Margie and Tommy walked into the Grimes' house at three-thirty Saturday afternoon. Margie said hello to everyone and goodbye to Tommy, then dashed back to her car. She was in a hurry so she could get back to San Antonio early enough to get some sleep before her Sunday tour of duty at the hospital. She also hustled away so she would not show how much she was going to miss Tommy. She had, however, let Tommy know that fact on the ride from the Frickes'.
"I'm going to miss you like crazy, Tommy. Even though I know I'll see you again in less than a week, I hate to have to go."
Tommy nodded his understanding and agreement.
"I will be so happy when you are living here and I can see you all the time," he replied.
Rex came bounding into the front hall when he heard Tommy's voice. Rex was wagging his tail so hard his whole body quivered. Tommy dropped to one knee and gave his dog a few pats and scratched behind his ears.
"Miss me boy?" Tommy asked.
Rex yipped in reply and fell on to his back at Tommy's feet to have his belly rubbed. Bucky laughed at Tommy's question to the dog.
"All he did was lay around moping while you were gone, Tommy, except he'd go to the front door and wait for you in the afternoon. Next time you go somewhere, you have to take him with you."
Tommy nodded his agreement to Bucky's suggestion.
"Good idea, Bucky."
As soon as Margie drove away, Regina, Bucky and Betty Lou dragged Tommy into the parlor, so he could tell them all about his trip. Rex lay down in the doorway, so Tommy couldn't escape. The Grimes family members were as happy to see him as Margie had been sad to leave him. Tommy told them all about the tests he took and the results of the medical review board. He kept to himself the private times he spent with Margie. One of the lessons that both Rita and Margie stressed, was the need to keep his love life to himself.
Tommy had Bucky's watch in his pocket from when he took out the other guys' gifts, so he handed it to him. Bucky thought the watch was the coolest, and put it on straight away. While Betty Lou was helping Bucky with the watch's clasp, Tommy turned to Regina.
"I have something for you too, Regina, but it's packed away in my suitcase. I'll give it to you later, Okay?"
That was fine with Regina, so Tommy excused himself to go unpack. He had been in his basement room for about five minutes, when Betty Lou came down and joined him. She walked over to the bed until she was standing right next to him.
"I'll take your dirty clothes now, because I already have part of a load of Bucky's..." she was saying, when Tommy turned and silenced her with a kiss.
Betty Lou let out a squeak of surprise then suddenly threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Tommy finally broke the kiss and pulled his head back so he could see her face. She reluctantly eased her grip around his neck so he could do so.
"I missed you a lot Betty Lou," Tommy said.
Betty Lou looked into his clear hazel eyes and saw nothing but openness and sincerity. She gulped and nodded her head a couple of times. She didn't dare tell him how she felt right then, so she kept her voice light and cheerful.
"I missed you too, Tommy. I don't like it when part of my family is away from me."
Tommy smiled in absolute delight when she said family in reference to him. He spun her around and reached into his suitcase.
"I have something for you, but you have to sit down on the bed," he said over his shoulder.
Betty Lou hesitated for a second, weighing the properness of being on his bed. In the end she shrugged and gracefully folded herself down on the thick tick mattress. Tommy snatched something out of his bag and dropped to his knees in front of her. Betty Lou gasped as he gently took her ankle and put her foot on his thigh. Betty Lou was wearing one of her standard three-quarter length dresses, the hem hitting her at mid-calf, so she wasn't revealing much leg, even when sitting. However, it had been years since a man had touched her leg, and never had one touched it with quite the reverence Tommy showed. Leaving her foot on his thigh, Tommy snapped open the black velvet box and extracted the finely-wrought gold filigree chain.
"It's a bracelet for your ankle," he said, holding it up so it sparkled in the light. "And see, it has your name carved on it."
Betty Lou took the proffered bracelet and sure enough, the small gold plate was inscribed 'Betty Lou'. Tommy then made a production of showing her the other side with its 'Love Tommy' inscription. Betty held the bracelet loosely in her hand and regarded him seriously. She thought the bracelet was gorgeous, but felt the gift was a little too personal.
"It's beautiful, Tommy, but an intimate gift like this should go to some one you have romantic feelings for," she said cautiously.
