Made You Feel Second Best - Day 5
Jul. 24th, 2024 03:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xp_cannonball posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsTW: CSA mention
Some of the Guthrie siblings (and Arthur) take to town to try to get more information out of old friends, enemies, and acquaintances.
Mel runs into Cora-Mae Cabot Wheeler at the Dollar General.
Mel was feeling a bit useless in all of this. She didn’t have any detective skills, and not many insights that her siblings didn’t already have. But about twenty people under the same roof ran through stuff quick, so she’d tasked herself with going to the store and picking up things they needed. Something she could do.
It was early enough that she hoped not to run into anyone she didn’t want to. Sam was already tearing his hair out without her going and getting into a confrontation. She piled her shopping bags into the cab of the truck and breathed a sigh of relief. Now she could go back home.
Said sigh was premature.
Mel immediately tensed when she heard the grating voice that had taunted her for years.
“Melody Guthrie, is that you?” Cora Mae called, one child on her hip while the other held her hand. “What’d you come down from the city for? Can’t have been Davey…..I don’t think he’d want you.”
Teeth gritted, Mel turned to the Cabot, the best smile she could muster plastered across her face. “Oh! Cora Mae! Long time no see. Jus’ visitin’ the family since the kids’re out of school. You know how it is.” She wasn’t going to react, especially in front of Cora’s kids. She was going to be perfectly pleasant.
"Oh, well you was in such a rush to get outta here, I didn't think you'd come on back. How's yer brother doin'? My cousin's healin' up just fine."
“Jay’s great, thanks fer askin’.”
Cora Mae smirked. "Mama says that all three a yer older siblings ain't done a thing for yer Mama. Sam's a piece of work, Paige don't like y'all, and Jay's gay? Yer poor Mama's heart prolly bout to give out what with you up North able to make trouble without her supervision."
And that struck a nerve. So much time away and Mel had forgotten how much Cora Mae could get under her skin. It had been nice to come back home, even under not so great circumstances, but in this moment it felt suffocating.
She set her shoulders, not wanting the other girl to see how much she affected her. “I’m doin’ real well for myself up there, Cora. Got a good payin’ job and am helpin’ t’support my kin.” Even with Cora’s kids there, Mel couldn’t help but add, “An’ I ain’t pregnant outta wedlock, so I reckon my Mama’s heart’ll be jus’ fine.”
"Teddy and I got married jus' as soon as we could and you know it." Cora Mae hissed. "At least my Mama don't gotta fret that she ain't gonna have grandkids cause her kids got too uppity to give her none."
Mel barked a laugh. She was hardly barren, and Mama had plenty of kids to hold out hope on. “Patience is a virtue, m’sure she’s jus’ fine waitin’ awhile longer.”
She finally hopped up into the drivers seat of the truck, done entertaining the Cabot. Starting up the engine, she said, “You take care of yerself now, Cora Mae. Jimmy, Ginny-Mae, y’all mind yer Mama.”
And with that she was off, leaving Cora and her kids behind.
Jay goes to talk to one of his old band members.
Jay went to Ty Henry's trailer and knocked. Of all the people Jay knew, Ty was most likely to know what was going on, since he was still working at the mine. Maybe he'd answer some questions.
Ty answered the door and shook his head in shock. He adjusted himself slightly to more fully block the door, his kids were inside after all. "Jay, how are ya?"
"Well enough, 'nd you?" Jay responded automatically before his face went tired, wings drooping a little bit. "You hear about my sister goin' missing? 'Elle?"
"Fine." Ty said, leaning heavily against the doorframe. "Can't say I've heard much."
"Y'ain't gonna invite me in?" Jay asked, not wanting to discuss all of this outside.
Ty sighed. "I would Jay, but the missus.....she ain't too keen on havin' a- on havin' someone like you in the house....fer the kids' safety....an' after that mess at the church..."
Jay felt his face drain. He'd known people wouldn't want him around, but he hadn't expected it from his own bandmate. "I wouldn't never hurt your babies, you know that Ty..."
"I know you wouldn't." Ty tried halfheartedly to placate. "But the missus.....and I still work in the mines for the Cabots, they find out I let you in here......you understand."
The thing is, Jay did understand. And he couldn't hold it against Ty, even if it made his heart sink through to his stomach to think of a friend not standing by him like this. "Can y'all at least tell me anything you've heard about 'Elle and the like?"
