Besties

Besties

Betty smiled as she answered the phone. She knew it was her best friend Andrea.

“Hey, girl, what’s up?”

“Yes! Let’s go. I’ll pick you up in about half an hour.”

The new department store was having a grand opening and lots of sales. It would be so much fun to see all the specials. They loved to shop together.

As she drove to Andrea’s house she remembered when they met in the maternity ward after each having their first baby. She smiled. Those first babies were all in their thirties now. They were both empty nesters.

It seemed like she hit every red light on the way. They had often bemoaned the fact that they lived in opposite parts of the city. Oh, great! Now she had to stop for a train.

She remembered when her daughter had graduated from high school. Andrea had not come to the graduation party. Her oldest child had not graduated due to some missing credits.

That had caused a rift between them for a while. Once the credits were made up the child had graduated but, of course, without the ceremony and parties.

Eventually, Andrea had called and invited her to lunch and things had been fine once again. She had actually apologized saying she had been so terribly disappointed she hadn’t known how to handle it.

Betty had forgiven her, of course. She could understand how the situation could have been difficult for her friend to deal with. Things had been a bit awkward for a while but they were soon back on the best of terms.

Finally she pulled up in front of Andrea’s home and was waved in. They had a class of iced tea and chatted a few minutes before heading out to Betty’s car.

“I thought you’d never get here,” Andrea said with a laugh. “You said half an hour and it’s been almost a whole hour.”

“I hit every red light than had to stop for the train at 44^th. I thought I’d never get here either.”

“What are you most interested in looking at?”

Betty thought about it and then replied, “Bed sheets. Ours are so old you can almost read the paper through them.”

“Were they wedding gifts?”

“Yup. They’ve done pretty well. We’ve been married for 40 years next month.”

“We didn’t have a wedding, you know, so not too many gifts.”

“I’d forgotten that. Well, you’ve had many good years anyway, right?”

“Well, yes..BETTY STOP!!!!”

Betty slammed on the brakes and was so thankful that the truck hadn’t continued backing up. She couldn’t have backed up, she could just manage to sit in one place.

“Wow. Guess he thinks he owns the street!!” Andrea said. “He could have killed us!”

“Yes, he could have. We’re very lucky we’re okay.”

As they continued on the route to get to the new big store they both started to relax somewhat.

The parking lot was full so they drove around the block a time or two waiting for a spot to open up.

Finally they found a parking spot a block from the store and decided they could walk that far so locked the car and started toward the store.

The store was almost too crowded to even get in. There were a lot of ladies coming out so they waited and went in after they had cleared the door. Inside was no better. They looked for a directory and found the floor the bed sheets were on.

The elevators and escalators were both too busy to bother with so they climbed the stairs.

“Andrea, you never said what you wanted to look for.”

“Oh, yeah. Kitchen knives. We have never had a decent set and we’re both doing more in the kitchen these days. Kind of taking turns making dinner. Some decent knives would be nice to have.”

It was too loud to do much talking so they concentrated on finding the items they were each interested in and exited the store.

“Wow. I’m so glad to get out of there!” Betty said. “I wouldn’t mind coming back in a month or so and get a better idea of what all they carry. But it was so loud in there and I’m worn out from being bumped from one lady to another.”

“I agree. I’ll gladly come back in a couple of months but I’ve had enough for today. I think Josh will be pleased with the knives, though.”

“And I think Jim and I will enjoy sleeping on the new sheets. As soon as I wash them and get them on the bed.”

“Do you have anything else to do today, Betty, or are you ready for home and your chair?”

“My chair sounds great. I got started on that blanket for Susie’s new baby and I’d love to spend some more time on that.”

“What color did you decide on?”

“I found a variegated yarn that’s got yellow, green, pink and blue so I should be safe.”

“I just knew you’d do that.”

“Why? What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet. I’d like to knit something, I just don’t know what.”

“How about a little sweater?”

“I could, I suppose. But, again, what color?”

“White?”

“And have Susie mad at me?”

“You could make a gown for baptism.”

“That’s an idea. I might look for a pattern and see how difficult it looks.”

Betty pulled up in front of Andrea’s home and turned off the car.

“Here you are, safely home. You want to go online to find a pattern?”

“Yeah. While you’re here. You can help me check out the directions if we find what I like.”

They went into the house and Andrea turned on her computer. As they waited for it to fully load, they had another glass of iced tea.

They scrolled through several screens with pictures of baptismal gowns, looking for one they liked.

“That one is really pretty but it’s awfully feminine and what if it’s a boy?”

“We best keep looking. We need one that would be okay on a boy but still work for a girl.”

Then they saw a little white suit for a boy instead of a gown.

“That’s really cute but she might not have a boy.”

They finally found one they both liked that would be okay for a boy or a girl. Andrea had to purchase it to be able to look at the directions. Once it was downloaded and printed they looked through it very carefully. Andrea was comfortable with all of it except a place on the front.

“I can help you with that,” Betty offered.

“Ok. Then I think I can do this.”

“Of course you can do it.” Betty assured her. Now, I’m going to head home. I’m beat.”

On the drive home Betty smiled at the thought of Andrea tackling that project. She’d never known her to do anything that involved. ‘Well, I can help her as much as she needs,’ she thought.

At home she unwrapped the sheets and put them into the washing machine. Then she fixed herself a Coke on ice and made a bee line for her recliner. She picked up the blanket she’d started, turned on the TV and found a John Wayne movie, and promptly fell asleep.

Jim gently woke her up when he got home.

“Oh, no! I didn’t intend to take a nap. I didn’t get supper started. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. Andrea called and said you were awfully tired when you left her place so I stopped and picked up some dinner.”

“You are just too good to me!” Betty smiled.

Jim leaned over and kissed her. “I know.”

The next day Betty put the new sheets on the bed. She hadn’t told Jim and wanted to see if he might notice. They looked real nice and she was pleased with her choice.

‘Kind of silly to think Jim would notice the sheets,’ she told herself. ‘but it would be really cool if he did.’

She did some work in her flower garden pulling weeds and moving a couple of plants to the middle of her garden, thinking they would show up better there when they started to bloom.

When she was tired from that, she came inside and did another load of laundry. She started spaghetti sauce and as it simmered she started some rolls. Jim deserved a homemade meal and he loved spaghetti.

She got the vacuum cleaner out and cleaned the living room and dining room floors. Then a neighbor stopped for a quick chat.

Her phone rang just as she set the rolls to raise.

“Hey, Andrea. Are you rested up from our shopping trip?”

“Well, good. And thanks for letting Jim know I was so tired. He picked up dinner from the Olive Garden, my favorite place. It was awesome.”

“How did Josh like the knife set you got? Was he impressed? Pleased?”

“What do you mean, he didn’t like them?”

“You stabbed him with the new knife?!”

“Is he okay?”

“He’s in the hospital? Is he going to recover? What were you thinking?”

“What do you mean, that’s how you killed your first husband?”

“Andrea!??”