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Description
From her kitchen window at the top of Apple Hill, Winnie could see James Adler dashing across the Hamblen countryside with his arms over his head.  James' lanky figure stumbled onto their front porch.  Wouldn't it be nice if he proposed with a wedding ring?  He had traveled all the way to Ashland City and back this week, he must have been finding her a ring.  She smirked from behind the kitchen window that looked onto the front porch.

"Helluva downpour, Adler," she heard her father spit from the front porch.  Her parents sat quietly in rocking chairs on the porch, enjoying the rain.

"Yessir," James replied.  He used the bottom of his shirt to pat some water off of his face.  "Is Winnie home?"  Yessir, Winnie heard him say from the kitchen.  He's acting so formal today, she thought.  He simply must have the ring with him.  I'll be damned if he doesn't.  She sighed dreamily, fantasizing about a ring made with real gold, or even diamonds!  There's a particular ring she's had in mind for a few months now.  She saw it in a magazine ad for a family jeweler a few counties away.  It has one large stone in the center of a thin gold band, surrounded by two triangular cut diamonds.  Almost an entire carat total weight!  Winnie knew, however, that such a ring was beyond James' expenses.

"Why yes, m'boy.  Been clattering in the kitchen for quite some time now."  Winnie's father wiped a missed drop of rain off James' forehead.

"How long's it gonna rain for?"  James tried neatening his hair before heading inside, but the rain kept it matted down.

"I'll be damned if it don't make it through the night.  We've needed this."
"Yessir."  She watched James scrape the mud off the bottoms of his boots before stepping over the welcome mat.  How sweet, she thought.  "Winnie?" he called.  "Hey, Winnie?"  From behind the door frame, Winnie watched him take a seat on the linen couch, careful not to muddy it with his boots or the cuffs of his well-worn dungarees.  She admired how much care he put into keeping the linens clean.  She took pride in having woven them herself, her only method of making money.  She was saving up to get married, and she spent her days convincing James to do the same.  Winnie had fantasized about marrying James Adler for three years and that one day he'd give her a solid gold ring a round-cut diamond on top as big as her pinky nail.  James kept waiting on the couch.

"Guess who!"  A pair of soft hands sticky with bread dough covered his eyes.  She smiled.  James tilted his head back and pecked her forehead.  The patter patter patter of the rain splashing outside filled the moments connecting their stares.  She had tied up her weedy flaxen blonde hair to prevent it from getting in the food.  He had once told her he preferred her hair hanging down though, so that the ends hovered above her shoulders like strands of hot spun sugar.  "So… how was your trip?  Did you do anything special?"  Winnie crossed her fingers behind her back and giggled.  Oh, I just want to know now and get it over with!

"Hi Winnie," he said, grinning, eyes on her apron.  Winnie blushed, remembering that she hadn't dolled up yet since her projects in the kitchen, but laughed to herself seeing James covered in mud.  "Sweetie," he said, "you're going to wash up for dinner, right?"  She nodded.

"I figured you were gonna get caught in the rain on your way back, so I ironed a dress shirt and some slacks for you."  Her voice grew meeker as she continued.  "I left them folded on the stool in the bathroom."  She dipped her head before running away and her bare, flighty toes scurried up the stairs to change.  She peeked down at James from the top of the stares to see if she could see if she could spot a ring on his person.  Where could he be hiding it? I hope he's taking good care of it!  He caught her spying on him and she ran to her room.

Winnie locked the chamber door behind her and began to undress.  She wore a simple, shapeless white dress beneath her apron, and beneath that a light slip.  With great dexterity, she untied the apron knot behind her.  These days, Winnie cooked more often than her aging mother.  The seven buttons down the back of her dress came off just as easily.

In the polished silver oval hanging on the wall, she stared at her bare chest and face.  She wondered if she was pretty enough for James, cupping her breasts, comparing them mentally to her mother's and those of the girls at school.  He loves me, she thought, of course he does.  Otherwise we wouldn't be having this dinner tonight.  Otherwise he wouldn't walk me to school every day.  Otherwise he wouldn't have kissed me, and promised me a ring someday.  Of course he loves me, and I love him.

