Goddess Fish Promotions Presents

The Goodbyes
by Helen Gillespie

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Struggling with becoming an adult in a small mid-western town, Dianne must confront family secrets, deception, and discovery during her last year of college. As she cares for her ailing mother, her world begins to unravel and she is challenged to navigate through lies, friendships, love…and murder.

Meeting the wrong person makes it possible for her to recognize the right ones and to find the strength she needs to survive. Realizing that she is responsible for her own destiny, she learns that to say hello to a new life, she must first say goodbye.

Exploring The Goodbyes Setting

In 1991, Marshfield, Missouri, was the quintessential American small town. Being the Webster County town seat, the town square had an imposing courthouse surrounded by businesses, mainly relating to court business, such as lawyers, bail bonds, and a title company. 

As did many county seats across the country, there may have been a somewhat upscale restaurant opening at 4, attracting local “legal beagles” to the restaurant bar. If further conversation was warranted, the restaurant provided staples such as steak, ribs, and chicken before it closed at 9 pm. Other eateries catered to the breakfast and lunch crowd, possibly opening at 7 am and closing at 2 pm. 

A dress shop and antique store may have operated on the square during the early 1990s alongside a limited variety store attached to one of the lunch counters. The store would have the basic office supplies, ladies’ stockings, men’s ties, and basic first aid items. Possibly, there could have been crafts offered by local craft people.

On the outskirts of town, alongside the Interstate, the town sprouted its first discount department store, which was loved and hated at the same time because it provided a greater selection of groceries, employment, and overall choices while taking business away from the town center.

In The Goodbyes, a hallmark of times fading, JR and Betty operated a truck stop and restaurant. Their service surpassed that offered on the Interstate highway. Over the years it had become a habit for truckers traveling through Webster County. It was well worth spending an extra five minutes to pull into JRs for the hospitality and delicious “meat and three” menu, albeit with limited choices.

The county was dotted with many shade-tree mechanics helping neighbors with oil changes and simple maintenance on their cars. If a resident needed a more intense diagnosis, they brought their cars to a man known as “Texaco John,” where they could also fill their gas tanks and their curiosity about area news. Texaco John was too busy for idle chit-chat, but customers found it easy to grab a Coke from the vending machine and gossip a little.

Other than a horrific murder in 1987, small-town life went along smoothly until the townspeople endured another murder and started to see the writing on the wall with businesses encroaching along the Interstate. Because of this, it was inevitable that the fictional characters in The Goodbyes had to, one by one, say, “Goodbye.”

Although hesitant, Dianne prepared for her date with more apprehension than she had earlier when she prepared for her first day in the classroom. Weirdly, she hoped she would be stood up.

“Sorry I’m late. The ladies at work needed me to stop by and help them,” Michael told Dianne when she answered the door.

“Hi, Michael. Please, come in. Do people ever call you Mike?”

“Naw, ever since the second grade there was this other Michael, and everyone called him Mike and me Michael. It kinda stuck.”

“Makes sense. I’m almost about ready. I’m going to finish putting these towels away, and I’ll be ready to go.”

“Your momma okay?”

“Yes, she’s in the room sleeping. Thank you for asking.”

Dianne was surprised to hear Michael ask about her mother and not instantly jump into something about himself.

“See, I’m not as bad as you thought this morning.” Michael stared at Dianne as though he expected appreciation for his politeness.

“I hope not,” Dianne said, smiling while placing the last of the towels in a nearby closet.

“Dianne, you leaving?”

“Yes, Mom. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“No, I was getting up and heard Michael come in. Ken should be over in about an hour, and he’s bringing me something to eat.”

Dianne disappeared briefly from Michael’s sight into her mother’s room to kiss her goodbye.

“You going to be okay, Mom?”

“Yeah, my boyfriend’s coming over and bringing dessert,” Katrina said, smiling and forcing her eyes open.

Throughout grammar school and college, Helen Gillespie loved developing story sketches or full stories but kept them hidden within herself. That creative spark proved valuable in unexpected places, first on assignment as a musician in the US Army, and after leaving the Army, when she earned a degree in elementary education. After reentering the Army in 1981, she put pen to paper, or rather, “fingers to an Olivetti.” She officially learned the art of journalism to serve the Army, but it quickly became a personal passion. Interviewing fellow soldiers, exploring their jobs and personalities, and publishing useful information for the military community formed the basis of her skill and enjoyment. Those years of thought, training, education, and experience laid the foundation for crafting her first novel, The Goodbyes.

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