Leroy's Other World

Like I said Leroy confided in me, about most things. Yet he never felt right in telling me about a part of his life that no one in town suspected. Leroy had a longtime lover. Her name was Fritzie Jean Wannamaker and she was his secretary down at the furniture store. He got away with this because neither Leroy nor Fritzie Jean was the kind of person that raised suspicion in this arena. Both were married, both unhappily, but they were considered good stewards of the laws of marriage and no one would have ever believed them to be unfaithful to their spouses. It all came out at Leroy's funeral, he died about 10 years ago at the age of 65, when Sumaye sat there dry-eyed while Fritzie Jean bawled loudly and dramatically. That's when Sumaye confronted her and that's when we experienced the first, and hopefully last, cat fight at a Harper funeral. What set Sumaye off was not the fact that Fritzie Jean was fooling around with her husband, but that she would tell all the town about it with her pronounced grief. It turned out that Sumaye was on to the lovers and had even endorsed their activities by way of a heart to heart talk with Fritzie Jean years ago. It was a good deal for them both since Sumaye wanted no part of that aspect of wedlock and Fritzie Jean was sorely in need of physical love. You see Fritzie's husband was an alcoholic of the highest extreme and stayed drunk for nearly all of their married life. The love nest of our sweet couple was a section of the furniture store set up as a bedroom back in the corner next to the office. They could come and go unseen from the owner's office. Several times people had offered to buy the complete bedroom suite, but Leroy said it was a demonstrator and was not for sell. Leroy told me almost everything, not this. I reckon it added to the flavor of the affair to hold it in secret. Secrets are a rare thing here in Harper.
Tomorrow: How Sumaye Lived Out Her Life

Tales of Harper, short stories and poems about the fictional town of Harper, Mississippi is available on Amazon Kindle