Making Waves (31 page)

“Yes, please, just the ends.” Sarah relaxed in the chair and I began to snip away. “Donnette, I want to talk to you about your husband, Tim.”

Well, it all happened at once—Miss Edna Earl threw back the dryer top, and I dropped the scissors, but not before cutting a big gap in Sarah's hair.

“My God,” cried Miss Edna Earl, loud as you please. “You cut a hole in that woman's hair, Donnette! She's gonna sue you for sure!”

I got so flustered I was about to cry. I reached down and picked up the scissors and Sarah grabbed the place I gapped. Miss Edna Earl made matters that much worse by saying over and over, “Oh, my God, look at her hair!”

To my relief, though, Sarah Williams tossed her head lightly. “It's no big deal, Donnette. Just cut it a little shorter. It'll be okay. The ends were split anyway.”

“Just a minute,” I managed to say, swallowing hard, fighting tears. I had to get Miss Edna Earl out of here if it was the last thing I did. She was going to make me have a nervous breakdown. “Let me comb Miss Edna Earl out.”

I finally managed to get Miss Edna Earl combed out, and out the door, but not before she like to have broke her neck staring at Sarah, muttering to herself the whole time. She kept saying things like “disgraceful” and “old enough to be his mama,” and “no brassiere on,” and I kept talking real loud to her so that Sarah wouldn't hear her. But she did, I know. Miss Edna Earl didn't even try to keep her voice down. Daddy used to say she must have learned to whisper in a sawmill.

I breathed a sigh of relief when Miss Edna Earl finally left, but I still had to face Sarah. I went back over to her and held the scissors firmly this time.

“Now. What do you want with Tim?” I have to hand it to her for being one cool cookie; she didn't flinch a bit as I finished trimming up her hair, just like I hadn't even gapped it. But I fixed it up fine, and I had to admit it looked even better when I finished.

“What do you think I want, Donnette?” she floored me by asking. There was a hint of a smile about her mouth and a twinkle in her strange gold-green eyes.

I turned red as a beet, and stammered, “Well—I mean, I just can't imagine—” I grabbed the blow dryer and began to dry her hair quickly. It didn't take but a minute, then Sarah looked at me, real serious-like.

“Donnette, I understand that your husband, Tim, painted that sign hanging in front of your shop,” she said.

“He sure did. But how did you know that?”

She shrugged. “You know Clarksville better than that.
Everybody
is talking about it. I heard it in the post office, then again in the drugstore yesterday.”

“What are people saying?” I couldn't help but ask. I hated to think about everybody talking about Tim again, after all the talk was finally dying down about the accident.

“Well, as you know, Mary Sullivan at the post office is Tim's cousin. She told me he used to draw all the time, until he started playing football, then he quit. She was glad to know that he could use his right hand now.”

When I didn't say anything in response, Sarah fluffed her hair around with her hands and eyed me curiously. “Donnette, can we sit down somewhere and have a Coke or cup of coffee and talk?”

I was determined I wasn't going to take her into the kitchen because Tim would be coming in for lunch any time now. But we could go in Aunt Essie's front parlor. Tim and me never used it, but Aunt Essie had it fixed up real nice because she used to have the missionary society and the study club meetings there.

“Yeah, let's go into the house a minute. I'm finished in here until two.”

Sarah reached deep down in her shorts pocket to pay me, then we left the shop and went into the front parlor. I got us a Coke out of the drink machine, and we sat side by side on a stiff old brocade sofa. It was dusty and smelled moldy in there, but at least it was dark and cool.

“Donnette, the sign that Tim painted is unbelievable. He has some real raw talent,” Sarah said to me, turning the Coke bottle up to her mouth and downing about half of it.

He has some talent in ways you ain't going to find out about, I thought to myself. I guess she figured if she buttered me up enough, I'd be willing to talk with her about Taylor, talk Tim into a reconciliation with him.

