My Dearest Belle

“Here you are ma’am.”  Sydney spoke gently to Lettie Ann.  The woman turned her wheelchair at an angle where she could still see out the window and face Sydney in her seat as well.

“I hear you have talked to nearly every old man in town already, so I am assuming you have already heard about what a good ole’ boy your great Uncle Charley was.”  Sydney knew Lettie Ann was fishing for exactly how much information she had already collected and from whom.  Honest and straight-forward had worked so far, so she decided to stick with it.

“Well, yes ma’am, it would seem that Uncle Charley’s legacy fared as well as a man could dream for and then some in that respect.  I have heard all about his All American boy disposition, and his love of the good life, but I have also heard about how he gambled and drank and single-handedly seduced nearly every woman in the county.”  Sydney decided to say no more and let Lettie Ann respond as she might choose to these allegations.

Lettie Ann stared at her for a long moment.  Sydney was uncomfortable not knowing what she was thinking, but let Lettie Ann continue at her own pace.  When she let out a deep and robust laugh, Sydney had to laugh right along with her, not yet knowing why. 

“So you’ve talked with old Boyd, have you?  You must have charmed the wrinkles right off of his ornery old face in order to get him to tell you that much.  But he always was a sucker for a pretty girl.  And you know how men are, they never change.”  Lettie Ann laughed again and Sydney joined right in with her.  Until this trip she had forgotten how insightful and no-nonsense elderly people could be.  She had to admit that although their honesty could be painful at times, it was certainly an improvement over what was dished out across the airwaves on a daily basis.

“Well, yes ma’am I have talked with Mr. Smith.”  Sydney allowed.

“Let me tell you a thing or two about that old buzzard.”  Lettie Ann leaned forward as though she were on the verge of revealing national secrets.  Sydney could feel the hairs on her neck bristling just a bit.  She really liked that old buzzard and had believed all that he had confided in her.  Sydney was not sure she was prepared to hear anything about him contrary to those beliefs.

“He’s as set in his ways as an old stubborn mule, but he’s as good a man as God ever set down on this earth.  I wouldn’t need to know what he told you to be as sure as I am old that it was the very truth.  But the fact of the matter is that I do know what he told you.  He told you all that a man could tell.  And now I am going to tell you what else there is to know.”  Sydney was too stunned to respond, so she just nodded.

“I won’t repeat what Boyd must have told you about the kind of man Charley Denton really was and how the investigation into his death proceeded.  I’ll just pick up the story with Belle.”