Gilbert's New Girl

The problem with living in a small town like Endora is you can’t have any secrets. Everyone knows everyone, and as nothing much ever happens in a place like this, the most trivial events become the hot topic of conversation. Naturally, it didn’t take long for the good people of Endora to start whispering about Gilbert and the Goth girl and I would’ve had to be deaf to not know what they were saying. No one approved of their friendship, especially given the age difference, and even I was less than happy that my forty year old brother had embarked on a romantic interlude with a seventeen year old girl. What was he thinking of? But for once, Gilbert was thinking about himself, and maybe that wasn’t such a terrible thing, you know? At least, that was Tucker’s opinion. I still needed some persuading. ‘All his life Gilbert’s done the right thing in other people’s eyes,’ Tucker said solemnly, ‘but some of the things he’s done have only made him miserable.’ I wanted to ask Tucker why he was whispering, but I already knew the answer. Gilbert was upstairs getting ready to go out, and any minute now he would appear in a clean shirt and smelling of Yardley Black Label aftershave. ‘She’s too young for him, Tucker! It’s not right for a man his age to be dating a teenager.’ Tucker took a swig of beer and placed the bottle back down on the kitchen counter. ‘Think about it Amy, who else is he gonna date? Be honest, apart from Sally, who else is there in this entire town who he could go out with?’ There was no one, but I still felt Sally was a better choice of partner for Gilbert than Tally Chambers would ever be.

For once, I almost thought Gilbert looked gorgeous when he came into the kitchen looking for his car keys. He certainly smelled good. ‘So where are you off to tonight?’ I said, trying to sound casual. He smiled at me and said, ‘Probably a movie, I don’t know. It’s up to Tally, whatever she wants to do, you know?’ It was on the tip of my tongue to say, ‘So you’d rather make out with a teenager at the movies than be snuggled up in bed with Sally Morrow?’ but I said nothing. What was the point? Gilbert was a grown man, he knew what he wanted and he didn’t need me telling him he was wrong, even if he was. By the time Gilbert got home that night, Tucker and I were both fast asleep on the sofa, victims of a few glasses of a good Chardonnay and a bad midnight movie. ‘Did you have a good time?’ I asked him sleepily, and he smiled and said, ‘Better than you could imagine, now go to bed, it’s late and you got church in the morning.’ As he helped me to my feet, I could smell Tally’s perfume on him and I could sense his contentment from being with her. Why couldn’t I feel that way about Tucker? About anyone? And at that moment I almost cried because I understood that he was happy in a way that I was still waiting to feel.

When I got back from church the next morning, Gilbert and Tucker were sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee. Gilbert had the account books laid out on the table, but it didn’t look like he was getting much chance to work on them with Tucker yakking away in his ear. Gilbert took advantage of my return to gather up the books, and with a smile he said, ‘I’ll do these upstairs. Let you and Tucker get on with making lunch.’ Of course, Gilbert was no sooner out of sight when I started quizzing Tucker. ‘So did he tell you anything about Tally?’ Tucker beckoned for me to come closer. ‘He really likes her Amy, I mean he really, really likes her. And he thinks that she likes him too. I can’t remember the last time I saw Gilbert this happy. I know you think it’s wrong for him to be seeing her, but you got to admit she’s making him happy, right.’ I bit my lip and nodded my head. ‘The whole town’s talking about it, Tucker. They all think that Gilbert’s some kind of a pervert, and I know he’s not, but the blame for all of this is falling on him. Everyone expects Gilbert to be responsible; he’s a full grown man and Tally’s hardly more than a child. It’s not right, it’s just not right.’ Tucker shook his head. ‘Tally’s young, but she’s not a child. She knows what she’s doing….’ I let out a snort of derision. ‘Oh sure, Tucker! She knows what she’s doing alright! She’s leading him on! She’s just toying with him, and when she gets tired of him, then what? Gilbert’s reputation will be in the dirt and all the heart knocked out of him again, and who do you think is going to have to pick up the pieces?’ Tucker let out a long sigh. ‘I can understand that you don’t want to see Gilbert get hurt; neither do I, but why is it so hard for you to want him to be happy?’ Trust Tucker! He sees one tiny little chink in your armour and the next thing he’s got a knife in there and he’s twisting it around.