“I'd really like to see some of his other stuff,” Sarah said, bold as you please. I was so floored that my mouth flew open. Oh, I just bet you would!

She was looking at me kind of funny. “Do you think that can be arranged?”

Well, I've never in my life! I'd heard about those kinds of arrangements, but I never imagined I'd know anyone who did things like that. So that's what she came here for, I thought, and me imagining she wanted to get Tim and Taylor back together. Instead, she was after Tim herself, going for younger men like she does.

I couldn't say a thing. I knew I was staring at her as though my eyes were going to pop out, but I couldn't help it. She smiled at me and leaned back on the sofa. “If you'd rather, I could talk to Tim about this myself. I just thought we could have a nice preliminary talk, woman to woman—”

“Oh, no. Please don't say anything to Tim!”

I know Tim. Bless his heart, he's so naive, he was liable to agree with anything she said, not having any idea what she was talking about. Tim hasn't been around like I have.

Sarah was still looking at me real strange-like. Maybe she was realizing that I had her number, I thought. “Donnette—” she began. She reached over and put a slim tanned hand on my arm and I jumped.

Before another word could be said between us, the front door creaked open.

I think we both were startled by the creaking door, but me especially. And who should be standing there but Tim! My heart went into my throat. But old Sarah didn't flinch a bit. She leaned back on the sofa and smiled right up at him.

“Well!” she said. “This must be Tim.”

I jumped up from the sofa and grabbed his hand, hard. “Tim, this is Dr. Sarah Williams. You know, Miss Maudie's niece from Florida.”

“For heaven's sake, Donnette, please call me Sarah. It's so nice to meet you, Tim. I've heard a lot about you since I've been in Clarksville.” She held her hand out to him. Tim greeted her politely and shook her hand, and I watched her looking him over from head to toe. I just bet he'd heard all about her, too.

I began to pull Tim toward the door. “You'll have to excuse us now, Sarah. Tim has to have his lunch and get back to work.”

Tim looked at me, astonished. I knew he didn't have to work this afternoon, and he knew I knew it. Before he could open his mouth, I yanked on him again. But not in time to stop Sarah Williams.

“Tim, I was telling your wife how much I like the sign that you painted for her shop,” she said.

She was really giving him the once-over. Tim stopped and looked at her too. He had to pull on my hand to get me to turn loose of him.

“Thank you,” he said, blushing, but he kept looking right at her. There was something about her that kind of drew you to her, as I'd discovered.

“I had not heard that you were talented in art, Tim.” Sarah smiled at him ever so sweetly. “Everything I've heard about you has to do with your athletic abilities.”

Tim smiled and looked down at his feet. He scuffed around a bit, then shrugged. “Tell you the truth, when I was little, all I ever wanted to do was draw. But the football coach saw me playing in P.E. one day, throwing a ball, and he got me interested in training to be his quarterback. Only thing was, I had to give up everything else.”

Oh, God, I sure didn't want them talking about football, get Tim all moody again, after he'd been doing so well lately. “Tim, come on, honey. Let's go get your lunch. Sarah will excuse us, I'm sure,” I said, smiling, phony as all get-out.

“Donnette!” Tim looked down at me and raised his eyebrows. I knew he was surprised at my rudeness, knowing I was raised better. “Dr. Williams—er, Sarah—is visiting us right now.”

“Please, don't let me keep you from your lunch, Tim,” Sarah said. “I would like to talk to you sometime, though.” Still cool as a cucumber.

“I ain't got to eat right now,” Tim said, and I'll be, if he didn't just sit right down there across from her, as big as you please. Oh, I was going to kill him later!

I forgot about Sarah being a college professor and plenty smart, so I let her pull one on me. She sure thought fast and handled things smooth, hand it to her. I was astonished at what she came up with so quickly to cover her motives, pretend she didn't come here to look Tim over, see if he was going to be next on her hit list.

