Rain Village - Carolyn Turgeon [14]
When I paid at the counter, I was shocked that the old man didn’t give me a second glance but just handed me my change along with the paper and pens in a bag.
I ran to the post office, thrilled, clutching the bag in my hand.
No one was at the front counter. I stood, waiting, and then heard the sound of Mary laughing, from a back room. Sneaking behind the counter and piles of packages, I tiptoed into the hall stretching off the main office. A second later I came across a half-open door. Peering through the crack, I saw Mary, her mouth open as she kissed a tall, mustached man. His right hand was tangled in her hair, the left one cupping the side of her lower back, pulling her toward him. Her hand snaked between his legs.
My heart raged with jealousy. I ran out and sat on the sidewalk out front. I had thought Mary was my friend, and now I felt betrayed, abandoned. I should just leave now and go home, I thought. Forget about her, and everyone. Tears dripped down my face. I heard people passing by, whispering to each other, but I didn’t care.
“Tessa,” I heard then. I looked up and wiped my face. My heart skipped a beat when I saw my mother’s friend Ruth standing over me. “What are you doing? Is your mom around?”
“No,” I said quickly. “I’m just running an errand.”
“Is something wrong?”
I looked up into her pale, pinched face. “Nothing is wrong,” I said. Just then, at the worst moment possible, Mary walked out of the post office, her cheeks flushed and hair even more wild than usual.
Mary saw the tears on my face and Ruth standing over me; she took it all in, in an instant. “What the hell are you doing to her?” she said, striding up to Ruth. “What’s wrong with you?”
Ruth backed away and looked from Mary to me, and back again. “I just saw her crying,” she said. “I wanted to know if she was okay.”
“Well, why don’t you mind your own business?” Mary asked. She was fierce, like a lioness, and I couldn’t help but feel happy that she was so quick to defend me. I didn’t correct her.
“I’m sorry,” Ruth said, giving me one more look and then practically running away. I watched her, guiltily. I knew I’d have hell to pay later, at home, but when I looked up at Mary that didn’t seem to matter.
“Are you okay?” Mary asked, turning to me.
I nodded. “I’m fine.”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me today,” she said. “I just don’t care, or something. You know what I mean, Tessa?”
I didn’t, not really. But I wanted to.
“Yes,” I said.
“Good, now let’s head back, assistant.” Mary rubbed my shoulder with her palm—a friendly, sisterly gesture that made me feel sparkly and whole. As hurt as I was, I just basked in her, her kindness to me.
That night my mother stood waiting for me at the door. “Where were you today, young lady?” she asked, staring straight down at me.
“I took a walk.”
“Oh, is that what you were doing?” she asked. “Strolling about like a little princess while the rest of us work?”
“No, ma’am,” I said, bowing my head. “I just . . . I just wanted to go into town.”
Behind my mother I could see Geraldine crouched on the top stairs, peering down at us. When she saw me looking, she opened her mouth wide and smiled.
“So I heard,” my mother said. “I heard all about you gallivanting around town today, prancing around like some fancy-pants. You think anything in town is more important than your dusting and sewing, miss? You think you can miss even one day of your stretches?”
My mother knew I could barely reach anything in that house well enough to dust it, and she never trusted me with the sewing work.
“I won’t even wait for an answer to that,” she said. “I know exactly where you were and who you were with. I don’t know what you and that tramp had to talk about, but so be it. We’ll just see what your father has to say about the whole thing.” She turned away then, toward the kitchen.
“No!” I screamed, running after her. “No, please don’t tell him! I didn’t do anything