Len and Norma Lose a Body

Chapter 12

Going out to a small town bar in your 30s was weird. How much should you dress up, how much make up should you wear, how close to Jesus should your hair be? Sharon flipped through the clothes in her closet: work, work, work, work-out, work, wedding. Not a lot of wild night out at the local bar kind of clothes. She was going to have to settle for a combination of jeans and a shirt that she would typically wear to work. When did her closet get so boring, and predictable? All her clothes kind of looked the same. She settled on a solid coloured top and some dark jeans and would probably end of wearing the same shoes she had wore all day at work.

"Looking hot," Mike said as he came into the room. Sharon was still scrutinizing her reflection but had to kind of agree with him. She felt like she didn't want to look like she was trying too hard or anything. Last time she went out to this bar, she watched someone she knew dance the night away in rubber boots and sweat pants. The local bar made her feel pretty glamourous if she was going to compare herself to the local patrons, but she still wanted to look good, she just needed it to look effortless. As she gave a nod of final approval to herself that she looked great she also remembered the dog that ran around the bar all night last time she was there. She chuckled a bit wondering why she didn't go out more.

...

Mike of course took a hard pass on going out with Sharon and her teacher friends. All they ever seemed to talk about was work. They seemed like great people but oh man he'd rather ram a pencil through his eye. Besides Sharon barely ever went out. He had beers with the guys all the time during hockey season so she should go out and enjoy some time out and not worry about him. She did look pretty good though he thought. He almost changed his mind, but then remembered the last time he went out and got stuck between two people debating dress code rules.

Mike checked his watch. "Brian should be here soon," he said trying to project his voice to the bathroom that Sharon had disappeared into. It wasn't exactly a surprise that Brian was coming because he came and ate supper with them all the time. It was more an effort to let Sharon know that it was getting close to 6 and that she needed to start moving a bit quicker if she wanted a good seat on her colleague's deck. Sharon loved the sun. He thought about how she used to tilt her face up to the sky and let the sunshine pour over her. Now she hid from the sun. Her idea of a good seat on the deck would be in the shade.

Sharon had eaten earlier, rabbit food, since she had to run out for the evening. Mike was in charge of supper and he wasn't about to spend a beautiful day like today cooking in the house. He had been into town earlier and bought 3 enormous steaks; one for him, one for Brian and one for Lauren to take 5 bites out of before proclaiming she was full. This is the way he liked to eat when Sharon was gone. She had already had a comment on the size of the steaks, and he wasn't about to let her see how much butter he'd put in the foil pan of potatoes, carrots, and onions that was ready to pop on the grill

Mike knew that everything he liked was bad for him. He thought about this as he cracked his first beer and lit the barbeque. There was something about cooking outside. It was hot and there was still lots of sun left for the day. He could see a plume of dust approaching in the distance and knew it'd be Brian on his was for supper. Mike had a quick laugh that trucks on a gravel road looked like that Pig Pen character from the Peanuts cartoon who had a cloud of dust always stuck to him. Mike popped the tray of veggies on the barbeque and ducked back inside to grab Brian a beer from the fridge and slapped a hat on his head on the way out of the house. Sharon wasn't the only one worried about wrinkles in this house.

...

Sharon's end of year staff party on Elaine's deck started off the same as always. A huge pitcher of Elaine's famous sangria and tell-tale evidence that she had been sampling since she had been home from work that showed up in the form of aggressively friendly hugging and arm holding for everyone who wandered up the deck stairs. Sharon gladly accepted a cup of sangria filled to the absolute brim from the tipsy host. "Drink, drink," Elaine announced as Sharon gingerly made her way across the deck with her sangria and her fruit tray in the other.

Successfully maneuvering to the food table Sharon set down her fruit and scanned the options, cheese ball with crackers, ham and cheese ball with crackers, cream cheese taco spread with nacho chips, cheese cake, a meat/pickle/cheese tray and Sharon's fruit. It was amazing this staff was even alive. Sharon of course wouldn't eat any of it and turned to size up who was here and where she should park her butt for the next couple of hours.

The young teachers, including Aaron, were all sitting in the sunshine along the rail of the deck. Sharon slid into an empty spot in the summer shade opposite them taking her first sip and relaxing into the conversations and music around her. "Ah, Patio Lanterns," she said to no one in particular as she sipped and hummed along. Sharon chimed into conversations here and there as they suited her.

Sharon was a patient person. She really only wanted to hang around with Aaron and three other people at best, but she knew the importance of acting cordial. She made sure to talk to the more senior staff and her hall partners and even the incredibly awkward math guy. These young teachers would last for a long time yet, even though they were throwing back drinks faster than everyone with maybe the exception of their host, Elaine. The older staff would start dropping like flies as soon as the cheese was gone Sharon knew that all she had to do was pace herself and wait.

It only took about two hours for the staff to start thinning out. Too much sun, too much drink, too much cheese, or a combination of all three began to afflict the older ones. Elaine was fading faster than the sun half slumping in her chair talking about how music today just ain't no good. The other teachers her age where barely hung around if they were able to show up at all. Even on the cusp of summer these guys were still running their kids around for baseball.

The sun was sinking lower in the sky and Elaine was sinking lower in her deck chair. Sharon decided it was time to help shut this party down and started collecting cups, plates, cutlery and an armload of forgotten cardigans from all corners of the deck. She stepped over Elaine's legs which were now stretched out into the middle of the deck. She motioned at Aaron to come and slide the patio door open. He followed her into the kitchen and Sharon deposited all the plates with their crumbs and cheese residue onto the counter beside the sink.

"Dale," Sharon called, "we're all done here." Dale, Elaine's husband, who had successfully hid in their house the entire time emerged from the living room. "Where's Elaine?" but before she could answer he was heading back out to the deck through the sliding doors. Sharon and Aaron looked at each other and laughed. "Jesus Christ woman. I told you to lay off that wine while you were waiting." Dale sounded gruff, but he was carefully guiding his very tipsy wife through the kitchen. "Sharon, Sharon, hey I had some games planned," Diane slurred. Dale rolled his eyes and kept walking his wife through the kitchen as he gave Sharon and Aaron a parting wave and never looked back.

Back out on the deck, a group of about 5 people were still hanging around. Finishing up a last drink, smoking a cigarette, talking in low whispers. "Nine thirty – late night champs," Aaron clapped his hands together is mock congratulations. "What will you do with your new title," Sharon teased. "There's got to be some kind of belt, a trophy of some kind." "How 'bout I buy the late night champs a drink," Sharon promised. She knew she had her in. New teachers couldn't turn down a free round of drinks, and they took off on foot to the only bar in town.

...

Norma and her husband Len where just getting up from their post supper nap. They didn't always nap after supper, but they did on Fridays. Norma and Len had gotten into the habit of going for a midnight cruise early on in their relationship as a way to put their children to sleep when they were being colicky. This was 40 years ago. In the beginning they drove out of necessity. Exhausted they would drive all over town, up and down blocks, over and over again until their baby would finally fall asleep in Norma's arms. Here is where a 40 year old habit formed.

The habit wasn't necessarily about the driving, it was about the snooping. They realized early on in those days that they could learn a lot about their neighbours by what they were up to after midnight. Trucks parked behind certain houses or flashes of profiles and faces in kitchen windows became their own personal scavenger hunt. They knew who kept lights on all night long and who liked to hide in the dark. When their kids were a bit older and started to go to sleep on their own they had gotten out of the habit of going together. Len still went out multiple times a week and would of course fill Norma in on everything he had observed, but Norma reserved her midnight cruises for Fridays. Over the years she had learned that Fridays never disappointed.