by Merry Farmer
“Well, at least we have those,” Mary Lou added with an optimistic smile. “Though it would be nice to have another reason to get out of the house.”
The other three hummed in agreement.
“I just want to feel useful again,” Barbara added.
It hurt Chastity’s heart on a level that was so deep she felt tears come to her eyes. No one should be forgotten like these fun, sassy women.
“Well, I’ve got enough yarn here for all of you, whether Denise says you can have it or not.” She reached into her knitting bag, which was slung over her shoulder. “And I have extra needles here if you need them, though some are a little bent.”
“Just like Birdie,” Barbara snorted.
The other three joined her in laughter. Chastity laughed along with them. That’s what peoples’ golden years were supposed to be like—laughter and good times with old friends. It was tragic that anyone had to be reduced to looking forward to just one day of the week when they could get out and remember they were young again, and that under the nasty eye of someone as bitter as Denise.
The seeds of ideas began to pop and sprout in Chastity’s head. Maybe there was a way she could do something about that. She was in Culpepper to stay, after all. Maybe she could do some good for herself and these fun women at the same time.
“And it just really burns me up that those fantastic old ladies have nothing to do all day but sit at home watching game shows.” Chastity was on a tear after class, when she and Chris dropped by Culpepper’s hardware store to pick up a few things for the ranch. “You can’t park a kid in front of the TV all day, and you can’t do that to an older person either. I mean, what’s wrong with people around here? Can’t they take care of their own families?”
“In defense of Culpepper,” Chris cut in as they walked down the plumbing aisle, “a lot of the adults in the community run ranches, and ranching takes around the clock work. It’s not the sort of thing where you can take time out to run your retired parents around town all day.”
Chastity huffed in frustration. “Then why aren’t there any senior services available, like transport and things?”
In spite of the question—a valid one at that—Chris grinned and took his wife’s hand. “You’re cute when you’ve got a bug up your butt.”
“Don’t you start with things being up my other things. I’m only this frustrated because every time we try to get it on, your little buddy ends up on the sidelines with an injury.”
“Maybe if we sent him back for more training. You know, conditioning, like in sports.”
They paused at the end of the aisle, and Chastity’s eyebrows flew up. “What, you mean like push-ups?”
Chris shrugged. “I was thinking more like chin-ups, since they’re closer to the right part of your anatomy.”
“Teeth, Chris, teeth.” Chastity planted her fists on her hips, but underneath her scowl, her eyes glittered with mirth. “We’ve already tried that, remember?”
“How could I ever forget,” Chris answered with exaggerated seriousness. They continued on down the next aisle, and he feigned an awkward walk.
Chastity blurted out a laugh, but it turned into a frustrated growl. “Why are we talking about your tool in a tool store when there are serious wrongs being done to the elderly of Culpepper?”
Well, he’d tried to steer her off of a subject that was making her miserable. It didn’t work. The only other thing to do was to dive in all the way. He stopped and took her hand, turning her to face him next to a display of gigantic coils of rope.
“Okay, it’s true that there are no senior programs in town. And it’s true that a lot of our retired population doesn’t have a lot to do with their time. But it’s not true that nobody cares or that folks don’t feel bad about leaving their moms and dads at home while they work.”
“I don’t know about that.” Her lower lip turned down with glum suspicion. Chris wanted to kiss it back to its usual smile, but Chastity didn’t give him a chance. “How hard can it be to start up some sort of senior program?”
“All right, you tell me. How hard can it be? And why don’t you go ahead and do it?”
She shook her head. “I have to help Hope out at the daycare. We need to make enough money so that we can pay off your ratty cousin.”
“Can’t your other sisters handle the daycare?”
“Hope and Joy, maybe, but Faith is so busy with her doll business.” Even though what she said sounded like an excuse, more color came to Chastity’s face, and she tipped her head to the side, like she was thinking.
Chris grabbed hold of that. “Look, Chastity, didn’t you tell me the other day that you wanted to go to nursing school to become a geriatric nurse?”
