Same Old Truths (28 page)

Kay picked up the box containing the only two items she felt worthy of donation and placed it on the chair next to her. One was a kitchen clock with the face of a large orange slice sitting in an orange-painted wooden frame, and an old-fashioned ice cream churn. Both items had been purchased by Dave at the beginning of their marriage and were still in perfect working order. The personal treasures held wonderful memories for Kay. As much as it pained her, she told herself letting these things go would be an important symbolic gesture. So she wouldn’t be tempted to keep them, Kay made sure to price them to sell.

With loving care she lifted each one out of the box and gently placed it on the table.

“Is that what I think it is? I haven’t seen one of those things in years.”

From out of nowhere, Delbert Schumacher appeared at Kay’s side, dressed in the crazy houseboat outfit of her imagination. If she hadn’t been so shocked at his sudden appearance, she would’ve laughed at the accuracy of her imagery.

He picked up the ice cream churn, turning it this way and that, and admiring it with just a little-too-much enthusiasm.

He took one look at the price sticker and blurted, “Two dollars? You can’t possibly be serious about this price.”

He put the churn back down hard on the table and looked at Kay with that same menacing face she’d seen that night in Virginia’s kitchen. “What’s wrong with it?”

Kay snatched up the churn to inspect it for damage and move it away from Delbert. “Nothing.That is,‘til you slammed it on the table.” Kay said. She wanted to kick him in his black socks-covered shins.

Kay was repositioning it back on the table when she heard a familiar voice say, “That ice cream churn sure does bring back a lot of memories.”

Kay looked up to see Ed, standing on the other side of the table, wearing the smile he’d been withholding from her for such a long time. “We had one of those when I was growing up. I used to think my arm would fall off from cranking that handle.”

Kay smiled back, too flustered to respond. Ed took pity on her and turned his attention to Delbert, who was staring daggers at him. Ed was unfazed. “Are you gonna buy it? If not, I’d like to have it,” Ed said.

Delbert harrumphed. “Well, you know what they say. Caveat Emptor. Anyway, my doctor has restricted me from eating ice cream.”

Ed shook his head. “What? No ice cream?” he said. “That’s brutal.”

It was obvious Ed was busting Delbert’s chops, but because of his charming delivery, Delbert ate up the faux sincerity. Kay could tell by the encouraged look on his face, Delbert was getting ready to launch into his lactose-intolerant spiel, so she spoke first. “The churn works perfectly, Ed. I just don’t have much occasion to use it anymore and I hate to see it going to waste sitting in the cabinet.”

Delbert looked at Ed, then at Kay. In a tone that was borderline accusatory Delbert said, “Well. It’s obvious you two know each other. Aren’t you going to introduce us, Kay?”

The thought had already shot through Kay’s manners-conscious mind, but she was embarrassed for Ed to know about Delbert and the Executive Connections connection.

“Where are my manners?” Kay feigned. “Delbert Schumacher, meet Ed Salinger. Mr. Salinger is my boss.”

Delbert’ eyes opened wide. “Oh. Right. I thought you looked familiar. You took care of the funeral services for my ex-wife’s uncle.”

Ed smiled and nodded as if he remembered exactly who Delbert was referring to.

Delbert leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. “Tell me something, Ed. I’ve always wondered what that bronze casket set the family back. Seems like such a waste of money just to bury it in the ground.”

Ed had heard questions like these a thousand times and it never bothered him. But right now, Kay was the one who was bothered. She didn’t want Ed to dignify Delbert’s boorish question with a response and she didn’t want to explain her association with Delbert. So she punted.

“I’m sorry I don’t have a box for the churn. Is a plastic bag ok?” she said.

There’s that smile again
.

“Sure, no problem. But you might want to double bag it since it is kind of heavy.”

Kay was all thumbs as she fumbled with the balled-up nest of plastic grocery bags she’d pulled out from under the table.

“Why don’t you let me help you with that.” Ed said. He walked around the table.

I think he enjoys making me nervous.