Tommy broke into a smile and plucked the chain from her hand.
"Exactly," he said as he fastened it around her slender ankle.
Tommy enjoyed attending church on Sunday mornings. He had even enjoyed them before he joined the choir. Tommy did not agree with all the precepts of the church, but he strongly believed in the tenet that doing good was its own reward. Consequently, every Sunday he resolved anew to be the best person he could possibly be. It was easy for Tommy to do that, because he didn't have many of the life experiences that made most people jaded by the time they were adults. Tommy saw every person he met as a potential friend and a good person. It was surprising how often his treating it as a foregone conclusion actually made it just that. Tommy's enthusiasm, sincerity and basic goodness brought out the best in most everyone he met.
After church that Sunday, Rita and Betty Lou were out front yakking about Thanksgiving, the holiday being only four days away. Rita had recruited Betty Lou and her other friends to help with the big turkey dinner that VFW Post 9802 held every year. The dinner was open to anyone who wanted to come, from skid row bums to county commissioners. Both women stopped talking when a long, white 1969 Cadillac Eldorado convertible drew up in front of the church.
The stunningly beautiful black haired woman driving the big Caddy scanned the throng milling around the front of the church. She seemed to find who she was looking for, because she pointed at someone out of Betty Lou and Rita's sight, and gestured for them to come to her car. Betty Lou gasped and Rita's jaw dropped to the ground when Tommy came strolling over, pointing at himself. The woman nodded and said something. Tommy gave a serious nod of his own and climbed into the car. Before Rita or Betty Lou could react, the big Caddy smoothly pulled away from the curb and rocketed down the street.
Harold Fricke was just as thunderstruck as the rest of the congregation, as he watched his boy jump in the car and take off with the notorious and mysterious Conchita Delgado. Harold spun away from the man with whom he had been discussing Thanksgiving, and hustled over to his wife. He skidded to a stop in front of her and held up his hand before she could go off on him.
"Easy, Rita Maude, I didn't have anything to do with this. As far as I know, this is the first time those two have ever laid eyes on each other, so don't jump to conclusions."
Rita smiled at her husband and lovingly laid her hand on his cheek.
"I know that, Silly Man, and I know nothing is going to happen between them today, because our Tommy is not wired that way," Rita said serenely.
Harold just gawked as Betty-Lou nodded her agreement. What the hell?
Harold Fricke was partially correct, in that Tommy did not know who or what Conchita Delgado was. Conchita, however, knew a lot about Tommy, because of what she had overheard Becky Dierdorf, a waitress at the Bluebonnet Diner, was telling one of the other women who worked there. One of her ranch hands had also told her about the strange new man who worked at the feed store and sang like George Jones in the church choir. Out of idle curiosity, Conchita had driven by the First Baptist Church of Brantley, on her way home from Mass, just to get a look at the supposedly unique young man. Everything else that happened after that was a result of her over-the-top personality, flair for the dramatic and supercharged libido.
Conchita took one look at Tommy, slammed on her brakes and gestured him over. Tommy sauntered up to her car, doffed his hat and politely asked what she needed. Conchita had heard enough about Tommy to know that blurting out she wanted to jump his bones was out, so she concocted a story on the spot.
"I was wondering if you could help me, dear boy. See, I need some help with my pussy cat, she ran up a tree and I can't get her off..." Conchita said straight faced.
Clueless Tommy took her at her word. He liked helping people and he loved animals, so he agreed and hopped into her car.
Conchita Delgado was the name she'd used in the twenty or so low budget 'B' movies she'd scream her way through. Her real name was Florence Pataki Baumgartner. During her acting career, Conchita had the bountiful bodice of her dress ripped open by vampires, mummies, werewolves, little green men, and three different Frankenstein monsters, all at the direction of her husband, producer and director, the cult legend Beau Baumgartner. Baumgartner had made a tidy living filming tight close-ups of Conchita's considerable creamy cleavage.
When Beau had died (ironically, from the bite of a supposedly nonpoisonous snake on the set of her last movie, the aptly titled, 'It Slithered up My Leg'), Conchita had sought her healing at their Texas ranch. She was no longer in the movies, but she was still the tragic ingénue, and McCulloch County Texas was now her stage.
