Connellsville (3 of 4) (356 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 2 on 3 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by SDNRNR (View user info) at 2006-08-31 14:23:48 EDT
"The Card"
"Dam it all Rosie, these folks protesting against Wal-Mart are giving me indigestion. If Wal-Mart were to call tomorrow to announce they were building a store in Connellsville I would get down on all fours and lick clean the feet of each and every one of their executives. Some people have no idea how fortunate they are. Where in the fuck is Crofton MD. anyways?"
Rosie knew where this conversation would go, and why it had become a nightly sermon. Marty, desperate to spur economic growth, had placed over 100 calls and sent 50 letters to Wal-Mart over the past year, an assault he had not yet given up. The last few months had been particularly difficult for them both and it did not take a prophet to foresee that tomorrow night he would once again come home with the same pain and aggravation.
"Well, I see they are converting the Old Time Tavern into a new business. That is a good sign. Main Street needs some new life." Rosie hoped to turn the topic to something positive.
"Perhaps so, that is if you think another strip club in town is helping matters at all. I'll be sure to get us in on opening night. Do you have a nice outfit to wear?"
"For heavens sake Marty, I thought you have put a stop to those types of places." She maintained a sympathetic tone but her look showed her disdain for being, even jokingly, associated with such an event.
"Sometimes, and forgive more for saying this Rosie, I think heaven has given up on our town. God knows the people have given up heaven. Maybe it's time for me to do the same."
With that Marty pulled back from table. After raising his lanky frame upright from the chair he placed a light peck on his wife's lips and shuffled off to bed.
Rosie flipped the cover on the phone and raised the handset to her head. In a clear, firm and monotone voice she spoke into the mouthpiece, "Call Sarah! "
Cell phones, Caller ID, voice activation - such advances in technology Rosie could have never imagined. She loved the convenience of being able to make a call anytime-anywhere, but found that the ability to know who was calling prior to answering caused people to forget the once common protocol of saying hello. Her daughter Sarah suffered an extreme case of this. It had been years since she could remember hearing Sarah say hello.
"Mom, are you calling me from the laundry room again?" Sarah's voice broke through bringing an end to the cycle of rings.
"Hi Sarah, how are you? and yes I am in the laundry room. You know how I like it here, for some reason it calms me. It has become a sanctuary of sorts for me."
Sarah and her mother were very close. They talked at least twice a day now, with her mother's nightly call being made almost exclusively from the laundry room.
"How is Dad doing, is he starting to feel better?" Sarah now lived in Florida with her husband and two children. Her father had always been near and dear to her, and now, even though thousands of miles a part, she sensed that he was becoming a man she would not recognize.
"I am afraid he is not honey, this evening he seemed to be getting worse. He said something terrible, something I wish not to repeat. I am very worried. He really sounds like he is ready to give up."
"Try not to worry too much, you know how he is. He won't ever give up, he cares to much about the people and the town.."
"I know he does, honey, but if you could only see what is happening to this place. He can't do it alone, he needs help."
Rose switched the phone on to speaker placing it on top of a shelf adjacent to the dryer.
"Oh Mom, are you going to start ironing? You must be feeling really terrible."
"I am Sarah. I have to do something to take my mind off of matters."
If the laundry room was her mother's sanctuary, then ironing was an act of contrition. There, in that place, in the steps from sorting to ironing then folding a transition from unkempt to kempt took place that gave her mother a sense renewal and, ultimately, salvation.
Over the next 45 minutes while Rosie worked on Marty's clothes the conversation gradually turned from circumstances beyond there control to those that they might be able to change.
"As I was as saying Mom, Devan has started to pick his nose, something I fear he picked up from his father. What on earth should I do? "
"Hmmm that's a tough one, but we have got to find a way to discourage it. Nose picking can be habit forming. Have you tried using Tabasco?"
"Tabasco, in hose nose? C'mon Mom, do you think I can really do that. Aren't there laws against such methods. After all this is not the good old days."
"Deary, you don't put it in his nose. You put it on his finger."
"Oh Mom, seriously, that could not possibly work.
"Well it did for you, but you do what you feel is best and never mind my "old school" tactics".
They both laughed bringing Sarah a sense of relief. The 45 minutes calls at 9pm did not fit exactly well with the husband and family, but thankfully Seth and the kids understood that her mother needed some support.
As she was preparing to send her mother her love Sarah heard a familiar snap on the other end of line.
"Okay Mom, sounds to me like you must be finishing up there"
"That's right, down to the last pair of pants. His favorite, Khakis made by Hagar."
"My Gosh Mom, does he wear anything else?" Sarah pictured her father in his standard outfit - Khaki pants, oxford shirt and a bow-tie".
"On occasion, he does have one pair of cords to, but 360 days out of the year its khaki"
Rosie began the final step in the process by stroking her hand from the belt line downward to the end of each pant leg. The normal flow of this procedure coming to a stop when her fingers sensed what felt to be a foreign object. Annoyed at having to disrupt the final sequence of maneuvers, she slid her hand down into the right side pant pocket. There in she felt a thick piece of paper with jagged edges that had rectangular shape - a business card no doubt. How odd? How could she have missed this during her pre-wash inspection?
"Okay, well it sounds like you got things under control now Mom. Good night and we love you both. Please give Dad kiss on the cheek for me." Before Rosie could pass along her own good-bye Sarah had hung up, leaving only the empty void of cell space projecting from the speaker.
Before finishing off the final strokes of the iron, Rosie turned her attention to the card which was still in the palm of her hand. Upon close inspection she noticed that it was, rather remarkably, both fully intact and unscathed. Some how it survived the vigorous washing of the soapy waves, tearing G forces of the spin cycle, and scorching winds of the tumble dry - without so much as a blemish. As she read the inscription her curiosity took on even greater interest. Where in the world would have Marty come across an artist from Maryland?
In the moment between thought and action a sensation came upon Rosie. It was an intense rush of warmth, like the greeting one receives when opening a hot oven on a cold winter morning, only this was far more intense, and the source unknown. At once it moved around, through and from within her. Her knees buckled, and she struggled to remain afoot. Shifting her weight to the dryer, she righted herself. Then, as suddenly as it arrived, the sensation departed.
Rosie was at a loss as to the cause of this episode. Searching for an answer, she recalled her doctor's appointment of only a few days before, one in which she had checked out with flying colors. Having a clean bill of health recently behind her, she reasoned that she had no cause for alarm. Confident that she was once again her normal 50'sh self, Rosie set back to completing the job at hand. It had been a long day and she looked forward to a good night of rest.
User Reviews
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2006-09-01 07:36:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2006-08-31 15:57:05 (#)
Ranking: 2
Have a +2 as I feel sorry for you having no reviews.
I will read it later.
-Dave
Submitted by goferforhire (user info) at 2006-08-31 17:03:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
that thing at the bottom is sorta cool
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2006-08-31 15:57:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Have a +2 as I feel sorry for you having no reviews.
I will read it later.
-Dave