Indelible

"Reggie Ray gave me an earful."

"Don't listen to that old redneck," she chastised. "He's the worst of the lot. Keeps saying he was born again. He needs a couple of more rebirths before he turns into a decent human being."

"He seemed all right."

"Then you weren't looking close enough," Nell said, an edge of warning to her tone. "There's two things you need to know about this town, Sara: the Rays think their shit don't stink and the Kendalls are pure white trash." She indicated her own front yard. "Not that I can say much with all that crap Possum put in the yard, but at least my kids show up to school in clean clothes."

"Who are the Kendalls?"

"They run the fruit stand outside of town," she said. "Mean bastards, every one of them." She added, "Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with being poor – me and Possum's brought it to an art form – but that doesn't mean you can send your kids out with dirt on their faces and muck under their fingernails. You see them at the store and you have to hold your breath, they're so filthy." Nell paused, shaking her head in disapproval. "A few years ago, one of them showed up to school with lice. Infected the entire ninth grade."

"Has anyone called children's services?"

Nell snorted. "Hoss has been trying to run the whole family out of town for years. The old man was horrible. Beat his wife, beat his kids, beat his dogs. Best thing he ever did was drop dead of a heart attack mowing the grass back behind the seed store." She shook her head again. "Still left his wife with one in the oven, and that one's the worst of all. Thank God he's not in Jared's grade. He gets thrown out of school every other day for fighting or stealing or God knows what. Punched a girl last week. Little bastard's just like his father."

Sara said, "Sounds horrible," but still, she could not help but feel sorry for the child. She often wondered if kids like that could straighten themselves out with the right parent around. She had never completely bought the "bad seed" theory, though Nell's appraisal that the apple had not fallen far from the tree was probably shared by everyone in town.

Nell changed the subject, saying, "Y'all got in late last night."

"I hope we didn't wake you up."

"I was already up with Possum," she said. "Fool man slammed his chin against the counter at work. Don't ask me how he did it, but it gave him a toothache all night long. Tossing and turning till I about strangled him."

A car with a woman and a young boy coasted by the house, the woman holding a sheet of paper in her hands like she was trying to read directions.

Sara said, "Jeffrey had a little too much to drink."

Nell's surprise was obvious. "I've never seen him drink much."

"I don't think it's a habit."

Nell studied her, like she was trying to figure Sara out. "Was it about Julia?"

"Who's Julia?"

Nell looked out into the street, where the car that had coasted by earlier had backed up and was parking in front of the driveway.

"Who's Julia?" Sara repeated. "Nell?"

Nell stood up. "You need to talk to Jeffrey about that."

"About what?"

She waved to the woman getting out of the car, saying, "You found it."

The woman smiled as her son ran up to the dogs and threw his arms around them. "They look just like the pictures."

"This one's Henry," Nell said, indicating one of the dogs. "This is Lucinda. Truth be told, she only comes to Lucy." She held out the leashes to the boy, who gladly took hold.

The woman opened her mouth, looking like she was about to protest, but Nell reached into her pocket and pulled out a wad of cash. "This should cover the cost for having them fixed. My husband and I never got around to it."

"Thank you," the woman said, the cash obviously helping to make up her mind. "Is there any particular food they like?"

"Anything," Nell said. "They just love to eat and they love kids."

The boy said, "They're great!" with that enthusiastic tone children use when they're trying to convince their parents they will become future astronauts or presidents if only they get the thing they are asking for.

"Anyway." Nell looked at Sara then back to the woman. "I should be going. We've got to finish packing up the house. Movers will be here at two."

The woman smiled. "It's a shame you can't keep them in the city."

"Landlord won't allow it," Nell told her, holding out her hand. "Thank you kindly."

"Thank you," the woman said, shaking her hand. She shook Sara's, too, then told the child, "Honey, say 'Thank you.' "

The boy mumbled a "Thank you," but his attention was squarely set on the dogs. Sara watched them bound toward the car, the boy jogging to keep up with the rambunctious animals.

Sara waited until the woman was in the car, but Nell held up a hand to keep her from speaking. "Put an ad in the paper," she said. "No sense letting those dogs waste away out back when there's people who know how to care for them."

"What are you going to tell your neighbor when he gets home from work?"

"I guess they broke their chains," Nell shrugged. "I'd better go check on Jared."

"Nell -"

"Don't ask me questions, Sara. I know I talk too much, but there's some things you need to hear from Jeffrey."

"He doesn't seem interested in telling me much of anything."

"He's over at his mama's," Nell said. "Don't worry, she won't be home for another few hours. She grabs lunch at the hospital on Tuesdays."

"Nell -"

Nell held up her hand, walking away.

After walking up and down the street twice, Sara realized she could always look at the mailboxes instead of trying to remember what Jeffrey's mother's house looked like. She found the one marked "Tolliver" five houses down from Nell's and hoped to God no one had been watching her make a fool of herself. She felt especially stupid when she recognized Robert's truck parked in the driveway.

In the daylight, the house looked more run-down than Sara had thought the first time she had seen it. Several coats of paint had been added over the years, giving the siding a rippled effect. The lawn was a depressing brown and the spindly tree in the front yard looked like it was about to fall over.

The front door was wide open, the screen door unlocked, but still she knocked, saying, "Jeffrey?"

There was no response, and Sara walked into the house just as she heard a door slam in the back.

She repeated, "Jeffrey?"

"Sara?" he asked, coming into the family room. He had a hand-held propane torch in one hand and an adjustable wrench in the other.

"Nell said you were here."

"Yeah," he said, not exactly looking at her. He held up the torch. "The pipe in the kitchen burst about two years ago. She's been washing dishes in the bathroom ever since." She did not respond, and he motioned her back to the kitchen. "I'm go

"Lot of that going around," Sara mumbled.

"What?"

She shrugged, looking at the mess on the floor. He had taken apart the entire faucet just to replace the pipe. She asked, "Did you turn off the water?"

"That's what I was doing outside," he told her, sitting on the floor. He took some sand cloth and sanded an end piece of copper pipe with the methodic precision of an amateur.

Sara sat across from him, trying not to be critical of the work he had already performed. Had her father been here, he would have called Jeffrey a girl.

There was a note of pride in Jeffrey's voice when he said, "I went ahead and replaced everything."

"Hm," she mumbled. "Need help?"

He cut his eyes at her, and she gathered this was something like driving in that only men did it. Considering her father had taught both Sara and Tessa safety procedures for using propane and acetylene torches before they could comfortably say the words, this was more than slightly insulting.