One of the most persistent rumors about Conchita was that she was extremely over sexed. That was the reason Harold had mentioned her name to Rita as a possible teacher for Tommy. Everyone, it seemed, knew a guy who had a friend that Conchita seduced. The scenario was always her walking into a bar, picking out some lucky cowboy, and taking him to her ranch. The legend further had it that some three or more days later, the cowboy was found wandering down the road in some sort of daze, a goofy smile plastered on his face.
She had an exotically beautiful face, but the really amazing thing about Conchita was her body. It was as taut, trim and gravity-defying as it had been when Beau 'discovered' her, fifteen years ago. Back then, he was a thirty-five year old B movie mogul in the making. She was a wild fifteen-year-old hormonal time bomb. Beau was looking for a new star for his thrillers, and Florence Pataki was looking for a way out of Arkansas. It was a match made in heaven.
Conchita and Tommy made small talk as she motored them towards her ranch. Conchita kept an eye on the young man as they rode along, and was flabbergasted that he studiously ignored looking at her legs or her barely covered, button straining bosom. Instead, he looked at her face, something even Father McManus couldn't pull off that day during Holy Communion. What's more, Tommy listened to her as if her opinions mattered to him. He did not assume she was some dumb broad with nothing to offer but a great set of tits. For the first time since she was ten years old, Conchita was off balance in the presence of a man.
At least Conchita had a cat, so her story did not seem entirely fabricated. The cat in question had really belonged to her husband, and she'd inherited it with the rest of his estate. The cat was an ancient big black Persian named El Diablo, and he had hated Conchita from the day they were introduced. The cat reacted so badly towards her, that Beau had used the beast in a couple of movies to snarl and hiss anytime Conchita walked into a room. There wasn't an animal trainer in Hollywood who could get a cat to display one tenth El Diablo's animosity toward Conchita.
Conchita smiled at Tommy when they saw the cat sunning himself on the porch.
"Oh, thank goodness! I guess he was able to climb down by himself," she happily emoted.
As they walked up onto the porch, Conchita bent as if to pet the fat black fur ball. The cat jump back in alarm, arched his back, and hissed menacingly. Conchita's smile turned to embarrassment as the cat cautiously backed away from her.
"I guess he's traumatized by his experience. I'm so sorry I dragged you out here unnecessarily, how can I ever repay you?" she asked coyly, her eye lashes aflutter.
Tommy shrugged and held out his arms. A microsecond later, they were full of over-fed purring cat. He petted the cat for a few seconds then handed the cat to a startled Conchita. Conchita was prepared to throw the malevolent beast down, when it purred and snuggled closer to her.
"Seeing you and your cat back together is enough reward for me, Missus Delgado. I'd like to stay and talk to you but I have to be at Mama Rita's for dinner at two, so I need to be going. Next time you are in town, though, you can buy me chocolate shake at the Dairy Queen," Tommy replied.
It only took fifteen minutes to drive from Conchita's rancho to the Fricke's Rocking R Ranch. Without her knowing it, Tommy coaxed most of Conchita's life story from her during the ride. Tommy was very good at getting people to open up. Part of the reason was because he was genuinely interested in everyone's story. He was interested because he only remembered being a young lad. Since he had no adult memories of his own, he reveled in those of other people. The second part of being a good listener was that he seldom interrupted the speaker. Tommy hated to talk because of his speech impediment, so he only interjected himself into the conversation enough to keep the other person talking.
Conchita pulled up part way into the Fricke's drive and tried to let Tommy out so she could make her escape. Tommy, however, wasn't having a second of that. It would be rude not to introduce his new friend to Harold and Rita. Conchita finally relented and pulled up to the house. Harold and Rita were standing on the porch by then, wondering what was going on. Tommy took Conchita by the hand and tugged her up the steps.
"Mama, Mister Harold, this is my new friend Conchita Delgado. It took me a minute to convince her to meet you, on account of her being very shy."
Harold coughed to cover his laughter at Conchita Delgado being called shy. Rita gave him a nudge and a look, before turning a radiant smile onto Conchita.
"I'm pleased to meet you, Miss Delgado," she said warmly, clasping Conchita's hand in both of hers.