"I weren't lyin' when I said not much." Ty sighed. "She's mixed up with that guy that ain't got a job but somehow his car's always got gas. "Shauna, y'remember Shauna? She said she thinks they been hanging out outside-a town but I ain't seen 'em. Heard the Cabots talk 'bout somethin' big comin' but I keep my head down and don't ask specifics.....I'm sorry Jay, I hope y'all find her."
"Y'got any estimation a'where or when that big thing gonna happen?" Jay asked and then added. "I really do thank ya for this, Ty. I don't wanna get you in no trouble. I know ya got the wife and babies to think of."
"If I could tell ya I would, you know I don't want Jo hurt- but I jus' don' know." Ty cracked his neck and looked around, like he was looking to see if anyone was watching. "I'm sorry, Jay."
"S'alright, Ty," Jay said and took Ty's looking around as a sign to leave. "I'd best be goin'."
And he did.
Sam and Arthur get out of the house to try to see what they can learn.
"Thanks fer comin' out with me." Sam said as he and Arthur walked through town. He nodded at one of his old baseball team mates through the window of the only restaurant in town and kept walking, they hadn't spoken since Christmas. "I'm sure yer glad to get outta that house."
Arthur stretched, arms wide, seemingly immune to the tension of returning home. But it wasn't his once home, and he wasn't trying to fit back into it like an old-coat – too tight in places, too loose in others. Instead, he grinned. "Absolutely. I thrive on blue skies and breeze."
Sam shook his head a bit, fond. "Yeah, it can get pretty stuffy in the old house. And town ain't the city that's fer certain."
Sam's accent was usually pretty thick, but it had only gotten stronger since they'd gotten to Kentucky. They passed Lewis Rice on the street and Sam stopped to chat with him for a minute, promising to call when they had Joelle safe and when he got back to New York, and accepting a sweaty coal dust covered hug from the older man before they went their separate ways. Sam sighed as Lewis walked away, "I pert near killed him and he's prolly the only person in town sides the Holders who gives a rat's ass if I'm alive or dead...."
But Lewis' presence in town meant that work was gettin' out for the day, and that meant that he and Arthur were actually gonna get to see people out on the streets.
Which was true the more the two walked through the main block. The foot traffic was definitely increasing, and Arthur did his best not to play tourist, but his eyes slid over every new face they passed like he was noting little bits for later. "Pert near," he mimicked mostly to himself in that same vein. Like appreciating a vintage. He didn't let any of the hard stares or immediately downcast looks get in the way of properly taking it all in. Which was real easy until it wasn't.
"Everyone's so considerate here," he said the fourth time – this go featuring a harried looking mother quickly shuffling her child across the pavement a block ahead of the two blond men with surprising efficiency – it happened. "Giving us the right of way. Must be that Southern hospitality."
"God yer a peach, really do see the best in everyone don't ya?" Sam asked, turning to Arthur with a disbelieving expression. "They're tryin' to avoid me on account of I'm 'violent and unhinged' or at least that's what I'm told my mother's prayer group is sayin'."
Sam gave a cheery smile and waved to the woman across the street. "Nice to see you again, Abby, hi Raelynn - how's Bobby John doin'?"
Abigail flipped him off from across the street and patently ignored her child's loud question as to whether or not that was the man that hurt daddy.
"See?" He said, turning to Arthur again. "I've got a bit of a reputation."
"We've all got pasts," Arthur said easily as he tried to offer the woman a winning smile. "Does it bother you? Is it worth your worry?"
"That I cracked her husband's skull open on the pavement of a church parkin' lot the day after Christmas?" Sam asked. "Not as much as I know it oughta."
He paused a moment and then added. "He and his cousins were gonna kill Jay, it weren't for no reason. I was protectin' my brother."
Arthur met Sam's eyes. "Honestly? I meant the infamy vibes, but that too. I can see you searching for friendly faces."
"It makes me worry bout the kids." Sam said after a moment, looking away from Arthur's piercing gaze. "I had to fight when I was a kid. The folks my age in town they- even as kids they were real sons of bitches. The boys liked to pick on Paigey, they'd mess with Jay till he cried- tried to put thumbtacks on Lucinda's pew at church- if I didn't fight back they didn't stop. Course fightin' back made it worse in some ways- sure they stopped pickin on Paigey and didn't tend to bother Jay as much. But they started associatin' my whole family with my reputation. I meant what I told Lewis, I'm so fuckin' proud of him fer bein' friendly to a Cabot boy. It means he's a better, kinder person that I ever was or ever got to be."
