Sagehen Mesa - Season 2 Episode 3 - What's Up With Josie?
Oh, hello there. I looks like it's my turn to update you on the goings on around Sagehen Mesa.
You've probably already heard about what has become known as "The Great Buzzberry Scandal," so I won't go too deep into those weeds except to let you know that Cliff Mahon is still hiding out, and the long arm of the law, our sweet little Officer Rae, now promoted from interim sheriff to permanent sheriff, is still trying to track him down. Sheriff Rae has been successful in many areas: the buzzberry farm bust, the arrest of the Thurstons, (who it turns out were not only deeply involved in the buzzberry scandal, but also unforgivably neglectful parents), . . .
. . . and the razing of the old shack at the fishing hole where the criminal element was most concentrated, thereby giving the locals peace of mind when they go fishing. However, she has yet to corner slippery Cliff.
Cliff knows this area like the back of his hand, and he knows who will report him, and who will turn a blind eye if they spot him. There's no love lost between Cliff and me, but we are both "natives" to the area, and there's a strange bond among us natives that goes beyond how we feel about each other. Our roots run deep, and we don't like outsiders interfering in our business. We prefer to settle our own disputes without outside interference - no offense to Rae and her sidekick Rita.
Rae and Rita seem like nice girls, and the town chatter is that each has found a beau. Rita is quite taken with the new cowboy and sleuth in town - Sam Barclay - and he seems quite smitten with her as well.
Sam is a childhood friend of Reuben Roland and has been staying with the Rolands for the past month or so. He's a private eye and looking to get himself established here in town. I would have thought Sam and Rae would have gotten together as I've seen them with their heads together down at the Pit Stop, working on some case or another.
I know in all the TV shows about police or private eyes, they always seem at odds with each other, but I think Sheriff Rae is glad to have Sam as a resource, especially with Cliff still on the loose.
Rae, however, doesn't seem that interested in Sam as anything other than a friend and ally, and has instead set her sights on Cliff's son Clancy. Who would have thought? It seems like a conflict of interests to me, but I know Clancy is a good boy - unlike his father, and has been distancing himself from his father.
What Rae may not realize is that Clancy and his brother Timothy also embrace the "native code," so while he wouldn't outright harbor his fugitive father, Clancy would most likely look the other way or make himself scarce if he comes across Cliff.
I'm not sure what to make of Cliff and his so-called girlfriend Bobbi. It seems in those instances where Cliff is sighted, Bobbi is also somewhere on the premises. But it's also reported that they make public spectacles of themselves with all their arguing.
As far as I know, Cliff is no longer staying at his house but hunkering down in the hills somewhere, which is why the sheriff is having such a difficult time making an arrest.
But enough of Cliff. I was supposed to tell you what was going on in my life, not gossiping! Shame on me!
You may have heard that I recently got married to Luis Toledo. We met while I was on vacation in Monte Vista with my daughter Lucile and her husband Winston. I invited him for a visit, and I don't know what came over me. I did not want him to leave, so I proposed to him. Who'd have thought he'd say yes!
Kellee is wanting me to tell you all about the honeymoon.
Well, Luis and I decided not to go too far away. We went to Sunset Valley. I'd been there before, but it must have been 30 years or so. Quite a bit has changed, but it's still a nice little town. We checked into a fancy new resort that has been built along the coast.
It had a lovely courtyard with a beautiful pool, and we spent a lot of time just enjoying it. I came to realize that I really didn't know Luis as well as I thought. These foreign men have some funny ways. For instance, he likes hot tubbing in the nude!
I thought for sure we'd get kicked out for his lewd behavior, but instead the desk clerk came to join us and she was nude too! Not me! I kept my swimsuit on, thank you very much!
Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and went to the pool instead. I kept an eye on them of course, and I could overhear the woman asking Luis about how much money he made. We have a name back home for girls who bathe naked with men and seem overly interested in their money, but I'm too much of a lady to say the word here.
Sometimes I think I might have rushed into this marriage a little too fast. I didn't like the way Luis was looking at the woman, so I asked him to take me out on the town.
We went to a club down the street from the resort, where Luis introduced me to more things I didn't know existed.
