by Marnie Perry
Adela touched her nose, just as she always had when her mother mentioned it, she had always been conscious of it; she knew it was too big for her face. But as she had got older her face had filled out more and her nose had no longer looked so obvious. That didn’t stop her mother from criticising though, hence the comments about her hair.
Adela had had boyfriends, not many, three in total including Connor Murphy. None of which had lasted long because she wouldn’t “put out” as they called it. Although when her co-workers and neighbours had heard about her win the single, and even married men, had started to smile at her and wink and two had even come onto her, and she had known their wives. She had said no of course to all of them, she knew what they were after and it wasn’t her mind, nor even or body come to that. She was a sensible woman after all.
She knew her neighbours and co-workers laughed at her behind her back, and even to her face. The twenty eight year old spinster with no redeeming features…except her money now of course…locked up with a raging alcoholic and nut case, only leaving the house to go to work ten hours a week.
Her mother had railed and cursed and sobbed and threatened when Adela had taken the job at the local post office. She couldn’t cope alone she’d said, she die she’d said, she would kill herself she’d said, and it would be all Adela’s fault, ungrateful, selfish girl. But Adela for once had stood her ground and had assured her mother that she would only be working in the mornings, she would be home to take her to her appointments, to cook her meals and clean up after her.
Nevertheless her mother had made it as hard as possible for her, but Adela had stood firm and had stayed at the post office for two and a half years, even after her mother had died. Later she had taken another job in the evening cleaning elderly people’s homes. Until she had won the money that is.
Her mother had died three months before this momentous event and had left everything to David and Daniel and not a thing to Adela. Not a piece of jewellery, not an ornament, nothing. David had said she could remain in the house until she found somewhere else to live. She had hardly been able to believe that he was doing this, the house she’d been born in. The house she’d shared with her mother for twenty eight years. The house she had cleaned and cooked in. The house with the staircase she had carried her mother up when she had been out of it with the drink.
Daniel had not been interested in Adela’s future either, just the money he could use for his gambling and drinking. Not a single penny did they give her. Three months later that had not mattered one iota, not financially anyway, but emotionally it had hurt very much that her mother resented, even hated her enough to exclude her from her will. Adela shook her head and stood up abruptly. Well that was over now, she was here, free and rich, if not content and happy and at peace. She blinked rapidly trying to clear her mind of thoughts of her mother and the family who cared so little for her. After all, free and rich wasn’t a bad start was it?
She decided to read for a while out on the little porch at the front of the cabin. She picked up her book, a Sam Smith novel in which the hero Jake Keecher was about to save the girl, the day, and ultimately the whole wide world, or die trying.
Adela loved crime or suspense novels, she especially liked Sam Smith. But her favourite was Taylor Barton’s Fenn Llewellyn the Private Investigator. He was such a sweet man, romantic and very funny yet strong and tough. She wished she could meet someone like him, but for now she lived in her fantasy world of private eyes and F.B.I agents and other such romantic heroes. Maybe because the men in them asked nothing of her and were therefore safe.
She read for a few hours then put her book to one side very satisfied with the conclusion, there went Keecher off to save the world again and if his luck was in, which it usually was, sleep with pretty women. She went indoors and switched up the A.C; it had become very hot indeed now, then decided to take a nap before getting ready for tonight. She was going to a theatre show in Mobile, they were putting on a comedy play and she was looking forward to it.
She had only ever been to the theatre twice in her life, one, because she could not leave her mother at night, that’s when she was at her worst. Two, she never had anyone to go with and was not confident enough to go by herself. Same with the cinema too, not that she was overly fond of the cinema, it reminded her too much of Connor Murphy and that awful groping and panting and pleading then anger as she kept removing his hand from down her blouse or from up her skirt. He had called her a tease then a bitch then a dyke. At fifteen she had not known what a dyke was, and wondered what a wall that kept water from flooding the land had to do with letting him know she did not want to be groped.
She lay on the bed and thought about her encounter with Mr. Jonas Lando today. What a strange man he was. And that’s when she decided, that come hell or high water, she would get him to smile at least once before she left Alabama…or die trying.
CHAPTER 3.
Adele awoke an hour or so later, stretched and looked at her watch it read 5.30. The play began at 8.00clock, plenty of time to get ready and make her way to the bus stop. She could of course easily afford a taxi but she liked the bus, she liked hearing the other passengers talking to each other in that soft musical accent.
She put a lasagne in the microwave which she ate with salad and cold new potatoes.
Then showered and made up her face. She was still new to this make- up thing. She had had very little opportunity to wear it; she never went anywhere, except to work and what was the point wearing make-up to clean toilets and sweep floors?
So she had worn make -up and a nice dress only a handful of times. For instance at Sally and David’s wedding where everyone had ignored her anyway, partly because she had been sitting with her mother and no one wanted to approach her, even David and Sally.