Delbert wasn’t hiding his annoyance at the chummy scene between Ed and Kay. “Kay, shouldn’t you take the money before bagging up the merchandise? I mean, after all, that’s why we’re here.”

Kay turned to Delbert with her own version of menace. “Delbert, shouldn’t you…”

Ed knew she was about to say something hateful, and ever the diplomat, interjected,“You’re absolutely right, Delbert. That was totally my fault. Here, Kay.” He reached in his pants pocket, pulled out a thin, folded wad of bills, peeled off a couple of ones and handed them to Kay.

“That’s what I love about participating in these events. We have such dedicated volunteers helping us out. I’m going to be sure to mention your name at our follow up board meeting. It’s Schumacher, right?”

That’s why Ed’s here. Duh.

Delbert’s chest puffed out and all traces of disagreeableness disappeared.

“D - e - l - b - e - r - t,” Virginia called and waved from several tables away. ”If you’re not busy, I could use your help over here.”

Eager to confirm Ed’s opinion of him as a dedicated volunteer, Delbert turned to Ed and Kay. “You’ll have to excuse me. But as you can see, I’m needed elsewhere.” He made a crisp, 180 degree turn and sped off to answer the call of duty.

Kay chuckled. “For a minute there, I thought he was going to salute.”

“He seems like an O.K. guy to me,” Ed said. “A little goofy, but ok.”

Kay didn’t want to talk about Delbert Schumacher any more. She wanted to know why Ed was being friendly to her again. She was about to pose a question to open up the topic when Mariah walked up, accompanied by a chubby little girl Kay didn’t recognize.

“Hey, Mr. Salinger. I didn’t know you were going to be here.” Mariah said.

“Mariah! How nice to see you.” Ed nodded in the direction of Mariah’s companion. “Who’s your little friend?”

Mariah’s friend rolled her eyes at the “little” reference.

Kay was annoyed Mariah had been gone so long. “Mariah, where have you been? You said you’d be right back.”

“I’m sorry. Mom. I saw Alicia over by the popcorn stand and I wanted to say hi.” Then true to her mother’s training she said, “Mom. Mr. Salinger. This is Alicia Resnick. Alisha, this is my mom and her boss, Mr. Salinger.”

It was hard for Kay to stay mad at Mariah when she demonstrated such beautiful manners.

“Hu’lo,” Alisha muttered, eyes on the ground, completely uninterested.

Mariah wasn’t finished with her introduction. “Mr. Salinger owns a mortuary. He and my mom work with dead people all the time.”

Kay immediately picked up on Mariah’s attempt to impress the implacable Alisha. She winked at Ed and said, “Ah, yes. Alisha Resnick. Mariah tells me you know a lot about zombies. We’ve been trying to tap into that market for awhile, but there just doesn’t seem to be any interest. Maybe you could give us some suggestions?”

Alisha gave Mariah a look of fury, then turned back to Kay and Ed.

“Uh…uh…I gottago.” The little girl sped away and disappeared into the crowd.

“Wait, Alisha!” Mariah called after her friend. “My mom was kidding.”

Mariah turned back to her mom with a look of dismay. “That wasn’t funny.”

“Neither was trying to get you to watch Dead Zombies Society,” Kay said.

Ed turned his head and pretended to be busy with his newly-purchased package. He didn’t want Mariah to detect his amusement. Kay wondered why he was hanging around. As one of the people in charge of the event, Kay assumed he’d be running around like Virginia and would have little, if any, time for socializing. Kay was getting the feeling he wanted to talk too.

Kay grabbed a handful of ones from her purse and handed them to Mariah. “Here. Go find Alisha. Tell her your mother has a weird sense of humor and then buy her a funnel cake.”

Mariah was only too happy to comply. With a friendly wave to Ed the little girl went in search of her embarrassed friend.

“Heh, heh. Kids,” Ed said. He was peering into the bag with the ice cream churn as if it might spontaneously produce ready-made cones.

“Yeah…they can be pretty funny,” Kay said.

A chasm of awkward silence opened between them. After a few uncomfortable moments, Kay decided to dive across and close the gap by being the first to speak.