One thing I can say for certain is I had a lot of new experiences. The next day we toured the local nectary. It used to be owned by the Goth family, one of the original families in the area, but they have since moved on.
We were enjoying some nectar when a pretty, young girl started striking up a conversation with Luis from across the room.
The woman minding the nectary register told me the woman was Dina Caliente, and she had the reputation of honing in on wealthy older men, hoping to marry them and inherit their fortunes when they kicked the bucket. Why do I get the feeling all these young women are trying to steal my man?
I get the feeling my man wasn't the only man Miss Dina was after.
"Try the plasma wine," Luis said. "Live a little."
It's hard to live a little when your stomach starts churning. No more plasma wine for me! How can people drink this stuff? After purging myself in the bathroom, I decided it was time for us to leave.
The next day we went to the Summer Festival.
I enjoyed some hot wings, then decided to participate in the hot dog eating contest. It turns out, this wasn't a wise idea after having stomach troubles the day before.
I won the contest but lost the hot dogs and the hot wings, if you know what I mean. 😬 Luis didn't have any interest in the hot dog eating contest, but preferred to just sit and watch the young ladies play soccer.
We also went roller skating, which I hadn't done since I was a girl.
Luis was a natural and soon performing spins and skating backwards. I wasn't nearly as good, despite having a nice young man trying to teach me.
That evening, we decided to go bowling since that's an activity we can't do at home.
Bowling was a little more my speed, but Luis won the game 20 to 11.
We woke up to a thunder storm the next morning. Sometimes the rain can be refreshing. I spent the morning enjoying reading on the porch and watching the town get drenched.
We thought the storm would blow over, but it persisted into the afternoon, so we decided on some indoor activities for the day. We started with a visit to the art gallery.
I guess the saying "I don't know anything about art, but I know what I like" makes sense. For example, I was not impressed with this morbid painting of rodents gnawing on human bones, , , ,
. . . but Luis rather liked it.
After an hour of so in the art gallery, both of us were feeling a might peckish.
We decided to visit a cafe nearby.
Luis thinks we should take an art class together. I'm not sure it's the hobby for me, but I'll think about it. It would be nice if we could find some common interests to strengthen our relationship.
The evening ended with another exotic dinner, which didn't sit well with me.
We spent our final day at the beach fishing and playing in the waves.
I had a good time in Sunset Valley, but I'm glad to be back home where things are familiar, and the food is a lot easier on my delicate stomach. Kellee says she's glad I'm back and able to fix the kinds of meals that agree with me.
I arrived home to find that the town council had located and hired an honest-to-goodness preacher to take over my duties at the church. This is timely in light of my new marriage and the fact that I want to spend more time with Luis. Luis, it turns out, isn't a church-goer.
Luis and I met the pastor and his pretty wife at the festival.
They are Jasper and Meagan Gwynne, and like Luis and me, they are newlyweds.
I'm looking forward to just being part of the congregation come Sunday.
Sunday arrived, and we had a little fellowship time before the service. Apparently the pastor's wife Meagan wanted to make this a regular event and plans to provide a light brunch for the small congregation. She said she feels people are more receptive to God's word if they aren't thinking about lunch. Pastor Jasper's handsomeness was not lost on the younger women, who admired him from afar.
Pastor Jasper seemed surprised at the informality of the group during his sermon. I guess where he comes from, people sit during the sermon. It took me forever to get people to sit down, and I guess they have forgotten their manners in my absence.
The pastor preached a good sermon. I'm glad we have him among us. Meagan shared with me that she and Jasper are hoping to start a family real soon. I hope Luis and I can find our stride in our own marriage. There are times I feel a little neglected.
Like at the ill-fated bachelorette party for Officer Rae: Luis spoke with and danced with about every woman in the room - except me.
I was really feeling like a wallflower and was relieved when Augustin Lopez took pity on me and asked me to dance.
When we got home, I told Luis I was a little hurt that he didn't ask me to dance. He just said, "I'm sorry sweetheart. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. It's just that where I come from, these types of parties are to celebrate singleness and it gives us the opportunity to act like we are single again for one evening."
Foreign men are so . . . foreign.
Perhaps this sense of loneliness in my marriage is what let me to stumble and make an embarrassing mistake. One evening I found myself, yet again, in Ben's arms.
