Bitter in the Mouth

When Linda’s bus arrives in Gastonia, the nearest bus station to Boiling Springs, Kelly is waiting for her. In the time since she has last seen her, Kelly has returned to her pre-high school, heavier self, “the grown-up version of the fat girl who was my dearest friend” (232). Linda is happy to see her this way, as it means that she is being herself; Kelly tells her that her mom hates it, which Linda takes to mean that “her mother hated her, again” (232). Linda isn’t in a rush to get back just yet, so the two go to Bridges for barbecue—Linda’s choice. Kelly neglects to mention, though, that she has since become a vegetarian, which severely limits her menu choices. She does, however, drink quite a lot these days, and they stop off at the liquor store to stock up on the way back.

On the drive back, Linda asks Kelly a question that’s been bothering her—why Kelly didn’t pay her respects at Iris’s funeral. Kelly had already moved back to Boiling Springs by then, but she didn’t contact Linda; Linda, in turn, didn’t write to her for several months after that. Kelly tells her that she was ashamed—Linda was at Yale, while Kelly was a high-school dropout attending the local, formerly Baptist college that the pair used to call “The Intellectual Pimple of the Carolinas” (237).