a little. “No Desperate Housewives ?”
“No, of course I watch television. Just not for hours on end, that’s all. And needless to say, I’m not interested in desperate housewives, or desperate anybody, for that matter.”
“Understood. Me either.” I wondered if I came off as desperate. “Well, do you use electricity?”
“Yes, of course. Of course I do. But very little. In fact, I’ve been kicking around a small windmill test project for the island.”
“Harrison is absolutely brilliant, Miriam. Lots of people have generators that run on fossil fuel but Harrison wants to use the wind. Think about it. How much wind do we get in a hurricane? A lot. Or even when it’s coming in from the east? We’ve been using solar panels for years, but windmills are so beautiful and peaceful. I wouldn’t mind seeing them in the landscape.”
Was there a twinkle in Mother’s eye? Was she his…no way!
“Well, to date, we’re not getting very far,” Harrison said. “We need to come up with a turbine that can produce power at a steady average wind speed. So far, no luck.”
“Meaning?” I said. My throat tightened at the actual possibility of Mother and Harrison together.
“I’m putting my energy into other things—like opening a flex fuel station in Mount Pleasant so we can pump E-85 fuel. And photovoltaic systems.”
“Photo what?”
“Solar cells.”
“Ah. Right. What was I thinking? I thought you were a nice retired banker just catching a few fish now and then,” I said.
I could see him smiling in the dark.
“Banking was another life. I like this one better. It might actually do some good.”
I thought about what he said and decided Mother was right—he was an interesting man. And he may have been flirting a little with me, but I was sure then it was unintentional and meaningless. Obviously, I had misread his signals. He was Mother’s friend and I was pretty sure more. My heart sank from my own vanity. But honestly, I was very glad that Mother had someone in her life. Besides, could I truly envision this guy at a gala in New York? How about never?
Anyway, saving the planet was a good idea. It was surely a fact that most of the population did not live in sync with nature. At all. I had endured prolonged blackouts in New York and always worried about the people on life support. Worse, I worried about old people who lived on high floors of apartment buildings and how they would go out for groceries. Would they simply die of heart attacks trying to get home, climbing forty flights of steps? It was a dark subject to ponder.
I said, “Well, windmills are certainly more aesthetic than those horrible open transformer substations and those huge buzzing towers that we always suspected gave people brain cancer.”
I turned around to see that I had walked ahead of Mother and Harrison. They had not heard a word I said. They were huddled together trying to light something. Maybe Harrison smoked. That’s pretty nasty, I thought. But within seconds the sweet-smelling memories of an old rock concert reached me. My mother and Harrison were burning a special kind of weed. This was something I absolutely could not abide.
I felt sickened with disgust. My mother must have been absolutely crazy.
I waited until they caught up to me and then I looked at them both and said, “Have y’all gone mad? Y’all must be out of your cotton-picking minds. Gross!”
I started walking back to the house. I could hear them calling after me but I ignored them. I was too furious and too shocked and it was too late to fly back to New York. I would leave first thing in the morning but not until I had given her a piece of my mind. And him? Maybe I’d push him into the Ashepoo and let him look for his golf clubs. Didn’t anyone lead a respectable life anymore?
Chapter Seven
Mellie Slowly Emerges
Dear Mrs. Willis,
Many thanks for your thoughtful assignment to the invitations committee. I will serve with pleasure. At present I
“No, of course I watch television. Just not for hours on end, that’s all. And needless to say, I’m not interested in desperate housewives, or desperate anybody, for that matter.”
“Understood. Me either.” I wondered if I came off as desperate. “Well, do you use electricity?”
“Yes, of course. Of course I do. But very little. In fact, I’ve been kicking around a small windmill test project for the island.”
“Harrison is absolutely brilliant, Miriam. Lots of people have generators that run on fossil fuel but Harrison wants to use the wind. Think about it. How much wind do we get in a hurricane? A lot. Or even when it’s coming in from the east? We’ve been using solar panels for years, but windmills are so beautiful and peaceful. I wouldn’t mind seeing them in the landscape.”
Was there a twinkle in Mother’s eye? Was she his…no way!
“Well, to date, we’re not getting very far,” Harrison said. “We need to come up with a turbine that can produce power at a steady average wind speed. So far, no luck.”
“Meaning?” I said. My throat tightened at the actual possibility of Mother and Harrison together.
“I’m putting my energy into other things—like opening a flex fuel station in Mount Pleasant so we can pump E-85 fuel. And photovoltaic systems.”
“Photo what?”
“Solar cells.”
“Ah. Right. What was I thinking? I thought you were a nice retired banker just catching a few fish now and then,” I said.
I could see him smiling in the dark.
“Banking was another life. I like this one better. It might actually do some good.”
I thought about what he said and decided Mother was right—he was an interesting man. And he may have been flirting a little with me, but I was sure then it was unintentional and meaningless. Obviously, I had misread his signals. He was Mother’s friend and I was pretty sure more. My heart sank from my own vanity. But honestly, I was very glad that Mother had someone in her life. Besides, could I truly envision this guy at a gala in New York? How about never?
Anyway, saving the planet was a good idea. It was surely a fact that most of the population did not live in sync with nature. At all. I had endured prolonged blackouts in New York and always worried about the people on life support. Worse, I worried about old people who lived on high floors of apartment buildings and how they would go out for groceries. Would they simply die of heart attacks trying to get home, climbing forty flights of steps? It was a dark subject to ponder.
I said, “Well, windmills are certainly more aesthetic than those horrible open transformer substations and those huge buzzing towers that we always suspected gave people brain cancer.”
I turned around to see that I had walked ahead of Mother and Harrison. They had not heard a word I said. They were huddled together trying to light something. Maybe Harrison smoked. That’s pretty nasty, I thought. But within seconds the sweet-smelling memories of an old rock concert reached me. My mother and Harrison were burning a special kind of weed. This was something I absolutely could not abide.
I felt sickened with disgust. My mother must have been absolutely crazy.
I waited until they caught up to me and then I looked at them both and said, “Have y’all gone mad? Y’all must be out of your cotton-picking minds. Gross!”
I started walking back to the house. I could hear them calling after me but I ignored them. I was too furious and too shocked and it was too late to fly back to New York. I would leave first thing in the morning but not until I had given her a piece of my mind. And him? Maybe I’d push him into the Ashepoo and let him look for his golf clubs. Didn’t anyone lead a respectable life anymore?
Chapter Seven
Mellie Slowly Emerges
Dear Mrs. Willis,
Many thanks for your thoughtful assignment to the invitations committee. I will serve with pleasure. At present I
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