heavy smoker. And wonder of wonders, he wanted to talk to me.
I hung up afterwards, glad that one thing had turned out well that day. And when the family gathered around the table I told them all my good news.
“I have a job.”
Ed looked up from a mound of brown rice and vegetables. “Job?”
I preened a little. “I applied for a job at the new bookstore that’s opening down on Sparrow Street. Book Gems.”
“Emerald Springs with a real bookstore? Wow, what’s next? High-speed Internet?” Deena picked green peppers out of the stir-fry with awesome precision.
“I just did it on a whim,” I told Ed, “but the owner called this afternoon. I’ll be working part-time while the girls are in school. It’s perfect.”
Teddy stared at me as if I’d grown a more interesting head. “Work? You?”
I passed her a bowl of applesauce. “Amazing concept, isn’t it? A mother who does something besides bake brownies for the P.T.A. and go on field trips.”
“You never told me you applied,” Ed said. “You never mentioned it.”
“Well, if I didn’t get the job, I would have hated to admit I’d lost out to some cute little coed.”
Ed was staring into space now.
I waved my hand in his face. “Ed, I’m not starting a new law practice. I’m not running for Congress or sending the kids off to boarding school. I’m opening cartons and punching in credit card info. For twelve hours a week, tops. It will get me out of the house. Is there a problem?”
“I guess I didn’t mention the other reason for that meeting tonight.”
I was genuinely puzzled. We seemed to have segued back into an old conversation, when I’d thought that this new one would cheer him. After all, at least now, if he was fired, we’d have the security of my fifty-odd dollars take-home pay.
“That other issue wasn’t enough?” I asked. With the girls sitting at the table I didn’t want to repeat details of the movement to fire their father.
Ed’s voice grew softer, and I knew we were in trouble. “Book Gems plans to have an adults-only room in the back. Half the ministers in town are up in arms. Tri-C has been called on to join them.”
Lucy called after Ed’s departure, and the moment she heard my tone, she promised to waltz over bearing good Irish whiskey and a carton of whipping cream. I made the coffee, Luce made it Irish. Strong Irish. Enough to nibble the edge off my depression.
“Well, the good news is that Gelsey and her friends will have trouble figuring out who to dislike more,” I told Lucy. “I sell porn, and Ed attracts naked bodies to our porch.”
“You don’t have to take the job,” Lucy said. Tonight she wore denim overalls cut to the panty line, over a rose colored T-shirt that owed more to spandex than jersey. Once upon a time I had dressed to provoke. Now I was too tired, or too content. I wore faded jeans.
“It’s going to be a classy place,” I told her. “One of the other booksellers showed me the plans when I applied. Heather-toned carpets and polished oak shelves. Plush armchairs with reading lamps in most of the aisles. An eclectic mixture of genres. A coffee bar. It’s costing the owner a fortune, and it’s just what the town needs.”
“Except for that little ole room in the back.”
After the conversation at our dinner table I had called Book Gems’ owner, Bob Knowles, and asked point-blank about the adults-only room. He hadn’t minced words.
“It’s not kiddy porn,” I told Lucy. “ Penthouse and Play-boy, and maybe Hustler behind the counter. Some erotic novels, but classy ones. Gay love stories. He claims he’s trying to appeal to everyone except the lowest common denominator. Which in this case is probably the Emerald Springs Moral Majority. They don’t have any idea what he’s really doing, just that there’s sex involved. I don’t know how these people multiply.”
“Aggie, you know I don’t have a problem with this, but how’s it going to look, you working
I hung up afterwards, glad that one thing had turned out well that day. And when the family gathered around the table I told them all my good news.
“I have a job.”
Ed looked up from a mound of brown rice and vegetables. “Job?”
I preened a little. “I applied for a job at the new bookstore that’s opening down on Sparrow Street. Book Gems.”
“Emerald Springs with a real bookstore? Wow, what’s next? High-speed Internet?” Deena picked green peppers out of the stir-fry with awesome precision.
“I just did it on a whim,” I told Ed, “but the owner called this afternoon. I’ll be working part-time while the girls are in school. It’s perfect.”
Teddy stared at me as if I’d grown a more interesting head. “Work? You?”
I passed her a bowl of applesauce. “Amazing concept, isn’t it? A mother who does something besides bake brownies for the P.T.A. and go on field trips.”
“You never told me you applied,” Ed said. “You never mentioned it.”
“Well, if I didn’t get the job, I would have hated to admit I’d lost out to some cute little coed.”
Ed was staring into space now.
I waved my hand in his face. “Ed, I’m not starting a new law practice. I’m not running for Congress or sending the kids off to boarding school. I’m opening cartons and punching in credit card info. For twelve hours a week, tops. It will get me out of the house. Is there a problem?”
“I guess I didn’t mention the other reason for that meeting tonight.”
I was genuinely puzzled. We seemed to have segued back into an old conversation, when I’d thought that this new one would cheer him. After all, at least now, if he was fired, we’d have the security of my fifty-odd dollars take-home pay.
“That other issue wasn’t enough?” I asked. With the girls sitting at the table I didn’t want to repeat details of the movement to fire their father.
Ed’s voice grew softer, and I knew we were in trouble. “Book Gems plans to have an adults-only room in the back. Half the ministers in town are up in arms. Tri-C has been called on to join them.”
Lucy called after Ed’s departure, and the moment she heard my tone, she promised to waltz over bearing good Irish whiskey and a carton of whipping cream. I made the coffee, Luce made it Irish. Strong Irish. Enough to nibble the edge off my depression.
“Well, the good news is that Gelsey and her friends will have trouble figuring out who to dislike more,” I told Lucy. “I sell porn, and Ed attracts naked bodies to our porch.”
“You don’t have to take the job,” Lucy said. Tonight she wore denim overalls cut to the panty line, over a rose colored T-shirt that owed more to spandex than jersey. Once upon a time I had dressed to provoke. Now I was too tired, or too content. I wore faded jeans.
“It’s going to be a classy place,” I told her. “One of the other booksellers showed me the plans when I applied. Heather-toned carpets and polished oak shelves. Plush armchairs with reading lamps in most of the aisles. An eclectic mixture of genres. A coffee bar. It’s costing the owner a fortune, and it’s just what the town needs.”
“Except for that little ole room in the back.”
After the conversation at our dinner table I had called Book Gems’ owner, Bob Knowles, and asked point-blank about the adults-only room. He hadn’t minced words.
“It’s not kiddy porn,” I told Lucy. “ Penthouse and Play-boy, and maybe Hustler behind the counter. Some erotic novels, but classy ones. Gay love stories. He claims he’s trying to appeal to everyone except the lowest common denominator. Which in this case is probably the Emerald Springs Moral Majority. They don’t have any idea what he’s really doing, just that there’s sex involved. I don’t know how these people multiply.”
“Aggie, you know I don’t have a problem with this, but how’s it going to look, you working
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