Once in a Blue Moon (13 page)

This time Melissa
scowled.

“My name’s Elmer. I
work for the biggest outfit around here; the Jenkins spread. It’s
back that way about four miles.” He pointed to the west and Melissa
realized it must be on the other side of Sully’s place.

“What’s your name?” He
spoke directly to Jessica, ignoring Melissa completely.

Melissa raised a brow
and stepped directly in front of her daughter. She gave Elmer her
coldest glare. “I’m Melissa Kendal, and these are my children.”

“How old is your
daughter?”

Melissa was suddenly very glad she’d taken late night
self-defense courses three times a week. Or as often as possible
anyway. If he took one step toward them, she’d flatten him dead.
“She’s not quite ten,” Melissa lied. “That would make her
nine
. And no thank you,
we don’t need a ride, we’re enjoying the exercise far more than we
would enjoy the tedious company.”

Elmer gave her a
strange look. “Exercise? Exercise is for race horses. Hop on.”

“I said no. Thank
you.”

He shrugged. “Suit
yourself.” He lifted his hat. “Good day.” He shot Jessica one last
look, or tried to, but Melissa still blocked his vision. He took
off.

“Creep.” She didn’t
bother to lower her voice, but if he heard he didn’t stop or even
turn around.

Jeremy put a hand to his stomach. “Mom, I’m getting hungry
again. You should have asked Elmer if there were any
wabbits
around
here.”

She chuckled in spite
of herself.

They watched him go,
and a slight breeze picked up a little bit of dirt from the wheels
and wafted it back to them. They backed up into the field behind
them and let it dissipate.

She reached out and
brushed a hand across Jessica’s cheek.

“You okay?”

Jessica nodded. “Fine.”
Her eyes flitted to meet Melissa’s gaze. “Thanks, Mom.”

Melissa nodded, and
after a moment, they started walking, this time together.

Jeremy cleared his
throat. “Uh, Mom, we’re twelve. You know that, right?”

“Of course I know.
Don’t be stupid.”

Jeremy laughed. “Just
asking.”

Melissa sighed. “You
kids aren’t going back to the cabin, are you?”

“No,” said Jeremy.

Jessica shook her
head.

It was just as well.
After meeting Elmer, she wasn’t so keen on her kids wandering off
alone anyway. They should have simply stayed at the cabin. Now it
was too late.

They walked in silence.
Melissa was so used to noise of some kind: music, news, television,
traffic, sewing machines. Always noise. Now all she could hear was
the low-key buzzing of insects, the rattle of the horse wagon in
the distance and their own footfalls.

The silence seemed
strange. She breathed in deeply and the fresh air was wonderful.
She wasn’t used to that, either. She realized she was feeling very
mellow. “At least we know what the local weirdo looks like. Now we
can avoid him.”

Jeremy threw a stick.
“Yeah, for a minute I thought Jess was going to have a Friday night
date.”

Jessica shoved him.
“You’re sick.”

“
He
was
sick,” said Jeremy.

They came to a small
river with a bridge, and all three of them stood looking down at
the water. It looked inviting. They needed to get to town soon, but
still, it was water, and after two days of grunge, Melissa couldn’t
pass it up. “Shall we soak our feet?”

Jeremy eyed her
suspiciously. “Only if you promise not to steal my shoes when I’m
not looking.”

Melissa chuckled.
“Don’t give me any ideas.”

They took off their
shoes and socks and sat on some boulders, dipping their feet in the
cool water.

Melissa closed her eyes. “This feels
so
good.”

Jessica trickled her
fingers through the water. “Do you think it’ll be easy to get a job
here?” She sounded amused.

“Yeah, what kind of pay
do you think you can get?” asked Jeremy. Apparently he was amused
too.

Suddenly, Melissa saw a
little bit of humor in the situation. She could see the headlines
now: big city fashion designer gets job in Hickville, USA. She
shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe not much to start, but once
they see what I can do, probably more.”

Jeremy cocked his head.
“More, as in what? Ten dollars a month instead of seven?”

