Runabout (7 page)

}Chapter 4

}Prattville's annual Spring Blossom Festival had begun as the company picnic of Cimarron Ornamental Flowers, but over the years, the picnic had evolved into a full-fledged town fair.

}This heavily attended and entertaining Saturday afternoon event was where Luther and Tulsa May decided to make their first public appearance as a courting couple.

}Tulsa May sported a new wide-brimmed straw hat, trimmed in tiny taffeta roses and tied beneath the chin with pale peach gauze, when she picked Luther up in the Runabout.

}"Do you mind if I don't wear a coat?" Luther asked her as he straightened his tie and smoothed down his shirtfront. "I know it would look more respectful, but I swear, Tulsy, I feel nearly strangled in that hot gray jacket."

}Tulsa May did not object. She thought he looked wonderful. Luther's blue striped overshirt was corded in the placard with darker blue twill and tied loosely at the collar with a matching string tie. His long shirt cuffs were held away from his wrists by fancy ribboned garters of the same color, worn just above his elbow. All that blue intensified his eye color to incredible brightness. Sweet-smelling rose oil adorned his hair and held it perfectly in place. It was covered by a slate-colored fur railroad hat set on his head at a jaunty angle.

}"Do you want to drive?" she asked.

}Luther shook his head. "No, ma'am, I've driven this vehicle a good deal more in my life than I ever wanted to." He sauntered to its left side and eased into the seat beside her.

}Tulsa May glanced back toward the garage. "What about Arthel? Does he need a ride?"

}Laying his arm casually along the back of the seat, Luther answered negatively. "Arthel's a big boy, Tulsy. He can get out and about on his own power these days. Besides"—his grin was wide and teasing—"a gentleman doesn't go courting with his kid brother in tow."

}She gave him a sarcastic smirk and adjusted the foot pedals into gear. With only a slight jolt, the Runabout chugged forward.

}The day looked to be a promising one. The weather was still cool, but a warm breeze was blowing in from the west. Overhead the sky was wide and clear, and an overnight shower had wet the ground just enough to keep down the dust on the road.

}"Did you hear about the Spring Blossom Queen?" Tulsa May asked eagerly.

}"I heard a while back that they were thinking of having one."

}"Daddy was furious," Tulsa May confided. "He said that even the appearance of having someone
rule
over the festival was breaking the First Commandment."

}Luther chuckled. "The Rev sure can get his taters in the crib about the strangest things."

}She smiled. Luther did know the reverend's foibles. For one long, wonderful year in their childhood, Luther Briggs had lived with them. And in that one well-remembered year, the two "almost brothers" had drawn her out of her shell, and lonely, dreamy Tulsa May had blossomed into the charming prairie flower that she was always meant to be.

}Time had passed and much had changed, but that childhood bond remained. There was no one else to whom she would have spoken so plainly.

}"I think his indignation is a way of recompense," she said. "Daddy spends so much time with his books and his gym that I think when something he didn't orchestrate occurs in the community, he believes that he's been shirking his duty."

}Luther nodded thoughtfully. "You are probably right. Truth to tell, I thought old Rev would give up the pulpit long before now. He just doesn't seem to enjoy it anymore."

}"I think he
would
retire," Tulsa May agreed, "if he felt that he could still be useful in some way to the community."

}"Well, of course he'd still be useful to the community!" Luther replied.

}Tulsa shrugged. "What is so obvious to the rest of the world is often a mystery to the person in question."

}As they approached the high bluff south of town known locally as Cora's Knoll, they were forced to slow with the press of other vehicles. Friends and acquaintances hollered greetings from the slickest rigs, noisiest touring cars, and the plainest old mules.

}Old Haywood Puser, his thick mane of heavy white hair and his long beard causing him to look much like Santa Claus, had parked one of his rubber-tire buggies near the entrance to the knoll area and was directing the traffic.

}"Afternoon, Mr. Puser," Tulsa May called to him.

}The old man bent from the waist in an old-fashioned formal bow. "My dear Miss Bruder," he said with feigned dignity. "I do hope you've come with the intent to write a splendid article about this small entertainment hosted by my step-son."

}She opened her mouth to assure him that she would, but Luther spoke up first. Bringing his arm more possessively around her shoulder, he gave the old man a wink. "My Tulsy is not here for business, but pleasure."

}Seeing the young man's proprietary manner, Haywood raised an eyebrow in surprise. Then he gave Luther a nod of approval. "Well, it's about time, if I'm allowed to say so. Why don't you park that old autobuggy under the maple tree over there," he said, indicating a spot some distance from the rest of the vehicles. "A young couple may need to find themselves a quiet, shady place if the afternoon gets too hot." He gave Luther a knowing wink.

}Tulsa May's face was flaming as she drove into the shade. "How embarrassing!"

}Luther looked at her, puzzled. "What on earth was embarrassing about it? Old Haywood is just showing us the consideration as a courting couple he approved of."

}She sighed loudly as she pulled down the throttle and allowed the engine to die. "Surely he knows we are not
really
a courting couple."

}Luther reached over and gently squeezed her prettily gloved hand. "Courage, Tulsy," he said as his thumb traced the brown embroidery. "If Haywood believes, the whole town will. I don't think they are going to be nearly as hard to convince as you believe."

}Tulsa May shook her head, flustered. "It just seems so unlikely."

}Jumping down, he sauntered to her side of the Runabout. Grasping her familiarly at the waist, he lifted her to the ground. "It just seems unlikely to you," he insisted. "I know you think of me as a brother, but nobody else in this town has any idea what you or I might be thinking. It's all what it looks like. If it looks like we are courting, then we are."

}"I'm sure it just looks incredibly foolish," she insisted as she glanced around nervously.

