Turning the Page Read online

  “Earth to Ethan,” Tallulah said to him over dinner on Sunday night. “Is everything okay? You seem to be off in your head somewhere.”

  “I’m fine. Just planning out some ideas,” he told both her and his parents.

  Ironically, he gave the same answer the following Saturday night to his...he wasn’t sure what Kate was to him. They went out on a date a year ago and she kept coming back whether he invited her or not. Kate, in his mind, was a supporting character with no real purpose other than to push along his storyline. He wasn’t even certain if he liked the woman, but she represented an ideal to him that also roiled about in his head.

  Kate was a librarian. She was also a quite an accomplished poet. She boasted often about being published in several poetry magazines. In her head, it was a foregone conclusion they were going to be married; she was waiting for him to propose and present her with a ring. Kate would be waiting a very long time since Ethan had no intention of a long term relationship with her. He would rather sit and watch the pile of dog poo from his neighbor’s mutt solidify and turn white.

  Kate was an attractive black woman with generous hips and full lips that were always correcting him about something he was doing that was not to her satisfaction.

  “Honestly, Ethan, sometimes I don’t know why I put up with you,” Kate told him.

  Ethan parked his Ford in front of her pretty yellow cottage that was surrounded by more flowers than a cemetery. His clear eyes gazed upon her in the dimly lit car, asking her, “Really?”

  “Yes, really. I mean it has been a year...I don’t know where this or we are going for that matter...” Kate said emphatically.

  It was time to turn the page on this chapter of their story. It was dull and uninspired and he wanted to trade it in for something more interesting. “You are right, Kate. I have been selfish,” he told her.

  Kate leaned back in the seat, pleased as grape punch with lemons floating on top. The expression on her face implied she had struck a nerve and the relationship was about to make a drastic move. She was right.

  “I’m sorry, Kate. I have been selfishly occupying your time and Saturday nights with my needs and have been ignorant of your own. I know you want to be married and have children,” he said softly.

  Kate’s eyes were tearful as she faced him in the late model Ford. “For that reason Kate, I am going to step out of your life,” Ethan said.

  Her eyebrows went up as if she misunderstood what he said. To ensure she was understanding the simple plot twist, he spoke slowly, “I am not ready to get married nor have kids. It is not fair of me to bogard your affections knowing we don’t want the same things. I am sorry. I will no longer be selfish. I am going to reluctantly let us end,” he said.

  The left side of his face stung all the way home from the hard slap she gave him. Kate hit him with such force that his mouth started to salivate, leaving him able to taste what he had for lunch seven hours ago. That pain would go away. Spending another minute in her company was an eternal pain that sapped him of energy each time he was in her company. Letting her go was most unselfish thing he had ever done in his life.

  Ethan Strom, at heart, was a hopeless romantic. He wanted the type of love that he’d read about in the classics. His heart craved the kind of love that a man would forfeit his crown to possess. He desired a woman who gave him goose pimples whenever his fingers made contact with her skin, asking him to belong to her alone.

  He wanted a love that would make him grow. In the interim, he had to find a way to make his business grow so he would have a future to offer a woman. In his gut was the niggling feeling that the woman he needed was about to create a new scenario in his story, and he could not wait to read what happened next.

  Chapter 3. A New Chapter...

  At first, Ethan thought it was someone playing a joke on him. He almost hung up the phone when the nasally caricatured voice came across the line telling him, “Please hold the line for a call from Mayor Galley.”

  Why would the Mayor be calling me? The Mayor’s booming baritone came across the line with his deep Southern drawl.

  “Ethan, my boy, something of grave importunacy has come across my desk. I do not like it, nor do I desire for it to come to fruition,” Mayor Galley told him.

  The one-sided conversation continued for several more minutes before Mayor Galley asked, “Do you understand what I am saying, Son?”

  No, I don’t.

  “Good. I will see you in my office at 11 am sharp! I have meetings all day so do not be late,” he told him.

