Page 32 of Repentance and Absolution

I smiled at Oscar, and he blushed and shook his head.

“Stop treatin’ me like I don’t know anything, Jimmy. I’m a grown man.”

“I know you are,” I said.

On our way to the general store, Oscar grabbed the arm of my coat and pulled me up.

“Jimmy! Is that Clarence? In the buffalo coat?”

I followed his gaze. It did seem like Clarence. He was wearing that furry buffalo fur coat he’d had on when he’d brought Oscar through the storm. And he was with a stunning woman who wore a similar coat with a wide hood o’er her thick wool dress and clutched a paper-wrapped parcel under her arm.

Chapter Eight

Neighbors

When Clarence noticed us, he froze and looked away, leaving me feeling rebuffed. Perhaps he didn’t want to get to know us. Folks in small towns could be strange.

But the woman standing with him glanced o’er and saw me and Oscar. She pulled on Clarence’s elbow and pointed at us, saying something to him.

Clarence shrugged and said something back.

In a moment, the woman had moved around Clarence and was making her way to us. She smiled and her face lit up like the sun—like Oscar’s did when he was happy.

“Hello, Oscar. It’s so nice to see you again!” The woman shifted her parcel to her other arm and held out her gloved hand to Oscar, as if she were a man. “You’ve recovered from your snowy adventure, I see!”

Oscar seemed taken aback, but quickly recovered, and shook her hand. “I—yes. Nice to see you, too, ma’am.”

“Oh, call me Irene.” She turned to me. “You must be Jimmy. I’m very pleased to meet you.”

“Likewise,” I said, shaking her hand.

She glanced at her husband, who was busy looking at some wares in front of the hardware store. “Don’t mind Clarence. He’s a bit of a curmudgeon if he doesn’t know you well. Anyway, I guess we’re neighbors. What are you doing in town today?” she asked Oscar.

“Well, I needed new boots, so—” Oscar glanced at me for assistance. He seemed taken aback by Irene’s interest.

I jumped in to explain.

“We’re heading to the general store to bring in supplies for the winter months. I reckon we’ll get enough to make it to February. Then we’ll have to come back to town, I guess.”

“Do you have a wagon to bring all that stuff home, Jimmy?” Irene asked.

I shook my head. “No, ma’am, but we’ve got a real good mule. Figure if we load him up well, we’ll manage.”

“Clarence and I have a wagon that converts to a sled in the winter, so if you ever need anything, let us know. We come into town regularly, even during the colder months. I run a mail-order sewing business, so I need to get to the post office every couple of weeks.” Irene showed us the large parcel. “Also, it can get pretty lonely out where we are.”

“I reckon.”

She glanced at Clarence, who had made his way o’er. “Don’t mind my husband. He’s a big old grump half the time. Likes to keep to himself. But not me. I like people.”

Clarence rolled his eyes but otherwise remained silent.

“That a fact?” I said, with some irony since it was pretty obvious.

“It is,” Irene replied, inclining her head in a self-assured way and giving me a cheeky smile. “Maybe…maybe since you gentlemen don’t live too far from us, you can visit us on occasion?”

Clarence frowned, as if he wasn’t sure that was such a good idea. But that didn’t seem to bother Irene.

Oscar smiled with genuine excitement and glanced at me. I shrugged.