The Write Place

Under the Fruiting Tree: Chapter 18 – The Write Place
Under the Fruiting Tree: Novella Table of Contents – The Write Place

Spring had come again as it always had.  The flowers and the trees were blooming in their rich colors all throughout the valley.  Ruth paced gently under the tree in her red dress with her feminine figure moving in and out of the shadow of the tree.  She fixed her black hair with its matching hair tie to pull it comfortably out of her face.  Marie stood in her floral-patterned blue dress next to her friend examining her face with care.

“How do I look?” Asked Ruth as she paced back and forth.

“Fine, fine!  Well, you could reapply some lipstick,” Marie said, leaning her short body in close. “Not that you look bad without it but hey, if you look even better with it. . .” she added, bobbing her golden curls with her laughter.

“My thinking exactly,” said Ruth as she turned her tallish feminine frame away from the crowds filtering out of the church to apply some ruby red to her lips. ”Good?” she asked Marie, smacking her lips together.
“Say that again?” Marie asked.  Ruth smacked her lips together a second time.  Marie nodded approval.

“Good, good.  As always.  Don’t worry, I talked to him about it.  You did fine.  It’s Alex who has to worry.  He must’ve held that pinecone all winter,” Marie shook her head bouncing her curls all the way.  A touch of exasperation and amusement rang in her voice.  

“If only he could use his genius for good,” laughed Ruth, laughing in good nature as the sunlight shone on her dark curls.  Marie nodded knowingly as her mind went to many memories.

“If anything, sympathy helps you.  William and Daniel went through that phase, too, but Alex’s phase of it has been his life so far,” Marie added before standing on her tiptoes to peer towards the crowd.  “I’ll scoot out of the way, here comes my brother,” Marie said, looking towards the young man approaching them. 

Separating himself from the crowd walked a tallish man holding a black brimmed hat.  His appearance was quite sharp, with a short dark brown haircut and his Sunday best.  He had the look of youth couched in budding manhood upon his square-jawed face.  His black slacks and suit jacket shifted with the slight breeze as he walked towards the young women ahead of him.  Marie walked past her brother who stopped to exchange a quick word with her before placing his hat back on his head.  He continued on his way over to the waiting Ruth, who had stopped pacing to watch him approaching.  Tipping his brimmed hat, a nervous William opened his mouth to speak to the young woman in front of him.

“Well good to see you, Ruth.  I apologize again for Alex.  We may need to get the pastor to exorcize whatever evil possesses him,” William said with a visible irritation about him.

“Oh, I’ve had it worse,” Ruth said with a wave of her hand.  “Also from Alex. It was the kind of soup a squirrel may cook but the rest of the evening went well. I’m thankful he didn’t have chewing gum,” Ruth finished to a chuckle from William.

“No of course.  Not since the incident.  Again, sorry about that too,” William said.  A knowing smile appeared on William’s face.  “I was also young and foolish.”

“And I forgive you,” said Ruth.  “Again and again.  I think my parents have too.  I don’t know that they’ve forgiven Daniel for putting you up to it.  At least then I got quite a pretty haircut because you were considerate and put the gum low in my hair.  I don’t know what Alex was thinking, putting a pinecone in my soup.”  Her brow furrowed as she spoke, contemplating the long history.

“Pinecone pieces to be fair.  It’s not a family recipe.  I assure you the oddity is all his.  Although you can eat the nuts, which is probably why he didn’t put them in,” laughed William pouring light into his bright brown eyes.  “Couldn’t do anything positive, though or it just wouldn’t be mischief.  If only he’d use his powers for good and not evil,” both of them laughed. 

“I said the same thing,” Ruth said with a wave of her hand. “Maybe he will consider it someday.”

“Other than that, I’d say it went well,” William said, taking a deep breath.  “Can’t say I am a perfect angel.”

“You had your shenanigans.  You two did stick a potato in the tailpipe Mr. Robert’s truck when you were kids,” Ruth said, pointing a playfully accusing finger.

