Mulligan

by K. G. MacGregor

"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

  go, sweetie." He twirled and sank

  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

  Greensburg a lot. I'd like to see

  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,
<
br />   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.