“Yeah,” she answered slowly. “My parents wouldn’t let me.”
“Exactly. So who’s stopping you now? Not me, that’s for sure.”
A smile flickered across her face. It fell too quickly. “I can’t drop everything and go to nursing school now.”
“Why not?” Chris shrugged.
Chastity blinked rapidly. “What I just said. The daycare. And aren’t we all supposed to be getting knocked up?”
“Well, at the rate we’re going, that’s not going to happen for a while. Little Chris will probably end up in a sling next time we try to get our funk on.”
Chastity snorted. “A weenie sling.” She froze. “Wait, I could knit something like tha—”
“No.” Chris cut her off.
“They do make wool-free yarn, you know.”
“Still no.” Chris held up a finger to show he was serious.
Chastity looked like she would argue, but when she opened her mouth she said, “Anyhow, going back and getting a nursing degree isn’t going to help me figure out how to help Myrna and her friends any more than you going back and getting an astronomy degree would help you convince your brothers to let you do more than pick up supplies to help out the ranch.”
Chris flinched. He wasn’t even sure why he flinched or why her random statement felt like someone had hit him in the chest with a two-by-four from the aisle they’d just passed.
“Who said anything about me wanting to go back to school to get my astronomy degree?” he mumbled, turning and continuing through the aisle, still holding her hand.
“I didn’t say anything about you wanting to go back and get your degree,” Chastity said with a breathlessness as if she’d discovered a yarn tree in full bloom. “Chris, do you want to go back to school too?”
“This conversation isn’t about me and school, it’s about you doing something to help Myrna and the rest of the retired community of Culpepper.”
“Oh no you don’t.” She tugged him to a stop at the end of the aisle, beside a display of chains. “I saw that astronomy magazine you picked up in the mail the other day. And the second magazine was just as nerdy and science-y.” She gasped, and her eyes went wide and bright. “Oh my gosh, Chris. You do want to go back to school. You do!”
Something in his chest snapped—like a bowstring pulled tight and released. He knew just where to point the arrow.
“Too? What’s this, ‘you want to go back to school too?’” He poked her in the sternum.
Chastity flushed pink. “I couldn’t. I’m needed. Plus, I’m too stupid to pass all those technical classes.”
“Not if you had your own science tutor to walk you through them.”
For the first time since his high school science teacher, Mr. Fehon, had convinced him he had the grades and the qualifications to apply to MIT, Chris felt exhilarated by the prospect of higher education. He’d known he had things in common with Chastity right from the start, but he’d never guessed that she would make him want to take another look at old dreams…and help her to do the same.
They held eye-contact—like they were having some kind of a staring contest—until Chastity took a breath and shook her head.
“No, it wouldn’t work. I want to do something to help the oldies now.”
Chris definitely didn’t want to leave it there, but he respected Chastity’s priorities. “Fine, then. What do you think they need now?”
They continued walking around the corner to an aisle that held industrial-strength cleaning supplies. That’s what they were there for.
“They need a place where they can go—maybe where they can be dropped off—so that they can spend time being social, doing projects, helping people out, and feeling useful.” Chastity took the bottles of cleaner that Chris handed to her, but her mind was a hundred miles away.
“Like a daycare?” Chris suggested.
“Uff, another daycare,” Chastity sighed. “You have no idea what Hope and your mom had to go through to get that first one set up. It was like—”
She stopped, frozen stiff with her arms full of cleaner. Her mouth hung open, and her eyes had a far-away, glassy look. At last, she snapped her mouth shut, focused on him, and said, “Oh my gosh, Chris. Why don’t we invite the oldies out to the daycare and have them spend the day helping look after the kids?”
A wry grin spread across Chris’s lips. He could just imagine the chaos of Myrna and her gang mixed with a bunch of wiggling, squirming, rolling toddlers. It would be a madhouse.
