The Gardens of Digby Green: Land of Lincoln
“Aw, cain’t ya shut that kid up?”
Southern accent, baseball cap…that’s Digby by the beverage coolers. Ray moved down an aisle toward the narrow hallway marked with restroom signs.
“Don’t you speak that way about my child!” The mother left the counter, took her daughter’s upper arm in a firm grip and leaned over.
“He’s bleeding!” The child pointed in Ray’s direction. Ray looked back as the mother stared at him.
“Oh my.”
He sped up, brushing against an obstructing cardboard box, just outside the men’s room door. Moments later, he was washing his hands, when the clerk pounded on the closed door.
“I’ll call you an ambulance!”
“Don ’t bother,” Ray said.
“What? Mister…”
“It’s tomato sauce,” Ray explained.
The clerk walked away, his sniggers fading, but from what Ray heard, the mother and screaming children seemed to have left. Was Digby still in the convenience shop?
Ray opened the door and examined the cardboard box in the hall. “How much for these souvenir T-shirts?” he called.
“Nine bucks,” the clerk said.
Ray pawed through the pile until he found a navy blue one in his size printed with the Illinois state slogan. He ducked back into the men’s room, stuffed his stained shirt into the waste basket and put on the T-shirt. He’d be walking around proclaiming he’d been to the Land of Lincoln, but that was a vast improvement over eliciting screams. As he turned away from paying the clerk, Digby Green’s truck left its spot at the pumps. Ray dashed out.
#
She drove a metallic silver mini van with dark purple pin striping. Not something he’d choose, but neither would he get himself hitched to a woman with a voice and attitude like that one. If he had his way, he’d teach both mother and daughter a thing or two. If nobody did, that rug rat was gonna grow up thinking she could do no wrong. Digby chewed three sticks of Black Jack gum, clenching his jaws side-to-side.
Ahead of him, the van cornered at a side street. He changed lanes. It was so tempting to follow, and see what developed, but he had an appointment with FloRa Woodbine, a state away. He should stick to his plans.
The Gardens of Digby Green: Land of Lincoln is part of a serialized story that posts on Fridays.
Find previous installments and other serialized fiction here.
Find a link to purchase Heartland Treasures anthology here.
Ruth DeMaat
Heidi Kortman
Krystine Kercher
Heidi Kortman