Curtis, part eight

Leta's new husband Curtis gestured to the bar of the Stony Ridge Inn, where they were celebrating their nuptials after dinner. His focus was on a woman who was flirting with several men.

"It just ain’t right,” Curtis said, “a woman pushing herself at men like that. It’s disgraceful is what it is, her drinking and carrying on like that. A woman by herself in a place like this just shouldn’t be allowed. It just goes to show that the morals of our country are being truly tested. That floozy is making a spectacle of herself. Just look at her, Mrs. Curtis. Look at her.”

Leta had been observing the woman for some time and wanted to return her focus to her new husband.

“But we met in a bar like this,” she noted.

“By God!” he exclaimed suddenly. “Did you just see that? She put her hand on that fellow’s arm. The audacity. Wait a minute, I know that fellow. He’s Chuck Draper’s boy, his oldest. Mike I think’s his name. I’m going to have a little talk with that boy’s father. I’m sure that Draper will be none too pleased to know that his boy is chasing after a trollop like that.”

Then he turned his attention back to his wife.

“Did you say something?”

“I said, we met in a bar like this,” Leta repeated with a little irritation in her voice, but Curtis didn’t seem to notice.

“Yeah, Mrs. Curtis, that’s true, but you at least had some decency,” he responded, “and, besides, I could tell you weren’t comfortable. That’s why we never went to a bar while we were courting.”

“Of course,” Leta seemed to agree.

“Anyway, now that we’re married we’re done with all that kind of stuff,” he said finally.

Just then their new acquaintance returned with the drinks he offered to purchase for them in honor of their new marriage. Since he was treating, Leta chose not to remark that instead of bringing the bourbon she requested, he brought her a gin and tonic, the drink her husband ordered for her.

“To the newlyweds!” the man toasted, and she raised her glass. “May you be happy, productive and successful!”

Leta gulped down her drink, she couldn’t say why, other than she was suddenly incredibly thirsty. It was her fourth of the evening, and she would have four more before she and Curtis left for home.

At the start of the day, she dressed for a romantic evening, purchasing new lingerie and nightgown, but by the time they reached Curtis’s dark house in the middle of the night, all she could think of was crawling into bed and sleeping. Her husband appeared to be in a similar state. While he only had three or four beers over the course of the night, he could not hold his liquor the way she did hers. His driving was slightly erratic. But they made it home, climbed some rickety stairs and collapsed into bed.

To be continued.