Town Bachelors

Hushed whispers percolated throughout the store when a tallish man with blond hair entered the store. Every woman made a double take as he passed by; I myself included. His posture was perfectly erect and seemed to encourage the same of others when in his presence. His blond hair swept to one side how men used to do back in the ‘30s. His clean shaven jaw was tightly clenched seemingly to forbid any smile. When my eyes locked onto his blue-gray ones, he only offered a courteous nod. 

“Who is that?” I asked the cashier. 

The woman sighed and fanned herself. “Adrian Weiss.”

She said nothing more, succumbing to a half-swoon. I looked over my left shoulder and saw he was checking out at the adjacent register.

“Thank you. You too,” I overheard him say. He picked up his bag of groceries and walked away. 

My cashier continued to follow him with her eyes, licking her lips as she did so. I did not want to know what she was thinking about. I cleared my throat in order to break the spell. The woman finally came to her senses and rang me up. I hurried outside, hoping to catch Adrian, but there was no sign of him in the parking lot. 

***

Later that week, I had a chance sighting of Adrian at the library. I made up my mind to approach him, but before I had even taken a step in his direction, he turned and walked out the door. I resumed my seated position and frowned. When I realized that the librarian had noticed my failed attempt, I felt my cheeks flush. I quickly hid my face behind my laptop and tried to resume working, but my focus was gone. 

“Hi, dear” said the librarian, now standing beside my table. “Are you new in town?”

I nodded, still feeling the signs of embarrassment on my cheeks. “Is it obvious?”

“Well,” she began, taking a seat. She was an older lady with perfect roller-set white hair. Her name tag read ‘Mildred.’ “…this is such a public place. How about you come over to my place for tea this Saturday? Would one o’clock work for you?”

“Sure,” I said, hesitant to ask further questions. 

She slid me a slip of paper with her address. 

***

On my way over to Mildred’s I could have sworn I saw Adrian. He was driving in an expensive sports car with the top down. Beside him sat an equally handsome man. I now understood. Adrian was gay. That was why he was oblivious to all of the advances by the women in town. 

I parked in front of Mildred’s cottage. It was a white and green wooden structure surrounded by flowers. 

“Welcome,” the elderly woman said, greeting me at the door. She led me to her sitting room, which was filled with little knickknacks. 

“How do you take your tea, dear?”

“Just a little sugar and some cream.”

“Will two lumps do?” she asked, her hand hovering over a gilded rose tea cup with a cube of sugar wedged between the gold tongs in her hand. 

I nodded. She dropped the cube in the cup and poured tea over top. 

“Hear you go,” she said, handing the cup and saucer to me. “I won’t delay. I know the subject you are most interested in is concerning the Weiss’s.”

“Oh no,” I began. “Everything is clear to me now. I saw Adrian and his boyfriend, or is it his husband on my way over here.”

Mildred laughed the way older women do when the younger generation is greatly mistaken about something. 

“No, my dear. Adrian is not gay.”

“But I saw him with another man, laughing and smiling.”

“We’re laughing and smiling right now. Does that make us a couple? That man you saw, must have been Adrian’s brother, Julian.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Mildred sat down her teacup and looked at me with serious attention. 

“Adrian and Julian are what you can call the town bachelors. They are the bane of every single-woman in town. There was also a third. I’m blanking on his name right now,” she said, raising a wrinkled hand to her her cheek. “Oh yes! Marcel. You see, Marcel was inarguably the most handsome of the three brothers and the most charismatic.”

Again Mildred paused, this time taking a sip of her tea. She exhaled a gentle sigh. 

“What happened to Marcel?” I finally asked. It seemed the woman needed some encouragement to continue her story. 

“A terrible thing,” she added, shaking her head. She took another sip, as if it were for strength, and continued.

“It happened one night. A woman named Emma had car trouble just outside of town center. Marcel had spotted her. One account says he helped her. Another account stated that he assaulted her. Either way, it did not look good for Marcel as a baby was born nine months later and the child greatly resembled Marcel.

Marcel was found guilty and imprisoned. However, with every year that Marcel spent in prison, the baby grew curiously to resemble Marcel less and less. Eventually a paternity test proved his innocence, but that was eight years later. Understandably, when Marcel was set free, he was not the same man. He never went into town; Julian and Adrian performed all the errands for the household. Then barely a month had passed before Marcel had taken his own life. 

The surviving brothers, it is said, have sworn to remain bachelors for life. Now it has been over ten years since that vow was taken, but as you settle in town, you’ll notice that they will never be found in a secluded place with a woman. It does not matter her age.”

“Then why do all the women in town practically throw themselves at Adrian and Julian?”

Mildred sighed. “They must think they have something special that will make him recant. Or maybe it's like taunting the guards at Buckingham palace.”

We moved on to other polite topics such as the best places to eat, upcoming festivals, until finally enough time had passed for me to politely bid farewell to Mildred. 

I sat for some time in my car in careful thought. Despite the sunny weather and the taste of tea cakes on my tongue, I felt a somber bitterness within me. I collected myself and determined not to be like the other women in town. No, I would leave Adrian alone.