Harold said likewise, then Rita sent Tommy and him into the house to fetch everyone a glass of sweet tea. Rita seated Conchita into one of the rocking chairs on the porch and perched herself on the swing. As soon as the men were out of sight, Conchita tried to apologize for intruding on Rita's afternoon.
"I'm sorry about this, Missus Fricke, I did not want to intrude, but I couldn't figure out how to convince Tommy of that. I have to tell you that he is a very strange, yet somehow totally compelling young man."
Rita gave a tinkling laugh and nodded in agreement.
"No apology is necessary, Miss Delgado. The fact that Tommy thinks of you as a friend is all I need to know to make you my friend also. Tommy sees the goodness in everyone and makes us all better people for knowing him, but you'll find that out on your own soon enough."
Conchita spent a very pleasant fifteen minutes sipping tea with Tommy and the Frickes. It was the first social interaction she'd ever had with any of her neighbors in the two years she'd lived there. She turned down a refill on the tea, pleading a previous engagement. Tommy walked her to her car and opened the door for her. Without thinking, she reached up and kissed his cheek.
"I'll come into town soon and take you for that milk shake," she promised.
"I'd like that," he replied with a smile.
Ruth Silverman pulled almost all the way off the road to allow a big Cadillac barreling towards her on County Road 836 to pass. The black haired woman driving the car gave Ruth a casual wave of acknowledgement as she sped past. Ruth knew who the woman was of course, as Conchita Delgado's notoriety even penetrated the cloistered world of the library. Ruth shook her head and let her mind drift back to where it was before the flashy car caught her attention. As they had been for more than two weeks, those thoughts were about Thomas Bledsoe.
Ruth was baffled that not only was she thinking about Tommy, but those thoughts were salacious enough to make a hooker blush. Being gaga over a man was not the way a proper feminist should be acting, especially one who had thought she was a confirmed lesbian until a few weeks ago.
"Imagine that," she thought, "I'm twenty-five years old and just learning that I like men after all."
Her fellow Vassar alumnae would have coronaries if they found out. Thomas was also a Gentile who looked as Arian as a Nazi recruiting poster, so her mother and father would have heart attacks too. Her head was chock-a-block full of reasons to stay away from Thomas Bledsoe. However, her heart and a few other choice pieces of her anatomy were not interested in reason or logic. Ruth just hoped her traitorous body would at least wait until after dinner before she stripped naked and begged to be ravished.
Ruth arrived at the Fricke's spread while Tommy and Harold were out at the barn feeding livestock. Rita sensed Ruth's disquiet as soon as she stepped on the porch, so the older woman dragged the librarian into the kitchen to help put the meal on the table. When they were alone with just the warm homey smells of a southern Sunday dinner, Rita calmed her friend down.
"Relax Ruthie, you are putting to much thought into this. Follow your heart for once," Rita said kindly.
Ruth sighed, shook her head and spilled the beans about the reason she was still technically a virgin. Her face was red as a beet by the time she finished, and she couldn't look Rita in the eye. Rita calmly let Ruth finish her confession, and then hugged the younger woman.
"Those things happened in the past, Ruthie, and it's the future you need to think about. Who knows, maybe you really are a lesbian and your feelings for Tommy are just an aberration. You owe it to yourself to find out one way or the other. Regardless of what you decide, I'll still be your friend and so will Tommy."
Rita's speech helped Ruth somewhat, but it was Tommy who laid all her doubts to rest. When Tommy saw her, he let out a whoop of unadulterated joy, sprinted up to the porch and wrapped her in his arms. Far from being embarrassed by his display of affection, Ruth sighed contentedly and happily snuggled tighter against him.
Dinner was wonderful for both Ruth and Tommy, as the sparks fairly crackled in the air between them. As soon as the meal ended, Rita laughingly shooed them away.
"You two skedaddle before you burst into flames," she teased.
Ruth's cheeks colored up again, but Tommy just smiled and gave Rita a hug.
"Whatever you say, Mama," he replied.
While Rita was hugging Ruth goodbye, Harold slipped a three pack of Trojans into Tommy's pocket. Tommy laughed and patted his other pocket, where he'd secreted two rubbers himself.
