#545 The Roomers- Maxine Clair
Lydia and Thomas Pemberton run a boarding house in
Rattlebone. They don’t want no riff-raff and now only take in teachers. October
Brown is their latest renter. She is young, quiet and proper, a good fit for
the house.
When James “Shorty” Wilson comes sniffing around, things
start to get dicey. Men are not allowed in the rooms upstairs, so no impropriety
happens on the premises, but when Lydia gets word that they’ve been seen
together getting close at a honkey-tonk, she sits down and gives October a
talking to. Not that any of it is her business, but she takes personal affront
to one of her roomers “acting a fool” in public.
October admits to being pregnant, and that is the final straw;
Lydia wants her out of the house. Her husband puts his foot down, for the first
time, and wants October to stay until the end of the school year, or until she
can figure out what to do next. The fight splits the house in two, and when
October leaves so does Lydia’s husband. Lydia is sure he’ll come back…I’m not
so sure.
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