Watermelon Days and Firefly Nights: Heartwarming Scenes from Small Town Life Read Online Free Page A

Windell didn’t have any young nieces or nephews either. And what was the deal with Windell thinking he needed a permit? Why, nearly every third house in Ella Louise had a minivan parked in the driveway. From where he sat, looked like the one command from God that young couples of Ella Louise had taken to heart was to be fruitful and multiply. Minivans were what mamas and daddies these days used to cart their kids from one place to another. And anyone with sense would know that where there’s a minivan, there’s gonna be a Sears Best swing set—with a seesaw and a slide—set up in the backyard.
    A permit? For a slide?
    Faye Beth must have heard Windell wrong.
    But she had not.
    “No, Mayor,” said Windell the next morning, “not a kid’s playground slide. I’m talking about one of those big yellow slides—high as a four-story building—where customers climb up, sit down on a tow sack, and slide down fast as greased pigs.”
    “Like at the fair?”
    “That’s right.” Windell was so excited that he sat on the edge of his seat, rapping his diamond pinkie ring on the mayor’s desk as he spoke. “My cousin Eddie put one in down in Houston. Folks pay two dollars apiece for the chance to slide. It doesn’t take ’em more’n about thirty seconds, tops. You do the math. This thing is going to be a money magnet. I realize that two dollars may sound steep, but I aim to offer group rates. Senior citizen discounts too.”
    Wonderful, thought the mayor. Ella Louise’s elderly are going to be lining up in droves to climb four flights of stairs so as to hurl their arthritic bodies to the ground. He struggled not to chuckle at the thought of the Senior Citizen Care Van making a stop at Windell’s slide.
    “So. Do I need a permit?” asked Windell.
    “Yes. For something like that you do. Where exactly are you planning on putting this slide thing?” He coughed. “Windell—you’re not planning on building it yourself, are you?” He was thinking of how Windell’s do-it-himself carport had turned out.
    “No. Course not. I’ve got an outfit from Oklahoma coming. Man says that they’ll haul it in pieces on three big trucks. Take a week to ten days to assemble the thing. As for where I’m putting it, well, get this.” Windell stood for effect. “The town of Ella Louise can look for Windell’s Super Slide to go in right next to Lindell’s Clean-It-Quick Car Wash.” He sat back down. “Way he and I figure it, folks these days are busy, always looking to kill two birds with one stone. This way, they can have some fun at my place, then go right next door to my brother’s and take care of cleaning their car. Lindell’s all excited about it. He’s planning on getting some new sprayers for two of his bays, and’s even talking about putting a cappuccino machine in for folks who have to wait.”
    “That’s quite a plan.”
    “We’re real excited about it, Mayor, but I haven’t told you the best part.”
    “No?”
    “Our sister, Daphne, is moving back to Ella Louise so as to help us out at both places.”
    “Daphne? Is she, I mean, how is she . . . ?”
    Windell stopped tapping his ring. He ran his fingers over his almost-bald head, then folded them in his lap and leaned back in his chair. “Mayor, Daphne’s made it sixty-six days without a drink. The doc at the place where me and Lindell put her this time says that she’s done real good. Soon as she’s got a job lined up—that’s one of the requirements, that they have a set job before they get out—me and Lindell can bring her back home.”
    “Bless her heart. She going to stay by herself or with you and Lindell?”
    “With us. Less temptation. We’re gonna sell her place over in Pearly.”
    “Windell, sounds like you’ve got a good plan, but I’m wondering, do you think it’s safe for Daphne to . . . ?”
    “Don’t worry, Mayor. We’re gonna keep a good eye on her. Me and Lindell’ll have her making change, refilling the soap