10

 

I went to my safe haven. The park.

Fairfield College sits across the railroad tracks from the park, up on a hill. The land the park sits on used to belong to the college. Back in the day, a professor loved to jog along the Missouri River. He urged the college to put in a walking/jogging trail and the work was begun. He got local businesses to donate the material. Unfortunately, the professor died in a tragic car accident, and the trail lay unfinished. As a memorial to him, Fairfield College donated the land that River Landing sits on to the city and the city finished the trail and constructed a park on the site.

I sat on a wrought-iron bench, looked out on the Missouri River, and just stared out into space. I must have looked lost and forlorn because the Old Women stopped to talk to me.

“It can’t be that bad,” Rose said.

“Don’t you remember?” asked Maybelle. “When you’re that age everything is that bad.”

“I’ve been following the news about your father’s situation,” Rose said. “I don’t hear that much about him, only about that Williams fellow. I hope that means your father is OK.”

“He is,” I said. “Thanks for asking.”

“Then what has you down in the dumps?” asked Maybelle.

“I have a prom dress but no date.”

“No boyfriend?” asked Rose.

“He broke up with me because of Dad’s situation.”

Maybelle sat beside me, “Then it doesn’t seem like he was the right fellow for you.”

“I went to Chicago over the weekend to get a designer dress, me and my cousin and my Mom and aunt.”

“Honey, he’s not the only pickle in the barrel,” said Maybelle.

“It might seem like it now, but you don’t have to settle for him,” Rose said. “Go to the prom with somebody else.”

“But I don’t know anybody else. Only the people at my school.”

“What about your cousin? Maybe she knows somebody,” Rose suggested. “When I was a young lady in my first job, my boss was giving an elegant party at his house. Everyone was supposed to bring spouses and significant others, and I didn’t have a date. One of my friends offered her husband and he went as my date.”

“You’re kidding,” I said, incredulous.

“I kid you not,” she said. “I had a wonderful time. We were friends, and we both knew it was a one-time thing, and he was doing me a favor. End of story.”

“Now you go ask your cousin if you can borrow her boyfriend for the evening,” Maybelle said.

“I couldn’t do that,” I said. “We don’t have that type of relationship. I hardly know her. We don’t see each other often.”

“Oh,” said Rose. “Then we have to come up with another plan. I’ll ask my friends to suggest a nice young man to be your date.”

“You can’t do that!” I exclaimed.

“I can, and I will,” Rose replied.

Maybelle said, “I see you sitting here day after day. You’re a young girl. You should be out with your friends. Where is your mother? I haven’t seen her since this whole thing with your father broke.”

“She doesn’t go out much,” I said softly. “Besides, I have to drive her car now. Dad had to sell mine. If Mom came out here in the mornings, I’d have to drive her back home before going to school.” I had to defend Mom. She would be out here with me if she could.

“We could give her a ride,” Rose said.

Mom would just love riding with the Old Women. I dared not tell her what they said.

“The important thing to remember is that this isn’t the end of the world for either of you,” Maybelle said. “Everybody has ups and downs. It’s how you deal with them that counts. I bet your father isn’t sitting around feeling sorry for himself. He’s probably doing everything he can trying to get out of this mess.”

I smiled. “You’re right.”

“Everybody has something they wish wouldn’t have happened,” Maybelle said. “Let me tell you about me. It hasn’t been that long ago either. Only about twenty years ago.”

That was longer than I had been alive. But I didn’t say anything. I wanted to hear her story.

“I was an executive in a big company in New York. Oh, I had a good job.” Her eyes glistened, remembering. “I had reached heights only very few women have ever reached, then or now. But I got involved with my boss. Everybody knew about it, but things were going well with the company and nobody said anything. Did I tell you he was married?”

“Don’t be telling her your sordid story,” Rose said, shaking her head and clucking her tongue. “She doesn’t want to hear about your life.”

“She needs to hear it,” Maybelle said and continued with her story. “Well one day the auditors came. Earnings for the company had been misstated and made to look as if we were making money when we were in fact losing our shirts. The CFO said that he had been directed by my boss to cook the books, so to speak. Needless to say, there was a big scandal, along with another scandal that included the boss and me. The CFO and my boss went to jail. I lost my job. Nobody would hire me. And I came back here to live with my sister, where I’ve been ever since.”

“What happened next?” I asked.

“I changed my name and started over as a secretary,” she said. “It hasn’t been easy, I’m not going to lie and say it was, but we do what we have to do.”

“Come on, Maybelle,” Rose said. “Let’s finish our walk. Besides, she needs to get to school.”

I looked at my watch. She was right. The first bell was ringing about then. I’d miss homeroom but if I hurried, I’d get there by first period.