Chapter Text
Sally Mae was not a christian lovin’ girl. Everybody knew that. I knew that. She went with her hoops and bikers’ jacket everywhere, wild curls dangling about, sporting the punk aesthetic. But yet she still attended church every Sunday. No matter what. She’d stand there in the pews looking at the preacher, lookin’ like she’d seen a higher power, but everybody knew she didn’t believe.
That’s why I could never be friends with Sally Mae. ‘Cuz I am a christian lovin’ girl and she’s a sinner. No matter how much she pretends to be swayed or be normal she ain’t. She just ain’t. But she definitely wasn’t as bad as I thought.
It starts with me gettin’ all dolled up for church. I found this white floral dress at a thrift store I frequent and I was so excited to show it off to the girls. I don’t have the money like them but I can still be just as beautiful as them. So I’m puttin’ on my dress and decking out on pearls, with some lacy white heels I found. Then I get to my makeup. Boy, do I do my makeup, pink lips with some gloss to make it shine, faint green eyeshadow cuz I like it like that, dab of blush, and for my speciality, puppy eyeliner. I know, I know, everyone has been pullin’ it straight these days but me? I love that downward pull, I've seen some do it up but I like it down and besides, this way I look a bit different from the girls.
Anyway I got all dolled up and just as I was finishin’, "Valerie! Are you almost done, dear?”
“Yes, Mother!” I say as I finish my stroke.
Perfect. It’s a perfect pull. It don’t really match the rest of the look but that’s ok, I like it. I put on my coat from Marges and grabbed my little white purse, and rushed down the stairs to our car.
We have a nice car, it’s mint green, and well, I couldn’t tell you what car it is, that’s more of a Father thing. Anyway I get in the car and put the roof on cuz my hair is freshly done! I’m not about to ruin it.
“Val, can we please drive with the roof down for once?”
“No Father! I just got my hair lookin’ cute! Please don’t let it be ruined.”
Father seemed confused but Mother said,
“Smith, you can’t understand how us girls need to be, Val put that roof up.”
And so we drove to church with the roof up. All the other girls' cars were already there ‘cuz their cars got more horsepower than mine but at least my hair ain’t ruined. When we pull into the lot, I see Sally Mae’s damn bike in the front of the church showin’ itself off to the world!
She makes this church look bad. I think, Her and her damn bike! She’s practically defacing the property!
Oh, I was spewing! I did not like that Sally Mae with her hoops and curls and that jacket! Hell, I decided right there in that moment that if the chance ever arose I’d give that girl a piece of my mind. And it was sure to be a good one too.
So that’s how I walk into church, angry and upset, thinkin’ some unholy thoughts. I know, I was not being a good christian girl that day. Man, if I saw that Sally Mae first, I would’ve torn her head off! Luckily for her, I ran into the girls first.
“Wow, Marges, is that genuine gold? Like full carat and everythin’?” asked Patty.
“Look, Diana! I told y’all that Val would make it. She ain’t never ever missed a day of church.” Said Cheryl.
All my girls were there, Cheryl, Marges, Diana, Susan, and Patty. Patty was lookin’ at Marges’ gold which Marges went and got more of this weekend, I know ‘cuz she called my line and asked me to come but I can’t afford that. Diana and Cheryl were talkin’ to each other, probably plannin’ their next bet, ‘cuz they liked to bet on things. Susan was sitting on the little bench in the hall, waitin’ til she’d sing for the choir. And then Marges was there, lookin’ straight at me.
“Ain’t that my coat?”
“Oh, yeah, I bet it is. I was wonderin’ where I got it from.”
“It alright. I could tell ‘cuz it’s too nice for you to have bought it.”
“Do you need it back?”
“Nah, you probably washed it at that place you go to, I don’t want it back.”
There was silence for a few moments. I really didn’t mean to take Marges’ coat, I felt pretty guilty. Guess I’m goin’ in for confession today. I thought.
“Well I guess since you’re here Val, we can go take a seat. Service starts in a few.” says Diana.
“Alright.” I mutter.
I’m hanging my head when I go to the pews, I felt so bad. Stealin’ ain’t good, it’d make me a sinner. Especially cuz I stole from Marges. Marges gave me the girls, I owe her everything. I sit in between Diana and Patty while Marges and Cheryl save a spot for Susan. ‘Cuz I got there later than normal (I had stayed up a little too late last night), us girls weren’t sittin’ where we normally sat.
Guess who was in front of us. Sally Mae! All my anger and frustration came out and I started thinkin’ unholy thoughts again, Screw her and her hoops and curls! Especially that freakin’ jacket. Only I didn’t say freakin’. I was so upset I nearly missed Susan’s solo! At least I put myself together then.
Calm down crazy girl, you ain’t gonna see her again soon. She goin’ to college and you supposed to get married. Susan is about to sing too!
