Excerpt from Telling Room Anthology Atomic Tangerine and The Secrets They Left Behind: “Shoes Like That”
by Elizabeth Flanagan, Telling Room Author
Looking back, Jasper often wondered how different his life might have been if he had never heard Lilla’s heels clicking across the cold cement floor of his garage that evening. He was under the McCarvers’ shiny new Ford Model A Coupe, only recognizable by his worn brown boots, stained and battered from years of hard work. When he heard the footsteps, he glanced past the rear tires to see a pair of red heels strutting through the open door. The shiny patent leather, with pointy toes and tall, spiky heels, almost shimmered as they clacked across the dull cement.
Lilla would always remember how the bright May sunlight filtered through the wavy glass windows of Jasper’s garage, highlighting the dust trails meandering through the musty air. The coupe sat to the left, its chrome finishings glinting and gleaming in the late afternoon sun, anxious to be out on the open road once again. It was a stark contrast to the warmth of the pine boards and the worn tool bench with all its nicks and dents. The pungent sweetness of gasoline and motor oil tickled her nose, but there was something familiar about the scent, the smell of another life she had lived long ago. She did not shy away from the grime and grease as one would expect, but instead smiled to herself as a calmness settled over her. She liked it here, it was like a portal to another world she didn’t realize she missed.
“Good evening, Mrs. McCarver,” said Jasper without moving from under the automobile.
“How’d you know it was me from under there?” she asked, pausing near the car.
Jasper could still only see her shoes and the seams of her stockings running up the back of her legs and out of sight. “Ain’t a woman in this town that would wear shoes like that, ma’am,” he replied.
She laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Jasper rolled out from under the car, wrench in one hand. Lilla McCarver stood next to the coupe, still wearing the black-and-white dress that clung to her in all the right places, with her raven colored hair twisted on top of her head.
She removed the cigarette poised between her lips and smiled at him. “I don’t think I properly introduced myself earlier.” She extended her hand. “Lilla McCarver.”
Carefully, Jasper attempted to smear his grease-stained hand on his shirt, before taking her dainty, pale one in his. A giant diamond ring glinted on her fourth finger.
“Jasper Rollins, nice to meet you ma’am,” he replied.
“Enough with this ma’am business,” she scoffed. “You’re making me feel like an old woman.”
Jasper just smiled at the absurdity of her words.
“You’re a man of few words.”
Jasper shrugged.
Lilla laughed again and Jasper couldn’t help but smile at the sound.
“How’s she doing?” Lilla asked, laying a hand on the shiny hood of the coupe.
“I’m not sure yet,” Jasper replied, sliding back under the car.
“I knew that car salesman was bad news,” said Lilla. “But Harley never listens to me.” She took a long drag on her cigarette and let the smoke out slowly.
She had no idea why she said that, because it wasn’t entirely true. But there was something about Jasper’s quiet demeanor that made her want to talk. “I mean, when it comes to things like this.”
“Do you know much about cars?” asked Jasper, sliding out again, this time with a rusted and greasy carburetor clutched in his hand. He took it over to his workbench and began to tinker with a screwdriver.
“Not much, but I know people,” Lilla replied. “I could smell the crookedness in that salesman from a mile away, but when Harley wants something, you can’t change his mind. I suppose, that’s how he got me.” Lilla took the cigarette from between her red painted lips and dropped it to the floor. Jasper watched as she ground it out with the pointed toe of her red shoe.
***
This story is an excerpt from the novel The Secrets They Left Behind, published through The Telling Room’s Young Emerging Authors fellowship. It appears in the Telling Room anthology Atomic Tangerine. Both titles can be purchased at our webstore.
When she published this piece, ELIZABETH FLANAGAN was a mocha latte-addicted junior at Medomak Valley High School in Waldoboro, Maine. She traveled sixty-three miles from her home each week to be part of The Telling Room’s Young Emerging Authors program, through which she was thrilled to achieve her goal of publishing a book before her high school graduation. The Secrets They Left Behind is a historical novel that follows fourteen-year-old Clara Rollins as she untangles the web of secrets woven by her late father.
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