The church was nearly a hundred years old, but the social hall had been built in the fifties. As usual, there were about fifty members present. The guild had about 75 members but many of them lived too far out to attend all the meetings, and some were invalids who couldn’t leave their homes but still wanted to show their quilts.
Edna took her usual place in the front on the left and her diner mates sat nearby. She always sat up front because she liked to see the quilts up close, and it was too noisy towards the back where the coffee and tea station was set up. There seemed to be more excitement in the hall than usual, and Edna noticed a few glares directed at her, but not as many as she expected to see.
Of course, Sue held court on the right side of the room, with her “groupies” nearby. She’d been anticipating Sue being in full attack mode but soon realized that she didn’t even seem to notice she was there. Belinda and Sue were talking excitedly to Mary Sims, Amy’s mother and the guild president. Mary was nodding, but not smiling. Edna got the idea that whatever they were telling her might not be good. Was it about her? Were they finally going to succeed in driving her out?
Not long after, the meeting was called to order. The guild secretary read the minutes from the last meeting, and then made a few announcements. The night’s agenda was supposed to begin with a short paper on the history of the quilts of the Sims family that Amy had been slaving over for weeks. However, when Amy got up to speak, Sue beat her to the podium and said that she had a very important topic to discuss that necessitated taking Amy’s paper off the agenda.
Mary pounded her gavel. “Sue, sit down. I told you you’d have your chance at the end of the meeting. Amy, please continue.”
Sue glared at Amy, who simpered, and Mary, who glared back, and then huffily resumed her seat. Amy was terribly uncomfortable and near tears. When she started to put her papers on the podium they fell onto the floor, scattering everywhere. Edna got up and went over to help her pick them up, and as she handed them to her she put her hand on her arm and very quietly said, “It’s OK Amy, you’re going to be great”
Amy turned to the group of waiting ladies, asked for the lights to be turned off and began showing her slides and presenting her paper.
Edna was fascinated. All of the time it took to make those beautiful things! How wonderful the Sims family still had them. She smiled up at Amy, who was doing so well. Her voice was clear and strong, and her paper well written. Edna had always had a soft spot for little Amy Sims and for a while fantasized about Joey and her getting married and having her grandchildren. Not much chance of that with Joey off at UNR and Amy here under the thumb of both her mother and Sue. Besides, neither of them had ever shown even the slightest interest in each other….oh well.
Although Edna was enjoying Amy’s presentation, she was beginning to regret the patty melt. Usually she had a cast iron stomach, but when she got nervous it was the first thing affected. That, and the low grade fevers she sometimes ran when under stress. Joe said her tummy was a barometer; when it was OK things were OK, but when it got irritable it wasn’t a good sign.
Edna knew that Sue had tried to get her kicked out of the guild on several occasions. The attempts may have been serious on her part, but the rest of the guild refused to go along. Edna had her own group of friends, and then there were those who didn’t care for Sue for their own reasons, along with those who thought it was a little too much to toss someone from a quilt guild. Besides, Sue never had a good reason, and her attempts to spread gossip and innuendo went nowhere. Edna had lived in their town her whole life and most of the members had known her as long. It was hard for them to believe that Edna was other than the friendly well-meaning person she appeared to be.
However, whenever Sue was involved in anything Edna flinched. She wasn’t afraid of Sue, not really. As she’d gotten older she realized that Sue was really not capable of following through on her nefarious schemes. It occurred to Edna that Sue had been blocked at every pass. She must have been as frustrated on her end as Edna was on hers.
Amy finished her presentation to generous applause, and the lights were turned on. Sue jumped out of her seat again, but Mary Sims put her hand out to stop her and continued on with the agenda as written. Discussion began on the annual show raffle quilt. The head of the committee used the slide projector again to show some options. A motion was made to vote on the final design in the next meeting and set up a schedule so everyone could help. Every year their quilt was machine pieced and hand quilted, and although there was a long arm machine quilter in the guild, (who volunteered to quilt it every year), the older members balked. It wasn’t that they hated the look of the machine quilting, it was more that they enjoyed the bi-weekly quilting bees with the requisite snacks, (and on cold winter nights a little nip of something special in the coffee).
Finally, after show and tell, Mary took the podium and recognized Sue’s request for an opportunity to address the guild.
Sue rushed up, pasted on her most effective smile, and began.
“Ladies, I know that every year we hold our guild show at the fairgrounds. However, since the show is a big draw and we get hundreds of visitors, I thought it might be time to consider a more central location.”
The room was silent, but active. Heads were bobbing “Yes” or nodding “No.” Some sat in stunned silence, while others opened their mouths as if to speak, only to realize nothing was coming out.
Sue continued. “As you know the old dime store location has been empty for some time now. Belinda has contacted Mr. Jennings and he’s willing to let us use the space for free as long as we leave it as we found it.”
“Now, as some of you may have heard, I’ve had to make some alterations to my own store. I’ve had to rearrange my stock, but in so doing, realized that I have a ton of wall space to use for quilt displays. The guild could also use my classroom, which has all of the electrical outlets we’d need for at least a dozen machines.”
“Today I spoke with a few of the businesses on Main Street and they’re excited about the increase in business we could bring them, and Belinda has already contacted the town council about what permits would be required.”
“Of course, we will need to form a committee to work on the arrangements, but we believe this would be an opportunity for our town to draw a larger crowd and spread the revenue throughout the community.”