Melissa splashed him.
“Hopefully it won’t be that bad.”

“Let’s think about this
for a minute,” said Jeremy. “What if you’re only making a few
dollars? What could we buy with the money?”

Jessica wiggled her
toes in the water. “I’d want some soap.”

“I’d want a new dress,”
said Melissa, playing the game.

Jeremy tilted a pretend
hat. “I’d want a cowboy hat.”

Melissa snorted. “What
on earth for?”

“So they’ll take me
seriously here.”

Melissa shook her head.
“No one’s ever going to take you seriously if your wearing short
pants. Stick to the good stuff. I’d want my Nike’s.”

Jessica sighed. “I’d
want a candy bar. And a toothbrush.”

Melissa laughed out
loud. “Good thinking. After the first you’d certainly need the
second.”

Both kids were smiling
at her and Melissa smiled back. They were getting so big, grown up
in so many ways. Love for them swelled in her heart.

From their rapt
expressions it was obvious they loved having her full attention and
she felt a pang of regret for her absentee parenting. She knew
she’d missed a lot, but she’d needed to work. Just like she did
now. Besides, it could have been a lot worse for them. At least
they had everything. When she’d been a child--

Dismay slammed into her so hard it stole her breath. Right
now, her kids had even less than
she’d
had as a child. What had
Jessica wished for? A bar of soap? A toothbrush? All of their
possessions were gone. Everything important was gone. Everything
they owned was sitting on their backs right this minute. And it was
so little.

This was unacceptable.
She would do right by her children. They wouldn’t ever have to feel
inadequate or second best. Ever. “Come on kids. Let’s go. We need
to get to town, pronto.”

“I thought we were
having fun? Soaking,” said Jessica.

Melissa, concentrating
on her face, barely heard her words. All she saw was the hurt.
Heard it in her tone and realized Jessica was feeling the pain of
being poor. Because they had nothing. She sucked in air. They would
soon have everything they needed, everything they wanted; she’d
make sure of it.

* * *

A short while later,
Melissa and the kids passed a pretty white sign perched on a hill
proclaiming them to be within ‘Garden City’ limits.

They walked by a grain
warehouse, an attractive white church and a picturesque green park,
complete with pond. Small houses decorating the hilled area looked
to be made out of pine or redwood, some of which were painted with
whitewash. Almost every home sported shutters, most of them open to
the warm summer morning.

One thing was for sure,
decided Melissa. It looked a heck of a lot different than the
Garden City of the future. In fact, it didn’t even look like the
same place. “It’s so changed.”

Jessica nodded. “It
looks like a movie set or something.”

It did. A movie set
depicting small town American life. Busy with people, the streets
and store fronts bustled with activity, and the town itself was
much bigger than she would have supposed.

If she’d thought about
it, she would have expected an old-west-type town, like something
from a Clint Eastwood movie: dirty brown streets, false-fronted
buildings, and perhaps a few cowboys wearing guns and giving each
other shifty-eyed looks while a squeaking sign swung in the breeze.
But it wasn’t like that at all.

The town was big, with
homes sprawled on either side of the main street and with many more
behind. There was a lot more industry than she’d have imagined too.
On one side of the street there was an agricultural implement
store, a bakery, a beer parlor, a blacksmith shop, a carpenter
shop, and a citrus packing house.

On the other side,
there was a social and athletic club, a dental office, a hotel, a
liquor store, and a livery stable.

A school sat in the
distance, as well as a post office, and there was a saloon and
billiard hall at the first corner.

They kept walking and
soon passed a bank, a mercantile, another saloon, a restaurant, a
sheriff’s office, a milliner shop and she finally found what she’d
been looking for--a dress shop.

She mounted the two
steps to the boardwalk and realized her little family was
collecting quite a bit of attention.

A thin, middle-aged man
swept the planks nearby and nodded at them, staring as they walked
by. A teenage boy on a clunky bicycle almost crashed as he gaped at
them. An elderly man tying the reins of his horse around a post
stopped to stare. A gentleman wearing a white shirt and a brown
jacket rode by, tipping his cowboy hat to Melissa.

