Tar and Feathers

According to Cap, who delivered the news with a grin and a shake of his head, Mary Louise found out about Ella Ann on Tuesday, Ella Ann found out about Mary Louise on Wednesday, and on Thursday, Travis Prime hastily packed a bag and took off for parts unknown.

“Boy was waitin' on the first crossin',” Cap reported, “Dancin' around like the devil was at his heels and catchin' up fast.”

Nana was unsympathetic. “You lay with dogs, you get fleas,” she said coldly, “Boy never did have the sense God gave geese and neither of them wimmen is blind or stupid. They was bound to catch on sooner or later.”

“Reckon so,” Cap nodded, “Never did unnerstand it myself, all the boy's ever had was them good looks and he'll grow outta them.”

“Good looks and good sense don't always end up together,” Aunt Pearl shrugged, “Leastways he was smart enough to run.”

Aunt Vi sighed. “I s'pose so,” she said sadly, “But I ain't sure he's smart enough to keep goin'.”

On the scandal scale, it was enough to keep the bored villagers talking for a few weeks but, most everyone said, it wasn't much to write home about. And then on one warm summer afternoon,

Ella Ann and Mary Louise happened to run into each other at the post office. They could've ignored one another. They could've had a catfight right in the dusty street. They could've glared and turned their backs. They even could have been frostily polite to one another and left, as the postmistress pretty much expected they would do.

“You jist never kin tell 'bout folks,” Thelma told everyone who would listen, “Who'd a thought to see them two walk out arm 'n'arm like long lost friends! Gon' be a bad day for ol' Travis Prime, I reckon.”

And indeed it was. To the village's bewilderment, Mary Louise and Ella Ann united, pooled their resources and hired themselves a private detective from Halifax to track and locate Travis. It didn't take long before he was found, waiting tables in a down and out diner in a more down and out section of St. John and pretty much living out of his beat up old '47 Chevy. The entire island was on edge with anticipation - the Sullivan boys made a killing taking odds on what the women would do – and it seemed like overnight, the ordinary little scandal caught fire and no one was talking about anything else. Breach of contract and alienation of affections became popular phrases, but both came in a close second and third to tar and feathers. Rumor had it that Travis, feeling rightfully anxious, lit out - sold the Chevy for a song, signed on to an Alaskan bound tramp steamer - and disappeared. There were random sightings over the years, from a logging camp and a fishing fleet to one promising lead from an off shore oil rig but nothing ever led anywhere. Travis was in the wind and for most of the island, it was good riddance. The silver lining was that Ella Ann and Mary Louise became good friends and eventually bought Miz Hilda's old Victorian house, moved in together and rented rooms to the summer folk. On those warm summer evenings, you could see them in their wooden rocking chairs, watching the sunsets and drinking homemade strawberry wine on the veranda with their guests. Travis's name was never mentioned and it was never proven that the women kept a bucket of tar and a bag of feathers in their shed, just in case.