They walked further down the street and Sam waved at Shauna Simmons as she passed them, on this side of the road. When he was sure she was out of earshot he added. "....I'm scared it's why nobody seems to give a shit that Ellie's just gone. Whether it be cause they think she's a good fer nothin' unhinged lunatic like me or cause they're so used to me protectin' 'em all, and especially Ellie that they just think they don't gotta look."
"Hold up," Arthur interjected as softly as possible, "who's they, here? The whole town? Or . . . " He left that hang to fill any number of options. Sam's family. His mother. An open question in the shape of a person.
“Most everybody, cops ‘specially but I’d put money down that Lucinda’s only ate-up about it cause Elle ain’t comin’ home. When I was sixteen and off with a twenty-somethin’ at odd hours getting bought shit I never coulda paid for in exchange she couldn’t be assed to give a damn cause I came home and did what she expected of me. She ain’t involved enough to actually care.”
Sam froze, whole body gone rigid as what he’d said caught up to him. In a small voice he finished. “Don’t tell anyone what I just told you?…..please?”
The older man traced a line across his lips and offered a smile, like an outstretched hand, that was both three feet and three hundred subjective miles away. "Not a chance. ’Cuz in my experience, repeating other people's traumatic backstories just gets people asking you 'wait, you have a sister?' or 'when did you live in Kentucky?'"
Tentatively, Arthur patted Sam on the back. "The past is passed. You'll only trip over things walking backward to stare at it."
"Yer a good friend Arthur." Sam sighed. "C'mon we oughta get back, or at least I should. Ain't nobody gonna tell me anythin'."
"Then it is a good thing we split up," the other man said. "Everyone's spending so much time and energy thinking about you, I bet they spilled secrets to everyone else."
"Yeah," Sam sighed. "Hey, when we- when we actually go in the caves tomorrow- would you be willin' to stay back with the kids? I don't trust Lucinda to actually watch over 'em while they know we're all headin' into danger. I'd like to know they're in good hands."
Some of the Guthrie siblings (and Arthur) take to town to try to get more information out of old friends, enemies, and acquaintances.
Mel runs into Cora-Mae Cabot Wheeler at the Dollar General.
Mel was feeling a bit useless in all of this. She didn’t have any detective skills, and not many insights that her siblings didn’t already have. But about twenty people under the same roof ran through stuff quick, so she’d tasked herself with going to the store and picking up things they needed. Something she could do.
It was early enough that she hoped not to run into anyone she didn’t want to. Sam was already tearing his hair out without her going and getting into a confrontation. She piled her shopping bags into the cab of the truck and breathed a sigh of relief. Now she could go back home.
Said sigh was premature.
Mel immediately tensed when she heard the grating voice that had taunted her for years.
“Melody Guthrie, is that you?” Cora Mae called, one child on her hip while the other held her hand. “What’d you come down from the city for? Can’t have been Davey…..I don’t think he’d want you.”
Teeth gritted, Mel turned to the Cabot, the best smile she could muster plastered across her face. “Oh! Cora Mae! Long time no see. Jus’ visitin’ the family since the kids’re out of school. You know how it is.” She wasn’t going to react, especially in front of Cora’s kids. She was going to be perfectly pleasant.
"Oh, well you was in such a rush to get outta here, I didn't think you'd come on back. How's yer brother doin'? My cousin's healin' up just fine."
“Jay’s great, thanks fer askin’.”
Cora Mae smirked. "Mama says that all three a yer older siblings ain't done a thing for yer Mama. Sam's a piece of work, Paige don't like y'all, and Jay's gay? Yer poor Mama's heart prolly bout to give out what with you up North able to make trouble without her supervision."
And that struck a nerve. So much time away and Mel had forgotten how much Cora Mae could get under her skin. It had been nice to come back home, even under not so great circumstances, but in this moment it felt suffocating.
She set her shoulders, not wanting the other girl to see how much she affected her. “I’m doin’ real well for myself up there, Cora. Got a good payin’ job and am helpin’ t’support my kin.” Even with Cora’s kids there, Mel couldn’t help but add, “An’ I ain’t pregnant outta wedlock, so I reckon my Mama’s heart’ll be jus’ fine.”
