“Hello, Emma,” Judith says.
“Happy Labor Day,” says Emma, clumsily.
“I guess it is a happy day,” says Judith, turning back toward her husband. “We got him home today. He ain’t never home these days. Always working. But not today. Thank God for Labor Day.”
“Yes,” Emma says. “Thank goodness for Labor Day.”
“Thank God for that ham you mean,” says Josh, Judith's husband, stepping up toward Emma with his plate extended. “I sure am hungry.”
“Why don’t you get a plate and come and sit with us after you finish serving?” Judith tells Emma.
“Oh, thank you,” Emma says. “But I’ve got work to do.”
“Nonsense,” says Judith. “You gotta eat, girl. I insist. You ain’t never gonna have any fun if you don’t stop serving everybody all the time. Take a break, girl. Eat.”
Judith walks on down the service line with her daughter and Josh keeps his plate in front of Emma, waiting for something more. Emma looks up at him, and he is looking directly into her eyes.
“That’s a good idea,” Josh says. “Why don’t you join us, Emma? Get a plate. Sit down with us.”
Emma’s cheeks turn splotchy red at Josh’s suggestion. She reaches to the table with her right hand, to steady herself. Her stomach churns, and her inner-thighs tingle. She thinks about doing her thing. She thinks about Josh doing her thing to her.
“I…” she stammers, looking away.
Emma had never paid much attention to Josh before. Her father didn’t hold him in the highest stead because he was a distant relative of Judith’s and her got her pregnant before they married – a sin, according to the Bible.
“No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord,” preached her father frequently from Deuteronomy 23:2.
Emma’s father said it was the man’s fault but that the child would pay the ultimate price nonetheless. Cousins being hitched and having babies wasn’t unusual on Sand Mountain. Emma knew of more than she could count. That wasn’t the problem. The baby out of wedlock was the problem.
“A baby created in sin doesn’t have much of a chance,” her father often said. “One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the congregation of the Lord.’”
Emma notices that Josh is taller than her father, who is six-foot-one. Josh has sandy blonde hair, a strong jaw and thick muscular neck that reminded her of a rounded hay bale. Josh is wearing jeans that fit snug, black cowboy boots, and a fitted white t-shirt. A green John Deere cap snuggles to his wavy hair.
Josh has the day off from his job -- pulling lines for the Tennessee Valley Authority, a power source for electric utilities throughout the region. He gets paid big money for overtime, everybody on Sand Mountain knew. Such jobs were hard, physical labor in the elements, but they were coveted by most men in the area because the wages were higher than anywhere else before time-and-a-half with overtime.
Any job with TVA was a good job, was the common knowledge, and Josh worked for TVA.
“That piece will be fine,” Josh says, pointing to another piece of ham already on the platter Emma served from.
“You have quite an appetite,” Emma says.
“Yes, I do.”
Emma gathers herself, serving more ham on top of the one she had already placed on his plate.
“Come join us now, you hear?” Josh says, before moving down the food line for some of her mother’s deviled eggs and the other assortment lining the row of tables. “Get yourself a plate, and come on down and join us.”
Emma’s face flushes again. Josh smiles at her. She smiles, but does not respond. A few moments later, while serving ham to the next person in line, Emma watches Josh move down the service line from the corners of her eyes. She feels quivery inside, and her pulse quickens.
She thinks of Michael, watching Josh.
Emma sees Josh join Judith and their daughter at a table far enough to the end to catch a bit of shade from Emma's favorite tree. She serves ham for another 20 minutes until the line is extinguished, and every man possible has eye fucked her, glancing all the while across to the quiet and still Denton farm and back to the tree where Josh and Judith sit with their daughter eating.
When the last person passes Emma serves herself a small piece of ham, and moves down the buffet, shooing away the occasional fly while filling a plate with remaining morsels. She takes an ice tea and plastic utensils rolled into a paper napkin from the end of the line and walks slowly toward the tree where Josh, Judith and their child are sitting.