South of Main Street

by Robert Gately

  * * *

  ASA ADLER didn’t want to be partners any longer with Mr. Kruchuk, so he made him a buy-out offer for the business. Much to Asa’s surprise, Mr. Kruchuk wanted out of the business and took the offer. Considering the mortgage owed and the cash flow of the business, Asa offered him five hundred thousand dollars. A most generous offer that was accepted.

  One of the first changes Asa made as the sole proprietor of the pharmacy was establishing payment options. People could now put items on a tab and pay monthly if they wanted. Some of his customers were poor, and there was no escaping the fact that there would be times some wouldn’t be able to afford items of necessity. Some of those items, arguably, would not be emergency items, like toothpaste and deodorant, but items such as baby formula and diabetic’s insulin would be, and Asa gave away those items gratuitously to people who couldn’t afford them. Strangely, Asa exhibits a new energy for life, a new confidence in himself and a new reputation among the townspeople. Customers from all over the county flock to his store as his reputation for putting people’s welfare above profit gains momentum.

  Oh, and his newfound confidence has allowed him to ask Robin out on a date. Robin accepted. They have been dating for two months now.

  * * *

  WHEEZY was picked up as a vagrant during the cold spell right after the holidays last year. Judge Brady gave her a choice. She could either stay in jail for 180 days or she could live in the halfway house. She chose the latter and the halfway house has become her home. And, as mentioned, she leads a team of five maids in cleaning the house. Wheezy also sees a psychologist twice a week and together they have uncovered some interesting traumas that she experienced as a child. For example, there was an incident where her mother left her in a garbage can where Wheezy almost starved to death. The garbage men found her and she was placed in a foster home. In fact, she was in seven foster homes before she ran away at age sixteen. She kept that part of her life a secret all these years and still finds it hard talking about it. But, she’ll continue to work with her psychologist, and if the progress of the last six months is any indication of her growth potential, the shrink seems to think that she’ll be out on her own working for a living at a real job in about a year.

  Wheezy is being treated for her chronic bronchitis. She can breathe normally now and she doesn’t make any noises before speaking. People still call her ‘Wheezy’ anyway.

  * * *

  MR. PETZINGER ran out of money and got a job as a financial analyst in New Jersey. He’s going to AA meetings frequently and hasn’t touched the hooch in just about a year.

  He and Mrs. Maltin enjoy each other’s company very much and Charles has even talked to Mrs. Maltin about getting married sometime in the near future. Mrs. Maltin has not said yes or no. She needs more time.

  * * *

  DANNY gets along very well with Tommy and acts like a protective brother whenever they get together. He is also seeing a child psychologist and is working very hard to understand why his mother abandoned him; he’s trying not to internalize his anger anymore. He still feels sad over the fact that his mother fell off the face of the earth, but he finds solace in writing little notes to her in his journal whenever the sadness becomes overwhelming.

  Danny is doing better in school and has pursued an interest in acting. He tried out for the school play, and the drama coach has very high praise on his natural ability for ‘sense memory’, a method acting term applied to actors who can do things on cue, like laugh or cry hysterically, or feel cold to the bone even if the theatre lights are roasting him. The coach recruited him into the class play, Romeo and Juliet. He’s playing Romeo and the teacher thinks he’ll do just fine, although he misses his cues every once and a while.

  * * *

  ROBIN roughed it out this past year. Besides losing both her parents within a month of each other, she was diagnosed as being in the early stage of breast cancer when she went for a check-up at the beginning of the summer. The doctors told her that they are confident that they have caught it in time and there’s nothing to worry about. She was lucky that she came in when she did to have the test, which she took because her dad asked her to and for no other reason.

  Robin reconciled with Sharon and they relationship seems to be on the mend. Robin has also opened her life to other things, like finding a love interest, for example. Nothing more to report on that front because neither Robin nor Asa are talking about their relationship at the present. But, if anyone wants to know more, they just need to go to the park and talk to Mrs. Hodges. She is just full of information.

