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August, 2006
Jack & Slim: Fiction
By Beth Collins
The woman in front of Jack was eating roasted peanuts that smelled so good he could barely contain his urge to lean over her shoulder and inhale a deep draught of their pungent aroma. The smell filled his nostrils, made his mouth water, and caused an empty feeling within him to ache for more than just peanuts. As a child, he and Slim, his best friend in the whole world, used to walk down to McKay's, the local general store, on hot summer afternoons. Bored, they'd wander into the darkened shop and walk over to the penny candy display in the glass case. The well-oiled wood floor, buckled and warped by the passage of time and millions of footsteps, squeaked and moaned with each step the boys took. Ol' Man McKay, the second-generation proprietor, could tell where any customers were in the store without even looking up, just by listening to the tattle-tale sounds of the floor boards under their feet. Sometimes, when Jack heard a certain tone in the creak of a wood floor, it brought back the heat of the August sun on his back, the feel of the dust between his toes in a pair of dirty, ripped sneakers, and the wonderful aroma of furniture polish, chocolate, wood smoke and roasted peanuts that filled McKay's.
The store abounded with wonderful things, but Jack and Slim paid attention to none of them except the penny candy display and the peanut roaster. You could get a lot of peanuts for the same price as a small bag of penny candy. Often the biggest decision of the day was which to get - the candy? Or the peanuts? It was fun to pick out the candy. A dime could take a long time to spend, deciding which pieces to choose, driving Ol' Man McKay crazy with their false choices, mind-changing, and indecision. On the other hand, getting peanuts was faster, but you could get a huge bag full of them, and then there was all the fun of cracking open the shells, and eating the peanuts inside. Jack could still feel the warmth of the bag of freshly roasted peanuts in his hands, and imagine the satisfying crack of a shell popping open between his teeth, the papery-skinned peanuts landing on his tongue, their crunchy goodness and salty, nutty flavor filling his mouth.
If the boys were especially rich, they could get a soda to drink with the peanuts. The red and white Coke case sat adjacent to the front counter. It had two heavy lids on top. You had to lift the lid up with one hand, and then reach down into the cold water, grab a bottle of your preferred beverage, retrieving it by its skinny little neck. The water was so cold! Slim hated to reach in and get the soda bottle; he said the cold made his arm itch and tingle. Jack's arm would itch and tingle from the cold, too, but he kind of liked it. They usually got either orange soda or root beer, though they agreed that orange soda went better with peanuts than root beer did. It was sweet and tangy at the same time, and complimented the darker, earthy flavor of the peanuts best. After Jack lifted the soda from the icy water, he'd open the bottle with the opener screwed onto the front of the case. It took some doing; the bottle was big, and since he wasn't very tall, he had to use both hands - one hand hot and sticky, one hand tingly-cold and wet - to pry the cap off.
Jack and Slim would finally leave the store, walk back toward Jack's house, and find a good spot on the sidewalk to sit down and enjoy their afternoon's plunder. What he wouldn't give, thought Jack, for just an hour of that time now. What joy, to be able to sit on the curb, completely free of obligations, stress, worries, or schedules, and enjoy a bag of peanuts, a bottle of orange soda, a hot afternoon, and the company of a good, close friend. When I die, he pondered, if I've been good enough to deserve it, I hope my eternity holds a chance to sit on that curb with Slim again.
Beth Collins is originally from Aroostook County (Portage Lake) and now lives in Appleton, Maine with her husband and 3 cats. She writes as often as she can, mostly to avoid doing work for her real job as a store owner. She loves the outdoors and tries not to fall out of canoes too much.
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