Chapter 6
William and Iris
A gaggle of youngsters caught up to him. Even now, whenever he left
his yard a Snow girl or a Whitten lad called, "Mr. Pender, got
a hoop for me?" They all wanted their own barrel hoop and a
stick to roll it. They'd roll them from the south side to the east end
of Water Street and back again. They'd zig zag. They had a dozen ways
of turning a hoop. William told them they had it down pretty fine.
Children liked William. They saw the child-like part of him. They saw
the way his hair curled around his hat. They saw how his cheeks were
apple-shine red like a little boy's.
When grown-ups saw William and his wife, some wondered how she married
him. She was quiet and wise. He joked. She was modest. William seemed
happy with himself for no reason anyone could think of. He was sad to
have no work. But that did not change his real self. He still snared
rabbits on the hill and smiled with both dimples.
People liked Iris. They excused William since they thought so much
of her, and she was married to him.
But why had she married him? They did not know. She must have seen
something in him, they said. And we all have faults.
People knew that. And they respected Iris. So William Pender had a
good name in spite of his foolish smile.
Iris seemed tall, yet she stood only five feet two inches. It was
the way she carried herself, and the clothes she wore. She sewed her
own clothes. She liked dark greens and reds that glowed like jewels
on her. William looked shorter than he was, because of his curls and
his red cheeks.
People saw Iris was a smart, lovely woman. They saw her dark red hair
curl around her neck. Lettie Duggan was her friend next door. Lettie
once said Iris could have married the son of a merchant or a schooner
captain. Not the cooper William Pender.
Over time, Lettie got to know Iris and William more as a couple. There
was a glass paper weight on Lettie's dresser. The glass was green. It
had tiny red blossoms in it. Lettie loved it. She did not know why it
touched her heart so. She supposed Iris's love for William was part
of the same mystery.
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