Sarah Allen - The Girl Who Chased the Moon

In the early hours of the morning on the day of the Mullaby Barbecue Festival, a fog would settle low in the air, sneaking into windows and into nighttime visions. You’ll forget when you wake , it would whisper, but know this now and be proud .

This is your history .

STELLA HAD been gone for hours before Julia finally left the house. Stella considered the festival her day of debauchery. She started early and wouldn’t be home until the next day. Sometimes Julia worried about her. She couldn’t help it. She’d gotten to know Stella well in the past year and a half. Julia had never seen anyone try so hard to be happy with what she had. The Stella that Julia knew now was very different from the Stella she’d known in high school. Back then, Stella had been conspicuously showy, just like Dulcie Shelby. They’d been as thick as thieves. She’d driven a shiny black BMW bought specifically to match her shiny black hair. And Julia remembered hearing about how Stella’s decorator mother, who lived in Raleigh while Stella lived in Mullaby with her father, had designed Stella’s bedroom to look like a movie theater, complete with her own private movie screen and a popcorn machine. It had even been featured in some design magazine. To be honest, when Julia came back, she’d been surprised to find Stella still living here. Julia had always imagined those rich girls from school going on to live exotic lives. They’d had everything, every opportunity. When you had that much, why would you squander it? How could you accept anything less?

Stella’s problem, it turned out, was falling for the wrong guy. A tale as old as time. Her ex-husband had done a number on her by cheating and spending his way through her trust fund. The experience had turned Stella into a funny, self-deprecating woman who worked in a flower shop, lived in a house she could barely afford, and drank wine out of a box. Sometimes Julia wondered if Stella wanted it all back, if she would trade all she’d learned to be that envied girl again.

Julia had never asked. Their pasts were touchy subjects, which was why Julia hadn’t told her about Sawyer and the kiss, even though she really wanted to. And the fact that she couldn’t bring herself to tell something that personal to Stella meant that they weren’t as close as Stella thought they were. It made her sad, though she couldn’t figure out why. Julia didn’t want to get close to anyone here. Her real life was back in Baltimore.

It was noon when Julia finally walked over to Vance’s house to take Emily to the Mullaby Barbecue Festival. She knocked on the door and heard Emily race down the staircase with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. Julia was instantly suspicious.

Emily ran outside, and Vance followed shortly.

“Are you sure you won’t come with us?” Emily asked her grandfather, almost hopping from one foot to the other.

“I’m sure,” Vance said. “You two have fun.”

Julia and Vance watched as Emily ran down the front porch steps. “I’ll have her back before dark,” Julia told Vance. “And we’ll bring you some festival treats.”

“That’s right nice of you, Julia. She seems awfully excited, doesn’t she?” Vance said as Emily disappeared under the trees.

“Yes,” Julia said thoughtfully. “She does.”

“Getting excited about barbecue. She’s a lot like me.” He paused, then seemed to reconsider. “I mean, there’s not a lot about me I’d want her to favor, but…”

Julia put her hand on his arm. “She is a lot like you, Vance. And that’s a good thing.”

When Julia met her on the sidewalk, Emily asked, “Why won’t he come? He loves barbecue.”

“Vance tries to stay away from crowds,” Julia said as they walked toward downtown.

“I guess I’ve gotten so used to it that I forget sometimes.”

“You’re fitting in more than you think, then. So, how are the two of you getting along?”

Emily shrugged, distracted. “Okay, I guess. Better.”

“That’s good.”

Once they reached Main Street, Julia could tell that Emily was a little taken aback. First-timers usually were. Most people assumed that because Mullaby was small, the festival would be small, as well. But the Mullaby Barbecue Festival was actually the largest barbecue festival in the Southeast, and it attracted people from all over the country. The street was closed to cars, and white tents stretched as far as the eye could see. In the distance, the top of a Ferris wheel could be seen. The smell was intense and delicious, like being in an oven.

As they wove their way through the crowded street, they passed numerous barbecue tents, the focus of the festival, after all. Inside the tents, the barbecue sandwiches were made in an assembly line. Sauce, no sauce? Coleslaw on your sandwich? Want hush puppies in a cup with that? The sandwiches could be seen in the hands of every other person on the street, half-wrapped in foil. There were also tents selling pork rinds and boiled corn on the cob, chicken on a stick and brats, fried pickles and fried candy bars, and, of course, funnel cakes. Craft tents dotted the area, too.

“I didn’t know it would be this big,” Emily said, her head swinging around, trying to take it all in. “How do you find anyone in all of this?”

“Looking for someone in particular?” Julia asked.

Emily hesitated. “No. Not really.”

But to test her theory, Julia purposely led Emily to the main stage. There were several stages staggered around the festival where bands were playing-folk and bluegrass mostly-but the main stage was right in the middle of Main Street. Crowds had to break around it like water.

There was a group of people, most of them Coffeys, clustered at the bottom of the stage steps, the men in hats and the women in crisp belted dresses. Win was wearing a straw boater hat, which would have looked ridiculous on anyone else his age. Sure enough, Emily’s eyes went right to him. And he seemed to know exactly when it happened, because he looked up and saw her. Neither of them moved toward the other, but their intense awareness was almost palpable.

“Why is Win… why are the Coffeys so dressed up?” Emily asked. “I mean, more than usual.”

“Because this festival belongs to them. Their family created it as an annual event about sixty years ago. It’s their baby. In a little while, they’ll do all their grandstanding on that stage, then they’ll judge some barbecue and pie contests.”

Win’s father looked over to his son, then followed his stare. He immediately called Win over to him, at the same time Julia ushered Emily away.

She and Emily had a good time for the next few hours. They ate way too much and bought commemorative T-shirts that read I WENT HOG WILD AT THE MULLABY BARBECUE FESTIVAL. It was a splurge Julia could hardly afford-she allotted herself very little spending money because she wanted as much as possible to go toward the restaurant’s mortgage-but it was worth it.

Julia hadn’t been to the festival in years. Her restaurant had a tent here, somewhere. She didn’t have anything to do with it. Her managers had set it all up. She remembered how her father had loved the festival. And there had been a time when Julia had loved to come with him. She thought the event had lost its appeal for her, but she liked seeing it through Emily’s eyes. For the first time in a long time, she realized she actually missed something about this place.

Tired and sweaty and happy, they finally reached the amusement park rides at the other end of the street. It was getting late, so their plan was to go on a few rides, get snow cones for themselves and treats for Vance, then go home.

But that’s when Sawyer appeared, in khakis and a polo, winding his way toward them. Julia would have quickly steered Emily away and lost him if Emily hadn’t seen him first and said, “There’s Sawyer!” as if he were a rare and colorful bird they had to stand still to watch.