When Mother was finished in the bathroom she walked into my bedroom. She'd changed into a different dress; this one might once have been red but had faded to the point it was now almost pink. It was also one of the few sleeveless ones she had. "I need some stuff from the store," she said. "You want to drive me?"
I grinned at her. "If I want to eat, I guess I better." Normally my father took shopping lists she made up and bought the things she needed. I've always believed that was another of his ways of keeping her isolated. Only rarely did she get out to do any shopping on her own. "When do you want to go?"
"I'm ready any time you are," she said.
"Now's as good a time as any," I replied. "Let's go." I shut down my computer and we left.
"We took a real chance doin' what we done in the barn," Mother commented as I drove down the winding dirt road that led from our house to the paved county road that, eventually, led to what passed for civilization in our neck of the woods. "Your daddy coulda' come back and caught us."
I glanced over at her and smiled. "Was what we did this morning as thrilling for you as it was for me?" I asked, glancing over at her again.
Mother's face reddened and she nodded. "Yeah, it sure was," she said. She laid her hand on my leg. "How come it was so intense? Was it 'cause it we coulda got caught?"
Mother's intuitiveness never ceased to amaze me. I nodded. "I think it may have been the possibility of getting caught," I agreed. "You know, there actually are people who go around trying to get away with having sex in public places for the thrill."
"Public places!" Mother exclaimed. "What kinda public places?"
"You name a public place, somebody's probably tried making love there," I said.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her staring at me. "You...did you ever...you know...do...um...anything like that?" she asked.
"I'm not that adventuresome," I laughed.
Before we went to the store, I went through the drive-up at a local fast food outlet and we had lunch in the car.
"You really think this stuff is good?" Mother asked as we at our burgers and fries.
"It's food," I said. "And it's fast."
"OK, you got that right," she agreed.
Mother got off the mountain and out in the world so little that going to the supermarket was an adventure for her. And it was a delight for me to watch her discover things that had changed since the last time she'd been in the grocery store. She wasn't at all impressed by the items for sale in the supermarket. "I don't believe they sell meatloaf they make in a factory," she said as we walked by the meat case. "Mashed potatoes, too. Don't people do anything for themself any more?"
"It's the way it is," I said. "Folks convince themselves they're too busy to cook, I guess."
"I think it's just bein' lazy," Mother snorted.
I was pushing the shopping cart and Mother was walking beside me. I slipped my arm around her waist and gave her a half-hug. "You're right, I think," I said. "Besides, I tried the ready-made meatloaf when I was in college. It tastes like cardboard compared to your meatloaf."
"Seems as though it would haveta. Can't imagine a factory making any kind of good meatloaf...or anything else for that matter."
We continued walking through the store, picking up things Mother needed. I added a few things I needed, too. When we had everything on her list, we headed for the checkout.
The woman staffing the cash register in the line we were in was a buxom blonde who was probably my age but looked older. Her hair was done up in a kind of sloppy bouffant hairdo that most likely required a whole can of hairspray to achieve a look that was years out of date everywhere but here in our county. She had on a bright red pullover shirt that was at least a size too small for her and a straight skirt that looked as if it had been painted on. Fortunately, much of her outfit was covered by the store's smock she wore. There may have been a time she was attractive, but now she looked pretty much used up.
As she was running items by the scanner, she smiled at me. A couple of her upper front teeth had discolored spots. "Hey, you're J.J. Wallace, ain't you?" she asked, giving me a smile that for her, I suppose, was seductive.
"Ah...yeah...I am," I replied. I could see Mother frowning at me out of the corner of my eye.
"I'm Carol Lee Mabry," she said. She giggled a little. Actually cackled might be a better description of the sound that came out. "I'm actually Carol Lee Barnes now," she went on. "I useta be Carol Lee Mabry. You was a coupla classes aheada me in school."
"Oh, yeah," I said. I remembered her now. She'd been a lot prettier back then. She'd also quit school in the eighth grade after she got pregnant.
"You married Billy Ray Barnes," I said.
Carol Lee grinned and shrugged. "Sorta, I guess," she replied. "But he's gone and run off on me again, so I guess you could say I'm...you know...unattached right now." She tried what passed for her seductive smile on me again. "I heard you went off to college then come back to work for the Sheriff. That right?"
I glanced over and saw that Mother was frowning. "That's right," I said.
She let out another unnerving giggle. "I always thought you were kinda cute back in school," she said. "But you was older than me and didn't pay me no mind."
It wasn't that I was older that kept me from showing interest in her. When I knew her in school she had the reputation for being sexually available to almost anybody and there were also rumors she'd had various sexually transmitted diseases as well. Being a normal teenage male, I didn't mind the getting laid part, but I did have enough sense not to want to get the clap. That meant Carol Lee wasn't anyone I'd have been interested in. And I'd heard enough about her and her husband from other deputies to know I didn't really want anything to do with her now.
Carol Lee finished with our order and I paid for it. When the machine spit out the receipt, she bent and wrote something on it before she handed it to me. "That's my phone number," she said as she handed the paper to me, being sure her hand and mine made contact. "Like I said, I'm unattached right now."
Mother didn't look at me or say anything when I pushed the cart carrying our purchases out to my car. While I loaded things in the car, she climbed into the passenger seat. It didn't take a genius to see she was upset about something. It also didn't take a genius to figure out that something was probably a blowzy blonde named Carol Lee.
It was warm out and I did have the air conditioning on as we drove back to the house, but given the frosty way Mother was acting, I probably could have left the A/C off. Things were more than a little chilly between us.
"Mother, what's going on?" I asked as we wended our way back up the hill.