Only, as his imagination latched onto the scene in his mind, what he saw was laughter and smiles, hugs and happiness. His teasing melted to inspiration.
“You know what? I think that might be awesome.”
“I knew it.” Chastity started to reach for him, but fumbled the bottles of cleaner and had to concentrate on not spilling them.
“Mrs. B. used to be a teacher anyhow. I bet she’d have a blast spending time with a bunch of kids.”
“And it would give Hope and your mom and Joy a chance to rest and get something else done for a couple of minutes.”
“Who says I didn’t marry the smartest sister in the bunch?” Chris didn’t care how many bottles of cleaner he’d packed into Chastity’s arms. He swooped forward and kissed her square on the lips.
Chastity responded to the kiss like a thirsty woman to a glass of water. She parted her lips, and what was supposed to be a quick peck turned into a full-on, tongues deep, wet round of tonsil-hockey.
Of course, it was impossible to hold half a dozen heavy bottles while sucking face. First one bottle dropped to the floor with a plastic-y bounce, and seconds later, the others tumbled down after them. That was fine and dandy, as far as Chris was concerned. He ignored the bottles and threw his arms around his wife, sliding one hand up to cover her boob. Chastity responded with a moan that had certain previously injured parts roaring to life.
Unfortunately, she also attempted to lift her leg up to wrap around his thigh. Only in the process, she kicked the shelf full of cleaners.
“OW!”
The woman should have had a career as a punter in the NFL, because as soon as her shoe made contact with one bottle, five more went flying off the shelf, and one ricocheted to the back of the shelf. Something snapped, and with a loud crack, the shelf caved.
Three dozen bottles of industrial-strength cleaner went crashing into the aisle, and the metal shelving teetered and spewed parts everywhere as it buckled.
“Shoot. What do we do?” Chastity squeaked.
Chris grabbed her hand. “Run!”
7
For the next few days, there just didn’t seem to be a right time to bring up the idea of inviting oldies to the daycare. Hope was in a strange mood. Chastity was certain something was wrong, but every time she asked, Hope put on a smile and insisted it was nothing, she was perfectly happy. Faith was quiet, her eyes constantly shifting around the room, as if she expected everyone to be able to read her thoughts. Chastity figured that meant That’s My Baby was back in full production mode. And Joy was as bright and sunny as she always was…with an undercurrent of something that Chastity wasn’t ready to ask about. Her sisters needed her help at the daycare more than she needed to go into town to watch Chris teach, so for a while she could do nothing but sit on her idea.
Of course, it would have been easier to sit if she’d had something more interesting to sit on. Like Chris. Or rather, Little Pickley-Wickley. But nope. As soon as the trauma of teeth-marks healed, Chastity’s monthly visitor showed up. She didn’t care how normal it was to get wiggly in the middle of that, she wasn’t going to do it. Just…eew.
Which was why Chastity felt ridiculous closing herself up in Linda’s bathroom during lunch hour at the daycare one day, taking a pregnancy test with her sisters. There wasn’t a pickle’s chance in Hades that her stick would show up with a plus-sign. Unless Jesus was coming back. But she played along with a smile. What her sisters didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. Although Faith seemed to be hurt no matter what they did. Faith did a runner as soon as the test results were in, not even bothering to stick around long enough to see that one of the positive ones was hers.
After a brief, giggly celebration over the fact that two of them were knocked up, the sisters’ thoughts turned back to Faith and the concern they all had for each other that would never go away.
“What’s wrong with her these days?” Hope asked, staring at the door Faith had just closed as she fled.
“Well, she’s pregnant, so hormones?” Joy held up one of the positive tests, ten times happier and giddier than the question warranted.
“Yeah, but the other positive test is yours, and you’re not losing it,” Hope pointed out. “Well, unless you count that smile. You can wipe it off your face now.”
“I’m going to have a baby!” Joy did a little dance and twirled around. “Baby! Okay, okay, I’ll be happy about that in a second. I really am worried about Faith.”