The Art Barn - a new art gallery and shop had just opened up. I remembered that Luis thought we should try taking an art class together and I went to see if art classes were going to be something offered there. I was still feeling down and lonely when I ran into Ben, and one thing led to another.
I was doubly embarrassed to get sprayed with nectar by none other than Pastor Jasper!
"Cool off, Josie! This man is NOT your husband!" he chided. It took me a lot of courage to show my face at church the next Sunday.
Before the service, Pastor Jasper came up to me and quietly said, "I want to apologize for my actions the other night, Josie. I'm just very concerned about the spiritual well-being of the flock God has entrusted to me, and when I saw what I saw, I just had to act.
You were placing your marriage in danger, and I really don't think that was your intent.
I'm sure you love your husband very much and are simply going through a rough patch."
"You were right to step in with the beverage intervention, Pastor. I am so ashamed of my behavior. I have asked God's forgiveness and for his guidance in helping me stay on the righteous path." I assured him.
The next day, I decided to make an appointment with Dr. Ellen. I really don't like to involve outsiders in my private affairs, but Dr. Ellen is a professional and assured me that anything I told her would remain in strict confidence.
She has this machine she calls "Old Sparky" that she says she sometimes uses to help diagnose mental health issues. It looked pretty sketchy to me, so she demonstrated it's use on herself to reassure me.
I was still pretty nervous, but I gave it a try.
We talked about my previous marriage to Joe, and she suggested that maybe I was expecting my dynamic with Luis to be identical to my dynamic with Joe. The fact that Joe was very attentive, and Luis isn't had cause some situational depression and anxiety. I told her about Luis' suggestion that we take an art class together, and she said that would be an excellent place to start strengthening our relationship. We need to go on intimate dates, agree beforehand that our attention will be on each other, and find come common interests we can share. She also said if these strategies don't work, to come see her again, and we could go to the hospital for an out-patient personality adjustment. I don't like the sounds of that, so I'll definitely try "plan A" first.
I went back to the Art Barn to look into classes, when who should be there but that fugitive Cliff!
The young woman at the register, the owner by the looks of things, seemed very uncomfortable, giving him the side-eye.
Guadalupe was there, and I hadn't seen her in church lately. I heard she had adopted the little Thurston boy, and was asking her how that was working out and if she needed anything . . .
. . . when out of the blue, Cliff started being Cliff.
"I am NOT your son, Josie! Stay out of my business!" he retorted.
I continued my conversation with Guadalupe while an agitated Cliff perused the store. I could see the clerk was hoping he's leave soon.
Suddenly, Cliff escalated and pounced! We were in quite a tussle.
I ended up on the losing end of that battle. Guadalupe, to her credit, looked disapprovingly at Cliff, but was smart enough to stay out of our business. The clerk didn't seem to know what to do, bless her.
Then Cliff's ex-wife Tess came out of the other room and spotted him.
The sales clerk quickly went to see if she could help her find anything.
At this point Cliff decided it was time to leave. If anyone was likely to turn him in, it would be Tess.
As one would expect, in comes Cliff's girlfriend? ex-girlfriend? enemy? No one knows for sure. In comes Bobbi. Oddly enough Bobbie and Tess are pretty good friends. Perhaps they bonded over the frustrations with Cliff. Everyone thinks Cliff dumped Tess for Bobbi, but I guess Tess is in a much better situation now, so there's no hard feelings. Oh! look at me being the gossip again. I should be ashamed of myself.
Before I left, the clerk introduced herself as Leona Whiting, the owner of the Art Barn. She said she saw the whole fight and asked me if I was okay, She said she had slipped into the back room to report the assault to the police. I told her that hadn't been necessary. Cliff and I go way back. I whooped his behind many times when he was a child, so I figured it was only fair that he gets a few licks in once in awhile now that he's big enough to do it. No damage done. She didn't seem satisfied with my answer. I asked about art classes, and she liked the idea and said she would consider arranging for some in the near future.
In the mean time, Luis and I have been on a few intimate dates, and I'm feeling a little better about our relationship.
Maybe I won't need an "outpatient personality adjustment" after all.
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