  Ethan hung up the phone. As he stood behind the counter, a perplexed look covered his face. His mother, a quiet woman born to be church first lady, watched him closely.

  “Is there something wrong, Ethan?” Hester Strom wanted to know.

  “I was summoned to the Mayor’s office today for a meeting at 11,” he told his mother.

  Hester checked her watch. “You only have a half hour. Since you don’t have time to call anyone in to cover the shop, I will stay and handle things for you,” Hester said.

  “Thanks, Mom, that means a lot,” he told her. The great thing was, his Mom came to the bookstore every Wednesday for a cup of Palheta’s Bouquet. One day, Ethan was slow getting the dark brew started, and his mother learned how to operate the coffee machine. Since she was in the shop each Wednesday anyway, Ethan trained her to man the register, stock shelves, receive inventory, and update the POS system. Leaving his mother in charge of the shop was an easy thing to do. Getting through the next few hours he found to be more than taxing on his patience, his nerves, and his eyeballs.

  Janie didn’t really know what to make of Mayor Galley’s request to come to his office. She was told to be there at 11 am sharp. Dressed and ready to head out the door, she stopped briefly to update her brother. Jem was out of school and able to man the store for her in the morning, and Meg would be in at noon to start her shift.

  Not quite certain what to wear, as well as having no fashion sense whatsoever, Janie donned her favorite pink tee shirt and a loose fitting pair of gym pants and headed to her meeting. Once she arrived, she immediately understood her favorite tee was probably not the best choice of clothing. This became evident when a black man standing in front of the Mayor’s office began to gawk at her chest. It wasn’t as if Janie was a triple D-cup, but she had enough to fill up an average sized male’s mouth. Her mother always told her that more than a mouthful was simply too much.

  Still, the way he stared at her breasts was rude and uncalled for; she would not take his forwardness without a challenge. “Hey, bub!” she called to him. “My eyes are up here.”

  Ethan was appalled. He had been caught staring at her shirt. Not only was the shirt a neon hot pink, which is what first caught his attention, but what kept him focused on it was the image. He asked, “I’m sorry. Is that a weight lifter on your shirt?”

  Janie’s hands were on her hips in defiance, “Yes, it is!”

  He could not stop himself from frowning when he said, “The position and pose of the weightlifter implies that he is performing a dead overhead lift of your...”

  “Again, my eyes are up here, Bub,” she said.

  Ethan could not let it go. He had never seen anything so blatantly sexist and sexy all in one neon hot pink package. The courage she had to wear it in public was one thing, but to wear to a meeting with the Mayor was another. She strolled past him into Mayor Galley’s office, as pretty as she pleased, shaking the Mayor’s hand and taking a seat.

  Evidently, Ethan was the only person in the room who had not officially met the one and only Janie Cimoc. Neither the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, nor the Mayor’s assistant paid any attention to the tee. Ethan’s eyes kept wandering back to it. There was even a weightlifting bar that sat perfectly under the two mounds, which held two black half circles that made it look as if her boobies were being cradled in the cups. The look on the weightlifter’s face implied he was straining to hold up the two masses.

  “I
’m glad you are both here. I think once we finish this meeting we are going to have a great plan to save both of your businesses and the sanctity of our town,” Mayor Galley Said. The rest of his team agreed with him.

  Janie and Ethan spoke at the same time, “Our businesses are in trouble?”

  The Mayor stood up and walked around his desk. He wore a long jacket that favored a tuxedo coat with tails. This jacket was complimentary to a pair of pin striped pants. To Ethan, the man looked like Mayor McCheese, bulbous nose included.

  “The infidels are at the gate, and they are trying to destroy our way of life,” the Mayor told them both. Through a series of rants filled with pontifications and lopsided allegories, the meeting boiled down to a big box bookstore coming to Venture.

