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I kissed a girl wearing a cross around her neck. Her lips didn't taste like church but her hips felt like God. I wonder what her pastor would have thought. I wonder if that cross around her neck meant more to me than it does to her.
AN ATHEIST ON A DATE / JESSE FEINMAN
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EVERYONE KNEW EVERYONE IN COAL CREEK, WEST VIRGINIA. Granted, it was a small town so it made sense, but when new people came and went, everyone heard about it. It happened when Arvin Russell's daddy shot himself after his wife's funeral and the kid moved in with his grandma, it happened when the Berkeleys wanted to "downsize" and live a "simple" life in the countryside and moved from their previously affluent life in Alexandria to Coal Creek ("nowheresville" as Betty would call it), West Virginia, and it happened when a new preacher came to town a few months later.
Each family in Coal Creek had a "name" more or less; for example, the Russells were "the Orphans" and the Berkeleys were "Those Rich Ones." Except, they weren't rich anymore. Actually, they were now demoted to the middle class along with the rest of their peers, something that made their skin crawl. Of course they kept up appearances—they couldn't possibly let anyone know!—but within the walls of the Berkeley household was a life anything other than luxurious.
The previously spoilt child, Adaline, was—if she dare say it aloud—almost happy for her snobby parents to be knocked down a peg, hoping they'd gain a sense of humility after being raised wealthy ever since they were younger, and then losing the majority of their families' wealth through their horrendous spending habits. Her mother married her father primarily for money (if it wasn't obvious) but then she proceeded to spend all of their (his) money on unnecessary things that served no purpose except making them bankrupt.
The rest of Desmond's family wasn't the smartest with their financials either, so asking them for monetary help was out of the question, and Betty's family was stingier and more selfish than anything (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...)so they didn't even bother. Desmond managed to be able to transfer offices to...Coal Creek...West Virginia—just the name gave Betty chills—and would be able to work a second (secret!) job on the side.
