by Carr, Suzie
“Tell them about the fire,” Ruby said.
“Oh, the fire.” He nodded his head up and down. “There was this big blizzard.” His voice bellowed loudly. “Everything was frozen. I went out to the barn to get some tools for a project in the farmhouse, and when I looked up at the roof, I saw a shingle on fire.”
“How did it catch fire?” I asked.
“Spark from the chimney. I ran inside and told my parents, and no one believed me.”
“How could they not believe you?” Shawna asked, hanging on this man’s every word. I wondered if she had ever known someone as sweet and adoring in her life who she could look up to and admire. The way she had clung to his words since church, I highly doubted it.
“I joked all the time,” he said, straightening his lips.
“So, what happened?” I leaned in.
“Our house burned to the ground. We tried to save our furniture, but the snow buried it and ruined it. We had to just watch it all burn.”
“Where did you go?” Shawna asked.
“We had nowhere to go. Some neighbors took us in and fed us scrumptious pies and spaghetti with meatballs and the yummiest garlic bread I’ve ever eaten. My parents didn’t want to be known as moochers, so we moved. We moved to Massachusetts to a place called The Rafters.”
“That’s where I grew up,” Ruby said. Her smile sat perkily on her pretty face.
“We ran a small farm and sold our grain and chicken and beef to local markets,” he continued. “And when my parents died, I took over. I hated farming. Hard work, you know?”
I didn’t want to disagree. “I bet.”
“So I decided to turn The Rafters into a bed and breakfast. My wife and I ran that place like a couple of expert tour guides. By day I’d take the guests out on adventures—fishing, hiking, typical tourist stuff—and by night, my wife would bake them homemade dinners and pies. One of us would end up playing the piano and singing songs to the guests while they read and relaxed by the roaring fire and ate cookies.”
“Heaven,” Ruby said. “It was heaven.” Her eyes glowed.
“What happened to The Rafters?” I asked.
Ruby shook her head, urging me to cease. So I did.
“Or better yet,” I jumped back in. “Tell me something else interesting about your life. Ruby tells me you’re quite the story teller.”
“Oh, I’ve got stories. I used to write them as often as I could. But my eyesight.” He shook his head. “I like to tell them to the kids at the library. You know they sit there and listen like little angels. I love telling them the story of when I saw my first airplane because they scoot up really close and giggle when I tell them I almost shot the plane down with a shotgun!”
Shawna scooted up like one of those kids. Ruby ducked back and slung an arm around my shoulder. I leaned into her.
“I heard a high-pitched whining. I looked up and saw this thing flying above. It looked like a big bird. I headed towards my front door to get my big rifle. The mailman had been approaching and said, ‘That’s a plane.’ Turned out he was right, and the plane landed in a big farm over to the right from us. Eventually, they started flying from that farm offering people flights for $1.50. The pilot would take people all around town. Fascinating stuff,” he said sipping on his tea thoughtfully.
We ended our fun afternoon by bringing him back to his apartment in Ruby’s yellow Camaro. He turned to me and Shawna with tired eyes. “You will come back again, I hope?”
We both nodded.
“I’d love to,” I said.
He placed his hand on my forearm. “You thought I was going to be some old, cranky guy who farts and blows his nose every two minutes, didn’t you?”
I laughed out loud at this. I pinched his cheek. “You’re even cuter than your granddaughter. Shh. Don’t tell her.”
When we walked back down the walkway, Shawna said, “I wish I had someone like him in my life.”
“Well, now you do,” Ruby said, clutching her hand.
When we arrived back at the parking lot of Saint Mary’s where Shawna’s car was parked, I didn’t want the day to end. “Why don’t we all go and grab a bite to eat?”
“I’ve got all the fixings for a spaghetti dinner if you girls want to take a drive to Jamestown,” Ruby said.
I looked to Shawna and sent her my best plea.
She nodded. “Why not?” Then, she further accommodated my plea by suggesting she follow us in her car.
I had Ruby all to myself in the front seat of her yellow Camaro.
* *
Ruby drove with one hand on the steering wheel the other one draped on the console between us. I draped my arm, too, so they brushed up against each other. An electric current buzzed between us, connecting us.
“Nice set of wheels.”
“My grampa bought this for me for my high school graduation.”
“He’s such a sweet man.” I nudged her arm to keep the current alive.
“I begged him for it. I researched this car, dreamt of this car, talked nonstop about this car for like a year. And then, he had his friend deliver it to the driveway, and when I stepped out to head over to the field for graduation exercises, it sat there with a big bow on it. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.”
“I see you take very good care of it.” There was not a speck of dust anywhere.
I glanced at her profile. She pulled in her lower lip. “He sacrificed a lot for me to have this.”
“I’m sure he did.”
“He’s always sacrificed in his life. Especially with his girlfriend. He fell madly in love with Grace, and she left him. She broke his heart. He couldn’t even stand to live at The Rafters anymore. So, he sold it, and he’s never been the same since.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I just held her hand.