“If it’s not pregnancy hormones, it must be the whole thing with the dolls.” Chastity shrugged. “Maybe she’s stressed out because the backorder list is so long.”
“Should we help her?” Joy asked. She blinked and gasped. “Wait a second. Am I going to be able to help her and keep working at the daycare now that I’m pregnant?”
“I don’t see why not,” Hope said.
“But, you know, I’m going to get all big and slow, and I won’t be able to tie my own shoes or move very fast.” Joy spoke as though those would be the best things that had ever happened to her.
“Come on. You’ve been looking forward to having babies your whole life,” Chastity said.
“I have,” Joy sighed and leaned against the sink. “A baby. Ooh! Maybe two babies. I mean, we were natural quads, and Honor and Grace were natural twins. I guess they run in the family. It would be so wonderful to have twins. Maybe triplets! We haven’t done that yet.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to revise your statement about Joy not losing it because of pregnancy hormones?” Chastity asked Hope with a wry grin.
“Maybe,” Hope answered.
“Oh, come on. As soon as the two of you are in the family way, you’ll be saying the same things,” Joy insisted.
Hope turned pink and glanced away. Chastity raised a hand to her gut to press down on the weird feeling that popped up there. She hadn’t even had a chance to get horizontal with Chris yet. Well, not without collateral damage. Now Joy was pushing her forward into the role of mother. Being a mom changed everything. Sure, it was wonderful and all, but for golly sakes, she hadn’t even had a chance to test-drive Pickley-Wickley. She wanted to put some serious mileage on that thing before stopping for a family. She wanted to be a newlywed, to get to know Chris on every level, before tossing babies into the equation.
“…means I won’t be as mobile to help out around the daycare.” Joy was in the middle of worrying over something when Chastity’s attention drifted back to the conversation. “We’ll be short-handed.”
“Good point.” Hope leaned against the wall, arms crossed, serious face on. “And we really don’t want to have to pay for an extra helper. Not while trying to buy-out the ranch from cousin Travis. But let’s face it, we’re all married, and at some point—” She paused and rolled her
shoulders, looking embarrassed. “At some point, we’re all going to get pregnant and have our own kids to look after.”
Not me. The words popped into Chastity’s head so fast she didn’t have a chance to test them for truth. Wow. Did she really not want to have kids?
No, of course she wanted to have kids. Chris’s kids. Heck, their kids would be hilarious.
As long as they didn’t come too soon.
“Oh my gosh, that reminds me of something I’ve been meaning to ask you guys about,” she said, hoping to push her own startling thoughts out of her head.
Hope and Joy turned to her, expressions curious.
Chastity launched into her idea. “So last week, I was at the salon where Chris teaches his science classes. There are a bunch of cool old ladies who get their hair done there, and that’s pretty much the only time they are able to get out of the house and hang out.”
“Oh, that’s sad.” Joy’s shoulders sagged.
“Exactly.” Chastity’s nervous energy shifted into full-on enthusiasm. “That’s what gave me the idea of inviting them to come out to the daycare once a week.”
Hope stood straighter. “But it’s a daycare. Daycares are for kids.”
“Yeah, I know.” Chastity’s heart pounded harder as her confidence in the idea grew. “But I was reading this article back when I was in college about the benefits of intergenerational socializing.”
“What?” Joy stood straighter too, clearly interested.
“The article talked about the benefits of older folks and toddlers spending time together. It’s invigorating for the oldies and fun for the littlies. So I thought, why not set aside one day of the week for some of Culpepper’s seniors to come out to the daycare to, I don’t know, do art projects with the kids.”
“Oh.” Hope blinked a far-away look coming to her eyes that said she was thinking about it. “That would be really sweet.”
“And it would give us a little bit of a break,” Chastity went on. “I mean, we’d still have to be there to supervise, but Myrna Bonneville and her friends are still very with-it. They’re not that old, after all, and even if we did invite some super-oldies, there’s a possibility that you guys could take an afternoon off now and then.”