While Martin may have been right when he told Beth that not all small towns have deep, dark secrets that they try to keep from the new families that move there ... on the flip side of the coin ... Beth may also have been right when she rebutted that even though they don't 'all' have deep, dark secrets, perhaps there are some out there that do.
Beaver Ridge is one of 'the some' that does have deep, dark secrets.
And as Beth has suspected all along, most of the townspeople who do know what those secrets are do indeed want to keep them from her and Martin.
Simply put ... in the Beaver Ridge townspeople's minds, a secret is just that, a secret ... and a secret is meant to be kept secret.
Especially those secrets that would place an indelible dark stain upon the town's reputation if word of it ever got out. ... Beaver Ridge has been burdened with such a secret; their very own proverbial albatross around one's neck.
************
"Yes?" Beth turns around and notices a man in a uniform standing behind her. "Is there something I can do for you...?"
"Beth..." He asks while speaking with a distinctive, stereotypical Texan accent, "I do apologize; may I call you Beth?"
Beth nods. "Yes, that's fine."
"Good. So, Beth; I'm Sheriff Lloyd Faulkner ... I happened to notice you sitting here when I came in and thought I just swing on over to say hello and officially welcome you and your family here to our town." He looks over to Anna. "Well, hi there, little lady; and what might your name be?"
"Anna."
"Anna ... now that's a downright pretty name."
"Thank you. It's actually short for Annabeth."
"Annabeth; you don't say ... well now, that's a mighty fine grown up name, if I do say so myself. And just how old did you say you are, Ms. Annabeth?"
Anna starts to giggle. "Six."
The sheriff jocularly quips, "Six? Holy tar nations ... I would have sworn you were at least seven!"
Now Anna laughs. "No ... I'm just six."
The sheriff rubs his chin between his thumb and index finger a couple of times, squinting his eyes as he pretends to be giving Anna a quick once over...
"Well ... I don't know ... if you say so. ... Anyhoo; it's been a true pleasure chatting with you, Ms. Annabeth; we must do this again sometime."
"Yes; we must." Anna laughs again.
The sheriff looks back to Beth. "And how are you enjoying our little town here, Beth? Folks making you feel at home?"
Beth's a little wary about how she should proceed with their conversation; she still hasn't been able to get a good read on the sheriff just yet. Beth isn't sure if Sheriff Faulkner just happens to be one of those overly super-friendly, 'welcome-to-Mayberry' type sheriffs; or, if he's just buttering her up to try and get her to talk so he can ... to put it into his apparent colloquialism ... finagle some information out her. ... Sort of like what she had just done herself with Delilah.
Yes ... there are definitely some 'red flags' popping up in Beth's mind; so, she decides to proceed with caution.
"Well, Sheriff Faulkner..."
"Lloyd; please."
"Well, Lloyd ... before I answer that ... can I ask you something?"
"Sure thing; ask away."
"I know that we're new to the area, but if I'm not mistaken, I'm detecting..." Beth raises her hand up in front of her face and gently presses her thumb against her forefinger, "just a hint of Texan coming out from you. Am I right?"
The sheriff lets out a short laugh. "Well now, I reckon you done caught me, mam. You see, I come from a little place known as Galveston, Texas. Perhaps you heard of it?"
"Well perhaps I have." Beth continues her banter with the sheriff; still assessing, trying to get that better read on him. "So, tell me; what brings a good ol' boy from Galveston like you all the way out here to a ... let's see, how would you put it down there ... oh, I know ... to a 'podunk' town like Beaver Ridge?"
Again, the sheriff lets out a short laugh. "'Podunk', huh? ... Well, I reckon it does carry that certain little 'unique small-town charm'. ... As far as for me, let's just say that I needed a change of pace, and leave it at that? ... Now, how about my question?"
Beth plays dumb. "I'm sorry, what question?"
"About our little town ... folks making you feel comfortable yet?"
"Oh, that question; right." Beth takes a moment to pick up her cup and take a sip of coffee; also taking in a quick glance down at the napkin, which she is anxious to examine. "To be quite honest, Sheriff..."
The sheriff purposely clears his throat and shoots her a quick stare; and she immediately picks up on its meaning...
"I'm sorry ... Lloyd..." He gives her a quick nod, and she continues, "Like I was saying; if I'm being perfectly honest, I'm finding most of them to be a bit stand-offish. ..." She shoots him a smile. "Present company excluded, off course. Sorry."
Beth delivers a shoulder shrug while looking up at him. The sheriff nods and laughs...
"That's fine, Beth ... truth be told, I thought the same thing about them too, when I first got here about a year and half ago. Give 'em some time; they'll warm up to you."
At that moment, Delilah slowly walks up to the table with Beth and Anna's order. She appears a bit apprehensive ... no, more like she's troubled ... like something heavy is weighing on her mind.
