CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER THREE
The town of Naples had sponsored an annual
dance and crafts faire for going on ninety years now. The event
supported the town and had grown in size yearly. Nearly three
hundred craft and food vendors drew thousands of people to Naples
during the two-day event. It had become a monster and had made the
town prosperous. Just before the dance tonight, a gathering of
cowboy poets would be reading their work.
The main streets had all shut down for the
vendors to set up their individual tents. Walking from one to
another, Lily saw beautiful pieces of handmade jewelry, yard art,
Western belt buckles, and food everywhere! People were wearing hats
as the temperature had warmed up. Lily swatted some flies away from
the taco she was eating on a paper plate.
She watched a woman walk across the street
coming her way. The woman’s demeanor was friendly, but she’d
already learned to be careful meeting new people anywhere.
“Hi there! I’m Amy Breen. You have my nephew,
Arturo, in your class.” She held out her hand in introduction.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Lily Cable,” she
smiled while shaking Amy’s hand.
“… It’s got to be so hard teaching those
students with their handicaps. Teachers have such a hard job and
their pay is so low.”
Lily frowned. For Pete’s sake. What a thing
to say right off the bat. She wasn’t sure where to jump in with all
that landed on her at once.
“Arturo is a bright young boy, despite his
learning difficulties. He’s a sweet boy who tries hard and succeeds
at most of his lessons. And the teachers I know enjoy their jobs
and that’s why we went into teaching in the first place. If we were
looking for big money, we would have gone into other fields.” She
still smiled at Amy but didn’t care for her immediately. Putting
down teachers was something small-minded people enjoyed doing. She
got tired of defending her profession.
Amy frowned. “Well, I didn’t mean anything,
I’m sure. I was just being friendly.”
Lily didn’t think being insulted was a good
way to be friendly.
“Well, it was nice to meet you, Amy, but I
have to get back to the store.”
Lily started walking away from Amy, tossing
her taco into the nearest garbage receptacle. She had lost her
appetite as well.
“Work at the candy store too, do you?” Amy
called after her.
Lily just nodded and continued walking.
Glancing back at Amy and the women who joined her made Lily uneasy.
She just knew that conversation would come back to haunt her
somehow. Small towns were not always welcoming.
“Well, I never. What a snob!” Amy huffed at
one of her friends who walked up. “I was just trying to be
neighborly to that new teacher at the elementary school and she was
pretty snotty.”
“What’s her problem?”
“Don’t know, and I don’t care to find out.
She should have been nicer to me. I could have helped her out
socially. Too bad for her.” Amy and her friend walked off to get
some lunch still grumbling about the new unfriendly teacher.
* * *
Naples’ downtown looked like a picture
postcard for the old American West. Wooden buildings complete with
wooden sidewalks backed up to the Sierra Mountains. Huge
cottonwoods, elm and quaky aspens dotted the streets in front and
behind the storefronts. Front signs indicated clothing or souvenir
stores with the occasional saloon. Yes, ‘saloon’, Lily smiled. That
was a Western word for bar. The wind softly blew fallen leaves at
her feet. The town couldn’t be more picturesque.
An old surrey with fringe on it sat in front
of the candy store. Lily inspected the surrey for the millionth
time, marveling at the transportation used back in the 1800s. It
sure couldn’t have been comfortable bouncing up and down on that
hard seat for miles and miles. She reached out and straightened
some of the fringe, so it would hang straight.
“I don’t think you can ride in it anymore,”
came a familiar voice by the door. She glanced over and saw Sandy
Johnson. Going from meeting Amy Breen to Sandy Johnson in a period
of five minutes was like going from the ridiculous to the sublime.
Jesse ran up to her smiling.
“Miss Cable! Miss Cable! “ Lily crouched down
to talk to him face to face. Jesse threw his arms around her
breathlessly.
“Now, Jesse, don’t knock Miss Cable over,”
said his father looking nervous. He wiped a hand down his jeans and
flicked another shy glance at her.
“Jesse, it is so good to see you here! How
are you?” Lily smiled into his hair and then laughed as she
straightened up. “Were you buying any of my candy?”
“Which candy is yours, Miss Cable? Daddy, can
we buy some? Huh? Can we?”
What a sweet little boy. Lily looked into the
eyes of his good-looking father and swallowed. What could she say
to him?
