Week 14: Spring Break

Danny Wilson was excited to be going home for Spring Break this year. After four years at Paris College, he was almost finished with his undergraduate degree. But that isn’t what excited Danny; it was the company he was bringing home with him. His traveling partner, a beautiful blonde girl named Blair Montgomery, fiddled with the radio as he turned his car east on the parkway.

“Told you, radio stations are kinda sparse, babe,” Danny said. He was a handsome young man with pale yellow hair and sharp features. His blue collared shirt and jeans hinted at his humble background.

Blair looked over at her boyfriend of eight months. “Oh, well, that’s OK,” she said, smiling. Her long platinum hair hung in loose curls around her shoulders and a ∆Ω shirt clung closely to her body. She scanned the horizon, taking in the sunset. “The mountains are as pretty as you said they would be.”

“Told ya. I ain’t, I mean, I’ve not done much traveling. But I can’t imagine anywhere as pretty as ‘round here.” Danny cursed at himself. He could see the reaction on Blair’s face when he said “ain’t.” She’d told him several times that sounding professional was going to be key to his finding a top internship this summer. “We’re about forty-five minutes from the house. You need a pit stop?”

She shook her head. “I’m good,” she said looking out the window. “What are these purple trees along the road? They’re everywhere.”

Danny smiled. “Those are redbud trees. They sprout around this time of year. Couple a’ counties do Redbud Festivals with music and stuff to celebrate the season.”

Blair scrunched up her face. “But these are purple. Pink maybe. The one thing they are not is red. Why are they call redbuds?”

“Can’t answer that one. Just what they’re called.” He pulled into the passing lane to get around a slow moving truck.

It took the better part of an hour to get to Black Grass, the county seat of Peril County. “This is it,” he said, pulling onto main street. He pointed out local landmarks to his girlfriend: the courthouse, the bank, the post office, Jones’ Barber Shop, watching Blair take it all in. He couldn’t read her face, but thought she seemed unimpressed with everything. “What do you think?”

“Pretty.”

Danny’s family lived in the Baker’s Fork area, another fifteen minutes from town. He tried to make conversation as they drove, but Blair shot up a hand in-between them. “Can you slow down or pull over or something. I’m going to be sick!” He quickly pulled off of the side of the road and Blair hopped out. She put her hands on the sides of her head and then down to her waist, breathing deeply.

He rolled down the window. “Y’OK?”

“It’s these curves, I think. I was about to get sick.” Danny could see she still looked a little green around the gills as she stood on the side of the road.

“Take your time. I’ll take it easy from here on in. Plus, we’re not too far.”

She nodded her head and climbed back into the car. “I’m OK. Just get the A/C going.”

Blair’s eyes were wide as they pulled off of the main road and down into the holler. The single lane road had been in much better shape when Danny left for college four years ago, but a few floods and a slip or two had left the road broken and uneven. She tensed as they met a large pickup coming in the opposite direction. Danny calmly pulled his car over to the right, almost into the ditch, and the truck passed. The driver gave a friendly wave as he did.

“Did you know him?” she asked as they started up the holler again.

Danny shook his head. “Don’t think so. Why?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “But he waved at you.”

“Well, I pulled over and made room for him to go thru. He’s just sayin’ thanks.” Danny said. Blair had grown up in Indianapolis and never spent much time out of the city, so country pleasantries were a bit foreign to her, he had noticed.

They pulled into the Wilson Family driveway to see Danny’s father, Ed, standing on the porch, manning the grill. Ed was a burly man with balding hair and a huge orange mustache that looked like it belonged on a walrus. He gave the car a wave and closed the lid before he headed down the steps in their direction. Danny gave him a big hug, and they slapped each other on the back a few times, lovingly. “Welcome home, pal,” Ed said.

“Dad, I would like to introduce you to someone; this is Blair Montgomery,” Danny said as he motioned for her to stand beside him. Ed hadn’t made it up to Danville to see his son this year. The service station he owned lost a mechanic, and they couldn’t find anyone to fill the position.

Blair stuck her hand out to Ed. “Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wilson.”

Ed cocked his head and grinned. “Awe, honey. If you gonna stick around these parts, you’d best get used to huggin’!” He wrapped her up in a big bear hug and lifted her off of the paved sidewalk. “Danny’s done told me all about you. And he’s never tolt me nothin ‘bout no girl he was a datin’ before.” He sat her back down.

Danny could see Blair’s eyes bugging out in her head. But she kept a friendly smile. “Well, thank you for letting us spend a few days with you here in Black Grass,” she said.

Ed ushered the young couple inside and carried their two suitcases into the house. The smell of corn bread and frying onions filled the air. Danny heard a squeal from behind the dining room wall and soon saw his mother, Edna, run around the table as she wrapped him up in her arms. She was a short, round woman with light hair and thick glasses.

“Welcome home, baby!” she said as she shoved her cheek into his chest. “It’s been too long!”

Danny hugged his mother and chuckled. “Mom, I was here at Christmas!”

Edna pulled back and looked up at her son, beaming with pride. She looked over to see Blair taking in her surroundings. “Oh sweetie, it’s so nice to see you. Welcome to our home.” She walked over and took the young girls hands into her own. “I’m so glad you came home with Danny,” she said.

Blair looked a little shell shocked, Danny thought, but she hadn’t bolted for the door yet. “I appreciate you letting me stay. I’ve never been to this part of the country before.”

