The Book Club

by

Maureen Mullis

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Published by Maureen Mullis at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Maureen Mullis

Visit the author at her blog:
www.maureenmullis.blogspot.com

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the
author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author
acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various
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* * * * *

* * * * *

* * * * *

It wasn’t that she didn’t like the book club,
Diane told herself as she vacuumed the living room in readiness for
that evening’s meeting. It was just that she felt herself in a rut.
The same women month after month, the same dull conversation after
the book had been discussed and the desert passed out. Why, even
the critiques of the books they read were sounding the same.

Finished cleaning, she sighed, stood and
stretched. How she hated housework, and on this beautiful early
summer morning she begrudged having to do it for a bunch of women
that she was beginning to resent.

By that evening, as the hour for the group’s
arrival drew near, Diane’s resentment had grown. Sinking into an
easy chair she contemplated not answering the door when they
arrived. She didn’t think she could take an evening of their
mind-numbing ranting again. The kids said this, my husband did
that, I tried a new recipe, blah blah blah. Folding her arms Diane
felt her head would explode if she thought about it anymore.

The doorbell rang. Choking down her
resentment Diane rose and opened the door to find sisters Louisa
and Sandy on her porch. Their pale red hair looked like cotton on
their pallid scalps, their slightly plump bodies’ mirror images of
one another. They stood with expressions that seemed to match her
own.

“Hey,” she said and moved back. “Come on
in.”

Sandy stepped in first followed by Louisa.
Both of them had their books tucked under their arms. They took
seats and sat staring uninterested at Diane. The tug of etiquette
nagged at her causing her to try to put her guests at ease.

“Ready for our discussion tonight?” she asked
a little too brightly.

“Actually, no,” Sandy answered, her watery
blue eyes turning to Diane’s. “I don’t think I’m going to be coming
to book club anymore.”

Diane’s eyebrows rose in surprise as Louisa
chimed in. “Me either. It’s not fun anymore. In the beginning the
club was. Fun, that is. It felt like being part of something
special.”

Sandy nodded. “Now it feels more like an
obligation. You’re right—it isn’t the same.”

“I feel the same way,” Diane told them. “I’ve
been peevish all afternoon getting ready for tonight and wishing I
could be somewhere else.”

“Then let’s go somewhere else,” Sandy said
tossing her book on the coffee table in front of her. “I say when
the others get here we take off.”

“Where?” Diane asked.

Casting a sly glance toward her sibling Sandy
turned back to Diane. “We’ll talk about it when we’re all
together.”

She refused to say more until the others
arrived. It wasn’t long before the rest of the club got to Diane’s
but it seemed an eternity to her. When they were all settled Diane
reviewed the group. There were eight of them in all: Beth, who
worked part-time as a bookkeeper, Terry, a retired nurse, and
Cathy, Leslie and Andrea who were, like Diane and the sisters,
stay-at-home wives and mothers with children of a variety of ages,
which was the reason they started the book club; to give them a
break from keeping house and caring for children.

But now, Diane thought, most of them had
children that were in high school or older and didn’t take up as
much time in their lives. And the rut of housekeeping had been
replaced with the rut of this group.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Sandy’s
clearing her throat.

“This group has gotten stale. Louisa and I
have been talking, and Diane seems to agree with us, that we need a
change of pace. We have a plan to shake things up a bit.” She
paused and looked round at them all.

“Anyone here particularly interested in
discussing another book this evening?” Louisa asked, her voice
sharp, her eyes flashing.

“Definitely not,” Beth answered with a shake
of her head, her grey curls bouncing softly around her face as the
others murmured their assent.

“What do you have in mind?” asked Andrea, a
slim, 48-year-old with two sets of twins that belied her
figure.

“Getting back to basics,” Louisa stood up.
“Let’s get in our cars. You all follow Sandy and I and we’ll get
started.”

In spite of herself Diane grinned. This was
just what they needed, something different, she thought. Grabbing
their purses the women followed the sisters out to get in their
cars and see where they would wind up.

A short drive later found them winding their
way into Willow Lake County Park. The biggest park in town it was
the place to gather for picnics and fireworks, family reunions, and
school’s year-end outings. Groups of women regularly hiked its
shoreline and weekend soccer games were played on the fields. The
groups of willows that punctuated the evergreens and oaks gave the
lake its name and their green drooping branches swept the ground
gently as the early evening breeze stirred the air. It smelled
sweet to Diane as she steered her car along the path. Bringing up
the rear she wondered at their coming here. When they reached the
lot at the far side of the lake the sisters parked and the rest of
them followed suit.

“This way!” Sandy called and headed down the
nearby path leading them off to the side of the lake where no
picnic tables or fields lay. Diane fell in step beside Terry.

“Do you know what this is about?” Terry
asked.

“I think it’s just what they said; they’re
trying to bring back some of the excitement we used to have in this
group. It has gotten a bit lackluster, don’t you think?” Diane
said.

