Page 43 of The Happy Month

“Sharon!” Kelly exclaimed. “You’re being rude.”

“Why is that rude? It’s just a question.”

“Yes, I am. Are you?”

She laughed at the question. “Of course not. Is this why you’re helping Larry Wilkes? Because you’re both gay?”

To be honest, it was. At least a little bit. I’d paid a little more attention to his case than I might have otherwise. My way of leveling the playing field, just a tiny bit. I didn’t tell her that though.

“We help all sorts of people at The Freedom Agenda. How do you know Larry Wilkes is gay?”

“Rumors.”

“While you were in high school?”

“No one was gay in high school. It was afterward. And you know it makes sense. I remember Anne Whittemore. It never made sense that someone would kill over her.”

Rude. I decided it was best ignored. I looked to her sister Kelly and asked, “Do you remember Sammy Blanchard?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Were you ever friendly with her?”

“Of course she wasn’t. Our parents would never have allowed it. I mean, she was being abused by the health teacher.”

“She married him,” Kelly said.

“He was an old man. He’s dead by now, isn’t he?”

“He’s in a home,” I said. I didn’t elaborate.

“Really gross,” Sharon said.

“I’m asking about before all that happened. Did you know Sammy at all?”

“No,” Kelly said. “I mean, I knew things about her. Her parents were never around so some of the kids would go over and drink out of their bar. They never noticed so Sammy never got in trouble.”

“Kelly was a good girl in high school.”

Kelly blushed again. Maybe not as true as Sharon thought.

“She had a car too. It was small and she used to pack kids into it, eight, ten. It was kind of crazy.”

“Do you remember what kind of car it was?”

Kelly shrugged.

“A sedan or a fastback?”

“It was two doors, definitely. I don’t think it was a fastback.”

“It was a Chevy Pinto,” Sharon said. “I remember her driving it into the parking lot. Even the seniors were jealous.”

“Ford Pinto or Chevy Vega?” I asked.

“Vega,” Kelly said.

“What color was it?”