“I am still angry and devastated. He moved from this beautiful home with rolling fields, streams, and endless activities to his apartment at the senior housing complex. A part of him died that day we moved. It’s like his spirit wilted, like his purpose erased, and left him only with a bunch of empty years ahead of him with nothing more to do than play Wii with a bunch of old people.”
“Do you hate Grace for it?”
“Grace just wanted her freedom. She couldn’t be caged into a relationship. How can I hate a person who is just like me?”
I squeezed her hand, offering my respect. “So you aren’t the relationship type?”
“Not at all. I will never end up like Grampa.”
How could I argue with that logic? I envied her freedom. “So, your Grampa sounds like he needs to have some fun.”
“I don’t think Sunday church and brunch are quite working that well anymore. I sometimes worry that he’s bored with the routine of it all.”
“Well, let’s change it for him then.”
“So you’re willing to do this all over again?” Ruby teased.
“Maybe I am,” I said.
Ruby graced me with a sweet, lingering smile. “I’m going to miss you when Jessica gets out of that prison. Do you think she’ll let us stay friends?”
Dread fell over me. “Probably not.”
“Well, we’ll just have to be creative then.”
Ten minutes later, we arrived at Ruby’s condo. She lived right on the water in Jamestown. We stepped into a pristine white space accented with red window treatments, pillows and frames. “I rent a room from my friends. They’re away this weekend visiting friends in Miami.”
“I need to use the little girls’ room,” Shawna said.
“Down at the far end of the hall.”
“Might be a few minutes.” She ducked past us and ran down the hall.
“She’s so sweet. We’ve got to set her up with someone.”
I wagged my finger. “She’s already warned me to stay clear of that.”
I sat on the arm of the recliner. Ruby snaked around me and wrapped her hands around my shoulders and kneaded them, relaxing me in an instant. “Close you
r eyes, darling.”
I did. I sank into her touch like I was sinking into a warm bath drizzled with soothing oil.
“You were so sweet today,” she whispered. “So very sweet.” She teased me with a light touch, tickling my senses and bringing my skin to life.
I needed to touch her, to cuddle, to be in her arms. I reached up and tugged on her fingertips. She stopped massaging and leaned her chin against my shoulder. I pulled her fingers to my lips and kissed them, one at a time. Her chest rose and fell against my back. My insides quivered.
“You’re a sweet friend,” she said before drawing her hand back from my lips. She traced my shoulder, slowly, sensually, staring into my eyes.
Shawna emerged from the bathroom, catching us in this provocative stare. “Listen, we need to go. I’m not feeling well. My stomach is a little queasy.”
“I can make you some tea,” Ruby offered.
“No, we should go.”
I wanted to punch her. I didn’t want to leave. “Come on, let us make you some tea.”
“Please,” Shawna said. “I need to get back to Providence.”
What could I do? Look like a total bitch by forcing her to sit and enjoy tea that could quite possibly send her flying back to the bathroom again? “Fine. We shall go, then.”
Ruby and I shared a lingering gaze.
When we stepped out into the fresh sea air, I turned to Ruby and waved at her beautiful silhouette. Her hair blew around her, and she looked just like a sea goddess.
“I’ll drive,” I said. “Give me the keys.”
“I’m fine,” Shawna said.
“You’re fine?”
“Trust me. You’ll thank me later for this.”
I grabbed her wrist. “You’re the one who dragged me to church today.”
“That had nothing to do with trying to set you up with her. I wanted to meet her grampa.”
“Bullshit.”
She stopped walking. “Just be careful. That’s all.”
“Of course.” I nodded and pressed on towards the car.
* *
Two nights later, Ruby called me. “What do you say we play Monopoly?”
“Monopoly?”
“I just saw it in the gift shop and I bought it. What do you say?”
“Do you want to come up to my room to play?” I asked.
“I’ll be up in five minutes.”
It’s just Monopoly, I said to myself as I spritzed the air with perfume, fluffed the pillows, and squirted breath freshener in my mouth.
Moments later, Ruby entered my room, and filled it with her light fragrance. Her hair fell loosely in long waves, and she wore pink lip gloss. I could handle this.
“See?” She lifted the box. “They have the Providence version of it.”
“Cute.” I followed her towards the living area of the suite. I had already set up a blanket on the floor. “Some wine?”
“Do you even have to ask?” She smiled. She set up the board while I filled our wine glasses.
A few minutes later, we were curled up on the floor flipping dice and getting a little drunk on Merlot.
“So my grampa adored you and Shawna.”
I moved my toy car three spaces and landed on the Roll Again square. “He’s fascinating.” I picked up the dice and rolled again. This time I landed on Go Directly to Jail. “How appropriate.”
Ruby picked up the dice. “Sorry about that, darling. We’ll get you out soon.” She scooted up on her knees and tossed the dice.
“I hope so. I don’t ever want to stay long in jail.”
Ruby relaxed back down on her folded legs. “How did you react when she first landed in jail?”
I never talked about this. People judged. They sat back on their security blankets with smug faces like I was suddenly beneath them. But not Ruby. Her eyes softened. Her beautiful aura shone brightly. Sweet innocence cascaded around her.
“Do you want to know the first thing I thought about?”
She moved in closer to me, knocking over her growing pile of hundreds. “Tell me.”