}"Courting is a rather foolish business." His smile was wide and warm. "To my thinking,
nothing
could be more foolish than a burst of sunlight like you wanting to settle down with Moldy Doc Odie Foote. But everyone in town believed it, including you."

}Tulsa May tried to think of a snappy retort, but when she looked up into his flashing grin, she could only smile back.

}Respectfully he offered his arm and she laid her hand formally atop it. With chins high, they walked together toward the festivities.

}The loud piping of a calliope cheerfully tooting "Turkey in the Straw" caught their attention, making them walk faster to the picnic grounds.

}The knoll, which overlooked the flower farm and the family home of the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Jedwin Sparrow, was dotted with gaily colored tents, a platform for speeches and music, and booths displaying every type of ware and food imaginable.

}As they walked through the lane of booths, a small boy darted between them, a huge piece of chocolate cake stuffed in his mouth.

}"Woody Sparrow!" Grace Panek called after him in a scold. "Don't you be snitching one more piece of this cake or I'll blister your backside."

}Young Woody didn't even bother to look back as he rushed on, pausing only for a quick stop at Lily Auslander's table to make a sticky, chocolate-fingered grab for a wiener and roll loaded with Lily's special sauerkraut.

}The fair had never been more elaborate. Booth after booth featured displays of flowers, both fresh and dried, food, drinks of sweet milk, buttermilk, spring water, and lemonade. Games of chance were absent but a shooting gallery was set up with targets, and a horseshoe tournament was already under way.

}The crowning touch stood at the very top of the small hill, overlooking the Cimarron River. There sat a brightly painted and gaily mirrored merry-go-round. The steam-powered selection of gaudily festooned wooden horses traveled up and down and all around, as the excess steam was pumped into the calliope.

}"I can't believe it!" Tulsa May's eyes were as round as saucers. "How could everybody in town be talking about the crowning of a Spring Blossom Queen while they managed to keep this a secret?"

}"Maybe that's how they did it," Luther answered as he watched the spinning mirrors and colors atop the hill. "Jedwin Sparrow is a shrewd businessman. I'm sure he used the queen idea to create a diversion."

}Tulsa May demurely adjusted the angle of her hat and attempted to act her age. "I've never ridden a merry-go-round," she whispered quietly to Luther as if making a lurid confession. Her legs were suddenly full of jitters. Glancing around, she was grateful that no one was staring at her unseemly behavior.

}Luther's grin was broad and his laugh was as comforting as a warm sheepskin. "Tulsy," he said. "You can be as adult as you like. But I can't wait another minute to ride on that thing."

}A crowd had already formed on the near side of the whirling stage and youngsters darted in and out trying to sneak through the press of adults to be first in the line.

}"This is the best idea Jedwin Sparrow ever had," a young matron with two bright-eyed children in tow proclaimed.

}"It wasn't Mr. Sparrow's idea," Maybelle Penny piped in. "Mrs. Sparrow and I thought of it. Her husband just handled the details."

}Dressed in a pale blue gown with white eyelet at the wrists and throat, Maybelle looked especially lovely. And from the way she held her head and casually patted her hair, she was well aware of the fact.

}"Well, it's just wonderful." Tulsa May reached across to the younger girl and grasped her hand with excitement.

}Maybelle was smiling back at her warmly, when suddenly her expression changed. Shocked, the young girl stared at the elegant peach taffeta gloves that graced the hand that held hers.

}"Your gloves?" Maybelle's question was an incredulous whisper.

}"Oh, thank you," Tulsa May answered, assuming she was receiving a compliment.

}The operator of the merry-go-round chose that exact moment to stop the whirling carousel. Everyone rushed forward. Luther jumped up on the round platform, then turned and easily pulled his partner up beside him. Then he headed toward the wildest-looking horse. "Might this be a pleasing mount for you, Miss Tulsy?" he asked, gesturing to a gaily decorated black wooden pony with a carved windswept mane and a tail made of genuine horsehair.

}As she nodded, Luther grasped her around the waist, his hands warm and sure, and lifted her up to sit sidesaddle.

}"Now, don't fall off," he admonished.

}In mock terror, Tulsa May grasped the long pole that ran through the horse's neck and chest. "Oh, stay here and protect me from this dangerous animal."

}Luther tweaked her nose playfully. "Sorry, ma'am," he answered in a deep Texas drawl. "This cowboy has his own horse to wrangle." He threw one long leg over the blue and white pony next to hers.

}"You're a little far from the ranch, aren't you, cowpuncher?" Tulsa May asked.

}Dramatically, Luther raised an eyebrow. "Just call me Kid, ma'am," he said with low-toned gruffness. "Carousel Kid."

}Tulsa May was hooting with laughter when she caught sight of the bench directly behind them where Maybelle Penny sat primly between Rossie Crenshaw and Fasel Auslander. The young woman's unspoken censure was so vivid that Tulsa May covered her mouth in embarrassment and turned her attention demurely to the horse in front of her. Chin down, lips closed, she told herself. The loud, breathy music of the calliope began again and slowly, as if uneager for another trip, the horse beneath Tulsa May lowered toward the floor and then began to rise again.

}Smiling once more, Tulsa May looked ahead as the merry-go-round picked up speed. A lock of curly carrot-colored hair worked free of her rather severe coiffure and sneaked out from beneath her hat brim to fly in the breeze.

}As the merry-go-round turned, situated as it was along the far side of the knoll, she could see nothing beneath them but the Cimarron River far below. Tulsa felt as if she were flying in thin air. Breathless with delight, she turned to Luther. His vivid blue eyes were bright as starlight. Silently the two shared the magic of the moment.