Gilbert's New Girl

Chapter Five

The next day I drove over to Elmsdale to have lunch with my two sisters. As I drove there, I kept thinking about Gilbert and the look on his face the last time Becky showed up in Endora. She wanted to go to Europe for the summer and could Gilbert take care of Mary Jane? Of course, he agreed because he loved his daughter and maybe because he still loved Becky. Mary Anne had been ten years old, now she would be thirteen, only four years younger than Tally Chambers. The Goth girl was young enough to be his daughter and any hint of a sexual relationship between them would cause a scandal. Lunch with Ellen and Janice was strained. Ellen at least had the decency to ask after Gilbert, but Janice acted like we were talking about some stranger. ‘It’s time Gilbert married that woman he’s been screwing…..like forever,’ said Ellen as she proudly passed round the latest photographs of her family. It was weird to think that out of six siblings, only Ellen who was the youngest, had settled down and was raising her own family. Oh sure, Janice had been married twice but she had divorced her husbands as fast as she had married them. Larry was married to the whiskey bottle, and poor Arnie was dead these past 12 years, but marriage would never have been an option for him anyway.

I told Ellen that it looked like things between Gilbert and Sally had run out of steam. Ellen gazed out to the garden and said softly, ‘Poor Gilbert, he’s still pining for Becky after all these years.’ Janice pulled a face and said, ‘So how is your love life Amy?’ I managed to smile and say, ‘Oh you know, it’s hectic as ever. Both Pierce Brosnan and Kevin Costner are bombarding me with proposals but I’m holding out for Tucker to pop the question.’ Janice snorted with laughter, but Ellen reached across the table and squeezed my hand. ‘If Tucker asked you, would you marry him Amy?’ I shook my head. ‘Tucker’s a real sweet man, but I think maybe I’m just not the marrying type and besides who would look after Gilbert if I suddenly decided to get married?’ Of course, no one knew better than me that my brother was completely capable of looking after himself, but the pretence of caring for Gilbert had become my purpose in life, just like taking care of Arnie had been Gilbert’s purpose for living…but Arnie was gone now.

On the drive home, I saw Tally Chambers walking along the road, heading for Endora, so I figured the least I could do was stop and offer her a lift. She was still dressed in black, but today she didn’t have on all that Goth make-up. She caught me looking at her in the rear view mirror. ‘So what happened to the black eye make-up and the purple lipstick?’ She gave me a slow smile and said, ‘Your brother asked me not to wear it when I’m working at the store. He didn’t want me scaring off the old folks, you know?’ I nodded, trying to hide my surprise that Gilbert had actually asked her to alter her appearance. ‘Were you visiting friends at Millers Point?’ I asked her and she laughed softly. ‘No ma’am, I was just walking and thinking and smoking. I can’t do that in Endora without everyone staring at me like I’m some kind of a freak.’ I tried to explain that most of the townsfolk’s astonishment about her came from the fact that she was the minister’s daughter and she said she’d already figured that one out. ‘My Dad is okay with it, he doesn’t mind, doesn’t judge people by their appearance. And Gilbert, I kind of reckoned he was okay with it too, but he’s got a business to run and I needed a job.’ As I dropped her off close to her house, I realised she was actually a sweet girl, but then no one could have seemed sweeter than Becky Collins so I knew how deceiving first impressions can be.

Back home, Gilbert and Tucker were sitting out on the back porch drinking beer, a lot of beer. In an instant I had a flashback to the days before Gilbert started seeing Sally, back to when he and Tucker got drunk together most nights. The thought of that starting up again made me feel sick to my stomach, and both men knew from my expression that I was not pleased with their behaviour. Tucker spoke first. ‘I came over to see if maybe you wanted to talk a walk with me….’ I pulled his jacket off the back of one of the porch chairs and threw it at him. ‘Oh, you can take a walk alright Tucker, but the only place you’re going is home.’ Gilbert snickered as he watched Tucker struggling to put his jacket on. Eventually I had to help him straighten out the sleeves and then I guided him through the kitchen and towards the front door. ‘Call me tomorrow’ I said quietly, ‘and we can go catch a movie, okay?’ He nodded and started to walk down the path, but he stopped and turned towards me. ‘Don’t give Gilbert a hard time, Amy. He’s feeling kind of low, him and Sally called it quits today. It’s over.’ Before I could reply, I heard the sound of the lawnmower starting up. Things were bad when Gilbert mowed the lawn without me nagging at him for days. After Arnie died, Gilbert ruined the lawn with his continual mowing, and the last time Becky came by he chewed the grass up so good that he had no option but to drive over to Walters Bridge and buy enough turf to repair the damage. Drinking and mowing. The signs were not good.