Five Things LaShawn Won't Talk About
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine. I make no money on this.
Five Things LaShawn Won't Talk About
First, why they left Lubbock. Oh, she'll chatter on about things she misses and things she likes better here in Childress. Weather, local politics, neighborhoods, shopping… She'll go on-at length-about the new job with Roy Taylor and the old job with… Well, she never does name any names; just says "a big ole ranch" or a vague description of some of Randall's duties: "buyin all the feed an such."`You'd almost wonder what they've got to hide, if you weren't already convinced by her verbal spate that LaShawn never hides anything.
Second, her junior year in college. From pre-school through high school she has an endless fund of stories about herself and her family and her friends. Same for her freshman, sophomore, and senior years at Southern Methodist. And all her summer activities seem to be an open book. It's easy not to notice that none of her prattle touches on the period September 1964 to June 1965. It's as though that whole school year just didn't happen.
In italics, underlined, capitalized. How I Found Out About Randall. That's how she thinks of it, streaming across her mind like a movie title or the headline of a breaking news story on TV. Then the movie plays for her: Randall coming in, beat up, distraught, in tears, on his knees to her, begging her not to leave him. His mumbled confession about "seeing somebody else," which she knew-even in her shock-was incomplete. His promises never to stray again, which she never believed, then or later. Finally, the missing piece, when Randall-and-Bob was common knowledge-she, of course, the last to know-and he left his job with Johnson Feed & Supply and she left her job with Neiman Marcus and they packed up and moved to Lubbock. She never talks about it.
Fourth, her struggle to decide whether to stay with him or leave him. She loves him, with all his faults; the faults she complains of freely and the one she doesn't mention. And he loves her, or says he does. She believes him, but it's not the kind of love she should expect from a husband; is it enough? He'll never be faithful, but maybe, just maybe, he could learn to be discreet… She keeps it all to herself, and never tells a soul.
Fifth, his new friend, Jack Twist.
Five Things LaShawn Won't Talk About
First, why they left Lubbock. Oh, she'll chatter on about things she misses and things she likes better here in Childress. Weather, local politics, neighborhoods, shopping… She'll go on-at length-about the new job with Roy Taylor and the old job with… Well, she never does name any names; just says "a big ole ranch" or a vague description of some of Randall's duties: "buyin all the feed an such."`You'd almost wonder what they've got to hide, if you weren't already convinced by her verbal spate that LaShawn never hides anything.
Second, her junior year in college. From pre-school through high school she has an endless fund of stories about herself and her family and her friends. Same for her freshman, sophomore, and senior years at Southern Methodist. And all her summer activities seem to be an open book. It's easy not to notice that none of her prattle touches on the period September 1964 to June 1965. It's as though that whole school year just didn't happen.
In italics, underlined, capitalized. How I Found Out About Randall. That's how she thinks of it, streaming across her mind like a movie title or the headline of a breaking news story on TV. Then the movie plays for her: Randall coming in, beat up, distraught, in tears, on his knees to her, begging her not to leave him. His mumbled confession about "seeing somebody else," which she knew-even in her shock-was incomplete. His promises never to stray again, which she never believed, then or later. Finally, the missing piece, when Randall-and-Bob was common knowledge-she, of course, the last to know-and he left his job with Johnson Feed & Supply and she left her job with Neiman Marcus and they packed up and moved to Lubbock. She never talks about it.
Fourth, her struggle to decide whether to stay with him or leave him. She loves him, with all his faults; the faults she complains of freely and the one she doesn't mention. And he loves her, or says he does. She believes him, but it's not the kind of love she should expect from a husband; is it enough? He'll never be faithful, but maybe, just maybe, he could learn to be discreet… She keeps it all to herself, and never tells a soul.
Fifth, his new friend, Jack Twist.