  * * *

  MRS. SWANSON is sitting in the front row of an AA meeting right now. She’s waiting for the meeting to start even though she’s very early. She’s extremely proud of her daughter. Today is Dixie’s one-year anniversary at being sober. This is Mrs. Swanson’s first time at an AA meeting. During this past year she has been very skeptical about Dixie’s recovery program because she found it hard to believe Dixie reached bottom this time and was truly seeking order and temperance in her life. She had been involved in too many of Dixie’s cycles and she didn’t want to celebrate her daughter’s recovery too early. But she has watched Dixie carefully and noticed her daughter not only went to ninety meetings in ninety days, but she stopped cursing and was able to manage her anger like a mature adult.

  Mrs. Swanson is watching her daughter make the coffee. Dixie looks at her and smiles. Mrs. Swanson smiles back, and from the bottom of her heart she is thanking Henry for this miracle.

  * * *

  AND WHAT ABOUT DIXIE? Well she’ll be standing at the podium, shortly, in the basement at St. Anthony’s and will talk about her sobriety – about where she’s been, ‘the now’ and where she’s headed. Mr. Petzinger is helping her set up the cookies, coffee, the pamphlets and unfolding the chairs. He’ll probably put in a few extra rows since this is an open meeting and there will be more people than usual coming to hear Dixie speak. Dixie always brings in a crowd, and gives testimony that is rich with gratitude. People like hearing her talk. There’s something about her honest and ability to communicate that draws a crowd.

  She goes to AA mostly because the sobriety is better there – more people have been clean for a longer period of time than Narcotics Anonymous. She occasionally goes to an out-of-town NA meeting just to keep her memory green about her drugs of choice. She avoids the local NA gatherings mainly due to the fact Jason goes to those meetings and, well, she’s just not ready to deal with him yet. They haven’t reconciled and Dixie’s sponsor has suggested the two of them should have sufficient sobriety before they go to the same meetings.

  Dixie’s heart is filled with gratitude as she sees her mother talking to people in the front row. This is a Christmas Eve afternoon meeting and she’ll be spending tonight with her mother. She can’t remember how long it has been since they spent Christmas Eve together.

  It’s almost time to start the meeting and, as usual, there are a lot of people outside smoking cigarettes, networking with other addicts and having their ‘mini-meetings’.

  Dixie is also doing well as far as her other responsibilities are concerned. She’s finally fulfilling a promise to her grandfather and is going to night school at Northampton Community College. She’s taking cooking classes. She loves cooking, an interest that was lost over the past several years.

  Dixie spots Jason walking into the room. Their eyes meet and he walks over to her.

  She feels intimated, maybe even angry. She looks for her sponsor, but she hasn’t arrived yet.

  “Hello, Dixie,” he says.

  “Why are you here?” she says.

  “I heard that you were celebrating tonight. I hope you don’t mind … if you do, I’ll leave right now.”

  “What do you want me to say, Jason. There was too much between us. Too many bruises.”

  “I really would like to make amends …”

  “Now? I don’t think now is the right time.”

  “You’re right
. Not a good time. I’ll go.” And he turns and leaves. He gets halfway across the room when Dixie yells for him to wait. He walks back to her.

  “My sponsor’s not here yet, else I would ask her what to do. But I just asked myself, ‘what would Henry do’ and you know what message I got?”

  “What?”

  “He says you’re still a jerk, but I should forgive you anyway.”

  They laugh, have their moment, albeit without a hug. “Mr. Petzinger needs help with the chairs,” she says. “Why don’t you give him a hand.”

  Jason smiles and walks over to help Charles set up for the meeting and Dixie walks outside to hustle the people in. The meeting will start soon.

  * * *

  SHARON has had an interesting year? She still works at the Clarion Collection Agency. In fact, that’s where she is now.

  Of course, she doesn’t have to work anymore since all the assets of the Wolff estate have been divided equally between her and Robin. She just hasn’t been able to tear herself away from the daily routine of getting up in the morning and following a structure in her life. Well … actually, that’s half her story.

