Running her hand through her bright, carrot-colored hair, she smiled. Her hair had been the only way she could loosen the conventional bonds put on her by the church. It had been like Custard’s Last Stand, but she had stood her ground with Larry. She refused to allow him to dictate what color hair she would, or could have. Her fancy new shoes may be hidden in the closet, but her flaming head of hair, was out there for all to see. Her routine appointment with Josey held her mousy brown hair at bay, and along with it, her timid spirit.
“As a matter of fact, we’re having a meeting tonight,” said Tootsie. “Oh, I forgot, you don’t come to the prayer meetings do you? The church is getting up a welcoming committee for Trinity’s new pastor. I hear he’s a powerful man of God, and his wife’s a tiny little thing who’s actually been in the Peace Corps in Africa.”
Tootsie knew the remark would irritate Karen and make her competitive spirit rise up. She was actually hoping to see Karen’s face flush about the same color as that awful carrot red mess on her head.
That she was not more involved in church matters, had always been a sore spot with Karen, and the congregation. And now here was this big lug of a woman rubbing it in her face. Still smiling, always the lady, Karen slid into the awaiting cracked plastic chair and asked, “Was that you I saw getting out of Hank’s car at the Watering Hole last night? Now don’t tell me you’ve taken to frequenting that dive. It’s not seemly for a Christian woman you know.”
She was forcing Tootsie’s hand. Tootsie would have to admit being at the local bar, and run the risk of being the subject of church gossip. If she said she wasn’t with Hank, it would be proof that Hank was indeed with another woman.
You witch, thought Tootsie. Now how am I going to get out of this one?
Reaching out, she patted Karen on the hand. “Honey, did you happen to see his car on your way out of town? That Strafford mall is something else isn’t it? Can you believe they put in all those expensive, fancy stores? Now who around here can afford anything like that? Most people around here are stretching the budget just to shop at Wal Mart.”
For a long time Tootsie had been suspicious about Karen’s frequent trips out of town but she couldn’t quite put her finger on the problem. Since she had never seen Karen wearing anything worth mentioning, she figured it could not possibly be clothes. Still, something was there. She remembered the time she had bumped into Karen at the mall and her arms were slam full of packages. That in itself did not create suspicion, but the guilty look on Karen’s face had puzzled Tootsie. She kind of looked like her kids had, the day they got caught smoking cigarettes in the back yard.
Karen looked at her watch. “My goodness Tootsie, did you say you had some place to go?”
“Nope,” Tootsie said, as she nestled her plump frame deeper into the chair. Pastor’s wife or not, nobody gets the best of me, she thought.
Stay tuned for the next episode!
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