The Widow's Friend (7 page)

I want you to know that whatever you tell me is safe with
me. I will not share with anyone. I hope you feel that I am sincere.

I am glad you had a fun time in town here at the Main Street
Trick or Treat. I was coming down Main Street in the middle of it all and I don’t
think I have ever seen so many kids in one place at the same time. It’s too bad
the weather didn’t cooperate. You should have come to visit me. I live less
than a block off of Main Street.I have decided to put my house up for sale this
spring. It is too big for a single woman like me, and it is too much for me to
take care of. I hope I can get what I need out of it. I have a building lot
over in Sugar City, you know, that little town that you grew up in. I love my
property and would like to build a small home on it that I can retire in. It is
right behind the new junior high, and the tennis courts are right in front of
it. It has two ponds, one in the back yard and one to the side. Do you know the
place I am talking about? I am looking for a builder right now so I can get an
idea about how much it is going to cost me. I have also considered selling the
property and moving closer to my daughter. She would love that. It is still
something I might do. It is just good to have options.

Did you get out and vote today?

As far as the kind of music that I like, I like most
anything, but I am stuck on the oldies. My radio in my car is on the oldies
station most of the time. Thanks for sending the music my direction. Those old
tunes bring back good memories. It’s funny how music brings back recollections
of the old days and the things that were going on in our lives.

Can you believe this beautiful weather? I love it. I got out
yesterday and mowed my leaves. My grand baby, the one that I will have
tomorrow, loves to be outside. He takes my hand and leads me to the door, and
then he cries if I don’t let him go out. We walk around the block about twenty
times in a day. He loves to watch the big trucks that come down the street.
Today we watched the garbage truck till we couldn’t see it anymore. He’s all
boy, that kid.

Well, I’m sure I have bored you with my chit chat by now and
it is about my bedtime anyway, so have a good evening or day or whatever it may
be when you read this, and I will talk at you again soon.

Your tired and soon to be even more tired friend, Callii

***

From Levi Stone

Nov 4th

Dear Callii, it’s so nice to hear from you again. I know
that you’re busy right now with everything that’s going on. Reply as you can,
but don’t wait too long, darn it!

I do trust you with things Callii. You’ve had a lot of
adventure in your life, but the same sweet little Callii from thirty-plus years
ago comes through in our conversations. I hope you can accept who I am as well,
and I hope I don’t come through as too syrupy or long-winded with my lengthy
responses.

I’d like to hear about your marriages and “what happened” in
each of them someday, but e-mails are probably not the proper forum for that.
When we started e-mailing you told me that your life had been an adventure, and
I told you that I was just plain boring. There’s a bit of truth in all of that.
It is such irony that you finally found Kevin and then he suddenly had to go
and pass away. I know you’re a tough little woman who’s been through much, but
I’m sure you have a bit of emptiness in you after all of that. And how many
times were you married? May I ask?I don’t want to give you the impression that
I have circled you as someone to “run to” if my marriage ends, though I wouldn’t
be truthful if I told you that I’m not still a bit romantically inclined
towards you. I can’t help that Callii, you will always be more than just a friend
to me – we have a history. But keep in mind that you are too tall for me. I was
talking to three women as we all waited in line to vote the other day. After
about twenty minutes I noticed that one of the women, the one standing right in
front of me, was wearing high heels. I eyed her up and down and then screwed up
enough nerve to ask, “How tall are you?” She told me she was five foot six and
smiled. (She, as I expected, was the same height as you!) I smiled back and
told her the basics of our discussion in e-mails. She laughed and was nice
about it. I have no idea who she was. That’s why I could ask and that’s why I
could explain. She looked about six foot tall in her heels –sorry. Sorry for
me, I guess, but not for you. That’s the way you like it.

Callii, if I should ever end my marriage, it would not be
because of you, so relax, but if it did end I would certainly want to see you.
I told my mother once, as we were confiding to one another, that the only thing
I ever really wanted in life was a wife, and that is sad for me and it was sad
for her to hear, but it was the truth. And now I’ll give you a quiz, but don’t
worry, there is no right or wrong answer. Can you tell me what the definition
of a wife is, or should be, in just one or two sentences? Let me know and I’ll
tell you what I think it is too. Trust me—I’ve thought about it a bit.

I’ve decided not to tell you all the good, bad, and ugly
about my marriage. It serves no real purpose and it makes me feel dirty. Just
know that my marriage is on the precipice of tipping over at all times. You
just never know. Rather than bludgeoning Mary to death with one long bloody
e-mail, I’ll kill her with a million little cuts through the length of our
conversations. Thanks for listening, but honestly, I don’t tell people things
like this about my wife—really. I’ve learned to be private. But know this; a
person doesn’t have to be single to be lonely. I’m a living testament.

By the time you read this, you’ll have a new grandchild.
That’s always fun. I hope your son and his wife can get along reasonably well
as they make it through the entire ordeal. Are they still friends or is it a
fairly icy relationship? And I’m sure you’ll be right in the thick of things.
It sounds like you love your children and have fun with the grand kids as
well.Speaking of being buried in children, Lexi’s mother has twin boys that are
eighteen months old. Their names are Ryder and Diesel, both named after trucks.
What a life that woman lives, she farms the kids out to three different dads (I’m
one of them) each weekend and runs off to play with her friends. Vickie, the
mother, is a beautiful, tall, thin, thirty-year old with a sparkly personality.
She is a party waiting to happen. (Can you relate to that at some point in your
life?) Anyway, she won’t do some of the things a mother should do with her
older kids because she says she’s burdened down with the twins. It’s probably
true, unfortunately, but Lexi and Jordan could use a little more attention
sometimes.