“Ah. I thought it was just me,” Terry
answered. “You know, I retired, my kids are out on their own. I
mean, I’m 62.”

“So, what, at our age life isn’t supposed to
be interesting anymore?” Diane asked. “I’m 57, my kids are off at
college and their own lives. So are Andrea’s, Beth’s and the
sisters. Cathy and Leslie are the only ones with kids left at home,
and they’re all in high school. We’re all between what, 48 and
66?”

Terry blew a breath out. “Dang, I’m out of
shape,” she wheezed. “You’re right. We’re in the next phase of life
and things have gotten wearisome.”

She paused for a moment to catch her breath.
Diane stopped with her.

“I guess it’s easy to believe this is it,”
Diane said. “But it doesn’t have to be.”

“I agree,” Terry said and started up again.
“So this month instead of talking about that dumb book we just read
we’ll have a picnic or what ever those two have concocted.”

Diane laughed. “That’s the spirit.”

Soon the group arrived at a little clearing
at the edge of the water. A fire had been laid. Old palates, logs
and a motley collection of wood were gathered to create what looked
like would be huge bonfire. Rocks had been gathered and placed in a
large circle around the clearing creating the feeling of an
enclosure. Just outside the circle on one side stood a large
cooler, a pile of blankets and a cardboard box with a variety of
items sticking out from it. Diane couldn’t be sure what was in it
but was anxious to find out what was planned.

They stood for a few moments catching their
breath. The sun hanging off to the west seemed to be in no hurry to
leave the sky. Intrigued by what the sisters had planned Diane
watched her friends with a mixture of interest and wariness. For a
brief moment she felt that weird itchiness on the back of her neck
as if someone was staring at her. Turning to look behind her she
saw nothing but the thicket of trees standing there.

“What?” asked Beth standing next to her and
turning to look behind them as well.

“I just had a strange feeling of someone
watching us,” Diane told her.

Beth frowned and continued to scan the woods.
“Yeah. It doesn’t feel as if we’re entirely alone, does it?”

Andrea, on Beth’s other side leaned over.
“What is it?”

“Do you feel anything?” Beth asked.

“It feels a little creepy being over here
away from the main part of the park,” Andrea agreed.

“Do you get a sense that we’re not alone
here?” Diane asked. “Because I sure do.”

Andrea shrugged as Sandy clapped her hands
together to get everyone’s attention.

“Okay!” Sandy cried. “We’re all here. Louisa
and I have prepared this evening especially so that we can renew
ourselves.”

“What are you talking about?” Cathy asked.
“We aren’t a group of library books.”

“Renew our spirits,” Louisa explained. “The
ancient druids used to celebrate the equinox and the solstice with
ritual activities in sacred forest groves. These renewal festivals
were celebrations of who they were and were used to energize
themselves.”

“And today is the summer solstice!” Leslie
cried.

“I’m not into any of that weird ritual
stuff,” Andrea said taking a step back from the group. “That
doesn’t feel right to me.”

“And this isn’t a sacred forest either,
ladies,” Sandy interjected. “We just thought that coming here to
the lake and having some time together outside of the book club
would give us a chance to remember that we were friends before the
book club. To try to get that back.”

Looking at each woman directly Diane asked,
“Have you all been feeling discontented with what’s been happening
to our club?”

When they shrugged or mumbled their agreement
she went on. “I’ve gotten to the point where I dread our monthly
meetings. It’s drab. We used to be interesting people. Women I
loved to know and count as friends. But the last year or so it’s
become monotonous. We just mark the time off.”

“She’s right,” Terry joined in. “I know we’re
not twenty-something anymore, but there’s got to be more to our
lives then waiting for grandchildren and discussing adventures we
read about in books.”

Louisa gave a firm nod, her smile broadening
as understanding began. “This is what we were thinking. Today is
the summer solstice. We’ll have our own renewal festival. Renew
ourselves, our friendships, and hopefully our book club.”

“So, what did you have in mind for this
festival?” Cathy asked a little doubtfully.

Sandy pointed to the supplies they’d set up
at the circle’s edge. “We have a cooler of cold drinks,
marshmallows and sticks, some blankets for us to sit on and some
ideas for a couple of activities. If you’re game, let’s bring them
into the circle and light our fire.”

Eagerly the women got the fire going. Cathy
and Beth laid the blankets out around the blaze while Terry and
Diane carried over the cooler and handed sodas and water bottles
out. Sandy, Louisa and Andrea passed out the sticks and treats and
soon they were all roasting the marshmallows, singing “Kumbaya,”
and making themselves laugh like school girls.

As the sun finally began it’s descent behind
the mountains, the group began to quiet down. The strange feeling
that had plagued Diane earlier returned. In the deepening shadows
within the trees she had the strongest sense that they were not
alone in their little circle of renewal.

Tapping Terry on her knee she asked her if
she felt it too.