“Tim, you remember my aunt, I know. You were one of her students, weren't you?” Sarah leaned forward and looked right into his eyes. I noticed Tim didn't take his eyes off her the whole time she was talking, like he was hypnotized by her or something.

“Yes, ma'am. Miss Maudie taught me in third grade.”

“Oh, God, don't say ma'am to me—you make me feel a hundred years old,” she laughed. “So Aunt Maudie did teach you—wonderful.” Sarah took another sip of her Coke and looked at both of us. There was nothing for me to do but wait this out.

“I'll bet Aunt Maudie encouraged your art, didn't she, Tim? She always tried to bring out the creativity in her students.”

“Yes, ma'am—I mean, yes, she sure did. Actually, she was the one who first saw some of my drawings. She gave me a paint set for Christmas that year, and taught me how to use it.”

Sarah beamed at that. At this time, I didn't know what she was concocting—I thought she was just making small talk while she looked Tim over. There was no way I could stop that, but one thing I sure as hell could stop—she wasn't going to get her greedy hands on him. I'd beat out tougher competition than her, plenty of times. Even with him laying half-dead in the hospital, the nurses were always pawing all over him, young ones and old ones both. Tim has that effect on women. But I put a stop to that right off the bat.

“Perfect, Tim.” Sarah smiled. Somehow she managed to turn the Coke bottle up to her lips, finish it off, and still not take her eyes off him.

“Let me just go ahead and tell you what I'm getting at, Tim. Last year, about this time, Aunt Maudie called me from the nursing home and asked me to come up and see her, that she had something important she wanted to talk to me about. Her mind was still clear then; that was before she had that last stroke. Anyway, she had some very explicit instructions for me.”

She stopped her telling long enough to look carefully at each of us, to make sure we were following her, I guess. Then she continued.

“Aunt Maudie didn't have much money, but she did have a dream. She decided she wanted what little money she left behind to go toward creating a scholarship for someone here, in Zion County. A graduate of this school system. She wanted me to help her set it up. Her main specification was that the recipient be one of her former students and that it have something to do with the humanities, especially the creative arts, since that was what she treasured so all her life.”

Well, I had to hand it to her. It was pretty damn clever to use that scholarship thing to worm her way into Tim's good graces, ask him to help her find someone, maybe. Give her a chance to be around him a lot. I'd have bet anything that's what she was up to!

But then Sarah Williams surprised me even more. She leaned over toward Tim and looked him right in the eyes.

“Tim, if you should choose to pursue your talent in art, there is no doubt in my mind that
you
could get that scholarship. No doubt at all.”

I looked at Tim, astonished, and I could tell that he was floored, too. He sat there for a minute, staring at her, then he just shook his head.

“I don't know what to say,” was all he could manage.

Sarah stood up then to go. She walked over to Tim and stood right in front of his chair so that he had no choice but to look right up at her. Reaching over, she touched his arm gently with her long tanned fingers, like she'd touched me a minute ago. What a touchy-feely woman she was.

“You don't need to say anything right now, Tim. What you need to do instead is think this over. Think about it
very
carefully. On something this important, you shouldn't make a quick decision, but you should weigh all your options. Think about it, and discuss it with Donnette. And we'll talk again, okay? I'm going to be around a few more days, getting everything settled. I hadn't planned on moving this quickly on the scholarship, actually; I'd planned on waiting until next year. But no reason not to have this settled before the university starts in a couple of weeks, now that I've found the ideal candidate. I'll be back in touch with you.”

She took her hand off his arm, finally, then she turned to me, smiling sweetly. “Donnette, it was so nice to meet you. I'll be talking with you again soon, okay? Thanks for the haircut.”

And without another word she was gone, leaving me and Tim sitting there in that musty old parlor, staring at each other, astonished.

If me and Tim had gotten a chance to talk about Sarah Williams's suggestion right then and there, things might have turned out different. Guess I'll never know that for sure. But just as Tim looked at me, shook his head and said, “Damn—what do you think?” there was a loud pounding on the back door.