  It’s close to one PM on the day before Christmas and everyone has left Clarion, except for Sharon and her boss. This year was a good year for the company and for Sharon. She won the ‘big kahuna’ prize as the person who collected the most money for the agency.

  “Sharon,” Fred Clarion says, “I’m going now. Still have Christmas shopping to do. I thought you had an appointment or something.”

  She looks at her watch. “Oh, man,” she says. “I’m going to be late. Damn.”

  But before she has a chance to put on her coat, Fred Clarion tosses a folder on her desk. “No one has been able to crack this one. Not even Derick. He tried to put on his squeeze play, but there was no ‘timbeeeer’. Maybe he’s losing his touch. Anyway, see what you can do. You don’t have to do it today, though. After the holidays. We’ll give the lady a break, right?” Fred laughs, as if he really believes he’s doing a good deed by waiting.

  “I think I’ll stay here for a few more minutes,” Sharon says. “I have some personal things I need to do. Merry Christmas, boss.”

  “Merry Christmas to you also, Sharon. Don’t stay too long.” Fred is half way out the door when he says, “Lock up when you’re done.”

  Sharon opens the folder Fred just gave her, searches for a phone number and picks up the phone and quickly dials. A soft-spoken woman answers and Sharon listens to the tone of voice. She listens for signs of the lady’s disposition, something to help her with a lead-in statement. But the lady is silent.

  “Mrs. Caldwell. My name is Janice from the Clarion Collection Agency.”

  “Oh, God. Today! You’re calling me on Christmas Eve? Don’t you people have any conscience? Shame on you.”

  Sharon laughs. She’s cornered someone with spunk. “Well that’s just it, Mrs. Caldwell,” Sharon says. “I don’t want shame on me.”

  Sharon’s laughter seems to irritate Mrs. Caldwell even more and she starts to curse and is ready to end the conversation.

  “Mrs. Caldwell. Please. Don’t hang up and hear me out.” Sharon looks down at her folder. “I see that you owe five thousand on a car loan and you haven’t been able to make a payment in over six months. I’m calling you, Mrs. Caldwell to tell you …” Sharon hesitates. She’s not quite sure whether Mrs. Caldwell is still on the line. “Are you still there, Mrs. Caldwell?”

  “Yes. Why are you doing this? I just buried Chapman yesterday and I’m really grieving right now.”

  Sharon looks in the folder and sees that Mrs. Caldwell is single. “Oh, Mrs. Caldwell, I’m so sorry. Who is Chapman? A relative of yours?”

  “No! He’s a German Shepard.”

  “Oh. I’m so sorry,” Sharon says.

  “You can stick your sympathies where the sun don’t shine. Say what you have to say and then leave me in peace.”

  “Okay. Fair enough. I’m not calling to harass you. I’m calling to tell you that you have an anonymous benefactor. He’s paid your bill in full. You don’t owe us anything any longer.”

  The silence is almost musical to Sharon. She wishes she could see Mrs. Caldwell’s face. “Your bill has been paid, Mrs. Caldwell. And when the holidays are over, I’ll make sure this payment gets registered on your credit reports. They put your name on the report real quick, but they sure take their time taking your name off, you know what I mean?”

  “Is this is a joke, or something.”

  “This is no joke, Mr. Caldwell. I assure you.”

  “Oh, I’ve had such a bad time this past week, you wouldn’t believe what happened.” Mrs. Caldwell then begins talking non-stop and Sharon lets her talk on for a bit.

  She seems so happy and Sharon feels obliged to listen for a while. She waits for Mrs. Caldwell to take a breath and then inserts, “Well, Mrs. Caldwell, I really wish you a nice holiday.” Sharon has to hang up on her because Mrs. Caldwell won’t stop thanking her for this act of kindness and Sharon really has to leave.