“Yeah, but I grew out of that phase.  And that potato was bad anyway.  So was Mr. Roberts’ car.  You saw the car he bought after.  Did him a favor,” William said with a smile.  “You know, he never thanked me for it. Though his wife did.”

“Well, even with all that excitement the other night, did your parents approve of us?” Ruth asked with a firmly fixed gaze upon William.  Her nervous body swayed slightly with the tree in the wind.  

“Of course!  Helps that they’ve known you so long.  My dad knows your family pretty well.  Of all the stores we’ve worked with, you’ve probably been his favorite.  Likes your Dad too, being good hunting buddies” he said looking at his shoes then up again. “How about your parents?” he asked in return with his beaming eyes fixed upon Ruth.

Ruth opened her mouth slightly and nodded before forming a smile.  “They’re pretty excited.  Say this has great potential.  Dad doesn’t think I’ll ever go hungry.  As he put it, “food is their business too,” she said, eliciting a chuckle. “You’ve been rather helpful to him, fixing things up in the store.  You’ve built a good reputation with him” she finished with a small smile.

“Glad to hear it.  Working with those machines has been fun.  Something I always wanted to do,” William said, squinting as he looked off into the distance. “Yeah.  I like farming but the things I really like doing are with my hands, like working on a machine, or carpentry.  I always wondered what it would look like to open an auto shop.  Or a woodworking shop.  Worked in my uncle’s for a bit.  Then Black Friday happened.  We’ll see, but I know I’ve got something,” William’s voice trailed off as he finished.

“That’s a nice thought,” Ruth said as she wandered off into her own thoughts. “You do seem the type to do, really, any of those things.  I get the impression you could talk about it for hours, too,” she said looking him in the eyes.

William nodded agreement.  “Definitely.  I had to fix a tractor last week.  A mouse decided to set up a house in it.  Liked the transmission block; nice, cozy, warm in winter, no cats.  Definitely a bad idea once the heat kicks on.  Lucky I found him before we turned the thing on,” William added.

“Mouse nests aren’t a standard part of a tractor I assume,” responded Ruth, holding up her hand to stifle a laugh.  “I mean I’m not an expert on mice or tractors but…”

“No, no of course” said William with a smile.  “You know with all that’s going on it’s nice to have something simple.  You can fix it and see the result.  And something you can rely on.  Farming’s a struggle like anything else right now but it’s rewarding.”

“Yeah, like knitting or sewing,” Ruth added.

“I’ll take your word for it,” said William smiling. “But yes, something productive, simple.  Reliable.  I mean we had to burn some corn instead of coal due to the prices.  But we had it, and it didn’t smell so bad.” 

“Always a plus,” said a smiling Ruth.  She looked over towards the crowd, then focused in on one couple in particular.  “See?  Marie went over to Daniel,”
she said watching Marie in her blue dress talking to Daniel.  He was in a brown suit, which matched his flowing brown hair.  He stood over a head taller than Marie, having to tilt his head to meet her eyes.  Sure enough, they were talking and laughing together.  Their bodies moved in place with flirtatious energy as their grins appeared on their slightly rounded faces.

“I wonder if we’ll have him over at some point,” said William with a touch of curiosity in his words.

“You never know,” said Ruth, who inched towards the church and pointed with a free hand towards two similarly dressed older couples who were talking.  “There are our parents.  Oughta go say hello.”

“Of course,” said William, holding an arm.  “Shall we?” he asked energetically with a twinkle in his eye.

“Certainly!” Ruth replied, returning a smile.

  “Oh!  I’m sure you can come over again if you’d like.  No pinecones this time.  I promise”  said William. 

“Nothing else?” Ruth asked.

“I only make promises I can keep. But you can come over, at your own risk madam,” William said with faux formality.

“I’d like that,” said Ruth happily. 

WIlliam looked down to the bench as he held Ruth’s arm in his.  “You know, it’s a nice bench in a nice spot.  Could use some work though,” William mused as he gazed at the weather worn bench.  The wood displayed years of wear from many lifetimes.

“Why not?” Ruth said.

“Yes, why not?” William smiled back.  The two happily walked over, Ruth’s hand on William’s arm.