Piper

"Where ya headed, Piper?" Mary Sue Gellopy was perched on her front porch in that old rickety rocking chair that she'd had since before I was even born. Her grey hair moved with the breeze.

"Gonna head over to Aunt Millie's. Daddy said she'd need help with the dinner prep so I volunteered to give her a hand." Everyone, from my momma and daddy to my great aunts and uncles, were back at home helping Jessie Ann get set up for the wedding.

One thing I didn't care too much for was my sister Jessie Ann. I'd had enough of her constant 'me me me' mentality over the years and today was no different. Jessie Ann was marrying Tick Vanson and if you ask me, she was doomed to spend the rest of her life married to an idiot. Tick was no genius and I don't even know how the hell he past the ninth grade, let alone graduated.

"Little ole Jessie Ann McCaleb's finally getting married," Mary Sue replied. Everyone was aware that Jessie Ann was getting hitched. She'd invited the whole damn town and Daddy had been complaining about how much everything cost over the past three months. He'd plain out told Jessie Ann, "Hell, he knocked you up anyway! Might as well take your asses down to the courthouse and call it a day. Wasting all this money on that damned Tick Vanson." Daddy had an odd relationship with Tick and everybody knew it.

Tick worked over on our farm as a stable hand and Daddy told him plain and simple when he first started, He said, "Now I'm willing to give you this job, but if you even think about laying a hand on one of my girls? Well, boy, my foot's gonna be resting pretty in yo back quarters." Daddy wasn't very good at playing menacing I guess, cause about four months ago Jessie Ann came home one day crying about being pregnant. Served her right though. Maybe she'll finally grow up.

"Ya better watch out, Piper. You could be next," Mary Sue let out the deepest laugh followed by one of those smoker's coughs. You'd think she'd lay off the cigarettes after all these years, but momma said she think she smoked at least four packs a day. I didn't reply to Mary Sue, I just waved and went on down the road. Mary Sue didn't know that marriage wasn't in the cards for me. Not living down here, anyway. Small town of Christianly people. My marriage would never be accepted down here. Hell, I'd be lucky if the town, my parents included, didn't drive me out with pitchforks nestled tight in their grasps. No, little Piper McCaleb wouldn't be getting married down here.

Aunt Millie's house was nestled just off the edge of Maple Drive and only about a good twenty-minute walk away from my folks' house. She lived there alone after Uncle Henry died about 8 years ago. It was one of those freak accidents. He was trampled by a Clydesdale and barely lived long enough to say goodbye.

"Aunt Millie? You in there?" I yelled through the screen door. I could hear the soft tapping of feet on the hardwood floor. Millie was wiping her hands on a small dish towel as she unlocked the screen door.

"What did I tell you about yelling?"

"That you're not deaf and you can hear me just fine when I talk normal," I smiled down at her short stature.

"Now give me a hug! Damn it's been too long since you were last home, Pippi."

After high school, I'd managed to get as far away from home as I possibly could. I ended up in Northern California at UC Riverside and I didn't even look back. I occasionally spoke with Aunt Millie over the course of the last 8 years but I hadn't seen her in about a year.

"Get in here and tell me what you've been up to since I last saw you." I rolled my eyes and closed the screen door behind me.

"Millie, I just talked to you yesterday."