"Teddy and I got married jus' as soon as we could and you know it." Cora Mae hissed. "At least my Mama don't gotta fret that she ain't gonna have grandkids cause her kids got too uppity to give her none."
Mel barked a laugh. She was hardly barren, and Mama had plenty of kids to hold out hope on. “Patience is a virtue, m’sure she’s jus’ fine waitin’ awhile longer.”
She finally hopped up into the drivers seat of the truck, done entertaining the Cabot. Starting up the engine, she said, “You take care of yerself now, Cora Mae. Jimmy, Ginny-Mae, y’all mind yer Mama.”
And with that she was off, leaving Cora and her kids behind.
Jay goes to talk to one of his old band members.
Jay went to Ty Henry's trailer and knocked. Of all the people Jay knew, Ty was most likely to know what was going on, since he was still working at the mine. Maybe he'd answer some questions.
Ty answered the door and shook his head in shock. He adjusted himself slightly to more fully block the door, his kids were inside after all. "Jay, how are ya?"
"Well enough, 'nd you?" Jay responded automatically before his face went tired, wings drooping a little bit. "You hear about my sister goin' missing? 'Elle?"
"Fine." Ty said, leaning heavily against the doorframe. "Can't say I've heard much."
"Y'ain't gonna invite me in?" Jay asked, not wanting to discuss all of this outside.
Ty sighed. "I would Jay, but the missus.....she ain't too keen on havin' a- on havin' someone like you in the house....fer the kids' safety....an' after that mess at the church..."
Jay felt his face drain. He'd known people wouldn't want him around, but he hadn't expected it from his own bandmate. "I wouldn't never hurt your babies, you know that Ty..."
"I know you wouldn't." Ty tried halfheartedly to placate. "But the missus.....and I still work in the mines for the Cabots, they find out I let you in here......you understand."
The thing is, Jay did understand. And he couldn't hold it against Ty, even if it made his heart sink through to his stomach to think of a friend not standing by him like this. "Can y'all at least tell me anything you've heard about 'Elle and the like?"
"I weren't lyin' when I said not much." Ty sighed. "She's mixed up with that guy that ain't got a job but somehow his car's always got gas. "Shauna, y'remember Shauna? She said she thinks they been hanging out outside-a town but I ain't seen 'em. Heard the Cabots talk 'bout somethin' big comin' but I keep my head down and don't ask specifics.....I'm sorry Jay, I hope y'all find her."
"Y'got any estimation a'where or when that big thing gonna happen?" Jay asked and then added. "I really do thank ya for this, Ty. I don't wanna get you in no trouble. I know ya got the wife and babies to think of."
"If I could tell ya I would, you know I don't want Jo hurt- but I jus' don' know." Ty cracked his neck and looked around, like he was looking to see if anyone was watching. "I'm sorry, Jay."
"S'alright, Ty," Jay said and took Ty's looking around as a sign to leave. "I'd best be goin'."
And he did.
Sam and Arthur get out of the house to try to see what they can learn.
"Thanks fer comin' out with me." Sam said as he and Arthur walked through town. He nodded at one of his old baseball team mates through the window of the only restaurant in town and kept walking, they hadn't spoken since Christmas. "I'm sure yer glad to get outta that house."
Arthur stretched, arms wide, seemingly immune to the tension of returning home. But it wasn't his once home, and he wasn't trying to fit back into it like an old-coat – too tight in places, too loose in others. Instead, he grinned. "Absolutely. I thrive on blue skies and breeze."
Sam shook his head a bit, fond. "Yeah, it can get pretty stuffy in the old house. And town ain't the city that's fer certain."
Sam's accent was usually pretty thick, but it had only gotten stronger since they'd gotten to Kentucky. They passed Lewis Rice on the street and Sam stopped to chat with him for a minute, promising to call when they had Joelle safe and when he got back to New York, and accepting a sweaty coal dust covered hug from the older man before they went their separate ways. Sam sighed as Lewis walked away, "I pert near killed him and he's prolly the only person in town sides the Holders who gives a rat's ass if I'm alive or dead...."
But Lewis' presence in town meant that work was gettin' out for the day, and that meant that he and Arthur were actually gonna get to see people out on the streets.
Which was true the more the two walked through the main block. The foot traffic was definitely increasing, and Arthur did his best not to play tourist, but his eyes slid over every new face they passed like he was noting little bits for later. "Pert near," he mimicked mostly to himself in that same vein. Like appreciating a vintage. He didn't let any of the hard stares or immediately downcast looks get in the way of properly taking it all in. Which was real easy until it wasn't.