At 7.30 the happy couple had asked her to take her mother home. The latter had been on the brink of causing a scene but David had promised they would visit the next day before they set out on their honeymoon and her mother had agreed to leave, albeit belligerently.
She had got very drunk that night and told Adela that she had looked a right mess at the church with that awful dress which made her look like a witch, and her hair all over the place. In the morning the dress had been lying on Adela’s bedroom floor cut to ribbons, that day Adela had gone into town and bought a lock for her door.
The only other times she had worn make- up or a pretty dress was at David and Sally’s anniversary parties, ten in all, although she had not attended all of them, her mother had been “ill” on several of those occasions. Of the five she had attended she had been roped into helping serve the food and drink. David and Sally’s posh friends had thought she was a member of the catering staff and neither had corrected them.
Daniel had taken pity on her once and invited her to the pub and she had worn make up then. Although she had not worn a dress she had made an effort to look nice wearing white jeans and a pretty pink blouse, even so it took her all of five seconds to realise that she was over dressed. All she had done for three very long hours was watch her brother and his friends play pool or darts. She'd had a go at playing darts herself thinking, if you can’t beat 'em, join 'em. She had hit the board only twice and some smart aleck had suggested they put the board on the floor for her. She had refused to play pool because she did not like the idea of bending over the table with all those men looking at her posterior as they had done with all the other girls, although they hadn’t seemed to mind.
Apart from those few times she had never made much fuss about her appearance, but now she carefully applied blusher, eye shadow and mascara as shown to her by the nice lady in the beauty salon. She had also had her hair trimmed and her eyebrows shaped.
The owner of the salon had asked her if she wanted her hair cut short but of course she had said no. She wondered what it was about hairdressers that when they saw long hair they immediately wanted to cut it all off. She had come to the conclusion that they just wanted to show off the many a
nd varied styles they could accomplish with hair. Not on her time nor on her hair thank you very much. The owner had scowled at Adela before shaking her head and walking away. But the nice lady, whose name was Alice, had rolled her eyes at the owner’s back and told Adela that she had lovely hair and was quite right to have refused to cut it.
She looked back at herself in the mirror and was amazed afresh at how just a little green to the eyes and a dab of red on the cheeks could make a person look quite different, quite nice in fact. What with the tan and the make up she looked really rather pretty.
She laughed at herself in the mirror, what, her pretty? Yeah, with cosmetic surgery perhaps.
She took her dress from the wardrobe; it was dark green with short sleeves a scooped neckline and came to just above the knee. This was one of only three expensive dresses she had ever bought and it suited her perfectly, according to the lady in the dress shop anyway, and this time Adela had to agree.
She had had her ears pierced when she was eighteen, a sort of treat to herself, and also a little rebellion on her part. Her mother had laughed until she had hiccupped and Adela had never again worn earrings in her presence. But now she put in small emerald studs that matched the dress perfectly as did the necklace and bracelet. These were not expensive items by any means but she had liked them and that was the important thing. Besides, she did not want to wear expensive looking jewellery while she was out alone, some of what Sally had said made sense anyway.
She put on her gold watch; again an inexpensive item but she had liked it, another treat to herself for her twenty first birthday. She did not let her mind dwell too long on how sad it was that most of her birthday presents had been gifts to herself.
When she was ready she picked up her shawl in case it got colder later, put her small gold coloured handbag on her shoulder and left the cabin. At home of course she would have taken her umbrella the weather being so unpredictable, but all she would need one for here was to keep the sun off her face.
She made her way to the town and the bus stop. She had checked the times of the buses to the next town which was five miles away, it was scheduled to arrive at 7.25; she looked at her watch, 7.15, ten minutes early. She had always preferred to be too early than too late. She had a fear of being late for anything, she was always at work ten minutes before everyone else, including sometimes Mr. Lowther, and she had had to wait for him to let her in.
People passed while she stood waiting, they looked at her and she found herself averting her eyes, certain that they could tell she was off for a night on the town by herself and thinking how sad that was. A young couple came to stand beside her giggling and kissing. She found herself blushing and looking the other way pretending they weren’t there…or that she wasn’t.
True to its word the bus was right on time. Adela got on thankful to be away from the kissing couple who stayed waiting by the bus stop.
There were only five people on the bus and she took a seat at the front by herself. She knew that at home this would go unnoticed but people here were friendlier and tended to sit together and chat. But she did not want to be the questioned about where she was headed and was she meeting anyone? This had happened several times over the last few days, but in the day time it did not seem to matter so much, lots of people were out and about by themselves, but for an evening out it seemed, well, sad. Besides there was the ever present danger of giving the wrong person this piece of information, or someone overhearing and following her with a malevolent purpose.
One would ask why if she was so nervous would she catch the bus or go to places by herself? And the answer was because she was nervous, but she had sworn not to let her fear and shyness stop her from exploring and enjoying every pleasure this country had to offer. If she did she would hate herself for the coward she was.
