Sunshine Valley

The letters continued 

     Evie sat in the middle of the living room floor. Dillon had saved these? Wow! She couldn’t get over that. At one point in her life, she had a trunk full of stuff. But now, she had no idea where that trunk went. She guessed her mom torched it. It seemed odd to her that a man would keep such mementos. Doug sure wouldn’t have. He would ooh and awe but once the event was over, such things were trash. 

     With great care she opened the envelope, thinking it would crumble into pieces. Each letter was dated, starting with May 31st, the day he was to leave. Her dad had taken them to Matt’s general store. Together they picked out a note book and 2 pens. The last letter was dated July 31st. A few of the letters were torn in odd places. One was mangled so badly that it had been taped back together. The letter behind it explained that a boy named Stan, didn’t believe Dillon had any friends back home. Let alone a beautiful girl to write to. So he took it upon himself to shred the letter. After this, Stan was removed from Dillon’s cabin. Dillon wasn’t the only boy Stan picked on. 

     She paused for a moment ‘beautiful girl’. Those were Dillon’s words. ‘Beautiful girl’. Beautiful was never an adjective she would have used to describe herself. Her mother told her she was plain, homely looking and would never attract the right kind of man. She hated the lace Lily tried to dress her in for church. It itched and left uncomfortable red splotches on her skin. They barely had time to stop being an irritant before her mother stuffed her back into another uncomfortable dress. Evie would have been happy in her ‘boy clothes’ playing in the mud. Especially with Dillon. 

     ‘If you don’t stop playing with that Pace boy, no other boy will ever look at you. Do you want to marry that thing?’ She would scowl. ‘His dad is an alcoholic and his mother is useless.’ 

     One day Evie got brave and asked, ‘I thought she was your best friend.’ Her mother had said it to Rose’s face more times than Evie could count. She even bore Rose’s name. Lily smacked her hard across the face, telling Jack that Evie fell playing with sweet little Dillon. 

     Her mother taught her that women were lying, 2 faced back stabbing bitches. Smile to someone’s face, then talk about them in private. So was Dillon a piece of trash or a sweet little boy? If her dad ever had such feelings about the Pace’s they were never voiced to her. 

     She knew her dad felt sorry for Dillon’s dad. They grew up together. Jack’s family was never rich but he wanted more for his family. He was able to get a job at the local saw mill and never looked back. Carl (but pronounced Coral because hey, they were country) married Rose. Moved away to seek his fortune but like so many, came back broke both financially and spiritually. Jack tried to get Coral a job at the mill but he was always too drunk to run the saws. Jack would share food and such with the Pace’s but never money. 

     There was one heated conversation between Jack and Lily about adopting Dillon. Jack wanted to. Lily didn’t want any part of it. ‘She’s too attached as it is. I want her to grow up to be a proper lady. With that boy in the house, she’ll be riding horses or something equally stupid’. 

     That conversation was how she found out Coral was abusing Dillon. ‘Maybe if he was a better boy and helped around the house instead of trying to live here’. Her mother always had an ugly retort. 

     Dillon thought she was beautiful. 

Sunshine Valley