The Pheasant's Eye Or Melodrama Part 4

The Pheasant's Eye or Melodrama Part 4

Chapter 6:

             I love my sisters, but they can talk about the most boring stuff, thought Gladys while she walked. She was heading for the home of her eldest sister, Victoria, to have supper. All her sisters were great spinsters and knew almost everything about the citizens in the town (although they didn’t tell God). They were known in town as the Elstree girls. 

            When she arrived, her elder sister, Mary, demanded, “Where have you been? The food’s gonna get spoiled,” Mary was old and frail, but had lots of energy (something her husband had found out the hard way).

            “I was walking,” answered Gladys calmly.  She was quite used to the constant nagging of her sisters. Five older sisters were enough to beat up someone’s patience. Gladys used to have six sisters, but the sister closest to her in age, Theodora, had died.  Yes, that was all the past now.

            “Well I’m older than you, and I can manage to arrive twenty minutes early. Don’t you roll your eyes at me!” until all her older siblings were dead, she would still have her own fair share of (thought to be) parents.

            The food was simple, but that’s not why Gladys was here. Before her mother had died, she had told Gladys to keep her sisters from starting any trouble.

            “Did you hear about Yvonne?” asked Theresa, leaning over to dish the gossip, that little scoop of pleasure that the sisters (with the exception of Gladys) had made their joy of their existence.

            But she was interrupted. “Oh, who cares about her.  But now listen to this,” said Gloria while elbowing in. Of course, Gladys wasn’t tuned in, instead staring out the window, watching the leaves fall, waiting for the clock to chime the hour of eight so she could leave.

            “Humph,” sulked Theresa.

            “May I resume?” asked Gloria. “Thanks. Anyways, Bob…”

            Oh! Gladys had to hear this. She turned with a start and interrupted her sister again.

            “Oh, even you’re interested then?  Well, you know that new girl, Kathy?” asked Gloria making an excellent introduction, while everyone nodded their heads yes. “Well, I saw her…and Bob…kissing!”

            “Oh my,” whispered everyone, including Gladys.

            “What should we do,” asked Victoria. “How did you find this out, though?”

            “Theresa told me,” answered Gloria.

            “But you said you saw her,”

            “Well, Theresa told me though,” answered Gloria.

            “Don’t you think that maybe Theresa wanted to share it?” asked Victoria in a condescending tone. “Gosh, Gloria.”

            “She never said anything…” defended Gloria.

            “Yeah, Gloria,” said Mary, ganging up on her sister with Victoria.

            “Mary?”

            “What?”

            “Shut up,” answered Victoria, while she pretended her hand was a mouth and mimed shutting it.

            “Victoria! Mary! Stop it!”  Celia, who was the oldest, demanded. 

            “Gee, thanks Vicki!” pouted Mary to her sister Victoria. “You got us in trouble.”

            But her sisters ignored her. “You know what we should do,” commanded Celia, who had been mostly silent until now, “We should tell someone in the family, it’s not our affair, you know and there is nothing we can do it.”

            Now Mary, who had recovered relatively quickly got back into the conversation, “He is the minister, you know, we wouldn’t want to spoil his reputation, I’m sure that that ugly blonde,” (referring to Kathy), “had a hypnotic trance on him, and he can’t help. It’ll take his family to save him,”

            “She must be right!” exclaimed Gladys. Of course, her sisters had forgotten about Gladys until now.

            “For once,” muttered Gloria under her breath; she was ignored.

            “Well, what do you think we should do Gladys, since you are closer to that family?” asked Victoria.

            “Well, the daughter, Mildred, we should tell her,” answered Gladys, blushing at the sudden attention and deference from all her sisters. “She’s responsible and thoughtful.”

            “Wouldn’t we want to tell Margaret?” asked Celia, frowning. “She is the wife, you know.”

            “I understand, but younger people think about these things different; they’re much bolder.”

            A sense of excitement spread through the room as they looked at each other, deciding who should be the bearer of bad news.

            “Let me tell her!” screeched Gloria.

            “No, Gloria, you always are dishing out stuff! Let me do it,” demanded Mary, standing out of her chair.

            “This is not a question of dishing out stuff, this is our moral duty,” answered Celia. “Personally, I think Mildred knows us all very well and we are like her mothers, but Theresa is most distant from her. And, you know, people don’t like getting advice from people better known to them, it is human nature.”