Ruth was all set to head back to her small house, so she was taken aback when Tommy had her turn into a small rutted road past a fallen down cattle gate. He had her stop in front of an old but solid looking, medium sized ranch house. The house had a foreclosure notice from the Brantley Savings Bank nailed to the front door. Tommy hopped out of the Volkswagen and took Ruth's hand, and swept his other arm around, indicating the house and property.
"I'm going to buy this one day," he vowed.
Ruth nodded her understanding. She did not know how he was going to do that on his wages from the feed store, but she knew he didn't make promises he couldn't keep. Still holding hands, they walked around the property as Tommy excitedly showed her the barn, tool shed and corrals. In his halting stammer that Ruth barely noticed anymore, Tommy shared some of his dreams for the future.
"There are 100 acres here, Ruthie. That's not enough to ranch, but it will be a great place to live. The bank wants twenty-seven thousand for it, I have the money saved, but I have something else I want to buy also. If it's here in a year from now, I should be able to afford both things."
It was dark by the time they made it back to Ruth's small house, and Ruth was beside herself with love and lust. Like a brazen Jezebel, she grabbed Tommy's hand and dragged him to her bedroom.
When Tommy left her bed four hours later, there was not the slightest doubt in Ruth's mind about her sexual orientation. She smiled wryly as she changed her fitted sheet and mattress pad, unbelieving that she had created that giant wet spot. Her smile grew bigger as she remembered how impressed Tommy was when she squirted all over his face the first time he made her orgasm. His absolute joy in the event stopped any thought Ruth had in the direction of mortification.
Rita sighed as she shook one of her pillows into a new case. That had been nice, but when Tommy had finally rolled on a condom and entered her as he professed his undying love, it was the greatest single moment of her life. In one long steady loving push, Tommy had erased all of Ruth's doubts and worries. As a decided plus, Ruth found that her slender build and years of yoga training made her a flexible and tireless love machine. Ruth finished making the bed and squirmed in between the cool crisp sheets. She fell asleep deliciously tired, completely sated, and for the first time in her life, deliriously happy.
Tommy was in his usual good mood the next day at work, even though he was still tired and sore from his evening with his Ruthie. When Rita inquired, Tommy allowed that Ruthie had seemed to enjoy the evening quite a bit.
Tommy had just finished unloading pallets of feed off a forty foot Purina semi-trailer when Harold, Ben Crawford and Ramon came into the warehouse. After handshakes all around, the three older men led Tommy out the small side entrance of the warehouse. Once in the parking lot, they stopped beside a dark blue 1965 Ford F100 pickup truck.
"What do you think?" Ben asked, gesturing towards the truck.
The truck had a superior paint job and highly polished chrome accents. What was not to like?
"Very nice," Tommy admitted. "You just get it?"
"Naw, had it for a while, bought it from a wildcatter up in Tremont last year for next to nothing. I finally got around to fixing the engine and Ramon here did the body work and paint."
Ben owned Crawford's Texaco over on West Main, and Ramon worked with his father and brother at Salazar and Sons Collision Center, located on Austin Avenue, next to the train tracks.
"I want a truck like this one day," Tommy said wistfully.
Harold broke out in a big smile and handed Tommy a set of keys.
"That's good Tommy, because this particular truck happens to be yours. We decided that the warehouse manager of Brantley Feed and Seed needed something besides a bicycle for transportation. It ain't a gift, although Ben and Ramon were gentle with you. You owe the bank sixty-eight dollars a month for two years."
Tommy was even more speechless than usual as he took the keys and opened the driver's door. The truck had a floor mounted gearshift and even had a radio. Tommy turned to his three friends and choked out a thank you.
"You have more people than us to thank, Tommy-Boy, because a bunch of your friends had a hand in this. Rita co-signed your bank note and Betty Lou did the paperwork. Your sister in Florida sent the down payment, Ruthie bought that fancy radio and Margie bought those Mojave seat covers," Harold told him.
Tommy nodded and then started back into the warehouse. All three men gave him a weird look.
"You ain't even going to take it for a spin?" the usually laconic Salazar asked.
Tommy flashed Ramon a grin and dangled the keys in his hand.
"Not without Mama, I ain't," he yelled as he bolted through the door.