After Church

    After church, the same crowd was at the Rice house, minus Sheriff Pace. A group of teenagers were raking the yard where it had been bush hogged the day before. Loading wheelbarrows full of straw into the back of a horse trailer pulled by the oldest dually Rebecca had ever seen.

By sun set, a little white picket fence was up, a carport complete with front porch access, the porch swing was hung, and the women created some flower beds around the house. Shelving had been added to the closet, laundry room, and bathroom. The kitchen got some cute little cabinets. And the horse trailer was gone.

    Mr. Rice stood in the driveway looking at his little house. “God bless y’all.” He threw open his arms.

    Everyone started clapping. Tears of joy streamed down the old man’s face.

    “What’s this?” Widow Blake was standing at the front corner of the house opposite the carport.

    Rebecca walked over to get a closer look. She bent down to read the tag. “It’s a honeysuckle vine.”

    “That wasn’t here yesterday.”

    Mr. Rice noticed the bewildered look on the ladies faces and just smiled.

The crowd thinned out; it was just Widow Blake, Rebecca, and Simon.

Widow Blake smiled, “what another great day?”

Rebecca asked, “if it’s not too personal may I ask, why does Mr. Rice call Sheriff Pace boy? That’s very derogatory.”

Widow Blake laughed, “not between those two. Don’t go tellin’ anyone I told you this. I’ll loose my Sunshine Vally card. When Pace was a little boy, he took up corn where corn had never been planted. Jack was forever saving his bony hide. Pace would get into some dangerous situations. Jack would come along, pick him up and say ‘boy’.”

“Such as?” Simon frowned.

“Pace knew no fear as a child. He still might not.” Widow Blake clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “On one occasion Jack found Pace playing with a copperhead. Jack picked him up by the waist band of his pants, put him over his shoulder and as they left the mountain, gave the tike a lesson in snakes.”

“Nope,” Rebecca shuttered. “Where was the sheriff’s parents?”

Widow Blake just shuck her head, “that’s a story for another night.” She patted Rebecca on the leg, “goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” she and Simon said in unison. They walked home as Widow Blake drove out of sight.

Sunshine Valley

Good night

    That evening as night began to fall, everyone started to pack up their tools and head home until Rebecca, Simon, Widow Blake, Mr. Rice and Sheriff Pace were the only ones left.

    Mr. Rice took a deep breath, “what a day?”

    “Shoo,” Rebecca hissed as she sat on the porch.

    All the rooms were painted, appliances hooked up and running, floors polished, even the outside of the house had new siding and both porches had been painted a clean glowing white to match the siding. She looked at Sheriff Pace, who was standing in the yard, let’s not forget about the roof. This adorable little house got a new roof. He had his side toward them. She thought he was staring at her house. His back had to be four feet wide; those shoulders were huge. If he hadn’t been a football player, he should have. Or a basketball player, he was tall enough. But a sheriff? Well, she thought, he presented himself as callus enough. Maybe being the sheriff was the right job for him?

    “What else?” Pace asked. Rebecca knew she heard birds fly away frightened from the near by trees.

    Simon had joined Rebecca on the porch.

    “What’s done is enough?” Mr. Rice smiled happy about the day’s work.

    Pace turned around and just stared at him.

    He sighed in defeat; “I was hopin’ for a car port at the end of the way. A little white picket fence long the road. I have a porch swing to hang.” He looked around as Widow Blake turned on the porch light. “I wanted to take that rail off the end of the porch so that when you step from the car port you didn’t have to come round front staying out of the elements.” He looked up to the sky as if it might start raining.

    Now Rebecca knew this house wasn’t intended for a man. A white picket fence?

    Widow Blake stepped onto the porch with five glasses of lemonade. “We’re all meetin’ back here after church tomorrow.”

    The lemonade was a nice end to a long day. When Widow Blake handed Pace the glass he refused it. “This one is tea young man.”

    “Thanks.”

    If he wasn’t so mean, Rebecca could almost feel sorry for him. Almost. Something was missing from this man. Could it be a heart? She wondered.

    Sheriff Pace played with his glass instead of drinking its contents.

    “Young man.” Widow Blake had set down beside Mr. Rice on the porch.

    He held up the glass as if to say look maw I’m drinking it and took a drink. It struck Rebecca as funny. “Sheriff Pace, may I ask you a question?”

    The look on his face was stone cold. “Shore.” He didn’t bark at her.

    “How tall are you?” She wasn’t trying to be mean. He was just a huge man, not fat at all, just large and obviously in charge.

    “Child, what made you ask that?” Widow Blake asked.

    Rebecca looked at the sheriff. “I mean no disrespect but you are the tallest person I’ve ever met.”

    He took a deep breath, “six, four.”

    Simon was in shock.

    The sheriff never said a word.

    Mr. Rice cleared his throat, “speakin’ of chair-ch, will you be there?”

    Pace took his hat from the porch putting it on, setting down his glass, and then walking away.

