9 Chapter 08

Chelseaville March 1975

Harrison drove his father's teal pickup truck to The Jug and Lion, the local pub, after his daily haul at the ranch. The usual drive was for a cold beer and solitude, but lately his mind was occupied with thoughts of a certain girl who kept flashing across his mind like unattended spasms, and the longer he stayed inside his lonely cottage, the louder and clearer his thoughts became, which told him he needed to get away from them, before he felt more stupid about himself than he already did.

While taking a long swig of his beer, the last thing he expected to hear was Hope's voice around him. Abashed his thoughts had transformed into hallucinations he shook his head absentmindedly and turned back to his beer, but he still could catch traces of her clear-cut voice appearing and disappearing around his head as if she were haunting him. Ashamed and embarrassed he spun around in his bar stool and caught her plain as daylight, waiting a table a couple of feet away from him, wearing blue overalls over a white shirt, and the same pair of brown bedraggled boots she had her feet in, with her hair loosely tied back with a red bandana.

"Jack, what's Hope doin' here waiting tables?" asked Harrison turning to Jack, the barkeep who was a respectable man of fifty who devoted his whole life to the pub.

"Dunno Harry," he shrugged , a cup and cloth occupying his hands, "I refused to give her a spot, cause her daddy woulda have sling my neck if he knew, but how could I turn down the kid when she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer." said Jack shaking his head with a toothy smile.

"I know something about that," Harrison frowned at the beer bottle.

"The girl says it thrills her to see the townsfolk," Jack chuckled, "and wouldn't take a dollar or a cent I give her."

"She does all that for no pay?" Harrison asked disbelieving.

"All that and more," Jack smiled.

Harrison suddenly felt agitated at the man's subtlety.

"Wait for a couple more hours and see for yerself kid," Jack winked and walked away to serve another.

Harrison stayed back, even though every bone in him ached to go back home for an early night in after the day's weariness. Being the town's toughest rancher after his father, Harrison was always the centre of attention at the local pub, which he did not prefer, but wasn't ignorant either as he always told himself, the town came first. But tonight, he seemed too distracted to even notice that he had just lost his spotlight.

Like a clockwork ballerina that never stopped swirling, Hope continued to swerve through the crowd from one table to another, without a trace of fret or tiredness, except for her unmissable scintillating smile that brightened the dimly lit bar.

Time flew by unconsciously and Harrison was suddenly aware that the pub which was usually darkened and empty by this late of the night, was now bustling with vagabonds, runaway couples, and workmen from the ranch. The crowd, too big for the pub was now jostling near the wooden platform by the corner where dusty blues and old rock n roll were played unnoticed. Harrison moved away from the bar and made it hesitantly towards the platform, where Jack was setting a mic, while two others were handling the guitars and drums.

"This is quite the set up for a Wednesday night hoedown," Harrison said to Smitty whom he had found by the platform.

"Worth it." He shrugged with a smile curling up his face, and nudged Harrison's attention towards the platform.

When he looked up he saw Hope jump onto the platform seamlessly and make it towards the mic in her flawless cat like gait.

"Apologies for keeping ya'll waiting," she smiled apologetically, "but my, what a night to grow some love with a little...Edison Lighthouse?" She drawled into the mic and the crowd instantly exploded in a cheer and holler.

Taking their cue as her sign to commence, the drums and guitars thumped and strummed to life. The whole bar was enveloped with sweet music, as she poured her melodious silvery voice into the mic that reverberated through the whole pub. The vibrational energy that was created within the walls of the pub soon became contagious enough to draw in people passing by outside.

"...her hair is kinda wild and free..."

Harrison's focus failed to shift from the platform as he stared in wonder and fear at Hope who was not aware of the crowd as she gripped the mic in her hands and swayed her body to the music bubbling around her. Harrison noticed when her bandana slipped off and the dark copper locks tumbled wildly down her shoulders, but she continued to sing away unknowingly. That wasn't the only magic that caught Harrison's eyes, when he turned around to glimpse at the crowd he saw people who had vowed to never step into the pub over petty squabbles and brawls, for the first time, gracing the pub unconsciously as they were drawn to Hope's singing- the ecstatic or drunken--he couldn't say--smiles were a first.

"...really got a magical spell, and it's workin' so well...

His eyes moved along to discover Jack, serving people at the tables with whiskey and beer fills all by himself, which was something he would have never done at the cost of his dignified ego. Harrison was at a loss for words. This girl was making miracles and she did not even realise it. Unsurprisingly all it had taken was her stubborn, relentless, caring nature which Harrison had thought was a farce rich kid trait.

"...I'm a lucky fella and I've just gotta tell her that I love her endlessly..."

His eyes drew back to her, who was simply having the time of her life in a musty pub, consequentially putting smiles and changing hearts of people around and it was then Harrison realised, oddly, that he was beginning to experience primal fear in the presence of a woman. He knew she was going to make him have his change of heart imminently and it terrified him. Instead of running back to his truck and driving away, he stood there gazing at her, unable to move as if he was held down with weights, just like at the ranch that afternoon when she had walked up to him over the fence.

As the song reached the end, the pub erupted in an explosion of praise and cheer. Hope nodded her head with flushed cheeks, strands of hair plastered to her sweat streaked face, and in a heavy breath, pleased to see the sea of glowing faces before her. Her eyes stopped when she saw Harrison among the faces, staring back at her with still grey eyes revealing a look of fear and amazement in them. He quickly snapped out of the trance and bought his hands together and applauded along with the crowd with a halfhearted smile on his face, and when she flashed a luminous smile at him in return, he sensed his chest tighten against his own principles.

With the cold wind of the night grazing his calloused face for company, Harrison drove back to the ranch feeling heated every time the image of Hope flooded his mind, on that platform projecting her unexplainable aura to the whole pub ever so generously and selflessly. He had never felt so strongly about someone's impact upon him—an impact so huge he knew it was going to wreck him.