I recollected myself and looked over at Susan. That girl needed our support! She didn’t need me frettin’ over Sally Mae. So I rose up from the pew to stand with the girls. Susan was gonna sing!
And oh boy, did that girl sing! She sang with her soul, like we could hear all she was with her voice. Ain’t nobody sing better than Susan. In fact, a local artist put her in the paper as best singer in Meadowbrook. ‘Cuz like I said nobody sing better than Susan.
She sang so good, I done nearly forgot about Sally Mae! But as soon as the choir was over, I looked over to where Susan was sittin’ down and saw that Sally Mae again. Oh, I knew in my heart that I could never ever like that girl!
Well reader, I gots to let you in on something. I keep on talking about this Sally Mae and about how I hate her but there is another reason why I don’t like Sally Mae. But to do that we will need to go back a bit.
This was back when I was young, like young young, back before Marges and the girls, when I first moved to Meadowbrook. I had just moved from Hooverville to a wealthier place ‘cuz Father had gotten a big bonus at work and we didn’t want to live with the cockroaches anymore. So we moved to Meadowbrook. Now, I’ll be honest. I was scared shitless about movin’. I had this really close friend named Debbie who I couldn’t bear to not see anymore. I cried and cried about it. So when we got to Meadowbrook and I didn’t have anyone, man, I was desperate. So desperate that I talked to the girl with the wild curls and fake tattoos that she’d drawn on. Yeah, the first girl I ever talked to in Meadowbrook, was Sally Mae.
When I first met her, she was on the corner of my block (where I lived), watchin’ them insects crawl about; she had chalk and dirt caked into her hands and was standin’ on one of her art pieces. I don’t know if anyone had helped her but the sidewalk to my house to the corner was nearly covered in colors. Now, I’ll be frank, the art was not good. She definitely tried to make a unicorn and some magic stuff, but when I looked at it all I saw was lines of rainbows and red. And it wasn’t just a bit of red, oh no, it was so much red, enough to the point where I thought she drew pools of blood.
So me bein’ the girl I am, I’m concerned and a little scared, so I start to go back to my house but then,
“Hey! You there! Which house are you?”
“What?”
“You just moved here, right?”
“Yes…”
“Cool, I’m in the other neighborhood and you're my age, but I didn’t recognize you; so I knew you just moved here ‘cuz I didn’t recognize you, and I recognize everyone, and so now I need to know who you are.” She said this all very matter of factly, almost like this is what you normally say to people you just met.
“But I don’t know who you are.”
“Yes, but I need to know who you are.”
“Why?” I asked, recently I had just learned the stranger danger rule and well, I was scared of this girl.
“‘Cuz I recognize everyone.”
“That’s not a reason.”
“Course it is.”
“Before that, why are you drawing that?” I asked, pointin’ towards the blood pool.
“Well I was tryin’ to draw a magic spell but it didn’t work.”
“Magic isn’t real.”
“Yeah but Jesus came back to life. So it is.”
“Huh.” I hadn’t thought that way before.
“If you tell me who you are, I’ll tell you who I am.”
I considered this a moment, then finally I said,
“I’m Valerie, Valerie Swartz.”
“Sally Mae Hutch.”
I didn’t know what to say next, Sally Mae was so different from the other girls I met, I didn’t quite know what to say. Luckily, I didn’t have to.
“I don’t live here.”
“Then why are you here?”
“‘Cuz no one from my neighborhood likes it here.”
“Why don’t you like the people in your neighborhood?”
“They mean. They like to say I’m crazy and a sinner.”
“Why?”
“‘Cuz they can.”
"That don't seem fair."
"It ain't." She said, lookin' back down at her insects.
That's when a bright red Cadillac pulled up.
"Sal! I've been lookin' for you everywhere! I know it's hard but you can't run off, I promise it will get better." Said the man in the Cadillac.
"She ain't here no more though. How is it supposed to get better?"
He looked down, clearly tryin' to think of something to say, when,
"Sal, who's this?"
"Nobody important." Sally responded
"Really? She pretty, ain't she?" Asked the man.
"No, she's ugly." Said Sally indignantly.
Now, reader, can you imagine how shocked I was to hear this? My first day in Meadowbrook and I was called ugly. Ugly! Oh, I was fuming and I knew I would never ever be friends with Sally Mae nor would I like her.
The rest of that story ends with Sally getting in the car and goin' home and me, standing there dumbstruck 'cuz I was called ugly for the first time in my life. I cried again that night.
Now, back to our story: Sermon was over and Confession was to be opened in an hour. I bid the rest of the girls farewell and went to go tell Mother that I was goin' to confess today.
After that I headed down to the back hall to wait for confession.
You'll never guess who was back there.
That damn Sally Mae.