Ruby & Roland: A Novel by Faith Sullivan

Author:Faith Sullivan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Milkweed Editions
Published: 2019-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

The evening was going lavender when I crossed Cemetery Road. Despite the dry weather, frogs croaked in the ditch, and in the trees cicadas whined.

Since we hadn’t heard the wild dog the past two nights, I told Roland not to accompany me. Dora would soon be getting around and keeping an eye on him. We had to be discreet.

Dennis was sitting on the back steps again, smoking, with Teddy at his feet. The smell of cigarette smoke was heavy and pleasant in the still-hot evening air. I liked the scent and thought that I wouldn’t mind learning to smoke. Maybe I should ask Dennis to teach me before he left for college. A woman who smoked in public was considered “loose,” but I saw no harm in smoking if it was in private. And in any case, why was it immoral only for a woman and not a man?

“I like the smell of your cigarettes,” I said as I turned in at the gate. “Would you teach me how to smoke?”

“You don’t want to do that. You’re a nice girl. You are a nice girl, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” I sat down beside him. Was I a nice girl?

“Well, then, you don’t want to smoke.”

“That makes no sense. If I like the smell, I don’t see why I shouldn’t smoke. I won’t do it on Main Street—just out here on the steps in the evening. You’ll be leaving for college pretty soon, and then whose cigarettes will I smell?”

“Jake and Henry smoke pipes.”

“That’s not the same. Please teach me. I won’t tell anyone. It’ll be our secret.” I could see that he liked the idea of us having a secret.

Before passing me his cigarette, he said, “The important thing when you’re learning is not to choke on the smoke. You’ll have a coughing fit if you do. Just suck the smoke into your mouth quick and blow it out again, until you get the hang of it.”

I drew in smoke the way he suggested, blowing it out again immediately. It seemed awfully simple, innocent, and frankly silly. There must be more to it than this.

“Eventually you’ll learn to inhale,” he said. He took the cigarette back again, illustrating the technique. Inhaling was not so simple. I tried it and, as he’d warned, choked and coughed. Still, I was thrilled to have tried, and I knew I’d acquire the knack.

“If I give you money, will you buy me some tobacco and papers Saturday, when you’re in town?”

With Christian reluctance but wanting to please me, he agreed and we shook hands on it. “Thank you,” I said, “you are a good friend.”

I gave his shoulder a sisterly squeeze and opened the screen door.

• • •

“You’ve lost weight.” Emma studied me as I dipped water from the bucket. “That job across the road is too much. I should never have sent you over there.”

“No, I’m making progress,” I told her. Seeing Roland every day was worth any price. “Dora and I are talking. I think I can teach her things she needs to know, about being a farmwife.

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