  Quickly, Sharon reaches into her purse and pulls out her checkbook and writes out a check in the amount that Mrs. Caldwell owes. Sharon staples the check to a closeout form and writes in the status line the bold letters ‘PAID IN FULL’.

  “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Caldwell,” she whispers as she puts on her coat to leave.

  * * *

  DIXIE IS STANDING at the podium at the AA meeting already well into her testimony about the early years of her drug and alcohol abuse. She decides to filter her story today and not talk about her struggle to come to closure on the issue of who her father is. She figures that her mother would be too embarrassed if she spoke about those feelings. Maybe she’ll talk to her mother soon about that issue. It’s one day at a time on that one.

  Dixie notices Sharon sneaking in, taking a seat in the back. She nods to her and smiles. Sharon smiles back and taps her chest and mouths the words, ‘I’m sorry I’m late.’ They have become very good friends this past year.

  “And then a friend lent a helping hand,” Dixie continues. “I really didn’t know Henry while growing up. I’m told it was quite a treat if you did. But I got that privilege soon after his wife died last year. Our friendship really started right after he heard me say the word ‘turd’.”

  Dixie pauses. She has to because everyone is laughing. “He asked me what I meant when I said ‘turd’, and I tried to explain whatever I was trying to say … I forget now what the issue was … but he got me thinking about using the right words so I could be understood by other people, and after a while he got me thinking more of where I wanted to go with my life. Oh, I was going places, all right, but it was nowhere any sane person wanted to go. And then Henry died.”

  “I thank God every day for having him in my life and for helping me find these rooms and you people, and for helping me realize that I have a forgiving, loving mother who has taken a lot of ‘crap’ …” Dixie looks up to the ceiling, “Ooops! Sorry, Henry.” She looks back down to her mother. “You’ve experienced a lot of bad behavior from me, Mom, and I thank you for hanging in there.”

  Dixie watches her mother cry in the front row. Considering the many times she had made her mother cry in the past, this time is the first time she feels good about it. There wasn’t a single twitch in her face as she continues to talk with a heart filled with gratitude. For a second she thinks about Henry’s secret. Since the courtroom incident last year, no one has mentioned it at all. Not Judge Brady, nor Robin, nor Sharon, nor Dixie. In Dixie’s heart, she knows Henry has found peace and is looking down at her right now with pride.

  “Before I sit down,” Dixie says as she takes out a paper from her back pocket and unfolds it, “I’d like to read you something I wrote about Henry Wolff and this town. It’s not long, but it took me two weeks to write it.”

  She takes a deep breath, then starts reading. “No one can measure the value Henry brought to the people of Coalsville. It would be too complicated to m
easure something like that. How can someone put a value on encouragement or inspiration or living life by good example? How can anyone correlate one man’s accomplishments this way? Impossible, of course.”

  “All that can really be said is that Coalsville is a better town because of Henry. People are better people because of him. They believe in themselves and have more hope that if they put their whole minds and souls into a dream they can do pretty much anything they want to. They might not be able to fly, but certainly they can become sober, be more mindful of the less fortunate, and maybe even be inspired to write a book, or inspire somebody else to write a book.”

  “The people of Coalsville believe the children who are born into this town have more opportunities to prosper than other places. Over time, the people will forget Henry. A boy or a girl might grow up and become president, and will tell stories to historians about where they came from. One of them might say, ‘I’m a native son or daughter born on the south side of Main Street in an obscure town in Pennsylvania called Coalsville.’”

  “And no one will ever know that embedded in that statement is a story of how one person made a difference to so many; of how his goodness spread far and wide like the ubiquitous wind; and how life for so many improved immeasurably, for his constituents and for all generations to come, not because this good Samaritan had money or status or political influence, but because he saw life through the eyes of a child.”

  Dixie folds the paper and puts it in her back pocket. She doesn’t hear the applause and doesn’t see the tears as she walks over to her mother and sits down. For the past year she has felt responsible for Henry’s death. For the first time since then, she feels free of guilt.