'Til Death Do Us Part - Part 9

Roger, Buck, and Shirley Sue shuffled through the crowds and tents of the festival. The trip from Emma's house to the festival had taken less than ten minutes, but finding a parking spot had taken nearly twice as long.

Shirley Sue gazed around in awe. She had never been to the blueberry festival before. They had been at the festival for almost two hours, biding their time until Patty's wedding shower, but she still managed to find new things to look at. She had assumed when they first arrived that it would mostly consist of pies, but she realized quickly that this was not the case. Blueberries were crammed into just about any food item imaginable, including hamburgers. There were t-shirt and tank tops with pictures of blueberries and blueberry slogans screen printed across their fronts and backs.

Shirley Sue stopped at one of the tents with jewelery. A majority of the pieces had metallic green leaves surrounding clusters of blue beads and faux gems. One piece in particular caught her eye and she let go of Buck's hand so she could lean in to get a better look. It was a pendant with three blueberry beads surrounded by two silver leaves dangling from a silver chain, accompanied by earrings fashioned in a similar manner.

“Hey Buck check this out!” Roger called.

Buck looked over at Shirley Sue. She returned his gaze and nodded.

“I'll catch up with you in a minute,” she said. She was sure she would go crazy if she had to watch Roger stuff his face one more time with the mini blueberry pies he seemed so fond of, or steal yet another free sample off of the various tables he had created a rotation around. How someone could eat that much food without making themselves sick was a mystery to her.

“Shirley Sue!” a familiar voice called out from behind her.

Shirley Sue turned around and faced the voice. She scanned the crowd and saw Sarah weaving between passers-by as she walked toward her, with Officer Brady close on her heels. Shirley Sue returned the wave and closed the distance to Sarah.

“Hey Sarah!”

“Thank goodness I found you!” Sarah said. “Where are Buck and Roger? I have some bad news.”