            “I agree with Celia,” said Victoria as if making a decision. “Theresa will tell her tomorrow.”

Chapter 7:

            On Wednesday nights, the town held a long meeting, which ended with the town finding out who would be deemed a 'heretic' and thrown out of town. It was uncommon for someone to be accused of heinous crimes such as adultery, or rape, or murder, but a very common crime was being deemed a radical. These people included people who were in favor of equal rights for women, instead of the double standard; allowing same sex marriages; or cherishing evolution instead of the six-day creation.  Some were guilty of ridiculous chatter or goofing off in church.  A few accidentally recited a Bible verse wrong, changing the meaning.  The case tonight would be very memorable.

            Mildred was walking to the church with Theresa, one of the Estree girls.  “Millie, your father…” started Theresa.  Mildred and Theresa were carrying bread to the Wednesday night meeting.

            “What, Theresa?” asked Mildred shortly, forgetting that Theresa was one of her elders.

            “I was a'walkin' home last night and you wouldn't've believed what I saw, you probably wouldn't even care,” said Theresa, trying to get Mildred more interested.

            “You can tell me, Theresa,” said Mildred, half-interested, as she was walking over the treacherous gravel road to the church.

            “Well, I was walking home, and I saw that new girl… What’s her name?”

            “What does she look like?”

            “She’s tall, and her hair is an awful color of blonde.”

            “Oh. That’d be Kathy.” Kathy’s dyed-blonde hair had made quite the statement in the town.

            “Well she was at the back of the church, near the pile where we dump our scraps.” Theresa lived right next to the church in the upstairs-level of a very old and rickety building.

            “And you’ll never guess who she was with. Their arms wrapped around each other.” And this is when Theresa leaned forward to tell of Kathy’s Jezebel like qualities. Like her sisters, she too was a spinster. “It was your father!” she whispered excitedly. She rocked on her feet with excitement, for the town could get dreary.

            All her calm drained away. “Kathy? Unbelievable, just unbelievable,” said Mildred as she stormed off. Kathy had betrayed her, even after she had told her that her father was off limits. “There’s nothing I can do about it,” she said to herself. “It’d be different if mother was to run off with someone else. That’s it, I’m going to talk to Kathy, after the meeting, and if she doesn’t consent to stop, I’ll throw her in the scrap heap.”

            “Mildred, wait up, my legs aren’t what they used to be!” yelled Theresa to Mildred off in the distance. After Theresa had finally caught up with Mildred, she finally said, “Let’s sit and we’ll talk.” She tried to muster up a motherly voice.

            “I don’t want to talk about it. Honestly, I don’t care,” lied Mildred.

            “Honestly, you do care,” she said pointedly. 

            “Fine, it does bother me,” insisted Mildred, “But let’s get this bread to the church before it gets cold,” said Mildred, hoping that Theresa would drop the subject. The walk to the church was silent, except for the clopping of their shoes and the leaves falling; there were very few leaves on the trees now.

                                                            .   .   .   .   .   .

            Later, at the church, the program was in full swing.

            “Why did you cheat on your husband?” Bob asked a middle aged woman named Yvonne while he was standing in front of the podium, as the judge. The seats where the choir sang were the jury, made up by older men, no women, and the audience sat in the pews.

            “The only reason I did it was,” said Yvonne taking out a handkerchief, “He was cheating on me, with Frances,” yelled Yvonne pointing out to the audience.

            “Frances, please come up to the stand,” said Bob. When she got up their Bob said, “Were you ever with Yvonne’s husband?”

            “No, I was not,” denied Frances.

            “Yes you were,” yelled Yvonne, shaking her finger at Frances. “I was walking into my home, and I saw my husband with her in his arms.”

            Silence fell over the room.

            “John, please come up to the stand,” said Bob. “Were you committing adultery, breaking one of the Ten Commandments?”

            “No I was not. My wife was drunk that night.”

            “I was not dru…” yelled Yvonne, before getting cut off by Bob.

            “You will get your turn to talk!” shouted Bob to Yvonne.

            “I was helping her,” said John, making things up as he went. “I helped her put her coat back on.”

            “Why were you helping her put her coat back on?” asked Yvonne, cross-examining John, her husband.

