Hanging On Every Word

Ramona and Tellie both have husbands. Somewhere.

Ramona and Tellie both have husbands. They are greasy, somewhat overweight, controlling fellows who wear baseball hats instead of combing their hair in the morning. Ramona’s husband is named Hank. Tellie’s husband is called Archibald. The men that he loses his money to in poker call him Archie, and the men that he loses all of Ramona’s money to also call him Archie. Archibald or Archie, he’s still a jerk.

Archie is a jerk, and Hank is an ornery son of a bitch. Hank tells Ramona that she’s “good fer nothin’.” He tells her that her cooking stinks and then he eats it all gone. He tells Ramona she’s not very bright. She reads books and Hank says that it is a “big ol’ waste of time, dammit.”

Hank watches wrestling on the television. He watches wrestling, drinks cheap booze and swears at the television. Sometimes Hank says things, hurtful things that make Ramona’s heart, her beating heart inside her chest, feel small. Ramona feels like a little bird when she’s around Hank. She doesn’t like to feel that way so she’s reading books to learn how to not feel that way. Those books tell her to spend less time around Hank. Ramona spends time with Tellie instead.

Tellie is saving money in a secret account; Archie doesn’t know it exists and he cannot touch it. There is almost six thousand dollars in that account, almost six thousand dollars that Archie has no idea exist. When Archie demands the tips that Tellie earned at the store, Tellie only reveals half. Archie takes it, tells her she “musta not worked very hard.” Tellie likes swimming at the free union pool. She feels weightless under the water, and when Archie sees her bathing suit hanging to dry on the edge of the tub, he often reminds her “an extra lap might fix them thighs.” There is absolutely nothing to fix about Tellie’s thighs. Tellie knows this because she is smart. Archie is not so very smart. Tellie knows this, too. She has saved almost six thousand dollars.

Ramona and Tellie both have husbands. Somewhere.

“We’re leaving today, Ramona,” says Tellie. Her eyes are like almonds, almonds on fire.

“I don’t have enough yet,” whispers Ramona. The two are in Maple Park. It’s not far from their homes. It’s in the middle actually. There are many large maple trees in the park. They drop their leaves in the fall. Ramona and Tellie have made them into pillows before, watching the long light fall at dusk. There are no leaves now, however. It’s nearly spring. It’s nearly spring but the weather is still brisk like winter. Ramona can see her breath, foggy like clouds. Tellie cannot feel her nose. It’s still on her face somewhere, though.

“It doesn’t matter, Ramona. I have six thousand.”

“But—“

“It’s ours, Ramona …You are my best friend.”

Ramona is quiet for a very long time. Tellie is wearing mittens. Ramona is wearing mittens, too. Tellie’s mittens are holding hands with Ramona’s mittens. Ramona and Tellie are quietly holding hands in Maple Park. Finally Ramona speaks: “We’ll leave it all behind. I don’t want any of it.”

“I printed the bus schedule at the library.” Tellie pats her breast, indicating the inside pocket where she’s hidden the schedule. “We can catch it on McAllister Avenue, next to that Italian restaurant. It stops there every thirty minutes. It heads straight downtown after that. From downtown we can get on the train. There are trains going west every two hours, maybe even sooner.”

“You checked?”

“I checked three times. The trains run every day.”

“They’re running right now?” Ramona asks, shivering, her parka hood is pulled up and her dark hair is wispy at its opening.

“They’re running right now, Ramona.”

Ramona smiles. When her eyes crinkle like fine and simple paper, Tellie can see the corners are rimmed with the start of tears. “Tell me where we are going again.”

This is what Ramona and Tellie do. In Maple Park, no matter the season, Ramona and Tellie meet, they meet, they arrive wearing long faces, scowls. And one of them will start, in Maple Park not far from their houses, in the middle actually, one of them will start. Sometimes it’s Ramona; other times, it is Tellie that begins. Today, this crisp near spring day, it is Tellie again. And she starts: “We are going away. We are going away someplace warm, Ramona. I think we will go to California. I’ve been reading about California in the magazines, and I think that we would like it very much. Did you know that it is almost always 70 degrees in California?”

Ramona only smiles. Her nose is running a little. Ramona just smiles.

“It’s true. Even in the winter, it’s almost always nearly 70 degrees. People in California wake up with the sun streaming through their windows. They put on t-shirts; they wear flip-flops. They laugh loud and wear silly, floppy summer hats. They sit outside at coffeehouses, drinking, chatting …smiling. And oh my gosh, Ramona, their sunglasses— their sunglasses are just …gigantic!”

Ramona laughs. Ramona sniffles. “What are we doing there, Tellie?”

“We’re doing whatever the hell we want to do in California, Ramona. That’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re doing whatever we want.”

“I think we’re wearing fancy jeans,” says Ramona.

“Oh, for sure! We are definitely wearing fancy jeans!” says Tellie. “We’re wearing flip-flops, too. T-shirts and flip-flops! That’s what people wear! All year round!”

“I like that,” says Ramona. She is looking around the park. There is a squirrel scratching at the frozen earth beneath one of the maple trees.

“We’ll go for walks down all the famous streets,” Tellie continues. “Santa Monica Boulevard. Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. We’ll walk arm in arm! We’ll eat ice cream if we want to.”

“You’ll swim in the ocean,” says Ramona. “I’ll read books on a sandy blanket.” The two are silent then. This will be their last time in Maple Park. All those humid Sunday afternoons, all those chilly October nights have led to this moment. They both feel the coolness of their favorite bench beneath them. It’s cold as an ice cube. Tellie takes a deep breath. Ramona takes a deep breath. The air is frigid, so sharp in their nostrils. “I love you very much, Tellie.”

“You’re my best friend, Ramona.”

And then they are gone. Goodbye forever, Hank. Goodbye forever, Archibald. Ramona and Tellie both have husbands. Somewhere.

Inspired by “Hanging On Every Word,” an original Ian Dingman illustration.