Suncatchers Read Free Page B

eat supper with us tonight,” she said. “But I wasn’t sure you’d be awake yet on a Saturday.”
    He hadn’t expected this. He guessed Southern women still did this sort of thing, some of them anyway, but he hadn’t thought about being invited over so soon.
    â€œWell, sure . . . I guess so. I don’t usually eat much supper, though, but thanks.”
    She smiled. “I can tell you’re not a big eater from looking at you,” she said. “But you just might be hungry after a day of unpacking.”
    Perry found himself wondering why her eyes didn’t shine more as she talked. They really should, being that color. Maybe she bore some personal burden that had taken the glow out of her life. He could identify with that.
    â€œWe eat around six,” she added, “so come on over anytime before then. It won’t be fancy.” She took the broom from behind her and swung it with one hand at a few curled brown leaves along the curb.
    â€œSure. Okay, thanks,” he said and turned to go.
    â€œI told Beth I’d watch out for you,” she called after him. “Let us know if you need anything.”
    Back inside he set the music box down on a small end table and looked around the living room. Beth’s sofa, Beth’s old hi-fi, Beth’s bookshelves, Beth’s rugs, Beth’s knick-knacks . . . and his boxes. But it could be a lot worse, he reminded himself. At least he didn’t have to go to a motel to live the way he’d heard of some ousted husbands having to do. He had a whole house to live in for a whole year. Even if it was in a blue-collar neighborhood like this and in a state like South Carolina—that regularly scored forty-ninth in quality of education. He wasn’t sending anybody to school here anyway, so what did he care?
    The broom was still swishing outside, and he was surprised to see Jewel slowly heading back up, sweeping his driveway now. He remembered the sinking feeling last night when he had arrived and found that Beth’s driveway was adjacent to the neighbors’. There was something about adjacent driveways that forced a closer relationship than he wanted to think about.
    Jewel was a careful sweeper, going all the way to the edges. Had she been planning to sweep his side all along? Maybe so, or maybe she was afraid he had noticed her sweeping stuff from her driveway to his. He ought to go out and tell her not to bother, that he’d take care of it later, but that might seem ungrateful. Maybe he should stick his head out the door and yell a friendly thank-you. But he didn’t do either.
    He picked up the snow globe again and slowly wound the silver knob underneath. Immediately he wished he hadn’t, but there was no way to stop it now. As the music started, he turned the glass ball upside down and watched the flurry of snow cover the tiny plastic people and the tiny plastic snowman. Then he turned it right side up and watched the small white granules settle on the roof of the miniature house near the snowman and slide off onto the ground. The loose figure floated lazily through the snowstorm. It was a little boy, he noticed—a little boy somersaulting dizzily and finally landing face down beside a little evergreen. Oh, Troy, what have I done to you? he thought.
    He closed his eyes and tried to think of something else. “Snow,” he whispered. “Think of snow.” He and Troy used to build snowmen. They tried to see how many different things they could use for eyes. He still remembered the time several years ago when Dinah had come home to find a pair of her enormous glittery red earrings in the snowman’s eye sockets. They had all three laughed about it. The earrings were only cheap dime store ones, and that was back when Dinah still thought everything he did was clever. Perry distinctly remembered wondering as they stood in the yard that day whether he would always be