Sing for Their Supper - 41

 

 

"Hands on your hips, please," Peg told Mace. When he complied, she measured from the back of his neck to his wrist, writing down the result on her size chart for him. "Now, spread your legs, please."

 

He did, and then turned red when she knelt down to take his inseam measurement. She looked up at him and grinned. "This is the fun part for me, when it comes to the guys" she said, then noticed his obvious embarrassment. "I'm kidding. I'm kidding."

 

Jolie piped up. "Except when it comes to your boyfriend, I bet. He probably gets measured every night."

 

"Nope. No boyfriend. And I know my girlfriend's measurements by heart. All of them." She winked at Jolie.

 

"Oh. Wow. I never…"

 

"Met a lesbian? Well, now you have. Although I bet you've run into some and just didn't know it. The butch stereotype is only that, a stereotype, just like the idea that all gay men are flaming queens. Look at Tuck and his husband. Would you know they were gay if they hadn't said so?"

 

"Well…no," Jolie admitted.

 

"Although the fact they're married to each other was sort of a giveaway," Evie said with a grin.

 

Peg got up, telling Mace she was finished with him, and beckoned to Sam. "And you are?"

 

"Gay?"

 

She laughed. "No. Your name."

 

"Oh. Sam. And I am."

 

"Green Eggs and Ham." When he seemed puzzled, Peg said, "Do not tell me you don't know your Doctor Seuss."

 

"Does The Cat in the Hat count?"

 

"Barely," Peg muttered, as she measured his chest and wrote down the result.

 

"Horton Hatches an Egg," Jolie called out, followed by Evie's "If I Ran the Zoo. I loved that one."

 

"I wonder if anyone's turned one of them into a musical," Sam said.

 

"The Grinch, silly boy," Peg replied.

 

"I thought that was just a cartoon movie."

 

"Nope. It's been a live action movie, a TV one, too, and I believe also a play, although I might be wrong."

 

Evie looked at Tuck. "If it is, we could do it for our Christmas show."

 

"We could. But first—"

 

"We have to do Oliver! and be such a big hit everyone will want us to do other shows," Evie said.

 

"Exactly." Tuck grinned. "And that is going to happen."

 

"You bet it is!"

 

When Peg had finished taking measurements and Tuck had told the kids to get lunch, she asked him if he'd walk with her to her car. When they got there, she opened the trunk.

 

"Maybe I'm overstepping my bounds," she said. "But I thought… I figured the kids probably came out here with only the clothes on their backs and what they had in their backpacks. The college had a clothing drive for one of the homeless shelters and when I told the people running it what you were doing, they said I could have some of what they'd collected. So I filled three trash bags and—"

 

"You are a wonder," Tuck told her. "Thank you! I see them in the same few outfits every day and, I'm sorry to say, it never occurred to me that's because it's all they own."

 

Peg chuckled. "Because you're a man. Where should we put these?" She handed him two of the three bags.

 

Instead of replying, Tuck whistled loudly. The cabin doors opened and he gestured for everyone to join them.

 

"Peg came bearing gifts," he said when they did. "Clothes."

 

"I'm not guaranteeing they'll all fit," Peg told them, once the rejoicing died down.

 

"We'll figure it out," Tuck said, handing one of the bags to Mace, since he was closest. "Take them into the lobby to go through them. But first—"

 

"Thank you!" Jolie said enthusiastically. Everyone else thanked Peg, too, before Sam and Ricky took the other bags and they hurried into the lobby.

 

"You've made their day—and probably their month," Tuck said, giving Peg a hug.

 

"My pleasure." She closed the trunk and opened the car door. "Now, I'd better get out of here. I have class in an hour. I'll let you know when I have some sketches ready for you to look at."

 

"I'm looking forward to seeing them."

 

She smiled, pulled out of the lot, and headed back to the city.