Widespot, Season 1 (Spring & Summer) - Part 2

Well, this was a disappointment. Scott had headed to Woodland Park, Pleasantview because it seemed like a romantic location, perfect for meeting The One.

“Morning, lad. Lovely day for a spot of chess, isn’t it?”

But when he sat down at the chess table, instead of an attractive teenager around his age, he was joined by… that intimidating father of Dixie’s friend Ripp. Not cool!

Mary hadn’t told either of her parents about the baby, yet. Dixie was the only one who knew.

She didn’t know what to do about it. Could she get the baby adopted? The thought was too heartbreaking to consider. But how would she provide for a kid, all on her own? She had her family, yes, but she couldn’t rely on them forever. Her parents were aging, hardworking, and poor… they needed her. How could she ask them for help?

She opened the paper, looking desperate for a job. She’d always dreamed of following in her father’s footsteps and joining the police force, if she could only find an opening…

But no, no positions available. What was she going to do?

Mary decided to go for a walk around Widespot to clear her head. It was a busy day at the lake, where she met John Burb and Bianca Monty, who were both employed at the Monty Restaurant over in Veronaville.

As a keen cook herself, Mary was able to talk about food for hours with John, and quickly found in him a new friend. Shortly after, they were joined by one of his neighbours.

“Cassandra! Hi. This is Mary Land. She pregnant, too, believe it or not.”

“How nice. It’s lovely to meet you, I’m Cassandra Goth, ah, I mean, Lothario. Just married!” she shook her head, “I’m still getting used to it.”

Mary noticed Cassandra checking her fingers for a ring, before quickly pretending not to. She couldn’t blame her, she’d be curious too. Before she knew it, she was telling them everything. Her love affair with Val, her parents’ disapproval, her feelings for Junior, her confusion over what to do… It felt good to be honest and open with a pair of strangers, uninvolved in their small town drama.

“Well, you need to tell Valentine,” John offered, “I mean, he has a right to know, doesn’t he?”

“I suppose. But what if he doesn’t want to marry me?”

“Well,” Cassandra replied, “you don’t have to be married to give the kid a good life. Lot of kids in Pleasantview are raised by single parents, and they turn out just fine.”

“Oh my, I’d best get going.”

“What for?”

“Candy’s here.”

“Candy?”

“She’s Val’s daughter. Thinks I’m a gold-digger who’s after Val’s money.”

“I used to think that about Daddy’s wife.” Cassandra said, quietly. “Wish I’d had the chance to apologise.”

Mary was curious, but Candy was approaching fast and she really wanted to avoid any confrontation.

“Anyway, I really have to go. I don’t want her starting a fight with me again…”

“I’ll take care of her for you, if you like. The one in the slutty bikini?”

“Uh-”

“Bombs away!”

“Bet you thought that was pretty funny, huh?”

“No, I-”

“Shit talk me to random strangers all you want, I don’t care. I’m not the one whoring myself out to rich men too good for me.”

“What do you call you and Junior, then?” Mary shot back, suddenly angry.

Then before she knew what was happening, she was under attack. And, to her surprise, she was fighting back. The nerve of the woman, to steal Junior like that, then have the gall to attach her, the innocent party… The hypocrisy of it! Surely if anyone was a gold-digger, it was Candy! But her body was weak from the pregnancy, and Candy overpowered her with ease.

“You don’t know shit about me and Junior, got it? Leave him alone, and leave Dad alone.”

As Candy flounced off, all Mary could think about was her baby. Was he okay?

Mary arrived home at the same time as her siblings, and a multitude of their friends. Her growing belly informed her that, thankfully, the baby was unharmed.

But the fire in the garden? Mary couldn’t help feeling like it was a bad omen.

“You mean you’ve never snuck out Downtown?”

“Not really. Me and Ginny’ve done it a bunch of times, but never outside of Widespot.”

“Well, it’s time you kids branched out. Come out tonight! Teen party at Gothier Green Lawns.”

“That’s pretty morbid.”

He shrugged. “Half my crew are massive goths, it’s kinda standard. Bring your bro, too, he’s far too square and needs shaking up.”

Dixie grinned. “I’ll see what we can do.”

Dixie knew this wasn’t Ginny’s thing. If she wasn’t judging them for hanging out in a graveyard, you could bet she’d be fussing about sneaking out that far away from home. Dixie loved her, but she just wasn’t as rebellious as she pretended to be.

Nope, it was time to call somebody with a rebel streak a mile long, and rich parents she could “borrow” a cool car from.

Scott reluctantly agreed to come too, and called Woody up for moral support.

Dixie supposed it was far from good form to leave without her brother. But if he was too much of a dork to think of sneaking out the back way, well, that wasn’t really her problem.

Scott went to bed, grumbling bitterly. It was so unfair! Dixie had sneaked out, too! But he wasn’t going to rat her out and get called a tattle-tale at school for the next week.

But, when Scott found out what happened in the early hours of the morning, he was glad to have been caught when he was.

What to do about Mary?

She wasn’t hiding her pregnancy from them now, how could she, but she wasn’t exactly being forthcoming about what she planned to do. Beulah had pushed her about it, demanding to know who the father was, and Mary, god bless her, had refused to answer.

Homer assumed she was protecting whoever it was, and didn’t want to get them into trouble. He presumed it was that Junior boy. A kind lad, but an idiot. He just hoped whoever it was, they’d do right by her like he did with Beulah.

For now, he knew they needed to give their Mary space.

Space she gladly took, sitting as far away from the rest of the family at dinner as possible. Homer was baffled: it wasn’t as if sitting further away was going to make her any less pregnant.

“I’m goin’ out today,” she announced, eventually.

“In your condition?” asked Homer, concerned.

“Well,” interjected Beulah, “I hope it’s to meet up with the father of that baby and ask for… some dang support, at least.”

Mary nodded, meekly, “yeah, it is.”

“So… this is why you’ve been avoiding me.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Is the child mine?”

“Yeah. There’s only been you.”

“Junior…?”

“We never…” she gestured, unable to form the words, “you know.”

“Gotcha,” his lack of response was frustrating her.

“So… what do we do?”

“What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know!”

“Well, first, let’s take a look at this baby, eh? Hello, sweet thing.”

“C’mere, let’s dance.”

“Ah!”

“Listen. I love you, Mary, you know that. But you can’t keep going through life letting other people making decisions for you. What do you want?”

“I… I want a family. And I want it to be with you, if possible.”

He laughed, “of course it’s possible. But I’m getting old. I don’t know if I can give you the kind of life that you want.”

“I don’t want a certain kind of life! I just want to be with you.”

“Well, in that case! Let’s get hitched, eh?”

Taking photos wasn’t the only thing they got up to in the photo booth, and they quickly gathered quite the crowd.

Valentine, he was always a show-off. Loved to perform in front of a crowd any chance he got.

Kid get-together! River’s best friends are Jill and Sharla, Delta’s closest to Rocky and Desdemona. (The Ottomai are moving to Widespot officially next round.)