Excerpt from The Edge of Town by Dorothy Garlock, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

A few automobiles were parked on the streets surrounding the county courthouse. Most merchants set aside an area for teams and wagons behind their stores. Fertile had a large and prosperous business area because it was the only town of any size in the county. The nearest large town was St. Joseph thirty miles to the west.

Behind the shops that lined the street sat neat cottages and some large comfortable houses surrounded by picket fences. Closer to the river, in the less prosperous part of town, the houses were unkempt, unpainted frame shacks, most with a cow or a horse staked out behind them.

Julie felt uncomfortable and out of place every time she walked alone down the main street of Fertile. A certain element of the population drew a discriminatory line between town people who "belonged" and those who lived on the surrounding farms and did not.

Next to the Palace, Fertile's movie house, was Carwilde and Graham's, the largest mercantile store in town. A clear glass window, installed just this year, displayed dresses and men's suits on mannequins that reminded Julie of corpses with painted faces.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. May I help you?"

Scott Graham, who stepped from behind the counter, wore his hair parted in the middle and slicked down, a high stiff collar and blue arm garters on his starched white shirt. Scott had been in Julie's class at school, but he never acknowledged that he knew who she was. Had she known that he would be the one to wait on her, she would not have come in.

"What can I do for you?"

"I need two spools of number fifty white thread."

"Right this way."

Her head held high, Julie followed him down the aisle as if she intended to buy out the store instead of two five-cent spools of thread. Scott opened a drawer on the thread cabinet and selected the thread.

"Anything else?"

"I'd like to look at the dress goods, please."

"This way," he said, as if she couldn't see the bolts of material piled on the table not six feet away.

Julie selected a blue and white check to make a new Sunday dress for Joy, who had outgrown the only one she had, and a length of white lawn to sew a new shirtwaist for Jill. She paid for her purchases and left the store, glad to leave the presence of the dandy who had waited on her.

When she passed the hotel, she glanced at a man sitting on the porch, his chair tilted back against the wall. His shirtsleeves were cuffless and he wore black arm garters, a linen collar but no tie. Their eyes met; his, friendly and appraising. He smiled and tipped his broad-brimmed hat. She felt his eyes follow her as she walked down the street to the grocery store.

She was greeted by name by the owner. The Joneses were valued customers of Mr. Oakley's. They had traded with him since he had come to town ten years ago and always paid their tab on time.

"Good day to ya, Miss Jones. Nice day for a walk into town, huh?"

"It was nice walking in, but I don't expect it to be so pleasant going back up the hill. How are the family?"

"Fit as fiddles. Little ones are growing like weeds. Wish they'd hurry up so they can give me some help here in the store." He laughed heartily.

"Don't wish your life away, Mr. Oakley. They will grow up fast enough."

"You're right as rain 'bout that. Jethro finished with hayin'?"

"They'll finish this afternoon. If we get some rain we should have a couple more cuttings before frost."

"It's been a good growin' year so far. Your corn looks good. Me'n the missus passed the field last Sunday when we drove out to visit her uncle."

"Papa and the boys got it in early."

"What can I get for you today?"

"I'm walking, so I'll just take a couple of things I can carry.

Copyright © 2001 by Dorothy Garlock