"Everyone's so considerate here," he said the fourth time – this go featuring a harried looking mother quickly shuffling her child across the pavement a block ahead of the two blond men with surprising efficiency – it happened. "Giving us the right of way. Must be that Southern hospitality."
"God yer a peach, really do see the best in everyone don't ya?" Sam asked, turning to Arthur with a disbelieving expression. "They're tryin' to avoid me on account of I'm 'violent and unhinged' or at least that's what I'm told my mother's prayer group is sayin'."
Sam gave a cheery smile and waved to the woman across the street. "Nice to see you again, Abby, hi Raelynn - how's Bobby John doin'?"
Abigail flipped him off from across the street and patently ignored her child's loud question as to whether or not that was the man that hurt daddy.
"See?" He said, turning to Arthur again. "I've got a bit of a reputation."
"We've all got pasts," Arthur said easily as he tried to offer the woman a winning smile. "Does it bother you? Is it worth your worry?"
"That I cracked her husband's skull open on the pavement of a church parkin' lot the day after Christmas?" Sam asked. "Not as much as I know it oughta."
He paused a moment and then added. "He and his cousins were gonna kill Jay, it weren't for no reason. I was protectin' my brother."
Arthur met Sam's eyes. "Honestly? I meant the infamy vibes, but that too. I can see you searching for friendly faces."
"It makes me worry bout the kids." Sam said after a moment, looking away from Arthur's piercing gaze. "I had to fight when I was a kid. The folks my age in town they- even as kids they were real sons of bitches. The boys liked to pick on Paigey, they'd mess with Jay till he cried- tried to put thumbtacks on Lucinda's pew at church- if I didn't fight back they didn't stop. Course fightin' back made it worse in some ways- sure they stopped pickin on Paigey and didn't tend to bother Jay as much. But they started associatin' my whole family with my reputation. I meant what I told Lewis, I'm so fuckin' proud of him fer bein' friendly to a Cabot boy. It means he's a better, kinder person that I ever was or ever got to be."
They walked further down the street and Sam waved at Shauna Simmons as she passed them, on this side of the road. When he was sure she was out of earshot he added. "....I'm scared it's why nobody seems to give a shit that Ellie's just gone. Whether it be cause they think she's a good fer nothin' unhinged lunatic like me or cause they're so used to me protectin' 'em all, and especially Ellie that they just think they don't gotta look."
"Hold up," Arthur interjected as softly as possible, "who's they, here? The whole town? Or . . . " He left that hang to fill any number of options. Sam's family. His mother. An open question in the shape of a person.
“Most everybody, cops ‘specially but I’d put money down that Lucinda’s only ate-up about it cause Elle ain’t comin’ home. When I was sixteen and off with a twenty-somethin’ at odd hours getting bought shit I never coulda paid for in exchange she couldn’t be assed to give a damn cause I came home and did what she expected of me. She ain’t involved enough to actually care.”
Sam froze, whole body gone rigid as what he’d said caught up to him. In a small voice he finished. “Don’t tell anyone what I just told you?…..please?”
The older man traced a line across his lips and offered a smile, like an outstretched hand, that was both three feet and three hundred subjective miles away. "Not a chance. ’Cuz in my experience, repeating other people's traumatic backstories just gets people asking you 'wait, you have a sister?' or 'when did you live in Kentucky?'"
Tentatively, Arthur patted Sam on the back. "The past is passed. You'll only trip over things walking backward to stare at it."
"Yer a good friend Arthur." Sam sighed. "C'mon we oughta get back, or at least I should. Ain't nobody gonna tell me anythin'."
"Then it is a good thing we split up," the other man said. "Everyone's spending so much time and energy thinking about you, I bet they spilled secrets to everyone else."
"Yeah," Sam sighed. "Hey, when we- when we actually go in the caves tomorrow- would you be willin' to stay back with the kids? I don't trust Lucinda to actually watch over 'em while they know we're all headin' into danger. I'd like to know they're in good hands."
no subject
Date: 2024-07-25 12:22 am (UTC)Anyone whose seen the Cumberland county PowerPoint: but Teddy isn't Jimmy's father 🤔
---
Arthur and Sam are so good together, Arthur really is just the best.