Professional. Stay professional.
“Jesse wrote the nicest poem about his horse
in class yesterday. Did he read it to you yet?” That seemed a safe
subject.
The shy way Sandy looked her over and licked
his lips made her think of that happy cat again. She wondered if he
was checking her out to be the mouse.
“He did and it was wonderful,” Sandy smiled
at his son. “Also, we just bought some of your terrific chocolate
fudge. Jesse, you ate most of it before we left the store,
remember?”
“How did you like my fudge, Jesse?” Although
the question was posed to little Jesse, Lily had trouble moving her
eyes from Sandy’s handsome face. He gazed back at her in some
mysterious way. What in the world was he thinking?
Jesse held up a piece of half-eaten fudge.
“It’s yummy, Miss Cable. Want a bite?” His hands and face were
smeared with chocolate.
“No, thanks, sweetie, but how about we clean
up your face? You can’t go out into town looking like that. What do
you say?”
Jesse’s head bobbed up and down with delight
as Lily took him by the hand back into the store. Sandy followed
them in, holding tight to his cowboy hat. Lily got a moist towel
from behind the counter and wiped all the chocolate from his little
face. Jesse beamed at the attention, his little face lighting up
the room.
She wondered if his son remembered a woman’s
touch and her heart ached a little for him.
After wiping Jesse’s hands, she glanced up at
Sandy. Was that a tear in his eye? He quickly wiped his eyes and
commented about how dusty it was in town today. Lily smiled. It
wasn’t that windy or dusty. Something else put that moisture
there.
Sandy swallowed visibly. “Miss Cable, did you
know there’s a gathering of cowboy poets this evening before the
dance?”
“Yes, I heard about that. What is this
gathering about? I’ve never heard of a cowboy poet.” She threw the
soiled towel into a waste container.
“You’d be surprised at the quality of writing
from many cowboys around Nevada and other Western states. I guess
they have a lot of time on their hands while watching the cattle,”
Sandy smiled at her.
“I have a funny feeling you’re kidding me
about having lots of time on their hands, but I don’t doubt the
quality part. What’s it about?”
“Well, Miss Cable,” Sandy began and stepped
aside as someone brushed past him.
“Lily, please.”
“All right, Lily. Cowboy poetry grew out of a
tradition of cowboys entertaining one another with tall tales and
folk songs around the campfire after a day’s work on cattle drives
or ranches. Poems can be historical or contemporary, but it’s a
living tradition because the work still carries on.” Sandy stopped
abruptly, looking embarrassed. “Sorry, didn’t mean to give you a
lecture.”
“Please, go on. I’m enjoying this.”
“That’s about it except for the gathering
being at 5:00. I have an extra ticket. Would you like to come?”
Sandy stuck a hand into his pocket for the ticket.
Jesse spoke up. “Daddy, you didn’t tell her
you were talking tonight too!” Jesse excitedly continued to Lily,
“My daddy reads me his poems all the time and helps me to fall
asleep.”
They both laughed. “I don’t think he meant it
quite like that,” said Sandy.
“I would love to hear your poetry tonight,
Mr. Johnson.
I’m impressed that you not only write
poetry, but perform it as well. I write too, but I’m not brave
enough to perform in front of people.”
“You read to us all the time at school,” said
Jesse.
“Please call me Sandy and Jesse loves your
poetry. He told me so.”
He handed her the ticket. When their hands
met for a second time, that spark of static electricity was
stronger this time.
“Be our guest at the gathering tonight.” He
looked so deeply into her eyes, Lily forgot what they were talking
about for a moment. She took the ticket without removing her eyes
from his face.
“Thanks,” she breathed in a throaty
whisper.
Jesse looked from one to the other and smiled
showing a missing front tooth. “See you later, Miss Cable!” he
yelled while dashing out the door and into the street.
Sandy moved away from her slowly. It was
obvious he was reluctant to go. “We’ll see you later then, Lily?”
Was it really a question?
Lily nodded, too stunned to answer.
Wow. She watched him follow Jesse happily running down the
street. Wow again. Look at those shoulders! She snapped
awake and was about to go back to work when out of the corner of
her eye, she saw Amy Breen watching her from across the street.
That was not a happy expression on her face. What was that about?
And how would it affect her?
* * *