Salad, Sandwiches, Dainties and Punch

Chapter 5

The town's biggest and only event of the year was here.  Sporting Days was a four day fest of socializing, craft shows, activities and parades and of course Teresa's favourite the men's fastball tournament.  Her own Bill used to be quite the ball player, and he'd travel to all the other small towns in the area to play.  They were unbeatable.  He had been given the name Graveyard Bill because once he hit a ball so far that it not only cleared the fence, but a bank of young trees that had been planted around the field and rolled into the neighbouring cemetery.  He was what you would call a bit of a local legend and the story of 'the homerun' always came out during sporting week and Teresa would swell with pride just like she had done all those years ago. 

Teams had been dwindling and the four day long tournament was now just a weekend one, so Teresa found that she had lots of time to partake in the rest of the festivities in town.  Bill had signed up for the darts tournament at the Legion while Teresa pursued the craft show and sale. 

"Teresa," a familiar voice came from behind her as she was admiring some stained glass work.
"Evelyn."
"You'll be around for the tournament this weekend?"
"Of course."  Evelyn and Teresa had sat in the stands at the local ball field in the same spot for thirty some odd years.
"Did you look at the forecast? It's supposed to be a bit of a scorcher." Evelyn fanned her face in anticipation of the weekend's heat.
Teresa smiled, "Of course. You know Bill is obsessed with the weather."

"Got your quarters ready?" Evelyn patted her purse indicating that she had already rolled ten dollars worth of quarters ready to go. Teresa laughed, "You are on the ball aren't you!" The two ladies had taken on the responsibility of passing out a quarter to the kids who ran down foul balls at the ball games in town.  Teresa and Evelyn would sit in their spot on the second bench down from the top slightly to the right of the back catcher.  They had sat here together for years with their quarters as Anna and Margie had before them.  Of course they only gave out dimes back then.

Bill was a mediocre darts player, which meant he was doing really well in the tournament.  By the time Teresa got back to the legion he was pink in the cheeks and on his second beer.  It was a jovial atmosphere and it was full of old friends.  Bill was surrounded by old men in their mesh back hats pulling at the belt loops on their jeans as they hooted and hollered at whatever joke was being told at the moment.

Teresa slid in with a table of wives as they all looked toward the sea of plaid that had themselves in stitches.  It was obvious that they shopped at the same places.  Edna elbowed Teresa, whispering, "Randy's in fine form today." Teresa watched as Randy slid back from his stool slapping multiple backs and gesturing wildly with three darts in one hand.  Someone at the jukebox had selected "Honky Tonk Man" and Randy took this as a signal to dance.

He was the only man at the table without a plaid button up shirt on.  Skinny Randy with a cigarette behind his ear and a once white ribbed undershirt danced his way to his place in front of the dart board.  Randy had always fancied himself to be quite the dancer.  He pointed at women around the room while he moved his hips back and forth, and though they rolled their eyes and guffawed with their table mates they smiled at the attention. 

Randy was still shaking his rear end back and forth in rhythm to the music as he threw his first dart.  It missed the board completely, bounced off the wall behind it and clattered to the floor.  A roar of laughter and banter came from the table of men behind him.  He turned around and laughed with them.  Randy's turn alone took as long as all the other men combined.  For his second throw he widened his stance and steadied his hips, closing one eye and sticking out his tongue for good measure he managed to stick a shot. 

Between his second and third he hitched up his pants and made a big scene about stretching out his muscles.  "Just throw it already!" It had been funny to start, but the men were getting restless.  Randy stood in a lunging position this time working his arm back and forth a few times before letting the dart fly.  Bullseye! "Whoooooo!" Randy pumped his fists in the air. "That's how it's done son!" He grabbed his beer off the table hooting with a self congratulatory whoop once more and promptly walked out of the door. 

Bill eventually mosied over to Teresa at her table nodding.  This was his greeting to the table and his signal that if she was ready to go, so was he.  Teresa slid chair back as she collected her things, "See you at the game?" she said to the table.  Most of these ladies wouldn't come, but she wanted to make sure the invitation was extended to everyone.  "Supposed to be a nice weekend," one of the ladies answered.  Teresa smiled and nodded, ushering Bill out before they could jinx the forecast with their 'nice weather' talk.

Exiting the bar Teresa had to shield her eyes.  She had forgotten it was still daytime and the sun was so bright after sitting in the dingy bar.  "Have fun?" she asked Bill as he adjusted the brim of his hat lower across his eyes.  "Yep," Bill said.  Teresa waited, "So?" She was waiting for him to continue but he did not.  "Did you learn anything new?"  "Not really," he shrugged as they slid into the car.  "What the heck do you guys talk about all afternoon and not learn anything new?" Teresa and Bill had had this conversation a hundred times before.  "I don't know," he finally said after thinking about it for a few moments. 

Summer sports days meant that lots of people were out.  Bill almost wore out his index finger lifting it off the steering wheel in his signature wave every few minutes.  Both Bill and Teresa were quiet.  They needed some time to charge their social batteries so they let the sound of the radio fill the empty space between them.  As they turned the corner they spotted Janice on her medi scooter blocking the alley.  "You wanna go out for supper?" Bill asked as he watched Janice waving that metal cane around in an attempt to get his attention.  Bill waved back nodding his head as they drove past the alley.  Neither of them had the energy to deal with Janice at this point and Teresa watched as Janice grew smaller and smaller in the passenger side window.

"Feel like Chinese?" Bill asked as he was already looping the car around to head back downtown.  "That sounds good to me."  Teresa was always keen to tell people from neighbouring towns that they had the best Chinese food for miles and she knew it to be true because people would drive to their hometown just for supper. It was a source of pride for the small community.  Bill and Teresa recognized the vehicles outside so they knew who to expect when they walked in the door.

It was always nice to have the upperhand in a social situation like a small town restaurant.  Inside the diners turned their heads to the bell on the door and let out a collective sigh of relief when they realized it was Bill and Teresa.  On a Friday, in the summer, it could be anyone... and people were just grateful it wasn't a group of teens.  Teresa already knowing who was there had smart greeting reading and they did a lap of greeting before sitting down.

It smelled amazing and Teresa suddenly realized how hungry she was. "Hey guys," their server was young and so casual but Teresa let it slide because she was always in a good mood.  "We've got the smorg on tonight and our soup of the day is tomato macaroni.  Can I start you off with a drink?"  Bill pretended to look at the menu, but Teresa didn't even bother.  "The usual for me," she said and Bill nodded in agreement, flipping the menu over back to front.  "Same," he said as they passed the menus back to her.  Twenty minutes later Bill and Teresa were enjoying their veal cutlets and tomato juice at the best Chinese food restaurant in the area.