Decency Read Free Page A

you goin’ back and forth.”
    “Then about eight. I’ll have good light to about then.”
    He kissed both, the only two women in his life, and armed with tea and a hat to battle the sun headed back to the never-ending work around the farm.
    Kathy and Samantha quickly fell into woman-speak.
    “Mom, did I see a new SUV at the Miniers’…”
    “New baby, a girl, Shelly needed it with three under five…”
    “Anyone else…”
    “Let’s see…Mankovics…Tappanys…both boys…and Smiths, a girl…or did I write about her?”
    “You did, is she better?”
    “They don’t know yet. Now they’re testing for lactose intolerance. And did you know the Vensecka boy? He was three years behind you.”
    “I seem to remember…”
    “Hit by a train…at a crossing out by York. Just awful. Two kids still in school.”
    “When…”
    “Just last week…”
    “That will be hard on them…”
    “Church and the kids’ classmates are doing what they can…Timmy and Jenny Swartzkoph are getting divorced.”
    “You’re not serious…I knew them both…”
    “Their oldest just won a full ride Regents scholarship to the University.”
    “Is Dad doing okay…”
    “I really believe so…”
    “He looks great…”
    “He says he feels great…”
    “And you…”
    “I’m starting to slow down…a little…”
    “You should, more…”
    “Oh, I don’t want anything catching up on me…”

     
    If the town was the closest driving distance, you were certainly a neighbor and probably a customer or supplier to everyone else. More so than even the church or the school, the cafe was the community center. So, one of the things to do in town was to stop and see if Samantha was home yet. A steady pilgrimage carried through the afternoon. Hugs and I-knew-you-when-you-were-this-big repeated many times.
    All too soon, the sun lowered and dinner meal orders cast Kathy and Samantha in their familiar roles of alternating cook and waitress as if nothing had changed at all from Samantha’s years up through high school.
    Old Mr. Marston, the principal when Samantha was there, long since retired, put on his best suit and tie. From the door he pointed his cane at Samantha and repeated his oft-given admonition.
    “Now, young lady, you can do much better than that!”
    Samantha was delighted to see him, realizing his advancing age meant it was perhaps for the last time. She always instinctively felt he wanted the best for her by demanding it from her. Now she fully understood just how much he had impacted her life.
    “Mr. Marston, bless your heart for coming.” She kissed his cheek and led him by the arm to a table.
    He ordered iced tea for Kathy, Samantha, and himself to permit as much conversation as possible in the few minutes available.
    “Samantha, are you still doing well?”
    “Of course, Mr. Marston, as well as you taught me.”
    He hoped and believed it was true. His life was wrapped up in the students. It was vitally important to him that they validate what he tried to do.
    “That’s so good to hear. You were the best I ever had…”
    “I don’t know about that.”
    “Well, you do know you were while you were there, and I’m telling you again, you were also the best before and since.”
    “Well, it’s very kind of you.”
    “Samantha, it’s not so kind. You know as well as I this area is the same population, maybe less, than when you were a child. We export people. It is their job to enrich the rest of society. Yours more so than any of the others. So, it’s not kindness. You have the biggest job of all of the kids I ever had in my schools. You’ll never let me down will you?”
    Desperation to prove the worth of a lifetime burned in his eyes.
    …there is no way I can tell him how complicated that is now…
    “Of course not, Mr. Marston.”
    “Thank you, Samantha. It is so very important to me, as you can probably tell.”
    “Yes, I can tell.”
    “Very well, then. I’ll not keep you longer. Until next