Twenty minutes later she thanked the driver, alighted from the bus and headed to the theatre, which thankfully was on the opposite side of the street from the bus stop. She had spotted the theatre when she had got off the bus here a few days before and on impulse had booked a ticket for the show tonight. She had been, and still was, nervous about doing this, but like the solitary walks and the bus rides, she had resolved not to let nervousness get in the way of enjoying herself. Besides, she wanted to know what a comedy play performed by Americans for Americans was like.
She took several deep breaths and entered the theatre. There were a lot of people milling around in the foyer chatting and laughing so because she didn’t want to stand there by herself she headed for the lounge bar. There were a lot of people either at the bar or just standing around talking. She really didn’t want to go the bar, but neither did she want to stand around so having a drink would give her something to do with her hands.
Squaring her shoulders she walked to the bar as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She expected to have to wait ages to be served there being so many people, but as soon as she approached the bar the bartender came over and asked what she would like.
She asked for an orange juice with ice not daring to take her eyes from the counter, sure that every eye in the place was on her speculating as to who she was and why she was alone.
Adela paid for her drink and told the barman to keep the change. She looked at her watch trying to look impatient as though waiting for someone who was late to join her, then instantly regretted doing this because maybe the same people would see her in her seat or at intermission alone still and think she had been stood up. She couldn’t decide which was sadder, being here alone or being stood up.
As nonchalantly as she could she strode to an empty table and sat down. She felt better once she was seated, less conspicuous. She opened her bag and took out the programme she had picked up the day she had bought her ticket and feigned great interest in what was written there. When she dared to look up and glance quickly around she saw that no one was looking at her, that they were all to engrossed in their own conversations with their friends or partners. Although this made her feel a little more comfortable she had also never felt so alone.
Suddenly a loud ringing noise could be heard denoting five minutes to curtain call. Adela finished her drink quickly and half rose from her chair but noticed that no one else seemed to be in a hurry to take their seats so sat back down. After a few seconds she decided to find her seat, that way she would be seated when everyone else took theirs then she wouldn’t have to squeeze past them making it obvious that she was alone.
She made her way to the door marked “Stalls” which was printed on her ticket along with the number 1F. She showed her ticket to the lady at the door who tore it in half, kept one half and gave the other back to Adela saying, ‘please keep this in case you leave the theatre and want to come back in again.’
Adela thanked her and the lady’s eyebrows rose a fraction in surprise at Adela’s accent, as did most peoples. The woman then gave her a bright smile and Adela smiled back feeling more relaxed. She found her seat immediately and to her relief did not have to squeeze past anyone as she was in the end seat. She took out her programme again but before long she was joined by a couple in their fifties. The man sat beside her and said, ‘good evening.’
She said, ‘good evening’ to him then to his wife, well she assumed she was his wife, she was about the same age and he didn’t look the type to sneak around and neither did she.
As she knew he would the man said, ‘you’re English.’
‘Yes, I am.’
The woman leaning over her husband asked, ‘do you live here in Alabama or are you just visiting?’
‘I’m on holiday here; I’m actually doing a mini tour of the southern states, starting here in Alabama then Mississippi and so on, seven states in all.’
‘Well that’s mighty nice,’ the man said.’
Adela smiled, ‘yes it is, ‘mighty nice. I’ve only been here four days but I’ve enjoyed myself very much so far. You have some beautiful scenery here and many interesting tourist attractions.’
Like Jill the couple seemed very pleased with her assessment of their home state.
The couple, whose names were Eddie and Christine, chatted with Adela until the lights dimmed and their was just a murmur of voices before all was quiet.
Adela thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the play which was a kind of farce; it reminded her of the comedy show Frazier which she loved. She laughed along with everyone else.
At intermission the couple asked if she would like to join them for a drink and she was more than eager to accept their invitation.
They sat and chatted and discussed the first half of the play and laughed recalling some of the more funny bits.
The second half was just as good and the audience gave the players a standing ovation.
Outside the theatre she thanked the couple for their company and turned down their offer of a lift home, mostly because they had told her where they lived and she knew that it was in the opposite direction. They did not like the idea of leaving her there but she assured them that she would be fine. The taxi stand was right outside the theatre, there were plenty of people still around and lots of taxis coming and going. Eventually they said goodbye and left her there.
There were four people behind her in the taxi stand so she knew she would not be left alone waiting. She waited for ten minutes and there were now only two people in front of her when suddenly a van pulled up alongside them. The passenger wound down the window and leaning his head out greeted the four people behind her. Then he said, ‘get in, we’re going your way.’
Amid laughter and thanks the four people got in the van and it sped away leaving only Adela and the two people in front of her alone. Adela was slightly nervous now, when the next taxi came the couple in front would get in it leaving her there alone. She was in two minds to ask the couple if she could ride with them, but they might not be going her way and she hated the idea of putting them out. There would be many times later when she would question her reluctance to “put anyone out,” but also whether she would have had it any other way. Before she could decide what to do a taxi arrived, the couple got in and it pulled away leaving her alone.