She knelt down on the floor by her dresser.  Solid wood, but unfinished.  Winnie had planned this outfit a long time ago.  She pulled out the bottom drawer and found a pale blue full-length skirt, neatly rolled to avoid creases.  The skirt had nine small round white buttons spaced evenly down the front.  She pulled a short-sleeved, high-necked blouse from the middle drawer.  She stood up, sliding the skirt up her legs.  She buttoned on the blouse, and reached for a pair of stockings from the back corner of the first drawer.  Knee-high white stockings.  Blue ankle-length skirt.  White fitted blouse.

She pulled a black satin ribbon from the dresser and snaked it around her ring finger, imagining the thin gold band and flawless round diamond of her dreams in its place.  She ran her fingers across her scalp, fanning them out through her sweat-sticky hair.  She shook her head upside down and laced the ribbon through her hair and flipped her head back.  I hope mother approves… I hope she approves.
The smell of fresh bread, pork, greens and potatoes wafted through her chamber door.  I hope James doesn't pour the milk too soon.  I hope… A call from downstairs broke her prayers for a perfect supper.

Winnie waited with James at the base of the staircase for her parents to come inside from watching the rain.  Winnie kissed her parents each on the cheek.

"My, don't you look nice today," her mother said.  "I've never seen you wear this outfit!"  Winnie felt her mother's arthritic fingers grace the side of her face.  She stared into her mother's deep eyes and worried hers too might one day be cornered by crow's feet.  She worried she'd be ugly.  She pulled herself together.

"Thank you, mother!  I ironed them too!"  Winnie touched her forehead to make sure her mother's wrinkles weren't there.

"Well then.  Supper smells wonderful tonight."  Winnie wished her father wouldn't smell of tobacco all the time.

"We made it `specially for you," James said, wrapping his arm around Winnie.  He pinched the base of one of the fingers on her left hand, and Winnie's heart jumped, fantasizing about her wedding ring.  Is this a sign, she wondered?  She felt her face get hot.

The four walked into the dining room.  James and Winnie served four dishes and then they set the table.  Fork on the left, knife on the right, pointing inward.  James looked handsome in the dress clothes Winnie had ironed for him that afternoon.

"Well then," Mrs. Gray said sweetly, "it's not Sunday, and it's not holiday… so honey, what's the occasional for this fine meal?"
Winnie blushed.  James held his hand just outside his right pocket.

"I mean no disrespect Mr. and Mrs. Gray, but let's enjoy this supper for now."

Winnie could tell James was up to something, and she hoped it was presenting her ring.  Where could he be hiding it? Oh, I'll be damned if it's not the prettiest thing east of the Mississippi!  I can't wait.  Winnie's father shook her from her dreamy daze.

"Winnie… you didn't cook all this for us to tell us you're failing classes, did you?  For God's sake sweetie, you haven't got a full year left `till graduation!"

"No, father."

Chopping greens and cuts of pork filled the silence.  Chop.  Slice.  Chew.  The rhythm of the four dining resounded like an adze chopping wood.  Everything timed harmoniously, like gravity pulling things into place.  Chop.  Slice.  Chew.  Minutes passed.

"Mr. and Mrs. Gray–" James interrupted.

"Yes, m'boy?"

James drew in a deep breath, smiling.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to ask for your daughter's hand."

Everyone else in the room choked for a moment, including Winnie.  Her father's jaw opened a little, showing his blackened teeth.  His dark eyes and his thick black eye brows popped out against his graying hair.  Mrs. Gray smiled weakly, sunken eyes filling up with tears.  The shock pulled both her parents' aging faces taught with surprise.

"But you're both just eightee–" her father demanded.

"Honey, shouldn't we talk about this?" her mother asked.

"I thought you'd wait…" Winnie whimpered, thinking he'd show them the ring first.  That's the only way he could prove that he'd be able to support her; she was sure of it.

James Adler sat proud and strong now, his lanky frame standing a little fuller.  He waited in silence for the questions to come to a lull.
"Now I may be young Mr. and Mrs. Gray but I've worked as hard as I can all my life!  A carpenter's apprentice may not be much, but I've been working every day after school and all summer too!  And just think about it!  I'll be able to build your lovely Winnie a house for us to live in!  And I can fix it to!  I've been saving up quite some time for this lovely lady of yours, and to prove it to you, hah good friends well, I'll let you see for yourself."