“Ed, can I ask you a question?” she began.

He responded in the affirmative but Kay could hear the apprehension in his voice.

“For a quite a while now, I’ve had the feeling I’ve done something to displease you. Up until this morning, you’ve barely even acknowledged my presence - unless you were absolutely forced to.”

“That’s not a question,” Ed replied, his mood turning serious.

“I know.” She cleared her throat and regrouped. “It just seems that ever since that morning when we saw each other at the coffee shop you’ve done everything in your power to avoid me.”

Ed mumbled something Kay couldn’t hear. “Sorry?” she said,

He finally turned and looked at her directly in the eye. “Look, Kay. When I hired you I saw the potential for an exceptional funeral director and I was excited about having you as my apprentice.”

Kay could feel her heart hit the top of her feet. She was sure he was trying to find a way to tell her she was no longer measuring up.

“I love my job, Ed. I know I still have a lot to learn, but I’ve tried to apply everything you’ve taught me to the best of my ability.”

Please, oh, please, don’t let me cry.

“Excuse me.” An elderly woman was holding up a vase with ugly red parrots hand painted on the side. “I don’t see a price on this vase.”

The timing of the interruption was perfect. Now Kay would have a chance to stave off the tears threatening to stream down her cheeks.

“Here. Let me see,” Kay said, gently taking the vase from the woman’s gnarled hands. She turned the item upside down, revealing a price tag adhered to the bottom. “It’s 75 cents.”

With the way the woman reacted you’d have thought Kay had said 75 dollars. “Oh my. That’s much too expensive.” She peered at Kay and said, “I’ll give you 25 cents.”

Kay pretended to mull over the offer.

“50 cents and it’s yours,” Kay countered.

Kay enjoyed haggling, even if it was only for pennies.

For a moment the woman continued to stare sternly at Kay. Then a big grin broke over her face. “You drive a hard bargain. I’ll take it.”

Kay stood patiently by as the old lady searched for the little coin purse hiding at the bottom of an over-stuffed purse. Then it took a few more minutes to fish out two quarters from within her small ocean of loose change. The two quarters clinked as Kay dropped them into the small metal tackle box substituting for a cash drawer. Kay unfurled a large piece of newspaper, carefully wrapped the vase, placed it into a grocery bag and handed it to the woman with a smile. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

Kay turned back to Ed who’d been watching the entire transaction with a bemused grin. “See, Kay. You’re a natural people person. I’ve seen it when you interact with families and I’ve seen it with everyone at the mortuary. I know for a fact that Ruth and Leo really value you as a co-worker.”

Kay looked away. She was embarrassed by the compliment and still confused about where Ed was going with this conversation.

“And what about you, Ed? Do you still feel I’m a valued employee?”

But before he could answer, Mariah walked up looking defeated and forlorn. She slapped the wad of money back in Kay’s hand. “Here. Alisha had to go home.” Mariah plopped into a plastic folding chair and pouted. “I’m bored. When do you think dad’s gonna get here?”

Ed’s posture stiffened. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and checked the screen. “Wow, look at the time. I should have been at the registration table 20 minutes ago.” He picked up the bag with the churn and started to take his leave but Kay couldn’t let him go without knowing where she stood with him.

“Wait!” Kay said, pulling Ed’s arm, causing him to drop the plastic bag. It hit the ground with a dull thud. Kay and Ed dove to recover the churn, clunking their foreheads together with a force that knocked Kay back on her butt.

Ed held his throbbing head and scooted over to make sure Kay was alright, then offered his hand. “I’m so sorry. Are you hurt?” he said, as he pulled her up.

Kay was a little dazed - but not so much that she wasn’t still concerned about Ed leaving.

“I’m fine,” she said rubbing her forehead. “You?”

Ed checked across his forehead with a light touch of his finger tips. “It’s probably just a concussion with a minor subdural hematoma. Nothing really to worry about.”

In her semi-dazed condition, it took Kay a few beats before she realized Ed was teasing her. But she couldn’t laugh. She was too worried about him getting away before she got her answer.