Thanks for the invite to visit at the art show awhile back.
I’m sorry that I couldn’t make it. At some point in time we’ll get together,
when you’re ready and under the right circumstances. I’ll probably deliver you
some books some time, if nothing else.

You know, I guess it would be tough to sell a home, right
now, but I don’t really know. My house is paid off and I haven’t paid much
attention to the market. I have no idea what I could sell it for and I don’t
much really care at this point, but things can change quickly. Every year brings
new surprises.Kenny told me that your house is beautiful both inside and out. I
imagine your touch was put into every decision that was made, and I’ll bet it
was fun. Good luck with your sell. The spring will be the right time to sell
it. If you’re serious, even getting it listed in February is a good start. A
realtor told me that once.

So, which town does your daughter live in? Idaho Falls? How
old is she and what is her name? I still don’t know.

The thought of moving back to Sugar City has a certain appeal
to me, of course. There is a certain magic to Sugar City, somehow. I write
books about it. But I read something once that I tend to believe. It basically
said that people often long for their home town, but when they finally return
there, they realize it was not their hometown that they miss but their
childhood. There is a kind of wisdom in that. All the old town folk, about mom
and dad’s age, are about to die off, if they haven’t already, and then it just
won’t be the same.

I know where your building lot is. My brother Brent teaches
at that junior high and he showed me a town home in that same area that he was
thinking of buying. It’s a great spot, but then I’m partial. And you say that
it’s right next to ponds? Imagine that, ponds in Sugar City. Maybe you’ll even
have a few mud ducks over there or maybe some friends for your frog.You
probably don’t know this but my old friend, Matthew Bills, lived in the home
adjacent to the burger joint, right there by the junior high. His tale is such
a sad one, to die at such a young age—sigh! Most homes in Sugar City I could
tell you about, the people, the history, and all of the other stuff. In small
towns, everyone is a person, and everyone pretty much knows everyone else.

If you don’t mind sharing, could you please tell me the
basics of your son and his divorce sometime? I’d like to hear if he goes
through with it and the basics of why, both his side and hers too. It’s pretty
hard to pull for her, I know. Blood is always thicker than water. There was a
time when my sister was thinking of leaving her husband. The whole family was
on her side, which was odd to me because Joe is such a great guy! That’s the
way it works, though.

And finally, you really seem to enjoy working in the yard.
That’s a good quality and I smile every time you mention it. I don’t have that
same “desire” in me, but I do enjoy the outdoors. I remember how I hated the
wind way back in the old days when we were dating. There was nothing worse than
wind to ruin a good tennis match. I got way too much sun back then.

Well, dear sweet grandma Callii, we’ll talk again soon.

Your friend, Levi

***

From Callii Wilson

Nov 5th

There’s one more advantage to being tall—you can reach
things on the top shelf without a ladder.

***

From Levi Stone

Two hours later

We don’t have top shelves at our house.

“Dorothy”

Callii and I were bantering back and forth pretty
consistently now in our e-mails. I sent her another message about her height.
It was a Youtube clip about Dorothy leaving the land of the Munchkins, towering
over them in her ruby-red high heels. I said, “Dorothy seems roughly the same
size as you in her high heels. She seems to stand out a little, don’t you
think?

Callii responded with her own e-mail by saying, “There are
way too many munchkins in this world. It’s too bad that everyone can’t breathe
the clean air up here.”

I had to laugh. The girl was amusing and she was definitely
fun to talk to. I was still a bit uncertain about all the pieces of her life,
but I had learned a lot. She lived in a house and not an apartment, I knew that
now, and she had never mentioned anything about a boyfriend or going on a date,
at least not unless it was with one of her girlfriends. Was she just being
polite?

I still felt somewhat in the dark, though. When I would ask
her questions, she seemed to pick and choose which ones she answered. But the
woman had me strung out. I had to admit that I was totally addicted to the
lovely Callii Jo, but I still didn’t know which direction this whole thing was
headed.

From Callii Wilson

Nov 8th

Hello to you my friend, Wow, what a week! I got my new grand
baby on Wednesday. He is a cutie: seven pounds and four ounces of cuteness. He
has lots of hair which surprises me because his brother didn’t have any. Both
mom and baby are doing well. Then, on Friday, my sister had her surgery. It has
been tough not being there to be with her. Her in laws are there taking care of
the family while she is in the hospital. They took her out of the intensive
care unit today. She is doing much better than a day or two ago. Hopefully this
will take care of things. How old did you say you were when you had heart
problems? She is thirty nine. The Perry side of my family has had a lot of
trouble with their hearts. I have had Aunts and Cousins who have died in their
30’s from heart problems. The things your family can pass on to you. It’s
crazy!

This week: I have my gift show. I set up for it on Thursday
and the show is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I think I am about ready for it.
I just need to tie up a few loose ends. Are you coming to see me? I think we
should trade dolls for books. What do you think?

Next week I am tending my four grandchildren in Idaho Falls,
for the entire week. My daughter is flying to Iowa to tend my sister and her
family. Hopefully my sister will be out of the hospital by then. My daughter is
an RN so she will be better help than me. Did I tell you that my sister has a
three month old baby? She won’t be able to hold her for at least six weeks.
That should keep my daughter busy. I think it was a good exchange.

The week after that is Thanksgiving. Can you believe it? It
seems like the holidays come and go so quickly.

Okay, now some answers to a few of your questions—if I can
remember them.

1. What is a Wife? That is the person you married. She is
usually the mother of your children. She is the chief cook and bottle washer.
She nurtures and teaches your children. She keeps you in clean clothing and
tells you if you need to shower. She is usually shorter than you, and last and most
important—she is your best friend.

2. What is my daughter’s name? It is Tacey. She is my oldest
and you met her when she was about 1 1/2 years old.

3. How many times have I been married? Enough times to know
better than to do it again, that’s for sure.