He took Winnie's hand and kissed it.  Still holding her hand, he reached for the diamond ring in his pocket.  The room paused, waiting.
"Well, Adler?  Every man has his tales of love, but that won't do us much justification for you marrying my dear little Winnie."  Her father's eyebrows arched in expectation.  He looked intimidating for the first time in his life, staring down at James' petit frame.

"I – I could have sworn I had it… it was in my pocket when I ran here from the bus…"  James melted.  Winnie melted.  "I promise you it was there!  Why, I rode buses to Ashland City to get it for her; that's past Nashville, you know?  It took more than half my life's savings!  Why, don't you realize it's 1959?  The price of gold has doubled since my parents got married, and I did it all for Winnie."

James looked outside at the field of mud, wondering if the ring was somewhere out there.  Bowing his head low, he stood up and excused himself from the table.  Winnie continued to hold his hand, crying now, begging him to stay.  He traveled all the way to Ashland City; it's the thought that counts, right?  James made for the front door, his dress clothes now lacking the pomp they had at the start of supper.  The rain kept falling.  Winnie looked at him, disappointed in herself for having lived too much in her fantasies.

"Wait!" Winnie called, running to the front door.  "Come here!  Come here right now!"  She pulled James inside and dragged him into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.  She whispered to him.

"James, you don't have to worry about the ring.  I know you're a hard worker, and I know you bought a beautiful ring for me, it's just, well somewhere else right now.  But that doesn't mean it doesn't exist!  I love you, James Edmund Adler, and God dammit I will marry you, ring or not."  Crestfallen, James brushed her hot-spun-sugar hair behind her ear, and slowly kissed her.

"I will you find you that ring, I promise."  He headed out the bathroom towards the front door once more.
"You might as well bring you muddy clothes with you and maybe they'll clean up in the rain," she said stubbornly.  She picked up his clothes from the bathroom floor, and a glimmer clamored to the ground.  It was everything she hoped for.

Description
From her kitchen window at the top of Apple Hill, Winnie could see James Adler dashing across the Hamblen countryside with his arms over his head.  James' lanky figure stumbled onto their front porch.  Wouldn't it be nice if he proposed with a wedding ring?  He had traveled all the way to Ashland City and back this week, he must have been finding her a ring.  She smirked from behind the kitchen window that looked onto the front porch.

"Helluva downpour, Adler," she heard her father spit from the front porch.  Her parents sat quietly in rocking chairs on the porch, enjoying the rain.

"Yessir," James replied.  He used the bottom of his shirt to pat some water off of his face.  "Is Winnie home?"  Yessir, Winnie heard him say from the kitchen.  He's acting so formal today, she thought.  He simply must have the ring with him.  I'll be damned if he doesn't.  She sighed dreamily, fantasizing about a ring made with real gold, or even diamonds!  There's a particular ring she's had in mind for a few months now.  She saw it in a magazine ad for a family jeweler a few counties away.  It has one large stone in the center of a thin gold band, surrounded by two triangular cut diamonds.  Almost an entire carat total weight!  Winnie knew, however, that such a ring was beyond James' expenses.

"Why yes, m'boy.  Been clattering in the kitchen for quite some time now."  Winnie's father wiped a missed drop of rain off James' forehead.

"How long's it gonna rain for?"  James tried neatening his hair before heading inside, but the rain kept it matted down.

"I'll be damned if it don't make it through the night.  We've needed this."
"Yessir."  She watched James scrape the mud off the bottoms of his boots before stepping over the welcome mat.  How sweet, she thought.  "Winnie?" he called.  "Hey, Winnie?"  From behind the door frame, Winnie watched him take a seat on the linen couch, careful not to muddy it with his boots or the cuffs of his well-worn dungarees.  She admired how much care he put into keeping the linens clean.  She took pride in having woven them herself, her only method of making money.  She was saving up to get married, and she spent her days convincing James to do the same.  Winnie had fantasized about marrying James Adler for three years and that one day he'd give her a solid gold ring a round-cut diamond on top as big as her pinky nail.  James kept waiting on the couch.