  “Ethan, my wife looks forward to book club at your store. I also send my assistant over every Thursday for a large cup of that Guatemala Huehuetenango. That is some mighty fine coffee there, my boy,” the Mayor told him.

  He turned his attention to Janie. “My kids have grown up in the Comic Book and your store is a staple in this town as well.”

  So that is who she is. Janie Cimoc. In the flesh.

  Ethan spoke up, “Sir, I am not certain what this meeting is about. Can you please clarify why we are here?”

  The Mayor looked at Ethan as if he had just burped up a bologna mouth fart. “That big box store is going to run you both out of business. You will be out of business in less than a year unless we can get ahead of those bastards!”

  Janie spoke, “Sir, I am certain there is enough business for all three of us to survive.”

  “That is where you are wrong, Janie girl,” Mayor Galley told her. He went on to explain that corporate stores like those bring in their own management teams. “Locals are only hired part time at best. The book prices are too high and what they give back to the community is minimal.”

  His eyes were filled with fire when he spoke to them, “You two understand this town because you live here; you grew up here. Our way of life is about uplifting and supporting each other.”

  “What are you proposing, Mayor Galley?” Ethan asked.

  Mayor Galley rubbed his rounded belly, “The city has two buildings, one on your side of town, Janie, and the other on your side, Ethan. The taxes are past due by three years, and now the properties belong to the City of Venture. I will let you have either building. You can pay up a year on the back taxes and set up a payment plan on the rest if you can’t pay the taxes out right.”

  Janie was looking at Ethan and Ethan at her. She asked the same question of the Mayor that Ethan had, “What are you proposing, Mayor Galley?”

  The Mayor seemed frustrated with them both. A large gust of coffee tinged breath came out of his mouth as he exhaled in exasperation. “In order for you two to be around after those corporate bastards come to town, you are going to have to combine forces!”

  Ethan was staring at Janie’s shirt. “She and I combine our businesses?”

  “Son, until now, I had never thought you to be daft. I am starting to wonder,” Mayor Galley said with a frown on his face.

  “Your Honor,” Ethan said as he rose, “I am not daft, nor short-sighted, but if I am given a choice on whether or not to combine my business with a random stranger, I would rather not!”

  The mayor slammed his hand on the desk. “Fine! You will be out of business in less than a year. You too, Janie girl!”

  He breathed deeply before waddling his way behind his desk. “I am trying to do what is best for the two of you as well as the citizens of Venture. You two are young, and if you put your heads together, I am certain you can work out a fair deal and create the best of both worlds.”

  Mayor Galley opened his desk drawer and pulled out two sets of keys. “Here are the addresses and keys to both of the buildings. I need you two to make this work,” he told them as he checked his watch.

  Janie knew that meant their time was up. “Thank you, Mr. Mayor,” she said as she led the way out to the office.

  In the hallway, she faced Ethan. My new business partner. He’s kind of cute. Based on his slow-witted responses in the meeting, he doesn’t seem very smart, though.

  Janie stuck out her small hand for a shake, “Put it there, part’nuh!”

  Ethan’s head was whirling. He accepted her handshake, then her business card that looked like a six-year-old had doodled stick people on a piece of card stock that was cut out at a whopsided angle. Janie proceeded to rattle off a list of things she needed to get done by the end of the day.

  Why is she telling me this?

  “Call me later, after four, so we can decide to meet or ride together to look at those buildings tomorrow,” she told him. He watched the neon pink shirt walk away. She was as interesting coming as she was going. On the back of the shirt was the same cartoon weightlifter, face down, doing pushups on dumbbells. The dumbbells were strategically placed on her butt cheeks. Each time she took a step, it looked as if the weightlifter was doing a one-armed press.

  What just happened? Better yet, where in the hell did she get that crazy ass shirt?

  That, he would have to answer later. Right now, his mind was focused on his arms. The fine hairs were sticking up from all of the goose pimples that had arisen from when she shook his hand.

