The Pork Chop Supper on the Lawn

Sherri

I did not look at her right away. I did not want her to feel watched any more than she already did.

I looked at the maples, and the smoke, and Clark behind the cooker with his tongs.

When I did look down at her, she had her face in both of her hands.

She did not make a sound. Her shoulders were going, that was all. Clark set his tongs down on the drum lid.

Trisha Hoffman got up from her seat, came around the table, and stood behind her with one hand on her back.

Nobody said a word. Not one person at that table looked away from her, and not one person looked at her like she was being punished.

I have never seen forty people be that kind at the same time.

After a minute, Sherri wiped her face with the paper napkin by her plate and looked down the table at Calvin.

“You’re welcome, buddy,” she said. Her voice cracked right down the middle. “You’re a good showman. You’re better than I ever was.”

Then Cliff Miller said, “Well, are we going to eat or are we going to sit here and let these chops get cold,” and the whole table laughed, and it was over.

The Porch Steps

After supper, when the kids were catching lightning bugs in canning jars and the men were standing around the cooker with paper cups of coffee, Sherri came and sat next to me on the front porch steps.

“Trisha told you,” she said finally. “About Chance. I could see it on you this morning.”

“She did,” I said. I was not going to pretend otherwise.

Sherri nodded. She looked out at the lawn, where Chance was standing by the empty pens with Calvin, both of them leaning on the gate and looking at the ribbons.

“I saw that pin hanging loose Sunday night,” she said, “and I swear to you, Rhoda, I was right back at that wash rack. I couldn’t breathe. I thought, he’s going to lose a pig, and it’ll be my fault for not saying anything. And Monday morning I just did it. I don’t even remember deciding.”

“I know,” I said. “I believe you.”

“I wanted him scared enough to never forget,” she said. “That’s what I always want. I want them scared enough to be safe.” She laughed a little, not a happy laugh. “Chance hasn’t been in a hog barn in two years because of me. And I did it again to Calvin.”

“Calvin’s all right,” I said. “He’s better than all right.”

“I know he is. That’s because of you, and Blaine, and that road.” She turned the paper cup in her hands. “That’s what I couldn’t stand tonight, I think. Sitting in that chair. Everybody being so decent to me.”

“I’m sorry,” Sherri said. “To you. And I’m going to tell Calvin myself, not just at a table in front of the road.”

“Thank you,” I said. And I meant every bit of it.

She did go tell him. I watched her walk down the yard to the pens. She crouched down next to Calvin by the gate and talked to him for a long minute.

He nodded. Then he pulled the pin out of his pocket and let her hold it.

Chance stood next to them the whole time with his hands on the top rail. He did not say anything. But he did not walk away, either, and that was the first thing.