any kids?”
“No. Never got around to it.”
“Guess that would make getting divorced a little easier. No kids to fight over.”
“You and Roger fighting over the kids?”
“Not exactly. He’s not even interested. We’re not Kramer vs. Kramer.”
“Mary Jane drug me to see that. Strange to think a woman would run out on her kid like that.”
Virginia straightened in her chair. “Men do it all the time and nobody ever blinks an eye, but if a woman runs away, well, she’s dirt for sure.”
“I don’t know. When Mary Jane and me got divorced you would have thought I was the devil incarnate the way she talked about me to the judge.”
“Why’d you get divorced?”
“Irreconcilable differences.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Hell if I know. I guess it means we don’t get along.”
“Sounds like a good thing to say without saying anything.”
“That sums up our whole marriage,” he said. He seemed sad, but he winked at her. “So why did you and Roger split up?”
As their second round of drinks arrived, Virginia took the moment to ask herself if she wanted to be honest. Should she make Roger sound like the dog he was or should she take the less bitter route? She settled on a noncommittal answer. “I’m sure Roger had his reasons for leaving. He’s just not sharing them with me.”
“Ah, communication problems. Any good marriage counselor’ll tell you that’s the first thing to go when a marriage is falling apart.” Jim sneered.
“You and Mary Jane went to counseling?”
“For a while. But it didn’t work. Waste of money.”
“I don’t guess it’s any secret that Roger moved in with that woman who runs the Beauty Boutique.”
“Yeah, I heard tell.”
“I suppose that sums up our problems right there.”
“He’s an idiot. Why would a man go out for cheap pizza when he can get filet mignon at home? You know, I always had a crush on you in school.”
“You lie. You didn’t know I was alive.”
“I was going to ask you out, but then I heard you and Roger were getting married.”
Virginia gazed at the little pond outside the window. Two ducks paddled in the ridiculously small pool of water. Droppings littered the mulch chips. “Let’s talk about something else.”
“Okay. Let’s talk about that game. Bet you’re proud of how Will pitched tonight.”
“I am.”
“He’s got a good head on his shoulders. I hope that Western scout takes a shine to him. I tried to walk on the baseball team at UK but didn’t make it. College sports are a big step up from high school. You go to college?”
“Lord, no. I got married and started raising kids.”
“You were a year behind me, but I remember everybody thought you were smart.”
“I did okay.” A little stab of pain hit Virginia when she remembered how her grades had fallen off her senior year when Will was a baby. She ended up graduating near the middle of her class and even that had been a struggle.
“Does Will have good marks?”
“His grades are fine, but Shannon’s the one with the straight A’s. She studies her little head off.”
“What subjects does she like?”
“Science and math. You wouldn’t believe some of the classes they’ve got her taking. Advanced placement they call it. Chemistry and trig and economics. When I was in school I took typing and home ec and history.”
“I think kids have a lot more to learn now.”
“Shannon really takes to science. She’s always carrying around some bug or frog or snake and talking about how it reproduces and how pollution and people are destroying where animals live. I don’t understand half of what she talks about, but she’s won a lot of speech contests. When I was a kid everybody was trying to kill animals and weeds and insects so they wouldn’t eat our crops and now she’s off on some campaign to educate everybody not to kill things. She’s getting all geared up for Junior Miss this fall. Both my kids are competitive. They have ribbons and trophies all just so in their rooms.”
Shouts erupted in the bar, cutting off their conversation. Jim got up to get a closer look at the small screen. When he sat back down he shook his head as if to say it was nothing important. “Will fish? I haven’t been in a long time. Not since I got back to Falling Rock. I need somebody to show me the good spots.”
“Oh, he’d love that, I’m sure. He likes to fish. Hunt, too. Anything outdoors, Will’s good at.”
“He seems pretty industrious.”
“Both my kids work hard. They’ve had to since their daddy’s such a slack-ass. Oh, there I went and said something bad about him and I promised myself I wouldn’t.”
Jim laughed out loud. “It’s okay. Fresh wounds. Believe me, I understand.”
“I guess I’m fortunate my kids are so smart. I don’t have to worry about them too much. At least not Will. Now Shannon, she’s got a bunch of book sense, but not a whole lot of common sense. I have to keep her on a tighter leash.”
“That so?”
“Both of them are chomping at the bit to get out of Falling Rock, but Shannon’s the one who’ll try anything. Will’s a little more careful. He plays more by the rules. Shannon wants to go to some rock concert in Louisville and she’s mad at me because I won’t let her go.”
“What’s the band?”
“Some guy named Pink Floyd. I’ve never heard of a guy named Pink. I guess it could be a girl.”
“That’s the band’s name. I’ve heard their music.”
“What’s it like?”
“Interesting. Strange. Loud.”
“Think that concert is somewhere a fifteen-year-old girl needs to be?”
“Not really. Probably a lot of drugs.”
“And what about all those people who died up in Cincinnati last December? That sounds too rough to me.”
“That was a Who concert. They had festival seating, which is a free-for-all. No assigned seats. People got crushed trying to rush in to be right in front of the stage. Most places don’t have festival seating anymore.”
“Still, I don’t think it’s right for her to go. She said I favor Will because I let him, but things are different with boys. You don’t worry so much about boys.”
“Yeah.”
“Fewer things can happen to a boy. You know?”
“I don’t blame you. I know what boys are like. If I had a daughter, I’d probably never let her out of my sight.”
9
The fire alarm reverberated down the concrete-block halls of Baylor County High School. “Come on. Single file. Let’s move!” Teachers shouted and waved students outside. The far perimeter of the school grounds was soon packed with teenagers clad in Izod shirts, concert baseball jerseys, and Levis. Uniformed cheerleaders bounced as if they would be responsible for leading the cheer should the school go up in flames. Students slipped away to the parking lot to smoke. A few ditched for the day.