Some Dark Holler by Luke Bauserman

Author:Luke Bauserman [Bauserman, Luke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781947448001
Publisher: Lock10 Press
Published: 2017-08-31T22:00:00+00:00

18

A Hatful of Regret

Isabel’s father stood in the doorway of the store, hat in hand. “I’m headed over to the mill to get some corn ground,” he said. “Your ma’s coming with me. I need you to stay here and run things while I’m gone.”

“Yes, Pa,” Isabel said, looking up from sweeping the floor.

She watched through the window as her parents drove off in their wagon.

On a shelf behind the sales counter sat a round box tied with a string. Isabel pulled it down. Would she ever get to give Ephraim the gift she’d brought from Charleston? She doubted it. If Ephraim was still alive, he was likely far from Sixmile Creek by now.

She undid the string and lifted the lid. A black hat with a pale blue ribbon band lay inside. She pulled it out and set it on the counter. She’d thought of Ephraim the moment she’d seen the ribbon, blue like his eyes. Aunt Eliza had bought it for her, and giggled like a young girl when Isabel told her about the boy back home she wanted to please.

The bell on the door jingled, and Isabel looked up to see Lester and Polly Ewing entering. Polly walked to the counter.

“How do, Miss Isabel?”

“I’m fine,” Isabel said. “Pa’s gone to the mill. Is there something I can help you all with?”

“I need to buy a sack of sugar,” Polly said, counting coins onto the counter. Her gaze fell on the hat. “That’s a handsome hat you’ve got there. Lester, come over here.”

Lester walked over.

“Try this on,” Polly said, handing him the hat.

The hat fit Lester perfectly.

“That looks real good on you, honey!” Polly said. She turned to Isabel. “He had a hat just like that when we first started courtin’. Seein’ him wearin’ it makes me feel young all over again. How much for it?”

Isabel shook her head. “It’s not for sale. It’s a gift for someone.” Even as the words left her mouth, she wondered why she shouldn’t sell it, or even give it to Polly—just let go of the hat, and Ephraim too. If she didn’t, the hat would sit on the shelf, a silent reminder of dreams never realized.

Lester pulled off the hat and laid it on the counter. “Shame. I kind of like that one.”

Isabel took a deep breath and pushed the hat back across the counter. “Sorry, I was thinking of a different hat. You can have this one for two dollars.”

Lester’s eyebrows shot up. He glanced at Polly. “Two dollars? I’d expect to give four for a hat like that!” He looked back at Isabel. “You sure ’bout this, miss? Your pa isn’t goin’ to hunt me down and accuse me of stealin’ from his store while he was gone, is he?”

Isabel nodded. “I’m sure.”

The Ewings paid and left with the hat and sugar. Isabel stared at the empty space where the hatbox had sat on the counter. A lump rose in her throat.

Across the street, outside Manson Owens’s smithy, a knot of people had gathered.

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