“Well, we sure hope you like it,” Edna said.

A few moments later, the suitcases were stashed away and everyone sat around the dining room table. Danny’s little sister, Janice, had her nose pressed into her phone, not engaging with anyone. She was in those odd early teenage years when everything that happened to her was the most important thing in the universe and it could all crash down if the cute boy in Biology didn’t look at her just right.

“I hope you like burgers and hot dogs, dear,” Edna said, passing around a large platter of meat.

Danny quickly took the plate and moved it past his girlfriend. “Mom, I’m pretty sure I told you that Blair wasn’t eating meat or fish right now.”

Edna got an empathetic look on her face and dropped her shoulders. “Oh, honey. I though you were talking about like a weekend, or something. Well, let’s see. The green beans have bacon in them. The salad has ham and chicken in it. What about deviled eggs? We’ve got some cornbread, too. Nope, that’s got bacon grease in it. Can I go make you a grilled cheese?”

“It’s fine, Mrs. Wilson, really. I’ll have a baked potato. That’s plenty for me.” Danny had seen Blair struggle with food choices since the new year, when she changed her diet.

The clinking of plates and glasses filled the air as they began to eat their dinner. “So Blair, what are you studyin’ up there at Paris?” Ed asked, taking a big bite from his hamburger.

“I’m a double major in Environmental Studies and Art History with a minor in Gender Studies,” she said, stirring some butter and sour cream into her potato.

Edna was listening intently while Janice paid more attention to her phone. “And what do you plan to do after college?” Edna asked.

Blair took a drink of sweet tea. “Well, I’m really interesting in creative placemaking and connecting disenfranchised communities with artistic outlets to let them express ownership of their spaces.”

Ed and Edna stared blankly at there for an awkward moment of silence. From behind her phone, Janice piped up. “She wants to make nice places for people to use and make sad people happy.”

“I’m going to steal that,” Blair said with a broad smile. “That explains it much better than I ever could.”

Edna scooped some green beans onto her plate. “Well, that sounds just lovely, dear.”

“Can you do something like that around here?” Ed asked.

Blair bit her bottom lip and cocked her head to the side. “Well, I’m not sure. Do you have any projects or ideas in mind?”

Ed shook his head. “Not right off. I was just thinking if you guys are gettin’ serious, if this was something you could do in this neck a the woods.”

Danny’s almost spit out the hotdog he was eating. “Dad! There’s about ten things wrong with bringin’ that up right now.”

“I think what your father is trying to say is, you and Blair will be out of college in just a couple of months and it’s always a good idea to have a plan on what yer doin’ and where yer goin’.”

Ed shifted in his chair, making himself taller, somehow. “I know we’ve talked about it off and on, but I always figured you’d come back home to Peril County. I ain’t expectin’ you ta climb under a rollback and work on brakes or nothin’. But there’s plenty of great jobs for you in these parts, I’d figure.”

Danny looked at his girlfriend, offering a silent apology while also trying to express his own uncomfortableness. He could see she was taking everything in stride, maybe even enjoying seeing him squirm a little.

“Nothing to be decided tonight, really. There’s plenty of time, still. Plenty of time,” Edna said. Danny could see his mother didn’t like this line of discussion and wanted to change it.

They chitchatted through the remainder of dinner. Blair shared more about her growing up in Indianapolis and how she came to Paris College. (Softball scholarship that a knee injury forced her to give up after one season) Danny tried prying the phone from his sister’s hands and interact with her actual face, with mixed results. After the stiffness of the conversation of their future ended, the dinner was light and pleasant. Blair helped clear the table while Danny and Ed did the dishes.

After their late dinner, it was time for bed. Danny had explained the sleeping arrangements with Blair on their ride down. Edna Wilson taught Sunday School, so there wasn’t going to be any chance for funny business under her roof. Blair would take Danny’s old room, and he would sleep on the pullout couch in the living room. “I’ll take the couch, honey. It’s fine,” she had told him. But Danny would have none of that. He’d slept on that pull-out before and wouldn’t wish it on his worst enemy.

The next morning, Blair walked into living room, wearing one of Danny’s oversized tee shirts and gym shorts. Her hair was in a messy bun and her makeup was in that raccoon-looking stage. She looked much less put tougher than the night before, but this was when Danny loved her the most. She crawled under his quilt and laid her head on his shoulder. “Mornin’ sleepy head,” he said, kissing her forehead.

“This thing is painful to lay on! How did you sleep?”

“If you contort your body just right, it doesn’t feel like torture,” he said with a smile.

Blair quickly popped up out of bed. “Alright, let’s get to it,” she said, sounding excited.

“Let’s get to what, exactly?”

She stuck out her hand and pulled him up to a standing position before wrapping her hands around his waist. She was shorter than her boyfriend and looked up at him, lovingly. “Well, you’ve always said how amazing your hometown is. I want to see it. I mean, if I’m going to be living here in a few months, I had better get the lay of the land.” She smiled mischievously up at him.

Danny raised one eyebrow and looked off into the distance. “I mean, we can probably go look buying a double wide in London or Corbin if your hell-bent on moving to the hills!”

“What’s a double wide?”

He hugged her tightly and let out a little laugh. “Aw, honey. Let’s just go see what’s goin’ on in town, and we can leave buyin’ a trailer until the next trip.”