Cast a Road Before Me by Brandilyn Collins

Author:Brandilyn Collins [Collins, Brandilyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780310333388
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2001-09-09T04:00:00+00:00

chapter 26

Land sakes, what a week,” Aunt Eva declared Friday at supper as she buttered a roll. “Thomas and Jake spattin’, a July Fourth parade in the rain, and Blair Riddum’s actin’ crazier than ever, accordin’ to folks. You may a been quiet, Frank, but just about everyone who comes into the post office has a tale to tell.” She stirred her tea for no reason, ice cubes clicking. “You and Lee looked awful cute together at the parade,” she added, feigning an afterthought.

Cute. I’d looked like a drowned rat, with one of Lee’s work shirts drippingly held over my head. The heavens had burst open while I was at his house helping Connie get a pair of her mother’s shoes on. She could not see her own feet. We’d all planned to watch the parade together, but Miss Wilma quailed at the rain, saying she’d seen enough Independence Day parades for one lifetime anyway. Connie would not be turned back; she felt housebound enough to sit through a torrent. The rain soon softened to a drizzle, allowing the parade to begin only a half hour late, which was near-record time. But I was already soaked, having stopped to help an overwhelmed third-grade teacher mold her amorphous class into marching formation.

Everyone always came to the annual parade, which began downtown and made a beeline up Main toward Route 622. Folks from the country drove in, their cars lining side streets and the two church parking lots. The parade was the same every year, but no one cared. After all, kids were a year older and, one hoped, the town band a year better. A filly too young to show off last year would now be a full-grown mare, with patriotic ribbons braided into her mane, and two previous high school juniors would now wear the senior king and queen crowns.

Despite their latest feuding—which had given the edgy town something to laugh about, just as he had hoped—Thomas and Jake led the parade, waving side by side from one of the town’s two wailing fire engines. Bill Scutch and his family followed in the police car, and behind them fanned a cacophony of sounds and sights, from toddlers to retired school teachers, all decked out in red, white, and blue. A popular favorite was a large group of mill workers wearing wigs and housedresses while pushing IGA shopping carts and pretending to fight over groceries. Connie had to sit down on the curb, she laughed so hard.

“Why aren’t you out there?” I shouted to Lee.

“Not on your life!” He hugged me, grinning.

Remembering the parade, I couldn’t help but smile at Aunt Eva’s remark. It had been sheer fun and a welcome relief from my own conflicts and the town’s as well. I’d felt so right standing with Lee and Connie, seeing all the familiar faces of Bradleyville. At that moment Cincinnati seemed as far away as China. All the same, today, after five hour’s work for Miss Alice, I’d started on another dress.

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