Read Online Julia 03 - Miss Julia Throws a Wedding by Ann B. Ross - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Ann B. Ross
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the sun. Lord, it was barely June. What would it be like in August?
“Maybe,” he went on, “you could have the road paved, and cut down on some of this dust.”
“That’d be nice, I’m sure. But an owner has to balance out his income with his expenses, and not get too carried away.” I leaned over to look through the side window. “I believe this is where Miss Wiggins lives. You remember her, don’t you? She was visiting when the power went out in that last ice storm we had.” The one who’d made a fool of herself over that race-truck driver, I almost said but didn’t.
“Yessum, I do. She was Mr. Sam’s nurse who he liked so much.”
“Huh,” I said under my breath. Then, “Now, Little Lloyd, you must learn to treat all people with respect, especially those who don’t have as much as you do. This young woman apparently has nowhere else to live but in a tin trailer on rented property, although I must say her place looks better kept than most of them.” I turned in behind an old, sagging car that I recognized as Miss Wiggins’s, and looked around. There was a plastic awning over the door on the side of the trailer that threw a green shadow over a poured concrete porch. An aluminum chair and a pot of geraniums decorated the entrance.
“Well, let’s see if we can get through this without too much trouble,” I said, opening the car door.
Little Lloyd followed me to the shade of the awning, but before I could knock on the door, Miss Wiggins opened it and stepped out to meet us. Right there, she made her first mistake with me. She should’ve invited us inside, unless there was something or somebody she didn’t want us to see.
“Miss Wiggins,” I said, acknowledging her with a formal nod of my head. “I’ve come to see what the problem is, and I sincerely hope that there’ll be no more talk of a lawsuit.”
“Yes, ma’am, but it’s not me that’s talking lawsuit. I was just passing on what I’d heard.”
She looked ill at ease, standing there clasping her hands together. I imagined that she was remembering the run-ins we’d had at our other meetings, from which I’d always come out the better.
“Well, tell me what’s going on. Oh, excuse me,” I said, taken up short for forgetting my own courtesies. “You remember Little Lloyd, don’t you? Say hello to Miss Wiggins, Little Lloyd.”
He smiled and held out his hand, making me proud. “Hello, Miss Wiggins.”
“Hi,” she said, a broad smile lighting up her face. It pained me to admit it, but she was not unattractive. Her personality, though, was another matter. Grating, I’d call it. She shook the child’s hand, and asked about his mother. I kept forgetting that Hazel Marie had grown up around this part of the county, and that Miss Wiggins was surely familiar with Hazel Marie’s long-term attachment to my husband.
For that matter, she knew who Little Lloyd was, too. That meant she could see right through me. Suddenly I didn’t feel at all comfortable in her presence.
“Now, Miss Wiggins, we don’t have all day, so tell me what’s going on.”
“Well, everybody in the park, just about, has been missing things.” She turned and pointed down the graveled street. “The Barnhardts in that second trailer over there are missing a yard chair. The Crenshaws’re missing a barbeque grill, and Miguel Martinez’s remote control is gone. And that was from inside his trailer.” She turned and pointed in the other direction. “Carrie Munson, who lives about five trailers down, lost every bag of Fritos and potato chips she had, and she’d just gone to the Wal-Mart super store to stock up. And I’m missing two bags of hard candy that I keep to give to my elderly patients. A lot of them don’t have enough teeth to chew, but they love the hard kind that’ll melt in their mouths. Now it’s all gone.”
Her shoulders seemed to slump with the injustice of it all. Then with renewed energy, she said, “Just all of a sudden, seems
“Maybe,” he went on, “you could have the road paved, and cut down on some of this dust.”
“That’d be nice, I’m sure. But an owner has to balance out his income with his expenses, and not get too carried away.” I leaned over to look through the side window. “I believe this is where Miss Wiggins lives. You remember her, don’t you? She was visiting when the power went out in that last ice storm we had.” The one who’d made a fool of herself over that race-truck driver, I almost said but didn’t.
“Yessum, I do. She was Mr. Sam’s nurse who he liked so much.”
“Huh,” I said under my breath. Then, “Now, Little Lloyd, you must learn to treat all people with respect, especially those who don’t have as much as you do. This young woman apparently has nowhere else to live but in a tin trailer on rented property, although I must say her place looks better kept than most of them.” I turned in behind an old, sagging car that I recognized as Miss Wiggins’s, and looked around. There was a plastic awning over the door on the side of the trailer that threw a green shadow over a poured concrete porch. An aluminum chair and a pot of geraniums decorated the entrance.
“Well, let’s see if we can get through this without too much trouble,” I said, opening the car door.
Little Lloyd followed me to the shade of the awning, but before I could knock on the door, Miss Wiggins opened it and stepped out to meet us. Right there, she made her first mistake with me. She should’ve invited us inside, unless there was something or somebody she didn’t want us to see.
“Miss Wiggins,” I said, acknowledging her with a formal nod of my head. “I’ve come to see what the problem is, and I sincerely hope that there’ll be no more talk of a lawsuit.”
“Yes, ma’am, but it’s not me that’s talking lawsuit. I was just passing on what I’d heard.”
She looked ill at ease, standing there clasping her hands together. I imagined that she was remembering the run-ins we’d had at our other meetings, from which I’d always come out the better.
“Well, tell me what’s going on. Oh, excuse me,” I said, taken up short for forgetting my own courtesies. “You remember Little Lloyd, don’t you? Say hello to Miss Wiggins, Little Lloyd.”
He smiled and held out his hand, making me proud. “Hello, Miss Wiggins.”
“Hi,” she said, a broad smile lighting up her face. It pained me to admit it, but she was not unattractive. Her personality, though, was another matter. Grating, I’d call it. She shook the child’s hand, and asked about his mother. I kept forgetting that Hazel Marie had grown up around this part of the county, and that Miss Wiggins was surely familiar with Hazel Marie’s long-term attachment to my husband.
For that matter, she knew who Little Lloyd was, too. That meant she could see right through me. Suddenly I didn’t feel at all comfortable in her presence.
“Now, Miss Wiggins, we don’t have all day, so tell me what’s going on.”
“Well, everybody in the park, just about, has been missing things.” She turned and pointed down the graveled street. “The Barnhardts in that second trailer over there are missing a yard chair. The Crenshaws’re missing a barbeque grill, and Miguel Martinez’s remote control is gone. And that was from inside his trailer.” She turned and pointed in the other direction. “Carrie Munson, who lives about five trailers down, lost every bag of Fritos and potato chips she had, and she’d just gone to the Wal-Mart super store to stock up. And I’m missing two bags of hard candy that I keep to give to my elderly patients. A lot of them don’t have enough teeth to chew, but they love the hard kind that’ll melt in their mouths. Now it’s all gone.”
Her shoulders seemed to slump with the injustice of it all. Then with renewed energy, she said, “Just all of a sudden, seems
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