"Guess who!"  A pair of soft hands sticky with bread dough covered his eyes.  She smiled.  James tilted his head back and pecked her forehead.  The patter patter patter of the rain splashing outside filled the moments connecting their stares.  She had tied up her weedy flaxen blonde hair to prevent it from getting in the food.  He had once told her he preferred her hair hanging down though, so that the ends hovered above her shoulders like strands of hot spun sugar.  "So… how was your trip?  Did you do anything special?"  Winnie crossed her fingers behind her back and giggled.  Oh, I just want to know now and get it over with!

"Hi Winnie," he said, grinning, eyes on her apron.  Winnie blushed, remembering that she hadn't dolled up yet since her projects in the kitchen, but laughed to herself seeing James covered in mud.  "Sweetie," he said, "you're going to wash up for dinner, right?"  She nodded.

"I figured you were gonna get caught in the rain on your way back, so I ironed a dress shirt and some slacks for you."  Her voice grew meeker as she continued.  "I left them folded on the stool in the bathroom."  She dipped her head before running away and her bare, flighty toes scurried up the stairs to change.  She peeked down at James from the top of the stares to see if she could see if she could spot a ring on his person.  Where could he be hiding it? I hope he's taking good care of it!  He caught her spying on him and she ran to her room.

Winnie locked the chamber door behind her and began to undress.  She wore a simple, shapeless white dress beneath her apron, and beneath that a light slip.  With great dexterity, she untied the apron knot behind her.  These days, Winnie cooked more often than her aging mother.  The seven buttons down the back of her dress came off just as easily.

In the polished silver oval hanging on the wall, she stared at her bare chest and face.  She wondered if she was pretty enough for James, cupping her breasts, comparing them mentally to her mother's and those of the girls at school.  He loves me, she thought, of course he does.  Otherwise we wouldn't be having this dinner tonight.  Otherwise he wouldn't walk me to school every day.  Otherwise he wouldn't have kissed me, and promised me a ring someday.  Of course he loves me, and I love him.

She knelt down on the floor by her dresser.  Solid wood, but unfinished.  Winnie had planned this outfit a long time ago.  She pulled out the bottom drawer and found a pale blue full-length skirt, neatly rolled to avoid creases.  The skirt had nine small round white buttons spaced evenly down the front.  She pulled a short-sleeved, high-necked blouse from the middle drawer.  She stood up, sliding the skirt up her legs.  She buttoned on the blouse, and reached for a pair of stockings from the back corner of the first drawer.  Knee-high white stockings.  Blue ankle-length skirt.  White fitted blouse.

She pulled a black satin ribbon from the dresser and snaked it around her ring finger, imagining the thin gold band and flawless round diamond of her dreams in its place.  She ran her fingers across her scalp, fanning them out through her sweat-sticky hair.  She shook her head upside down and laced the ribbon through her hair and flipped her head back.  I hope mother approves… I hope she approves.
The smell of fresh bread, pork, greens and potatoes wafted through her chamber door.  I hope James doesn't pour the milk too soon.  I hope… A call from downstairs broke her prayers for a perfect supper.

Winnie waited with James at the base of the staircase for her parents to come inside from watching the rain.  Winnie kissed her parents each on the cheek.

"My, don't you look nice today," her mother said.  "I've never seen you wear this outfit!"  Winnie felt her mother's arthritic fingers grace the side of her face.  She stared into her mother's deep eyes and worried hers too might one day be cornered by crow's feet.  She worried she'd be ugly.  She pulled herself together.

"Thank you, mother!  I ironed them too!"  Winnie touched her forehead to make sure her mother's wrinkles weren't there.

"Well then.  Supper smells wonderful tonight."  Winnie wished her father wouldn't smell of tobacco all the time.

"We made it `specially for you," James said, wrapping his arm around Winnie.  He pinched the base of one of the fingers on her left hand, and Winnie's heart jumped, fantasizing about her wedding ring.  Is this a sign, she wondered?  She felt her face get hot.

The four walked into the dining room.  James and Winnie served four dishes and then they set the table.  Fork on the left, knife on the right, pointing inward.  James looked handsome in the dress clothes Winnie had ironed for him that afternoon.

