MAKING IT IN CHESTERVILLE - Chapter 2

Attending Church is a Good Thing

 

Almost persuaded

I started to going to church and was surprised to see some of the people who also attended.

I personally knew that some of them had some bad habits I wouldn’t expect church goers to have.  I try not to judge people too harshly so I reckoned that those are the very people who need to be in church although maybe not in high positions and in charge.

There were a lot of people who hung around my service station and talked a lot. If it had been women it would have been gossip but with men it was just talk.

I mostly listened and I got to know everything about everybody in the community. Of course you had to figure that what you heard was only half true but that gave you a good handle on what was going on.

Several young men would drop in for my soft drinks as they were the coldest in town. I always kept a block of ice in the drink box and plenty of the favorite drinks on hand.

Boys were Worse Gossips than the Girls

I found out a lot about the young ladies in town just listening to their conversations. 

Of course they had the problem of embellishing the truth as they told their tales but after hearing a similar story from several sources you could get close to what was the honest truth.

The liveliest tale going around was about the Mitchell girl, as she was in need of a husband and the culprit had left town.

One day Mr. Mitchell came in and filled up with gas.  Along with him were his two brothers. It seems they had located the Mason boy and were on the way to retrieve him. As it turned out he proposed marriage to the girl when they all arrived back home.

I was told they had a nice private wedding ceremony and the couple was very happy.

I never told anyone that she showed up at the station at closing time and told me I could have my way with her if I wanted to.

I told her no thanks for I wasn’t ready to be a father yet. I had heard she was pregnant and didn’t want to be the candidate for fatherhood. I would never tell anyone but I was strongly tempted for she was desirable but I knew better than to get involved.

There were a few girls that I would like to get to know better but haven’t made any move toward asking for a date. The girls here in Chesterville try to be standoffish from the time they are born. It must be the training the mothers give them.

Whatever the issue they pretty well kept me in my place as defined by them when I was a poor farmer.

However, I noticed that since I became a business man I’m getting a lot more attention.

Girls come in and while I service their car they let me know they would be willing to go out with me if I wanted them to.

I have asked a couple of them to go out and they accepted. It was mostly hello and goodbye with a dance or movie in between for I didn’t want to get to familiar with the chickens.

That was as my father said; he told me not to make pets out of the chickens as some were destined to be dinner for us sooner or later.  He knew there would be some heartbreak involved if such a separation should occur.

I saw a number of boys who broke up with their girlfriends and it greatly affected them.  I figured it best not get too involved unless I couldn’t help myself and that hasn’t happened yet.

A couple of young men wanted to work for me because they were being encouraged very strongly to marry the girl they had been dating and they needed some money… badly.

There was this one girl, Annie that the boys were talking about in a way that didn’t seem to match her demeanor. According to the boys, she was supposed to be morally loose and I found it hard to believe.

I decided to try to find out if what they were saying was true so the next time she came and bought a soda I asked her out and she said no she wasn’t dating now for she was busy studying for college.

Annie Seemed Like a Nice Girl

I talked to her for some time and was convinced the boys were lying. I said if she changed her mind and wanted to go dancing or somewhere else she would let me know. I don’t date much so I’m usually available I told her.

She wanted to know why I didn’t go out and I told her, “I’m quite busy here at the station and am not into dating that much. For some reason or the other the girls here in Chesterville don’t interest me.”

She said, ‘Why then did you ask me out?”

I told her, “Its obvious isn’t it?”

She said, ‘I don’t know maybe you ought to tell me.”

I said, “Well this is a little embarrassing but here goes. Actually this is too embarrassing for I don’t feel I have the right to tell you some of my motive.”

“Sounds like you are just like the other boys here in Chesterville.”

She said, “Let me tell you why I don’t date any of the Chester boys, it is because they want to treat you like a whore and I am not that kind of girl and you might as well understand that right now.”

“Looks like I’m going to have to come right out with it and tell you the real reason for wanting to date you. First off I don’t want you to be mad at me for there is no reason to be mad.

You know there are a lot of guys hanging around the station and they talk about the Chester girls and some from the surrounding towns. Your name came up and some things were said about you that I didn’t believe and I told them so. The more I thought about it the more I was sure they were wrong and just repeating some gossip someone started.

After I saw you several times I decided I would like to take you dancing along with proving to myself they didn't know what they were talking about.”

“Well just how did you figuring on finding out what you needed to know?”

“Well… I don’t know… I just figured I could tell by just being with you for I’m a good judge of character.”

We talked for a while longer and she said, ‘You can pick me up for the dance on Saturday around seven.”

I said, ‘What made you change your mind and decide to go with me.”

She laughed slightly less than hysterically and said, ‘It is because you’re so harmless; ha ha ha.” 

To Be Continued