Page 12 of Refuge for Flora

“Hey. How’s it going?”

She shrugged. “Good, I suppose.”

“Good. Just checking to see if you needed anything. I’m going to town and I can pick something up if you want.”

“Hmmm… We need some milk and eggs, and I’d sure love to have a box of brownie mix.”

“I can handle that. Be back shortly. Bye, Flora,” Barrett called as he threw the truck into gear. She waved as he disappeared down the road, then turned and made her way slowly back to the house.

An hour later, there was a knock at the door. “Well, god damn it, I just got sat down. Girl, can you?”

“I’ll get it, Mrs.Murphy.” Flora turned the knob and swung the door open to find Barrett standing there. “Oh! That was quick!”

“I didn’t need much. I’ll just?”

“I can come out and get it,” Flora offered.

“Nah, I’ll bring it in. Be right back.” She watched as he opened the truck door, pulled out a couple of bags, and when he reached the door, she opened it and held it for him so he could come in. “Hi, Mrs.Murphy.”

“Hey, Barrett. Whatcha got there?”

“Some stuff Flora said you needed.”

“You ordering groceries through him?” she asked Flora.

“No. I was at the mailbox and he was going by. Asked if we needed anything.”

“Ah. There’s money in that sugar jar in the cabinet over the refrigerator,” Mrs.Murphy announced. She needn’t have. Flora had already found it when she was cleaning, and there was a couple hundred dollars in there.

Barrett had disappeared into the kitchen, so Flora went to see if she could help. He’d already put the milk and eggs in the refrigerator. “You didn’t have to?”

He interrupted her with a finger to his lips, then grinned. From one of the bags, he pulled two boxes of brownie mix and two disposable aluminum pans. The next package out of the bag was chocolate sandwich cookies with vanilla filling, and Flora almost cheered. That was followed by crème horns, something she hadn’t seen in years but loved, and then a bag of fun-sized candy bars. Barrett was grinning the whole time, acting like some kind of game show host who was surprising everybody with prizes. He’d also bought nacho-cheese-flavored and plain tortilla chips and salsa, plus some queso dip. When he was finished, he leaned into her ear and whispered, “Hide this stuff and don’t share it with the old bag.”

It took everything Flora had to keep from laughing aloud, and she nodded and snorted. “Y’all up to something in there?” Mrs.Murphy yelled.

“No, ma’am,” Barrett called back as he and Flora both silently cracked up.

“Okay. No funny business in my kitchen.”

He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “There’s never been any funny business in this kitchen,” Flora whispered to him.

“I know that’s right. Oh, the two boxes of mix and two pans? Make ‘em both and bring me one, will ya? I can’t boil water.”

Flora nodded and laughed. “Sure thing.”

“Guess I’d better go before we get accused of funny business again,” he whispered to Flora. “Need anything else?”

“No… Wait.” Motioning for him to follow her, she headed to the laundry room. As soon as he reached her, she whispered, “Do you think you could check out that car in the garage? See if you can get it running?”

Barrett nodded. “Yeah. I’ll try. Probably too far gone, but you never know. It’ll for sure need a battery.”

“Get one and I’ll pay you for it,” Flora offered.

“Make her pay for it.”

She chuckled. “Oh, she’s going to. She just doesn’t know it yet.”

“Good. I’ll check on it to see what size battery and to see if there’s any gas in it.”