“I worried that she didn’t have hair gel.”
Ruby chuckled and tilted her head towards her shoulder. “What else?”
“I remember thinking this poor girl isn’t going to be able to use her cellphone to check her Facebook. She lived for updating her Facebook status and checking to see who liked her updates and photos.”
She smiled.
“I also worried that she had no pillow to rest her head on at night. She had this favorite pillow she always called True Blue because it never failed her. As long as she could ball it under head at night, she could sleep. The thing was ten years old.”
“You couldn’t take it in to her?”
“I threw it out in the trash one night. That and all of her clothes, and her shoe collection.”
Ruby reached out and touched my cheek. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”
I cupped my hand over hers and closed my eyes. I was pushing the line, but I couldn’t resist. Her hand comforted me.
“Tell me more,” she said.
“Jessica had so many friends. I worried for her that she’d die of loneliness in jail. She’s a pretty girl, so I could only imagine her getting gang raped, bullied, and tossed around like a bag of potatoes.”
“Was she ever, you know, raped?” She feathered my cheek with her comforting touch.
“She never told me. And I didn’t ask.”
“I bet she misses touching and kissing you something terrible.”
“It’s been a long time.”
“Do you miss touching and kissing her?” Ruby asked.
“Before all of this happened, we were very close, very affectionate. Now,” I rolled my eyes. “This is going to sounds strange. Now that she’s sober, she’s just hard to get along with. We just fight all the time now. We both pick on each other about stupid things. When drinking, she let a lot of things slide. Nothing bothered her. Now everything is amplified, she says.”
“You liked her better as a drunk?”
I clung to Ruby’s caring eyes. “So sad, right? She’s far more pleasant when she’s drunk. No one realized she had a problem.”
“You think no one knew, but darling,” she said, running her fingers through my hair now, “I would guess most people knew.”
I let her words absorb into me. They came from a place of innocence and love. “I used to feel sorry for her one minute, and then a moment later I would start tossing her stuff all over the place, smashing her precious perfumes and ripping her binders full of notes about her dreams and goals she hoped to accomplish one day.”
“I bet that felt really good.” Her words crawled out to me, like a feline, arched and sensual, teasing me to draw nearer. “How did your family take it?”
“My family.” I inhaled. “At first I thought, I’ll just keep this whole mess hidden from them. I’ll pretend she’s away on some important venture, like building habitat homes for the poor up in the Appalachians somewhere.”
“Judgmental folks, I take it?”
I shrugged. “Jessica has always been so good about not caring what people think about her. But I do.”
“Is prison scary for you when you visit her?”
I paused and looked at Ross Simons on the Monopoly board. I ran my finger over the square wishing I could just sink into it and escape into some alternate reality where Ruby and I were walking hand-in-hand down a city street, wearing expensive clothes, chit-chatting about a Broadway play we had just seen and stopping into a cute, urban spot for some fancy drinks. Instead, I looked up into her waiting eyes. “Imagine being tossed into a gas chamber and having all of that noxious air, dead space, and stale smell trapped in there with you.”
She pouted, offering me an empathetic sigh. Then, she climbed to her knees and crawled around my backside. She combed my hair with her fingers, massaging my scalp. She leaned in and whispered into my ear. “I’m listening.”
“After we got thr
ough the whole bail, attorney meetings, and trial, she landed in jail. The judge sentenced her to two years in the state prison.”
“That’s it?”
“She was lucky she didn’t do this in a different state with stricter minimum sentences.”
“I’d say.”
“I promised her I’d visit her that very next day. She walked away, crying, looking back at me over her shoulder. She looked so pathetic.”
Ruby continued massaging my scalp. “Go on.”
“So anyway, the next day was a Friday. I called the prison and asked about the visiting hours. They asked me if Jessica had placed me on her visitor list because if not I wouldn’t be allowed to speak with her. I said, of course she did. She’s my wife. So, the next day I braved all and headed to the Bridgewater Correctional Institute.”
Ruby leaned in and caressed my neck. “You’re trembling.”
I continued. “When I entered and they asked me if she added me to her list, I once again said, yes, I’m sure she did.”
“She didn’t, did she?”
“Nope. She failed to place me on her visitor list. I said to the clerk, maybe she just didn’t know she had to? And she said to me as cocky as ever, if she wanted you on her list, she would’ve placed you on it.”
She traveled to my temples and circled them. “Tell me this gets better?”
“A few days later, I got a collect call from her telling me she added me to her list. She asked me to bring her some money and toiletries. It takes a couple of weeks for the visitor list updates to happen, so she had to wait. When I received notice that she added me to the list, I arranged to go in on a Thursday. Well, Thursday came and a few hours before leaving to visit, Jessica’s friend from the Burlesque club called me and invited me for lunch. I told her I planned to visit Jessica. And she said, oh when you see that clerk with the red hair and the big attitude, can you punch her in the face for me? She is beyond rude every time I go in there.”
Ruby gasped and stopped massaging. She curled up around the front of me with a look of horror on her face. “Were they sleeping together?”
“No. I don’t think so.”
“So what happened when you finally went?”