Little Tea by Claire Fullerton

Author:Claire Fullerton [Fullerton, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781645262596
Publisher: Firefly Southern Fiction
Published: 2020-04-30T20:00:00+00:00

Como, Mississippi

Sometime in the 1980s

Autumn is my favorite time of year in the South, for all its contemplative stillness. It’s a reprieve between summer’s leap and the dormant void of winter. There’s something about its halting introspection compatible with my nature. I was never one to look forward; I’ve always been the kind to pause and reflect. Because it takes me a while to process things. I find it hard to live in the moment. I tend to register events in my own time, typically in hindsight. I was thinking about this as I walked the faded ochre field to Little Tea’s house, thinking I’d better get ready. I knew she’d be moving to Boston in two weeks, so I should ponder the ramifications before they settled. What bothered me most was that there’d never been a time when it didn’t seem like Little Tea was right around the corner. Even though I primarily lived in Memphis, I spent enough weekends in Como to feel secure with the knowledge that she was instantly accessible. Rather than being happy for Little Tea, all I could think of was how her absence would impact me, never mind that I’d be away at school in Knoxville. It was the idea of Little Tea no longer being a fixture at home that undid me; it left me feeling rudderless.

As I rounded the lake, Little Tea ran toward me. I wanted to stand stock-still, take hold of the moment, file it away, and get back to it when I was ready. It’s not that I didn’t know we’d grow up one day and forge different paths, it just hurt too much to think about being separated from my constant companion. College would change our lives forever, or so Hayward had said while the three of us walked in the woods during his last trip home. Little Tea had been lit up with the news of her acceptance to Boston University, bursting to tell Hayward what I already knew. We both thought Hayward would ride the coattails of her excitement, but he stopped in midstride, his head down heavy, his eyes fixed low, as though the wind were out of his sails. “Little Tea, why so far away?” he asked, his tone taking the news personally. “We’ll never be able to see you.”

Little Tea stopped walking. She put her hand on her hip in a way that told me she was put out and turned to lock eyes with Hayward. “For one thing, I was offered a woman’s track scholarship from Boston University,” she said. “You know I’ve been building my profile for years. You were the one who told me how to get recruited. I spent years connecting with coaches for a shot at this, and it happened for me. Why you so surprised? You’ve been telling me for as long as I can remember that running would be the ticket to the future.”

“I know that, Little Tea, but folks from around here never stray so far from home.

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