  Ethan was about to start a new chapter in his book of life. There was a great deal of information that would need to be set up in order for the story to flow smoothly. If not, this story would end just like his last novel; a hot, flat, mess.

  He was smiling when he got into his car.

  I have goose bumps.

  Chapter 4. Character Sketching...

  It was a muggy afternoon when Ethan returned to his shop. His mother was engaged in a stimulating conversation with Dottie Meribodie about the book to be discussed in the non-fiction book club tonight. The book that the group had read was a memoir of an actress turned child advocate. In the conversation, Ethan overheard his mother mention how much the author had grown during the retelling of her journey from spoiled Hollywood royalty to helping her fellow man. Dottie chimed in, “She grew so much from page one to the end of the story. I felt taller by simply reading her words, like I had grown myself...”

  Characters need growth.

  Ethan ran into his office and pulled the manuscript from the bottom right drawer. Thumbing through the pages, he began to read. By the time he reached the end of Chapter 3, he knew what was wrong with the story. The story was not flat, the characters were. With the manuscript in his hand, he walked into the bookstore and watched the patrons milling about. Since it was book club night, there were at least 30 people in the store who normally only came for a cup of coffee or for book club meeting. If he didn’t have the book clubs at the end of the month, the Mayor was correct; he would be out of business in less than a year.

  I need growth.

  Slowly, he made his way back into his office and called the woman from the meeting. Janie. Now she seems like a real character. It was a quick phone call, and he was set to head to her shop to take a look at her operation. His father, Henry, walked in with a huge grin on his face.

  Henry was beaming. “I heard you got called into the Mayor’s office today!”

  “Yes, but when I tell you why, you may not smile as much,” Ethan spoke softly so his mother would not hear.

  “Go ahead; pour me a cup of Joe first, then fill me in,” Henry said.

  As Ethan finished the conversation with the explanation, his father uttered some of his Southern ministerial sage words, “Before you climb in bed with a snake, you need to see how big his nest is.” Henry’s analogies were as bad as the Mayor’s allegories.

  That makes no sense.

  “Son, what I am saying is...before you agree to go in to partnership with this woman, go and see how she conducts business,” he said as he turned up the cup of coffee. Henry’s eyes rolled up in his head. “This coffee is so good, I know it is a sin!”

  “I should do that,” Ethan re
sponded.

  “No, go do it now when she is least expecting you to show up. I will man the store here, start a fresh pot of this...delicious whatever fancy pants coffee this is,” Henry said with his cheerful smile.

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  Ethan left his store with one intention, to gain some understanding of the lady with the goofy shirt’s business. She was the kind of character in a story that made a reader stay up at night to read one more paragraph. Janie. Never would he have imagined that he would leave his store with one idea in mind only to return refreshed with new ideas, new energy, and a new understanding of the importance of rich characters.

  The Comic Book sat on the corner of Hattiesburg and Vine Streets in the lower income part of town. The homes were sturdy and old, and many had probably served as the servants’ housing for the nicer homes a few blocks over. It was the East side of Venture. Good people lived here. People who worked hard, loved harder, and played the longest. A hippie commune used to be in that part of town as well, where many of the residents had a co-op of food and resources. Not many of the original inhabitants remained. The few who did were still very active in the community.

  He watched for a while before deciding to venture inside. A cute young woman behind the counter greeted him as he walked in the door, “Welcome to the Comic Book!”

  “Thanks,” he mumbled as he worked his way around the store. Several of the comic books caught his eye as well as the brightly colored displays. Life-sized action figures were around the store, and a few patrons took selfies standing beside Thor or Captain America. Ethan took a mental picture as he moved on, milling about the establishment. Where is that Janie?

  He heard her voice first. Then he spotted her. She had changed out of the neon pink tee to wear a new one that was equally as odd as the one she sported earlier. This shirt was baby blue with an image of atlas holding up the world. In this case, the world was her right boob.