    “Boy,” Mr. Rice called after him. He stopped in his tracks. “Be careful.” For what seemed like an hour, Sheriff Pace didn’t move. Finally, the SUV came to life and he was gone.

“What is the story with the flip phone?” Simon asked as they watched Mr. Rice shuffle to his truck.

Widow Blake smiled, “the sheriff’s office is paid for by tax dollars. The sheriff likes to run a transparent tax payer respectful office. Why buy a smart phone when a flip phone will work? He says they get better service in remote areas and are more durable. Have you ever been in the sheriff’s office?”

Rebecca and Simon both shook their heads no.

“Everything is old. Not broken down but old. Only when something breaks or it cost more to repair it then it’s worth will he get rid of it. If something still has life left in it, usually things are given away or sold at a steep discount.”

Sunshine Valley

Lunch

    “Lunch!”

    Rebecca had never been so happy to hear that one word. She noticed the bathroom was finished with a new shower stall and tub, light fixture, sink, and commode. It was ready to be used. She was such a poor judge of size, this room had to be bigger than 5’ X 5’ in order to accommodate all the fixtures.

    One bedroom was finished. The honey one. It got a ceiling fan. Much to her surprise the other room, the smaller of the two bedrooms was going to be a closet. The women had painted it a very pale yellow. “Wow!” She sighed, as she continued to walk through the house. She noticed the little hallway had been painted white. The living room was stripped down and ready to be painted. Someone had painted the kitchen. The bottom half was a brick red and the top half was dark beige with a black stripe where the two colors met.

    Lunch was a thick meat lover’s sandwich, fruit, potato chips, and potato salad.

    “Boy,” Mr. Rice called to the roof again.

    About that time Rebecca noticed the sheriff’s SUV sitting behind the house. It was an older model, beige SUV with a gold sheriff seal on the door that looked like a badge. It was really nothing special. Had it been there all day? “We have a sheriff?” She was shocked. “Bradley, you always say you’re the law.” She sat down beside Simon.

    Bradley couldn’t contain his laughter. This made twice today he had laughed at her. “I am.”

    Everyone’s attention was drawn to the roof. The tallest man Rebecca had ever seen came walking down the ladder. Walking forward, like he was casually walking down stairs. He sat down at the table directly across from her. Before he started eating, Bradley took off his baseball hat, laying it in his lap. He nodded in a fashion that Rebecca thought it was to thank Bradley. Why not just say the words? Hold on; wait a minute, blonde hair! Rebecca screamed to herself. When he looked up, her blood ran cold. His eyes were as green as a field of clover but they were cold, seemingly lifeless. If he had a soul, it wasn’t looking out through his eyes. His face was tired. More than just a morning spent on the roof. Had he been up all night?

   “Sheriff Pace,” he held up his hands as he spoke to show her how dirty they were. To imply that he wasn’t going to shake hands because of the dirt. Della handed him a wet towel. He got as much of the mess off as he could. But still didn’t offer her a handshake.

   “I’ve lived here for years. I thought Bradley was the only lawman in town.” Rebecca said playfully.

   “Good,” he boomed, turning his full attention toward his lunch.

    A ringing phone interrupted the chatter at the table. Sheriff Pace leaned to the side retrieving the phone from his pocket.

“What?” He barked. He didn’t even look at the phone to see who it was. Rebecca just knew he wouldn’t talk to his mother that way. What if that was her on the other end? How rude. What a hateful way to answer the phone. What, indeed. “And?” He growled into the tiny phone. At any moment she knew it would melt due to the sound of his voice. “Deal with it.” He snapped the phone shut laying it on the table.

    “You think I’ll ever get that boy trained?” Bradley asked scratching his chin.

   “Got you trained.” Pace glared at him out of the corner of his eye.

    Bradley blushed. He honestly blushed. As if that comment was the greatest thing this beast of a man had ever said to him.

Rebecca blurted out, “who still has a flip phone?”

The sheriff glared at her for a minute. Someone at the table groaned in protest. The longer Rebecca was around Sheriff Pace, the less she liked him.

Sunshine Valley

Breakfast

    “Breakfast,” echoed through the house. Rebecca had just swept the floor.

    In the back yard, Della had set up four tables to form one long table. People were busy digging into their food. Not everyone. A single hammer was still working on the roof.

    “Boy,” Mr. Rice called. “Come git it.”

    “Ate.” Came back a thunderous reply.

    “At least have some water.” Bradley threw a bottle of water onto the roof with the arm of a baseball pitcher.

    “Thanks,” came another roaring reply. In a few minutes, the empty bottle fell from the roof with almost perfect aim, if Bradley’s head was the target.

    “Hey!” Bradley shouted. “Try to hit me next time.”

    This voice on the roof was three times deeper than Simon’s. And from what Rebecca could hear, meaner than a junkyard dog. She took a place beside Simon at the table. In the distance, something glittered catching her attention. “What’s that?”  

    Widow Blake leaned toward her from across the table. “Lily Rice’s grave.”

    “Oh,” Rebecca whispered suddenly feeling embarrassed.

