Free Vida by Marge Piercy Page B

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    During the selenium spiel she examined Rena: about Vida’s height, but on the heavyset side, with short thick ash blond hair chopped off in a Dutch-boy just beneath her ears. Her large eyes were honey brown behind silver-rimmed glasses tinted pale rose, and she wore overalls and an old blue-and-red ski sweater. Rena blinked and smiled frequently now, quickly, as if asking if she pleased, her voice high and whispery for a big woman. Not much confidence.
    Rena was talking about laetrile. Vida briefly debated telling Rena that she had been part of a group running laetrile over the border from Mexico and then immediately dropped the idea. The story was true: Bill had worked out the connection that had supported them in 1978, before the last time she had come East. But high adventure did not seem the right approach. Instead Vida waited for an opening to nudge the conversation toward herbs. She needed to gain a little authority with Rena, but not to scare her. Most of Rena’s information came from articles in the magazines put out by the supplement companies, who weren’t interested in pushing herbs. Ah, here …
    “Yes, but thymol—that’s an ingredient in some of the commercial cold remedies—it’s oil of thyme. It’s a good expectorant—helps you get the phlegm out.” Really, flirting over phlegm! But Rena was paying attention now. Vida held forth, watching the shopkeeper carefully. She decided she could trust Rena enough to stay with her if she could manipulate Rena into offering shelter. “I’m East to visit my folks—they live in Philly—and I decided to come up to see an old friend of mine. I haven’t been able to find her. I hear she got married and now she’s separated, but I don’t know her married name”
    “What was her real name?”
    “Billy Jo Feldman” Vida said on impulse, and into her head popped the image of that young lady, belle of the eighth grade with what was known then as a poodle cut. She had been snotty to Vida, and Vida had slapped her in the face and been sent to the principal’s office. There Natalie had chased after her saying that Billy Jo deserved it, so that both of them had been ordered home—their new home together in disgrace that felt like victory.
    “I don’t think I know her … Maybe … I’ve heard the name, I think.”
    “I know I can find her, if I can hang around for a day. I know where her cousin works … I’d love to see Billy. We were real close for three years … We had a little fight when she got married, but I never meant to lose track of her”
    “It’d be real sad to come all this distance to see her and then go back to California and never find her. Billy Jo Feldman. I sure wish you luck. There’s a Maxine Feldman comes in here sometimes to buy vitamins. Would that be her cousin?”
    “No, her family’s in New Jersey except for her cousin … Al. I just don’t know what I’ll do if I can’t find her before night … Is there a women’s center or any place maybe there’d be some women who might put me up for a night? I was expecting to stay with Billy … I wonder, if I can’t find her … Maybe I could help you around the store today some? Clean up or unload or something? Then maybe I could sleep here? Just if I can’t find her”
    “Oh, you couldn’t stay in the store. That’d get me in real trouble … “ Rena paused, looking doubtful.
    Vida smiled into her honey brown eyes, waiting. Come on, you’re lonely, how about a little company just for an evening? And suppose the lover you were fighting with on the phone calls or comes by, won’t she be jealous? Do I look dangerous? “Just till I can find my friend … I’ll give up if I can’t find her by tomorrow. I have to get back to work.”
    “We don’t have a women’s center I ever heard about” Rena said. “But I’ll tell you what. If you can’t find Billy Jo, I guess I could put you up for a night”
    “Really? That’s generous of you! You don’t even know me! …