Рита Браун - Nine Lives To Die

A new post office had been built by the railroad tracks. She left the job because she couldn’t take her cats and dogs. The little country post office, so warm, felt like home. The big new post office, while impressive, felt like one more government building.

Whenever people mocked the postal service for its monetary losses, she still defended it. It was a department of government held to different standards, hemmed in by various monetary restrictions, some concerning its pensions. She didn’t believe the P.O. could ever make money. A one-cent rise in gas prices would cost the postal service more than a billion dollars. Just one cent.

She missed seeing everyone in town five days a week and she missed working with Miranda Hogendobber, an older friend. And one more thing: Harry missed a regular paycheck.

Despite that, she loved farming full time and, like every farmer, she accepted that Mother Nature was a demanding, difficult business partner. No one day was like any other.

A honk startled her. She turned around, snow hitting her in the face again, to see her neighbor, Deputy Cynthia Cooper, in a four-wheel-drive sheriff’s vehicle.

Harry cut the motor on the tractor, climbed down.

“Hey,” she greeted Cooper.

Window down, Cooper responded, “You’ll freeze your butt off.”

“Not much to freeze,” Harry joked.

The lanky law enforcement officer smiled back. “Well, that’s the truth, and how many women can say the same? Do you need anything?”

“Oh, no, Coop, thanks. Fair’s on an emergency call. He’ll bring back supplies.”

“Where is he?”

“At the de Jarnettes’.”

“He’ll have slow going coming home. This is supposed to stop by mid-morning, clear. Then more snow tomorrow night. Well, it will keep me busy.”

A gust made Harry duck her head for a moment. “It’s the wind that gets you.”

Cooper nodded. “Does.”

“Speaking of picking up things,” said Harry, “Jessica Hexham and I are going to Nordstrom’s tomorrow. I desperately need a dress for the Silver Linings fund-raiser. Need anything?”

“An entire wardrobe.” Cooper smiled. “If I don’t see you before the ‘do,’ have a good time. Raise money.” She wiped some blown snow off her face. “I’ll be on duty that night. Should be a great party.”

“One hundred and fifty dollars?” Harry whispered into Jessica’s ear.

Nodding back, the always well-dressed woman cooed, “Worth every penny.”

“Well—” Harry stalled.

Both women stood on the second floor of Nordstrom, located at the town of Short Pump, outside of Richmond. Charlottesville contained the usual complement of shops catering to middle-class women in a suburban environment; neither Harry nor Jessica felt at ease in such outfits.

However, Nordstrom was always expensive, and Harry, ever tight with the buck, balked at one hundred and fifty dollars for a silk scarf.

“Now, look, you have as many Christmas parties to go to as I do. Do you really want to look like the frosted-hair set?” Jessica was ruthless. “I have to look good—my husband is president of Silver Linings. I can’t wear the same outfit twice. It’s the fund-raising season. You have to look good, too.”

“Uh, now, Jessica, some of my best friends have frosted hair and look good.”

“It’s over. I mean over. Too seventies. Just don’t do it.”

“My hair’s not turning gray.” Harry paused. “Yet.”

“When it does, just make sure it’s a good gray. Now, buy the scarf and throw it around your neck when you wear that fabulous emerald-green cocktail dress. That wasn’t cheap, so why drag your heels at the scarf? And I do mean heels.”

“You’re right.” Harry dug into her leather purse for her credit card. Resistance was futile.

As Jessica stood with her at the counter, both women scanned the large second floor. “Finding good clothes in Virginia is like finding the Holy Grail,” said Jessica.

“That’s a fact.” Harry thanked the clerk after the clerk thanked her.

The two women headed for the escalator, stepping aside as two teenage girls attached to their mother ducked in front of them.

“Adriana, you turn around and apologize right this minute,” ordered the mother, West End Richmond all the way.

Red-faced, Adriana, rail thin, ears pierced, did turn around, looked up at Harry and apologized.

“Accepted,” Harry replied with some warmth.

The mother turned around. “If you don’t have children, don’t start.”

This made both Harry and Jessica laugh. Christmas always brought out the best and worst in people. If this mother insisted on proper deportment, maybe things weren’t so bad. Jessica carried her bags with aplomb. Good manners eases one’s path in life. So does a good mother. “Are you sure you only want the one dress? I don’t mind going to another department or even driving over to Saks.”

“I can’t take anymore. Shopping gives me a headache.”

Jessica laughed. “Let’s go home. I have Motrin in the car and a bottle of water. Just knock those orange pills back, girl.”

They walked through the plowed parking lot, skies lowering.

“Thank you for coming with me.” Harry peered up at the clouds.

“You’ve worn everyone else out.” Jessica hit the remote to open the car.

Once inside, Harry ruefully agreed. “Susan only goes with me if Alicia and BoomBoom come along as her enforcers. She says I am the worst person ever to shop with or for. I don’t think I’m that bad.”

“What are best friends for if not overstatement?”

“Funny. Just yesterday Susan reminded me she’s my best friend and therefore can give it to me both barrels.”

“She’s right. Let’s cruise down 250 for a bit. Getting back onto 64 will be a mess and”—she craned her neck to look up through the windshield—“it really is going to snow again. The weather report was right.”

“Winter truly has arrived.” Harry also looked up at the sky.

“Snow or not, the fund-raiser is going to be held tomorrow night. Anyway, you need to show off that wonderful dress.”

Harry, with a devilish smile, clicked shut her seatbelt. “Wouldn’t it be fun to show up with as much showing as possible?”

Jessica cruised onto the highway. “That depends. Whenever I have a moment where I question the Almighty, I remind myself He gave us fashion and I am comforted.”

“Well, girl, you will be comforted tomorrow night, as there will be a lot of fashion.”

“Harry, clothes cover a multitude of sins.”

The two women giggled.

But some sins are harder to cover than others.

Unbeknownst to Harry and Jessica, Lou Higham and Tyler were also at the large shopping center in Short Pump. Lou wanted to buy surprising and expensive gifts for Arden without driving up to Washington, D.C., or flying to New York or Atlanta. Although a man who expected to be in charge, Lou proved generous. He liked adorning his wife with jewelry, alluring clothing. Sometimes he’d surprise her with a fancy piece of luggage all packed and ready for a trip, even if only overnight to a bed-and-breakfast he liked in Orange County, Virginia. A forty-minute drive from Charlottesville beat a clogged flight to Manhattan.