"Well then," Mrs. Gray said sweetly, "it's not Sunday, and it's not holiday… so honey, what's the occasional for this fine meal?"
Winnie blushed.  James held his hand just outside his right pocket.

"I mean no disrespect Mr. and Mrs. Gray, but let's enjoy this supper for now."

Winnie could tell James was up to something, and she hoped it was presenting her ring.  Where could he be hiding it? Oh, I'll be damned if it's not the prettiest thing east of the Mississippi!  I can't wait.  Winnie's father shook her from her dreamy daze.

"Winnie… you didn't cook all this for us to tell us you're failing classes, did you?  For God's sake sweetie, you haven't got a full year left `till graduation!"

"No, father."

Chopping greens and cuts of pork filled the silence.  Chop.  Slice.  Chew.  The rhythm of the four dining resounded like an adze chopping wood.  Everything timed harmoniously, like gravity pulling things into place.  Chop.  Slice.  Chew.  Minutes passed.

"Mr. and Mrs. Gray–" James interrupted.

"Yes, m'boy?"

James drew in a deep breath, smiling.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to ask for your daughter's hand."

Everyone else in the room choked for a moment, including Winnie.  Her father's jaw opened a little, showing his blackened teeth.  His dark eyes and his thick black eye brows popped out against his graying hair.  Mrs. Gray smiled weakly, sunken eyes filling up with tears.  The shock pulled both her parents' aging faces taught with surprise.

"But you're both just eightee–" her father demanded.

"Honey, shouldn't we talk about this?" her mother asked.

"I thought you'd wait…" Winnie whimpered, thinking he'd show them the ring first.  That's the only way he could prove that he'd be able to support her; she was sure of it.

James Adler sat proud and strong now, his lanky frame standing a little fuller.  He waited in silence for the questions to come to a lull.
"Now I may be young Mr. and Mrs. Gray but I've worked as hard as I can all my life!  A carpenter's apprentice may not be much, but I've been working every day after school and all summer too!  And just think about it!  I'll be able to build your lovely Winnie a house for us to live in!  And I can fix it to!  I've been saving up quite some time for this lovely lady of yours, and to prove it to you, hah good friends well, I'll let you see for yourself."

He took Winnie's hand and kissed it.  Still holding her hand, he reached for the diamond ring in his pocket.  The room paused, waiting.
"Well, Adler?  Every man has his tales of love, but that won't do us much justification for you marrying my dear little Winnie."  Her father's eyebrows arched in expectation.  He looked intimidating for the first time in his life, staring down at James' petit frame.

"I – I could have sworn I had it… it was in my pocket when I ran here from the bus…"  James melted.  Winnie melted.  "I promise you it was there!  Why, I rode buses to Ashland City to get it for her; that's past Nashville, you know?  It took more than half my life's savings!  Why, don't you realize it's 1959?  The price of gold has doubled since my parents got married, and I did it all for Winnie."

James looked outside at the field of mud, wondering if the ring was somewhere out there.  Bowing his head low, he stood up and excused himself from the table.  Winnie continued to hold his hand, crying now, begging him to stay.  He traveled all the way to Ashland City; it's the thought that counts, right?  James made for the front door, his dress clothes now lacking the pomp they had at the start of supper.  The rain kept falling.  Winnie looked at him, disappointed in herself for having lived too much in her fantasies.

"Wait!" Winnie called, running to the front door.  "Come here!  Come here right now!"  She pulled James inside and dragged him into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.  She whispered to him.

"James, you don't have to worry about the ring.  I know you're a hard worker, and I know you bought a beautiful ring for me, it's just, well somewhere else right now.  But that doesn't mean it doesn't exist!  I love you, James Edmund Adler, and God dammit I will marry you, ring or not."  Crestfallen, James brushed her hot-spun-sugar hair behind her ear, and slowly kissed her.

"I will you find you that ring, I promise."  He headed out the bathroom towards the front door once more.
"You might as well bring you muddy clothes with you and maybe they'll clean up in the rain," she said stubbornly.  She picked up his clothes from the bathroom floor, and a glimmer clamored to the ground.  It was everything she hoped for.