Sue stopped speaking and looked around the room, she didn’t like what she saw. No one seemed in the least excited about the plan. As a matter of fact, they were looking quite glum. Surprisingly, the only one who seemed to be favorable to the plan was Edna, who was smiling and shaking her head in the affirmative.
“I don’t like this at all,” said Alma Jansen as she rose from her chair. “We’ve had the show at the fairgrounds as long as I can remember and they’ve always done well by us. Why should we change? It doesn’t seem fair to them.”
“I’m with you,” piped up Jennie Wilding, “Sounds like Sue here is just trying to bring more custom to her shop, at our expense.”
Several women rose, also dissenting. Sue was stunned. She assumed that everyone would see the beauty of her plan. “What exactly is the problem?” she said, “Having the show downtown would be good for the town, it’s got nothing to do with my business, I always draw more during the show regardless.”
Belinda rose, “I think it’s a wonderful idea! It could do so much for the town, and with the economy the way it is, the merchants need our help.”
Mary Sims had been sitting quietly, thinking things over in her head. When she stood up all eyes rested on her.
“It’s an interesting idea, but it’s hard to make a dramatic change like this.” She turned to Sue, “If you can come up with a concrete plan on how this will work, and make sure that our friends at the fairgrounds aren’t adversely affected, I’d consider allowing you to make a presentation at the next meeting.”
“In the meantime, those of you opposed can also present your reasons, and we can have a vote.” Mary returned to the podium, and pounded her gavel. “This meeting is closed.”
Immediately there was an uproar. Members met in groups, some gossiping, some irate, and a few even excited about the possibility. As they descended on the refreshment table the conversation grew heated, particularly between Sue and Alma, whose family owned a service station on the road to the fairgrounds. When Sue ascribed her negative reaction to her possible decrease in business, Alma turned on her.
“This is all about you, isn’t it Sue Walters? Everything is always all about you!” At this, Alma turned and left, leaving her half eaten donut and still hot coffee behind.
Sue turned to face a crowd of shocked, silent faces. “What are you looking at?” she spat out at them.
Belinda was at her side immediately. Taking her by the arm she moved her quickly outside, “This isn’t the way to get what you want Sue, you’re going to have to calm down.”
Edna had been standing apart, enjoying her coffee and donut. She found it amusing that of all the people in the guild, including Sue’s groupies, she was one of the few that liked Sue’s idea. It would be good for the town to move the show, and perhaps they could find something else to have at the fairgrounds that weekend, something the men would like. She always felt sorry for the men from out-of-town whose wives dragged them to the quilt show every year. If there was something in town for them to do, that would be a bonus.
As she finished her last bite she noticed Amy and her mother over at the slide projector, pulling out trays and putting things away.
“Amy,” she said as she walked towards them. “I loved your presentation! The quilts were beautiful, and the stories! You did a wonderful job.”
Amy beamed, she never understood why Sue hated Edna so much, she thought she was one of the nicest women in town. She was also Joey’s mom, on whom she’d had a crush most of her life.
“Thank you Mrs. Chambers. You got me off to a good start with your kind words.”
Edna smiled at her while Mary spoke, “Thanks so much Edna, poor Amy got put off her game by Sue, “ Mary pulled her daughter close, “but she did just fine after all.”
“Well, I certainly enjoyed it. I’d love to see the original quilts one day if I could, I understand why you didn’t bring them in, some of them must be very fragile.”
“Some of them are in terrible condition. Such a shame considering all the work those women put into them. But, I guess that’s what will happen to all of our quilts one day. They don’t last forever.”
“So true, Mary, so true,” Edna looked around to discover the place was nearly deserted. There were a few ladies putting things away and Edna turned to join them when Mary gently grabbed her arm.
“Amy, can you help Mrs. Chestnut with the chairs, she seems to be struggling.”
“Sure, Mom. Thanks again Mrs. Chambers!” she said as she walked away.
“Edna, dear, please have a seat over here,” she pointed to one of the fixed benches against the wall.
Mary sat down next to her and sighed. “I’m really in a quandary about this show situation. Just this afternoon I confirmed the dates with the fairgrounds. I haven’t signed any contracts or made any deposits yet, but I’d feel just awful if I had to go back on my word.”
“Oh, Mary, I’m sure they’d understand. Besides, from the reaction tonight it doesn’t look like Sue’s plan will be approved anyway.”
Mary patted Edna’s hand, “If anyone knows what Sue is capable of, it’s you. She’ll have the votes. You can bet on it.”
Edna looked down at her hands, “Mary, you know how things have been with Sue and me all these years, but believe it or not, I think her idea’s a good one.”
“Really? I thought I was the only one who thought so.” Both ladies laughed.
“Well, even Sue has a good idea once in a while. But it doesn’t take away my dilemma with the fairgrounds.”
Edna could see how upset Mary was, she was as honest as the day was long and the thought of having given her word and then not following through was very hard for her.
“You know Mary, Joe and I have been talking about something for years. The families of the guild members keep themselves busy and out of our way just fine, but Joe’s always felt sorry for some of the out-of-town visitors. Maybe the rest of the town can come up with some kind of show of their own, to make it more attractive for the quilters to bring their families along. If we could get the dealership to loan us a couple of vans we could run them to and from the fairgrounds.”
“That’s a marvelous idea! This town could use a boost, and a bunch of visitors with money to spend would be a huge help. You talk to Joe and I’ll talk to my Henry, they’re bound to come up with something.”
“Yes, and we can make Sue and the fairgrounds happy. Wouldn’t that be something?”
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