            There was a long period of silence, not even Bob had told Yvonne to be quiet. Yvonne was grinning because she had thought she won her testimony.

            “She was umm…” said John, snapping his finger trying to think up something.

            Now Frances, who had no part in this argument, finally invented a response for John. “I was bringing back the needles Yvonne loaned me.”

            “I never loaned you needles…” denied Frances.

            “You did, too. Two years ago. I forgot to bring them back.”

            “I have a question, for Yvonne” said one of the mock jury members, a short man with thinning hair. “Who were you cheating on John with?”

            “Bill, the old bachelor who walks through our town everyday,” admitted Yvonne. “He seemed like such a nice man, and it would teach him a lesson,” said Yvonne pointing to John.

            “So you used sin to teach someone a lesson,” said Bob.

            “Well…” pondered Yvonne.

            “Case closed. I order you to leave our church, you are an endangerment to others,” said Bob, dishing out his punishment to Yvonne.

            “But, I’ve lived here for my whole life. I’ve been good for this community,” pleaded Yvonne. “I’m a Sunday School Teacher!”

            “You were, but you will only poison our youth with your bucket of sin,” yelled Bob. “Now leave this community before you poison the rest of us. Now.”

            Yvonne calmly stood up, walked to the door, trying to hold back her tears.

            “Next case,” said Bob, as if the banishment of Yvonne had only been a dream.

            All through the three other cases that would follow that one, nobody said a word and afterwards proceeded to the potluck.

.  .  .  . .

            “Kathy, may I see you for a minute?” motioned Mildred.

            “Why?” demanded Kathy, sneering.

            “Please meet me outside, now.”

            “Fine, but don’t…” She was cut off, as Mildred ran outside to meet her match.

            When they were outside, Kathy asked, “What do you want, anyways?”

            “I want you to stop your business with my father!” insisted Mildred. “He already has a family; and I don’t need you to spoil his reputation.”

            “He is mine, and you can’t take him away! Do you think I want to be here?”

            “Well…” pondered Mildred.

            “No!” refused Kathy. “He’s my ticket to freedom. One day, I’m gonna blow this dump.  I can convince him to steal all the money this town has; he’ll do it for me.  And if he won’t, I know where he keeps it.”

            “You have no right to use my father!” declared Mildred.

            “You little hypocrite! I know your game,”

            “What do you mean?” asked Mildred, caught off guard.

            “I know that there are sparks flying between you and Karen; it’s so obvious.”

            “How would you know?”

            “I might be a lot of things, but I’m not stupid. Except for just about everyone here, anybody in his right mind could tell that you two are together.”

            “You Jezebel!”

            “Don’t you think it’s also his fault that he accepted my invitation of flirtation? Is it always a woman’s fault for what a man does?”

            Mildred was speechless.  She’d never considered things that way before.

            The tables turned on Mildred for Kathy had found her weak spot. “I’m not the only sinner. “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them, Leviticus 20:13.”

            “How would you know that?”

            “Being dragged to church for the past 19 years…and boy, will it pay off here! You better keep quiet about me stealing your father, or else I’ll tell every one about your ‘abomination’, as Leviticus would call it.”

            Mildred wandered off. The urge to throw Kathy in the scrap pile was gone. Oh, how helpless she felt! It was like being sucked into a whirlpool with nothing to hold on to. How long would she have before everyone found out her secret?

Songs from Rio Rita- Part 6 I'm Out on the Loose Tonight

Ask me how I get this way,

Who and what's the holiday,

I'm just a wild bird simply, gee.

Tangled up in married ties

Been all through that exercise,

Now it's single oars for me.

Have I been a chump? Oh verily!

Now just watch me jump, o merrily,

I'm out on the loose tonight

Wild as a deuce tonight,

If I am pop-eyed,

I can explain,

Just got away from the ball and the chain.

I need no excuse tonight.

I'm gonna do things right.

I have a few oats to sow,

I don't care where they grow,

I'm out on the loose tonight.

The only words I could get was the chorus. Stupid 78's.

Chorus:

When you do the kinkajou,

You dance before you think you do.

You clown around you're feeling o'so lazy,

For, you know it you're shouting whoopsy dazy.

First you feel a kick or two,

Well here's the case for you.