    Breakfast was a delightful mixture of steak and eggs, muffins, and fruit. Della had really stepped up to the plate.

    “Looks like the bathroom is ready to paint.” Mr. Rice called from the back porch. “I sat the paint in there for you. Top and round,” he instructed.

    “Thanks,” Rebecca smiled. When he had stepped out of sight, she turned to Bradley, “what does top and round mean?”

    Bradley gave a hearty laugh, “it means paint the entire room the same color.”

    “Oh, okay.”

    As one coat of pale pink paint dried in the bathroom, Rebecca helped Sarah (Patty and Bradley’s daughter) take up the carpet in one of the bedrooms exposing more of the hardwood flooring. After the carpet was up and disposed of, she put another coat of paint on the bathroom. What kind of man, she asked herself, would have a pink bathroom? She stepped into the kitchen. Her goal was to go outside for some fresh air. Simon and Bradley had built a small room, about the size of the bathroom off the kitchen by boxing in part of the back porch. It was even complete with a door out of the kitchen.

    “What’s that room gonna be?”

    “Laundry room.” Simon answered wiping his brow.

    “Are you ready for me?” Danny smiled.

    “Yelp.” Bradley and Simon stepped out of the way allowing Danny to enter. He busied himself with running the electric lines for the appliances.

    “Bathroom looks good.” Mr. Rice called from the livin’ room door.

    “Thanks.” Rebecca went back into the bedroom to help paint. This bedroom was a honey color. Still not a color she thought an elderly gentleman would choose.

    Simon and Bradley went to work putting siding on the laundry room.

Sunshine Valley

Caravan

    Next Saturday morning a low rumbling noise startled Rebecca. She jumped out of bed. “What the?” She struggled to bring the clock into focus. “6:00 am,” she hissed, running toward the door, sliding to a stop on the porch. “Oh my heavenly father.”

   Simon handed her a robe as he was putting one on. The road was lined with vehicles. In the lead was Mr. Rice pullin’ a bush hog, followed by a dump truck and what looked like half the town.

   “Bradley said with the chickens.” Simon chuckled. The light of day was just starting to push away the night.

   By the time they had their first cup of coffee and were dressed, Mr. Rice had bush hogged around the house. The dump truck was in place off the front porch, two port-a-potties were standing next to the house and people were busy doing jobs.

    “They need to change that saying from a New York minute to a Kentucky minute.” Simon snorted.

   The inside of the house echoed with the pounding of hammers.

    “Hello child,” Widow Blake came toward Rebecca with open arms. “I’m so glad ya finally joined us.” Widow Blake was the cutest little woman Rebecca had ever seen. And she told her about it ever chance she got. It always made the elderly lady blush. Her baggy coveralls flapping against her tiny body just added to her cuteness.

    “What ja want me to do?” Rebecca asked.

    “Right now we’re strippin’ the 60 some years worth of wallpaper.” She laughed. “Have ya ever been in this house?”

   “No ma’am.”

   “Then let me show ya. This little room here is the livin’ room.” The room was indeed small. However the fireplace against the far wall was so charming.

    “A fireplace?” Rebecca asked.

    “Did you see a chimney?” Patty giggled from behind her. Her arms filled with old wallpaper.

   “Come to think of it, no.” Rebecca replied.

    “It’s fake.” Widow Blake laughed.

    There were two more doors leading out of the living room; one in the back of the room was to a…? “What’s this suppose to be?” Rebecca walked into the room.

    “The kitchen,” Widow Blake reported.

    Patty came back into the living room dusting herself off. Patty Coots was a magnificent woman. Rebecca wondered why she hadn’t been a model or had a career in show business? She definitely had the body for it. “Gabby, are you gonna be all day?” She grinned.

    “I’m givin’ Becky the grand tour. She’s never been in here. And why didn’t you shake yourself off outside? You’re just creatin’ more work for us later.”

    Patty laughed, “grand tour.” Completely ignoring the dusting off comment.

    Patty had married Deputy Bradley. Rebecca often wondered what power a man like Barney Fife had to attract a woman like Patty?

    They walked out of the kitchen, through the living room and into the tiny hall. Three doors led off the hall. All three rooms had women in them busily stripping wallpaper. Two of the rooms were bedrooms and Rebecca could only guess the other was a bathroom. This room and the kitchen just had naked plumbing in them.

    “Widow Blake?” A male voice called.

    “In here.” She chimed.

    Danny Simms stepped into view from the living room. “Mr. Rice wants the carpet ripped up to.”

   “Oh,” she exclaimed, clapping her hands. “I prayed he would. There is the most wonderful hardwood flooring under there.” She turned her attention to Rebecca. “You can start there.” She pointed toward the bathroom.

    “Sure thing.” Sarah had just finished removing the last of the wallpaper. The bathroom was a tiny little room. It may have been 5 feet by 5 feet. Rebecca busied herself with the carpet. Widow Blake was right; the hardwood floor under the carpet was breath taking. With a little wax, the wood would shine like new money.

Sunshine Valley