Gilbert's New Girl

After lunch Tucker and I took a walk, but for once I was happy to let him do all the talking. He was finally thinking of getting rid of his motorcycle and getting a car, and I was only half-listening as he listed the pro’s and con’s of several different makes of automobiles. As we turned onto Brewster Street, we saw Mrs Marshall from the store coming towards us. ‘Hi Amy, Hi Tucker!’ she said brightly. I could feel Tucker squeezing my elbow, warning me not to say anything to Mrs Marshall about Tally, but I could hardly avoid saying anything about Gilbert, after all, he was her boss. So I told her Gilbert was at home, doing the books, and she gave me a funny look. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I guess the way business has been at the store this last week or two, doing the books will take him all of five minutes.’ Gilbert hadn’t mentioned anything about trade being slow to me, but Mrs Marshall must have seen the puzzled look on my face because she went to say that although they had plenty of customers, they seemed to have stopped buying anything. ‘Mostly, they’re just coming in to gawp at Tally and draw Gilbert dirty looks’ she said sadly. ‘If it’s any consolation Amy, I want you to know that I think your brother’s a decent man and a good boss, but the business is suffering because of all the talk about him and Tally. If things keep on like this then I guess I’ll be looking for a new job.’ I was speechless! I truly didn’t know what to say to her, but once again Tucker surprised me.

‘So’ he said, rocking back on his heels, ‘all this talk is about what? Huh? Gilbert’s taken Tally to the movies a couple of times---no crime in that, right? You know this whole thing is really starting to piss me off, excuse my language ladies! I mean, it’s not as if Gilbert’s got her tied up in the stockroom and having his wicked way with a minor!’ I couldn’t remember ever seeing Tucker so angry about anything, and now it was my turn to squeeze his arm to signal him to calm down. Tucker pulled his arm away from me, ‘You’re there in the store with them every day’ he said quietly to Mrs Marshall, who could only nod her head. Now it was her turn to be speechless. ‘So you tell me and Amy what’s going on? You know? Is there any hanky panky going on in the stockroom? Any canoodling behind the counter? Or maybe Tally’s getting Gilbert all hot and bothered up against the chilled cabinet?’ Now Mrs Marshall found her voice. ‘No Tucker, there’s nothing like that going on. I’ve never seen Gilbert behave like anything other than the perfect gentleman when I’m around, but I’ve no idea what goes on between them in private.’ She said it as if she believed there was something going on between Gilbert and Tally, and she was in the best position to judge, spending eight hours a day with them. Oh, I knew it! I knew this was going to happen! Gilbert’s a good person, he really is, but it’s like his brain travels south and stays there whenever a pretty woman shows him some attention.

We left Mrs Marshall and began walking back towards home. ‘Would Gilbert tell you if he was sleeping with Tally?’ I asked Tucker. He shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘No, I don’t think he’d tell me, but I’d know.’ The evening air was hot and oppressive, and the sky seemed low and heavy. Tucker took my hand and for once I didn’t pull away from him. ‘Amy, you know this thing between Gilbert and Tally, I don’t think it’s about sex.’ I looked at his face in the dimming light. He seemed awkward and uncomfortable. ‘I think maybe Gilbert’s in love with Tally, and if you want my honest opinion, I don’t think there’s anything like that, you know, anything sexual going on between them just yet.’ Would the fact that Gilbert was falling love with Tally make any difference to my opposition to him being involved with a girl of seventeen? Maybe, maybe not. I didn’t know. ‘You know what your trouble is Amy?’ Tucker asked me as we walked together. I am always deeply suspicious whenever anyone asks that question. That question has probably led to more rows than I care to imagine. But Tucker was intent on telling me, so I said nothing and listened. According to Tucker, I don’t have an ounce of romance in my soul, and I couldn’t really disagree with him, but I was still entitled to defend myself. ‘I had all the romance in my soul destroyed a long time ago, Tucker, and you know how it happened.’ He nodded his head sadly, and said, ‘Yeah, I know what happened with Janice and…..’ ‘Don’t mention his name, Tucker, please don’t say it’. He hugged me and whispered, ‘Okay, but maybe you should think about whose shoulder you cried on for years. Gilbert was there for you, so maybe now’s the time for you to be there for him.’ I pulled back from Tucker’s embrace. ‘I’ve always been there for Gilbert, always. When Becky left him, he knew he could talk to me, but he just sulked up in his room or mowed the lawn to death, but I was there for him.’

Tucker shook his head. ‘No you weren’t Amy, not really. Don’t forget I was around when all this was happening and I don’t remember it anything like the way you do. For a start, Becky never left Gilbert. Gilbert left her. Now I know he didn’t have much choice in the matter, but the bottom line is he was the one who left. And as far as you being there for him, well I’m not so sure about that. You were glad it was over between him and Becky, and Gilbert’s not stupid! He knew that! He knew you never liked Becky.’ I wish I could tell you that Tucker was wrong, but he wasn’t. Every word he said was true. I am a terrible person. I’m weak and insecure and scared of being alone. ‘Tucker, why do you bother with me? Why don’t you find yourself a girl with some romance in her soul?’ Tucker tilted my face up to his and said, ‘I don’t want no one else, Amy. And besides if you’d just let me look, I reckon I could find some romance in your soul, or even better just stand real close to Gilbert as often as you can, and some of the romance that’s washing all over him is bound to spill on you.’ Now, when I told this story to Ellen for the first time, she called what happened next ‘romantic’ but to me it was just a rainstorm.