Your one desire,

Is to acquire.

Each movement of this shady dance will thrill you trough.

Oh I know it will entrance you,

When you do the kinkajou!

At the moment, there is unprecedented interest in silent films - which is wonderful! What’s not so great is that a lot of lazy journalists are repeating many of the oldest, tiredest cliches and mistruths about the silent era. They must be busted!

Myth: There are only two sorts of silent...

This song is "If I Had You;" it is not "If I Had My Way" from The Flying Fool.

The Pheasants Eye or Melodrama Part 3

 Chapter 4:

Out in the hallway, they sat on one of the white benches. Karen asked

Mildred, “Well, after tonight, are you going to marry Thomas?” She was rather curious what her friend’s fate might be, although she had asked earlier.            

            “I’m not going to marry him,” said Mildred nonchalantly.

            “Why not?” asked Karen. “I always thought that you and Thomas would make a

wonderful couple.”

            “I don’t love him. He is just a friend,” replied Mildred, her eyes dropping to gaze at her hands she was wringing in her lap. 

“Why not?” asked Karen, surprised. In her mind, it was the absolute truth that the two birds would make a nest and soon and repeat the process for their children.

            “I’m friends with him, but he’s not much of a go-getter. He can’t say what he thinks…especially to my father, ” said Mildred, a bit disgusted. Mildred was the kind of girl who said what she thought and never hesitated to speak up.

            “Do you have your eye set on Brandon?”

“Oh gosh, no!! He’s creepy. Every time he sits next to me, he is rude.”

            “How so?” asked Karen.

            “Well, the other day, he tried to kiss me in the back of the church.”

            “What did you do?”

            “I smacked him and told him that I don’t take trash, I burn it.”

            “What about Gregory?”

            “No he talks to much! You know, I don’t have my eyes set out for any of our men, because they talk to loud and try to act all tough.” Mildred’s tone made it clear that she’d had enough of this kind of man. 

            “If you are not attracted to men,” said Karen, appearing to ponder logically, “are you attracted to women?” 

            “Well, don’t get creeped out, but you are right. The truth is…well…I’m attracted to…” Mildred hesitated, looking out the windows as the leaves were falling, “you.”

            There was a moment of silence as Karen considered this news.  It seemed like forever to Mildred.  Finally, she said, “Really? I’m kind of flattered, to tell you the truth.”  They were staring into the elaborate pattern of the old wallpaper. It was very dark; there was no light on in the hallway. “I have always been attracted to you, since I was sixteen,” Karen confessed.

            “Is anybody listening?” asked Mildred suspiciously. The town was very conservative, and if you were considered homosexual, or bisexual, you would immediately be forced to leave. As sad as it was, Mildred and Karen would have to keep their relationship a secret if they wanted to live here. Forgiveness wasn’t given lightly (but was taken lightly in this town?).

            “No, it’s just your cat,” said Karen in a reassuring voice.

            “Good.” said Mildred, reaching out to hold Karen’s hand affectionately.

“Yes, well, let us now close this sermon by welcoming Kathy and her family to our religious family, united under god,” said Bob as everyone clapped. “We will now retire out to the reception. Please go in an orderly, single file line as you are getting lunch. We will be sitting inside, ‘cause it is nippy out. I hope you enjoy!”

            Mildred went to look at the family, they look normal people, at least from here, thought Mildred.“Kathy, is that your name?” asked Mildred, holding out her hand. “My name is Mildred. Would you like to sit with us?” What repulsive hair, even through the bonnet I can see it’s awful! thought Mildred, trying very hard not to stare at that awful color of blonde that some girls think is beautiful.

            Kathy took her hand. “Yeah, uh, sure. Let me just get my food,” said Kathy looking at Mildred if she was speaking a foreign language. “Ok.”

            Once they were back at the table chatting, Kathy asked Mildred, “You know, that preacher is cute! What was his name again?”

            “It’s Bob. He’s my father and please don’t call him cute. He’s already married, you know,” said Mildred very firmly. “You’re too young for him.”

            “Sorry,” said Kathy in a defensive voice. “I didn’t know!”

            “That’s fine. Oh, here comes Karen,” she said, saved by the arrival of her friend.

            “Who’s Karen?” asked Kathy.   

