The Funeral
Jim put on his suit, chose one of his four neckties, and looked at himself in the mirror as he was expertly putting the knot in his tie. He was still puzzled by Jessie's reaction to the news of Walt's death, and even more puzzled that she wanted to at-tend his funeral. The only time they were apart was when he went to work, and then, of course, Jessie had taken that job at the Colville Feed Store, she did put in some extra hours there. "Maybe I had better pay more attention to Jessie and what she does," Jim said to himself. They walked the few blocks from their place on Hudson to the funeral home on 2nd Street. It was a clear day, a little chilly, but pleasant. Jim thought perhaps that they could get a ride to the Cedar Hill Cemetery.
They entered the flower bedecked room at the funeral home, and Jim recognized a few familiar faces, as, of course, everyone visited the Arcade at one time or another, and Jim was generally there, and had occasioned to meet and become friends with many of the towns residents. The only vacant seats were near the front of the room, and Jim and Jessie made their way through the tight rows of chairs. Jim was walking behind Jessie, and could-n't help but notice that Jessie received a more than passing nod or glance, or in one case, a wink, from some of the men in the room. As they sat down, Jim mentioned to Jessie that she seemed to know so many people. "Oh, they all come in to the Colville Feed Store," was her reply, and I see some of them when I attend football games. Jessie had become an avid fan of the sport, and attended many of the exhibition game held in the area.
On occasions, she rode with her friends to Canton and to Dayton to see the Bulldogs and the Flyers in action. Jim accepted this explanation, even though he felt some concern that a few of these men would have no reason to go in to the Colville Feed Store and were not football fans. He knew that Mr. Young, who lived farther up Hudson, in the "nicer" section, had sold his horse, and purchased a new "automobile" for his transportation needs. Jim also recalled that he was a "widow," as he had seem him strolling through the Arcade with different women of questionable character, and spent many hours at the picture show in the Arcade. Some of the women worked in the "East End" of town, and had acquired rather notorious reputations.
Jim thought to himself, "I wonder have all these years with Jessie been a lie, and that there perhaps have been others that she has been seeing when I was at work. Perhaps I should have opened my eyes years ago .... Yes, things were coming back to Jim ... why was she so upset over Walt, was there more than just the introduction?" And he thought back to their school days, and some of the things he had heard about Jessie, her athletic ability, her love of sports, but never believed ... she couldn't have done those things with the other boys in the class .... Jim just wasn't going to believe anything about Jessie that wasn't .... Well, pure and honest .... And we're so happy .. I think. Sitting in the flower decked room, Jim leaned over to Jessie ... he asked ... "Jessie, did you ever see Walt after I briefly introduced you to him some time back ... I have to know."
"Of course not, Honey, I did see him in his big rig truck the day he was killed, he was just pulling round the corner from Main Street, and I glanced up in to his deep blue eyes, for a moment, one thrilling moment, ... and I remembered that you had introduced him to me some time ago, that's all."
"Oh," Jim responded, "I guess I never really looked into his baby blue eyes." Jessie pondered, why did he call Walt's eyes ... baby blue ... I saw them as deep blue. Oh, good heavens, could Jim be seeing other men ... could there be more going on with his "crew" than just keeping the Arcade heated. Good Grief, I remember some of those stories from school about Jim and some of the other boys .. I can't believe this is happening ... I thought they meant he was happy, when they called him that. And then, a startled Jessie saw her sobbing husband, overcome with emotion, rush to Walt's flower draped casket, and his emotion racked body fell limp over the life-less body of Walt.
"I can't go on, " Jim sobbed.
"Oh my God," Jessie cried out.