A couple of giggling
little girls wearing ruffled hoop-skirts and flower-trimmed hats
scampered around them, their elegantly dressed mother close behind,
all of them sneaking peeks at Melissa’s family.

A couple of men
sporting bowler hats and patent leather shoes stopped and murmured
good morning. A wagon, filled with supplies drove by, the family of
four craning their necks to get a better look.

Melissa realized they
were especially staring at the children. She took in the apparel
the other kids wore and realized the twins’ clothes were drawing
attention. “Jessica, put on your jacket.”

Despite the heat,
Jessica slid into her jacket without argument.

Melissa sighed. “Maybe
it would be best if you kids just went back to the cabin now?”

They both shook their
heads.

They started walking
again, and as people continued to stare, Melissa’s irritation
mounted. Simple country hicks. Hadn’t they ever seen a visitor in
town? “Just try to blend in, okay?”

Jeremy laughed
nervously. “Uh, blend in. Yeah, okay, sure thing, Mom. So, how
exactly do we do that?”

“I don’t know. But I
can’t take you kids to my job interview, so you’re going to have to
find something to do.”

“Maybe they have an
arcade?” Jessica tone was sarcastic.

Melissa stopped and shot her a ‘
don’t push it
’ look. “We passed a
park. Why don’t you go and hang out there for a while and I’ll come
get you later?”

Jessica glanced back
they way they’d come. “There wasn’t any playground equipment.”

“Maybe there are ducks.
Get going.”

“Where will you be?”
asked Jeremy.

Melissa pointed to the
dress shop. “I’ll be just down the street a ways. And watch out for
weirdos.”

The kids crossed the
street and headed toward the park.

Melissa stopped in
front of the dressmakers’ window and gazed up at a sign proclaiming
the place to be ‘Greyson’s Creations.’ Cute name. Catchy. She
turned her attention to the two dresses on display and smirked.
With her talent and knowledge of the up-and-coming styles, she’d
turn this place on its ear. In the three months she’d be here, she
could convert this little California town into a fashion
landmark.

Nerves bubbled in her
stomach, something she couldn’t remember happening for a long
while, and it irritated her. She straightened her shoulders,
determined to exude confidence, and pushed open the door.

A red-haired lady
looked up from her position on the floor where she was pinning the
hem of a customers dress.

Melissa glanced at the
customer’s face and inwardly groaned. The Widow MacPherson. This
day just kept getting worse.

She considered coming
back later, but straightened her shoulders. She had a lot to offer
and the job was hers for the asking. Who cared if the old biddy
watched her in action? Let her learn something.

She took in her
surroundings. There were curtains on the tall, thin, east-facing
windows, and they provided generous light for the room. A
dressmaker’s form with a half-finished, hideously ugly dress sat in
one corner, and the smells of fabric, flowers and a heating iron
filled the air.

Three sewing machines
sat along the window and a worktable was set against the far wall.
Rows of muslin, wool blends, and a variety of fabrics were stacked
neatly on overhead shelves.

A dressing room with a
curtain was located against the far wall. Fat red roses adorned the
wallpaper, fitted hardwood covered the floor, and a stove sat in
the corner. It was all very neat and tidy. Melissa’s lip curled.
Very antiquated.

The kneeling woman
smiled in welcome. “Hello, I’m Miss Greyson. How may I help
you?”

Melissa noticed two
other women in the shop, looking at what passed for a fashion book.
Melissa felt slightly intimated by the audience, but was determined
to plow forward.

She took a deep breath
and smiled. “Actually, I’m the one who can help you. I’m a fashion
designer as well as a seamstress. And if the dresses in the window
are any example, this town is definitely in need of my services.
For a percentage of the profits, I’d be willing to work here.”

All of the women
stared. No one said a word. It was like they were all frozen in
place.

Unease tugged at
Melissa’s stomach, but she kept her smile firmly in place. She met
the widow’s gaze, and for a brief moment thought she detected pity
before the widow shook her head and turned away.

The unease
increased.

The two women by the
window exchanged wide-eyed glances.