She had wasted entirely too much time on her personal phone call.

  "Hey!" she shouted as I hit the end button on her phone.

  I tossed it back to her as I pushed myself behind the counter "Don't you hey me." I spun around and pointed my finger in her face.

  "Who the fuck…?"

  I smiled as I cut off her sentence. "I'm Ms. Reid, your new boss. For how long, remains to be seen." Her eyes became huge, her face stunned as she looked me up and down. I glanced at an open-mouthed Ashley, who abruptly turned and made her way to the book cart. "Hold it, Ashley." She stopped pushing the cart, but didn’t look up at me. "You are…?" I questioned the still-stunned blonde.

  "Um…" She wa
sn't as confident facing me as she had been bossing around poor Ashley.

  "Hurry up, Pop-Tart; the questions get more complex from here." She looked to Ashley, who was still looking down at the book cart. I snapped my fingers in her face and gave her a look that said “I'm waiting.” I was completely annoyed and getting rather pissed off.

  "Brittney?" She answered in a questioning tone.

  "See, I knew you could do it. Do you have it written on your hand somewhere?" In a move that baffled me and made me chuckle under my breath, she looked at both her hands, turning them over as she inspected them. This one...was a real winner.

  Hearing the wheels squeaking on the book cart, I turned back to Ashley. "Hold it, Mary Poppins. I have something else for you to do." Ashley released the handle of the cart, her head remaining down. "In the time I've been here, it seems Ashley does all of the work. Which would tell me she knows what the procedures are around here." Ashley began to slowly look up at me. Clearly, no one had ever noticed this or taken the time to say anything to her. "Brittney, go and put those books away." I tossed my hand in the direction of the book cart. "Ashley, come and show me my office, we have things to discuss." I walked toward Ashley leaving Brittney to do some real work. I gazed back to see Brittney with her mouth hanging open and a look of confusion on her face. “Brittney, do you need something?"

  She looked from the cart to me and back again. "You want me to touch those?" She pointed at the cart, a look of disgust on her face.

  "No, little Ms. Wizard, I want you to stare at them and see if they'll put themselves away. Yes, I want you to actually touch them. Place them back where they go. Then come see me in my office for further instructions."

  I turned toward Ashley and noticed the sly grin growing on her face. I would find out the story there. I turned one last time to see if Brittney had moved, only to find her reaching for her phone again. "Motor mouth, you call one more person and I promise you it'll be the last thing you do as an employee here."