And in truth, she is worrying about the conversation between Sheriff Faulkner and Beth; wondering what they're talking about ... what he might be asking her ... and what she might be telling him...
But then again, so is everyone else in the diner.
"Excuse me..." Delilah begins in a sheepish manner, "Pardon the interruption Sheriff ... Beth ... didn't mean to ruin your talk; but I have your ladies' order here..."
She glances over at Anna and delivers an amiable smile. "Figured the little cutie over here couldn't wait to get these chocolate chip pancakes into her belly, so I thought I'd get them here as fast as these old feet could walk them over here."
She places the plate of pancakes down in front of Anna, still conveying that smile, and gives her a quick wink. Anna gives Delilah an even bigger smile, as she hurriedly takes hold of her fork and butter knife and gets ready to dig in...
With all her youthful exuberance flowing in her tone, "Yay ... they look so yummy!"
Anna zealously jabs the fork into the fluffy 'cakes', completely covering the full length of the tines, and cuts into the stack; then enthusiastically shoves a big chunk of the stack which she cut away ... or more like torn off ... into her usually seemingly small, delicate mouth ... which now appears to be more like the unhinged jaw of an anaconda swallowing a whole wild boar.
The adults all laugh at this spectacle of a sight; and Beth tells Anna...
"Whoa, slow down there, sweetie; at least take the time needed enough to taste them."
Delilah interjects, "Speaking of, what do you think; are they tasty?"
Still working on chewing that overstuffed mouthful, Anna mumbles through squishing lips...
"Uhmm - uhmm ... mmm ... mm - s-so mm - g-good. ... Mm-yyummmy."
Delilah laughs. "Glad to hear it. I'll let the 'chef' know you gave him your approval." She quips, "Can I take it that it would be a 5-Star rating?"
By the time Delilah had delivered her little spiel, Anna had already finally managed to swallow that first mouthful and shoved in an equally large portion once again into her surprisingly spacious mouth. So, again through squishing lips, she mumbles...
"Uhmm - uhmm." With an accompanying thumbs-up in approval.
Delilah lets out one laugh, then turns to Beth...
"Here you go, Beth..." She places the stack of buttermilk pancakes down in front of her. "I suppose you must be ready to eat now, too?"
Beth looks over to her 'ravenous daughter' who's been scoffing down those pancakes like 'a shark in a feeding frenzy'; this time taking particular notice of the melted chocolate and whipped cream that garnished the stack sloppily smeared around Anna's lips and tip of her nose. She subtly cringes, as she half-jokingly, half-seriously replies...
"I don't know, Delilah; honestly ... watching my daughter eating like that over there ... I really don't know if it makes me hungry; or not want to eat at all. I think I might have lost my appetite after witnessing that eating debauchery."
The adults laugh. And Anna, who just finished gulping down that second heaping, after just partially hearing what Beth had said ... mainly the parts about her not wanting to eat and losing her appetite ... again with youthful exuberance, chimes out while leaning over the table and reaching for Beth's plate...
"Ooh ... I'll eat them if you're not going to."
Neither Delilah nor the sheriff can believe their eyes to what they're witnessing; they just shake their heads and laugh, with big grimaces on their faces.
Beth shakes her head as well; but she isn't laughing or smiling at the moment. She quickly reaches out and takes hold of Anna's wrist just seconds before the little 'anaconda-shark hybrid' could snatch hold of her plate...
"Hold on there, 'Jethro'; slow your roll. Easy ... finish your food first..." Beth makes it a point to stress out, "Preferably like a normal, little six-year-old girl should ... nice and easy, taking time to chew up every bite ... and not some gluttonous, feral little beast child who looks like they haven't eaten anything in weeks. ... Okay?"
Anna nods. "Okay."
"Thank you."
Beth releases her hold from Anna's wrist, and stares at the 'sloppy aftermath' covering her daughter's once pristine face. She once again shakes her head, this time chuckling and beamingly smiling at Anna...
"Ugh ... just look at you; you made such a mess of yourself, sweetie. What am I going to do with you? ... Uhh. Come here you."
Beth picks up some of the extra napkins Delilah had put out on their table and dips them in the glass of water she wasn't drinking; then begins to wash away that sticky combo of melted chocolate chips and runny whipped cream from Anna's face...
"Seriously, sweetie, if only your Daddy could see you now."
************
And as this all was going on at the diner...
Martin, once again finding himself with an excessive amount of 'free time' on his hands ... since the company hasn't bogged him down with a full workload yet ... has been in his office making some non-work-related phone calls...
But this time, he isn't speaking with Beth's Aunt Alice...
"Hello ... is this the Goldstein Real Estate Agency? ..."