Saturday
1
Butter and Marietta
Butter Swann sat listening to the eulogy from a pew five rows back from the front. She could see the side of Marietta’s face clearly. She saw her reach a black-gloved hand up to her neck and rub it hard in a little circular motion that left a bright red blotch on the whiteness of her skin. Marietta still had perfect skin, even after all these years. Butter couldn’t help but notice. Hardly any gray in her hair, either. Still as auburn as it had been when they’d first met in kindergarten. Butter could tell when it was natural and when it wasn’t. She watched as Marietta shifted in her seat on the front row of the church, bending her head sideways, stretching her neck. Butter knew what this meant, she’d seen it happen to Marietta many times before, though not, she realized now, in a long, long time. Age had its small concessions; migraines usually went for younger prey.
Yes, she was sick, Butter thought, as she watched Marietta open her purse and pull out a flowered handkerchief—an old one from her mother, probably, still smelling of that lilac perfume Caroline had always worn—and hold it to her mouth. Even from here you could see how pale she’d suddenly gone. Butter felt a needle prick of panic for her once close friend. They’d not had a conversation of any consequence in years, not since Marietta had called Butter—Butter would never forget the word—“crass.” Crass! All because Butter had complained about those emergency room doctors seeing that Mexican boy before her grandson, Peter, when he broke his leg skiing on their family vacation in Park City. No insurance, you could tell they weren’t even American, for God’s sake, and Peter having to wait on a gurney in the hallway of that little hospital for two whole hours while they went before him. If she thought about it now, the anger could still come before the guilt. Well, she’d been upset. Couldn’t Marietta have understood that?
Yes, she was sick, Butter thought, as she watched Marietta open her purse and pull out a flowered handkerchief—an old one from her mother, probably, still smelling of that lilac perfume Caroline had always worn—and hold it to her mouth. Even from here you could see how pale she’d suddenly gone. Butter felt a needle prick of panic for her once close friend. They’d not had a conversation of any consequence in years, not since Marietta had called Butter—Butter would never forget the word—“crass.” Crass! All because Butter had complained about those emergency room doctors seeing that Mexican boy before her grandson, Peter, when he broke his leg skiing on their family vacation in Park City. No insurance, you could tell they weren’t even American, for God’s sake, and Peter having to wait on a gurney in the hallway of that little hospital for two whole hours while they went before him. If she thought about it now, the anger could still come before the guilt. Well, she’d been upset. Couldn’t Marietta have understood that?
- - - - - - - - - -
Those are the first words of:
When the Moon Turns Blue
by Pamela Terry
Hardcover
From the publisher's website:
On the morning after Harry Cline’s funeral, a rare ice storm hits the town of Wesleyan, Georgia. The community wakes up to find its controversial statue of Confederate general Henry Benning destroyed—and not by the weather. Half the town had wanted to remove the statue; the other half had wanted to preserve it. Now that the matter has been taken out of their hands, the town’s long-simmering tensions are laid bare.
Without Harry beside her, Marietta is left to question many of her preconceived ideas about her friends and family. Her childhood friend, Butter, has come to her aid in ways Marietta never expected or asked for. Her sister-in-law, Glinda, is behaving completely out of character, and her brother, Macon, the top defense attorney in the Southeast, is determined to find those responsible for the damage to the statue and protect the legacy of Old Man Griffin, the owner of the park where it once stood. Marietta longs to salvage these connections, but the world is changing and the divides can no longer be ignored.
With a cast of compassionate, relatable characters, When the Moon Turns Blueis a poignant and timely novel about family, friendship, and what can happen when we discover that we don't particularly like the people we love.
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