            “My, um, friend,” said Mildred, unsure whether or not to say girlfriend because the word girlfriend could be understood in two different ways.

            “Oh,” said Kathy in a sour tone. “So did you see what she’s wearing,” said Kathy pointing to one of the people in the reception hall. “It makes her look fat,” (Kathy was the type of girl to do anything to fit in her summer bikini).

            This was indeed true. “That’s my cousin, Ursula,” said Karen. “And she’s pregnant!”

            “Oh,” said Kathy, trying to act dumb. “No wonder her belly looked so round!” she said while laughing. “So, do you all have your eye set out for anybody?”

            “Um, no,” whispered Karen.

            “I do,” said Mildred, followed by a kick under the table by Karen.

            “So? Spill the beans tell me who it is!” said Kathy excitedly.

            “Never mind,” said Mildred, as she was about to change the subject. “Why did your parents want to live in our community?”

            “Oh, they said it was so our family would get less ‘materialistic’,” she said this while taking her 1st and 2nd finger and nodding them up and down twice. “They thought I was a shallow party girl and only cared about shopping. Can you believe that?” as she said that, she threw her hands in the air and then laughed. Her laugh was so high and off-pitch that every one in the reception room started leering over to the table where they were seated. Mildred and Karen immediately felt uncomfortable and started shoveling in their food silently, hoping everyone would stop staring at them.

            After a few minutes of silent eating Mildred asked Kathy, “How old are you?”

            She took a minute to relish the soup, pondering about the life she had left for more ‘earnest’ things. “Depends on who you ask. My parents say that I’m 19, the clubs say I’m 25.”

            “What is a club?” asked Karen innocently.

            “It’s where you dance the night away while enjoying tequilas. I’ve gotten plenty of boyfriends that way. Have you ever been to a club?”

            Karen gave her a strange look, as if she was swallowing bad medicine.

            “Well, gotta go,” said Kathy as she walked to her parents. The awkwardness had finally gone with Kathy.

            “She seemed nice,” said Mildred sarcastically.

            “Yeah. Don’t tell anybody we’re going out! If you had blown our cover, we’d be called names by all our neighbors,” (And that wasn’t the worst part of it!) “So don’t say anything. O.K.?”

            “Fine,” said Mildred. “I thought maybe she would understand.”

            “No one here, not even Miss Party-Girl, would understand.”

            “I guess you’re right,” agreed Mildred.

Chapter 5:

       “You know, I think so,” replied Mildred, taking her hair out of the customary bonnet the females were made to put their hair in.

            “Why not?” asked Karen, her bonnet still on, “I don’t think men think that.”

            “How would you know,” as Mildred shook her hair around; they were in Karen’s yard conversing about men in general. “How would you know what a man thinks once he is married? Couldn’t a man think ‘There are plenty of attractive women out there, I could get with someone else’?”

            “Isn’t that a silly thing to say? It is women that tempt men. Take Jezebel for example…”

            “I guess so; yes that is true…” and she picked up one of the dahlia tuber that Karen was digging up so it could be stored in the root cellar. “It seems that all is left to bloom is the witch-hazel…interesting plant. Remember when that evolutionary biologist came to live with us?”

            “I’d rather forget it,” said Karen, dropping her trowel, and then picking it up to squeeze the annoyance of that episode out.

            “I thought it was beautiful, that all animals are connected; I wanted to ask him if we were connected to plants. Think, Karen, that you are related to your favorite flower, the pheasant eye!” as she threw her hands up, almost tumbling over the basket of tubers.

            “Be careful, and don't make such silly accusations,” lectured Karen.

            “But that belief is someone’s, isn't it? My mother told me about other religions and how those beliefs are shaped by their geographical locations.”

            “There is only one God, those pagans down the mountain,” referring to the ‘less righteous’ Christians down the valley, “Don’t know what real religion is about; if they did, they would be here with us.”

            “Wouldn’t it get crowded?” asked Mildred playfully.

            “Don’t be silly, I’m sure there aren’t that many people down the valley,” scoffed Karen.

            “There’s plenty of people out there, Karen.  Around 5 or 6 billion, that’s what Mom said,” Mildred countered.

            “That’s preposterous! The very idea; we only have two-to-three-hundred people living here, I doubt there are any other towns out there that are that big.”