Pie Town - Lynne Hinton [13]
“And just where are you planning to go?” Roger asked.
“I’m not sure yet. I just know I don’t want to stay here,” the young woman answered.
“Why?” Malene asked. “What’s wrong with Pie Town?” She was working on updating her patients’ charts.
“What’s wrong with Pie Town?” Christine repeated the question and stared at her coworker. “Are you kidding me? This place has nothing to offer somebody my age.” She considered what she was saying. “Shoot, it doesn’t have anything to offer somebody any age. There’s no stores, no decent restaurants, nothing to do. You can’t even get a cell signal unless you climb Escondido Mountain. There’s not even any pie, for Christ’s sake. All they serve at the diner for dessert is brownies! Why would anyone want to live in Pie Town?”
Malene shrugged. “It’s a great place to hike and ride horses and be outdoors,” she replied.
“When’s the last time you hiked a trail or rode a horse?” Christine asked.
“If I had time it would be a great place to do those things,” Malene responded. “But regardless, it’s got more to offer than just that anyway.”
“What else?” Christine asked.
“It’s safe,” Roger answered, tapping his badge.
“Right,” Malene agreed. “And the folks are nice and helpful. You won’t find this small-town generosity in a big city.”
Christine laughed. “This town is not generous. You ever asked anybody for a loan in Pie Town?” she asked. “And as far as the folks being helpful, when’s the last time you tried to organize them to do something for anybody? You remember what a hard time we had trying to raise money for a van for the senior center?”
Malene thought about the question. “Well, as a community, we are a little uncooperative, I’ll give you that. But everybody knows everybody, and you can’t get lost.”
“A little uncooperative?” Christine repeated. “We can’t agree with each other about anything. We don’t hang holiday lights because some people want snowflakes and others want Christmas trees. We don’t have a July Fourth parade because some people claim we’re still oppressed by a government and that we’re not really independent. We can’t have a library because everybody wants to say what books get put in there. It’s like we take pride in not getting along with each other in this town. I think everybody ought to sell their land to the government, let them bulldoze Pie Town, and build some more radio towers like they did near Magdalena. At least then we’d be sending out some signals in the world other than indifference and orneriness.”
“Oh Christine, it’s not that bad,” Roger chimed in. “We get along on some things. We accepted the state’s stimulus money to repave the highways.”
“Yeah, but didn’t we have to pay it back because we could never decide on a bid from a construction company?” It was Malene who asked.
“We can still have it when we make a decision,” he replied.
“See what I mean?” Christine said. “It’s like the only time we get together is for Alex’s birthday parties. Beyond that, we got nothing here, and I’m just saying, as soon as I save up enough money I’m heading out of this godforsaken place.”
“Well, before you leave town, just make sure you pay your ticket,” Roger said. “Or I’ll send Danny to find you and bring you back.”
“Yes sir, Sheriff.” She stood at attention and saluted Roger. “Now I know why Malene divorced you—because you are no fun at all!” She grinned at the two of them. “I’m going to give Mrs. Otero her meds,” she noted and walked out of the station. “You let me know if he’s harassing you,” she called out to her coworker. “I’ll call the deputy.”
Malene laughed. “So what’s up?” she asked, wondering why her ex-husband had stopped by.
“I went by the house after I saw you to check on Alex.”
“Was he out of bed?” Malene asked.
Roger nodded. “He wanted to do math,” he answered.
“He is very smart with his numbers.” Malene studied her ex-husband. “What’s wrong?” she asked. She knew her ex-husband rarely did anything without thought and purpose.