Black Locust Letters Read Online Free PDF

be here within an hour, and that was
a half-hour ago. Betty had called her from the station, thinking
that it would take forty-five minutes to walk here. She was wrong,
and now she debated what other drink she should get besides coffee
to keep from looking like she was being stood up for a
date.
    There was only one thing to do, then: Find a way back inside.
Betty rubbed her eyes. That was what brought her here, what had
made her call Pearl after nothing more than scant exchanges of
pleasantries for so long. But now she was having second thoughts.
Did she want to intentionally go back into the wave talking world?
Yes, she'd accidentally found herself twisted into a corner there
before, and she'd paid dearly to extract herself from
it.
    Had
she done it, though? Had she ever been free from it, or had she
been hiding from the real troubles, tucking into a hole and hiding
like her bogey did during cleaning day? The thought was not a nice
one, and while she sat here, she stared blankly at the white washed
panelling and the cutesy doilies spread out over the
tables.
    This
was Pearl's favorite shop, and word would spread that Betty had met
up with her here. Over a bugged phone line, though, it was hard to
be picky about the venue choice without being obvious. So she'd
agreed to Pearl's suggestion. Pearl never was the brightest, and
she just might get lost if Betty had tried to direct her someplace
else.
    She
looked to the clock again.
    “ Hi!” Pearl's squeaky voice came with the opening of the door,
and the people behind the counter responded with warm salutations.
In a flutter of pink scarves and gleaming teeth, Pearl sat down in
the chair opposite Betty.
    How
the years had changed them. Last she had been with Pearl, they were
both wearing white button-downs and school skirts. Betty's attire
had taken a turn for utilitarian and timeless, while Pearl's had
gone glossy, sleek, and tailored so tight that she couldn't do more
than wriggle her ankles to move. Even her white lace gloves looked
tight, and her cropped blonde hair was shiny with aerosol spray.
The Pan-Am smile Pearl gave Betty could have been disingenuous, but
that was how Betty always remembered her smiling.
    “ Good afternoon, Pearl. You're looking well.”
    “ And
you're looking a little puffy. Are they working you too hard?”
Pearl asked, suddenly looking worried as she grabbed Betty's
hand.
    This
reminded Betty of her coffee, which had gone cold. Ah, well, better
off to not drink caffeine so late in the day. Pearl's casual
comment struck too close to the truth, so Betty laughed it off.
“Don't they always?”
    “ Well, don't let them waste you away too much, or I won't have
a friend left!”
    “ So,
what have you been doing with your married life?” Betty asked, and
instantly the other woman set off in a nonstop chattering. Most of
it was talk about Christmas and New Years, and about the annual
Thanksgiving argument over if potatoes should be whipped or mashed,
and about the scandal that her sister-in-law made by regifting the
gloves she'd been given for her birthday.
    Betty watched her friend with a small smile, enjoying this
simple time, pretending that all was as it used to be, and that
this was how things would be again in the future, even though she
knew that it was utterly impossible. She tried not to feel guilty
that she was using her friend to get information. After all, her
father and Slim hadn't felt guilty about using her.
    “ It
was so terrible what Slim said about you after you ran away. Why,
I'd nearly thrown him out of my house twice in as many days.”
Pearl's comments brought Betty back to reality with a snap and a
twist in her gut. “I see why you left him. Such an unseemly fellow,
and after all he seemed so nice. I can't cut off ties with him, you
know, since he and Karl are...well, anyway. I just wanted to let
you know that you can come to me any time you need to.”
    “ Thank you, Pearl,” Betty said, thinking to herself that it
was a