Sister-In-Law

Prologue

Scene [2]

Sister-In-Law

Wyatt Farm, Provolt, OR
1982/06/06 08:30-09:00
    Cathy pulled on her blue Nylon windbreaker as she left the porch.  Damn Cyrus, you’re a hard man to live with.  Just leave the goats to me.  I’ll find the darn thing,Cathy thought.  And she stalked off up the goat path toward the neighbor’s.

    Now, ‘neighbor’s’ in farm country is different than in town.  The nearest house was a half mile away.  It had been her childhood home, now her brother’s farm.

    Cathy was not in the habit of knocking when she got to the back door.  She just opened it and walked in.

    “Over for some fresh coffee?  It’s almost done,” Betty, her sister-in-law, said from the ironing board.

    “I’d rather have a fresh husband.  Maybe one that did more than work and complain all the time.”

    “Oh, Cathy.  Did you and Cyrus have words again?”  This had been going on for ten years.

    “Oreo, our two-year-old goat didn’t come home last night.  He blames me for not keeping an eye on her.”

    “Oh.”

    “She’ll come back today, if she isn’t already.”

    “Burt shot a coyote last month.  Think they’re coming around here again?”

    “She’s just up the road eating blackberries.  That’s always where I find her.”

    “Coffee’s done, pour me a cup, would yah?”

    Cathy got two cups out of the cupboard and said, “Goats are one thing.  But living with him is another.”

    “Cathy, you make me sad when you talk that way.  He’s not a bad man.  He doesn’t beat you, or Billy?”

    “No, nothing like that.  Yeah, he’s not bad that way.  But, he ain’t good either.”

    “Oh... you asked about the Grange dance, didn’t you?”

    “Yep.  And his answer was the same as last year.”

    “You used to go years back.  Why’d he change?”

    “He doesn’t say so, but I think he saw me and Phil out talking on the bridge last time.  He’s jealous, but damned if he will admit it.”

    “Talking?”

    “Yeah, just talking.”

    Betty took a sip of her coffee and looked over the cup at Cathy.

    “Just talking... I swear,” Cathy said.

    “He’s imagining something between you two?”

    “He’s stubborn.  And he won’t talk about it.  Fact is, he doesn’t talk about much at all.  I’ve got to get outa there.”

    “Oh, Cathy, you don’t mean divorce?”

    “Yes, I do,” Cathy said, nervously fondling the St. Christopher choker necklace she was never without.  “Except for Billy.  I’d have to take Billy with me.”

    “And just where the hell would you go?” her brother Burt said, walking in from the barn.  “You grew up ‘here,’ and leaving to go half a mile isn’t much ‘leaving.’  Besides, I don’t want you.”

    “Oh gosh, Burt,” Betty said.  “Be civilized.  Can’t you see she is really unhappy?”

    “I was thinking of Brookings.”

    “And do what?” Burt said.

    “I’d open a quilting shop, yah know, for all the tourists.”

    “With what?  You haven’t got a pee to pot in,” Burt said.  “You’re asking for a lot more trouble than a regular divorce where you split things.”

    “Yeah, yeah, I know.  The pre-nups.”

    “You’ll get nothing.  I told you not to sign ‘um when you got engaged,” Burt said.

    “You are always so interested in what somebody gets aren’t you Burt,” Cathy said.

    “Just thinking about the future.”

    “I have no future with him.”

    “Yes you do.  He’s eight years older than you.  His Pa died at 60 and his Mom at 68.  His genes say he ain’t going to last much longer.  Someday you’ll get the farm.  Then we can merge ours together and make something really great to leave our kids.”

    “Leave ‘our’ kids.  You mean ‘your’ kids, Jamie and Samantha.  Billy doesn’t want to be a farmer.”

    “That’s too bad.  He could do a lot with it.  With all your south slopes and my water.”

    “Burt’s always dreaming, Cathy.  Just dreaming,” Betty said.

    “If you leave him, there’d be no way we could get his land,” Burt said.

    “You sound like you’d rather he was dead, Burt,” Cathy said.

    Burt looked at Cathy for a second, then at Betty... then bent over to re-lace his boots.

    Or setup somehow and put away for good, don’t you Burt, Cathy thought.

    “I think I’ve spotted more coyote activity near the BLM fence,” Burt said.  “I’m going to stole up there and see if I can find their den.”  With that, he retrieved his 30-30 from above the fireplace, and left the two women.


Pages:      4
Words:    747