The woman had approached her when they were both shopping at the farmer's market. Well, maybe the woman was shopping. Rhea was just browsing, "window shopping," she told herself. Staring longingly at the fresh produce: speckled watermelons, shiny tomatoes, ears of corn cozy in their husks.
Rhea wanted fresh food. She wanted to husk the corn on her porch and roast it over the fire. She wanted to eat it while butter dripped down her chin.
But she couldn't afford any of it. And she didn't have a porch to sit on. She could probably manage the fire, but she hadn't tried. It had been a long time since her Brownies days, but she might remember how to start the fire.
"Not worth it, not for that price," the woman scoffed as she walked by. She paused in her step, and Rhea felt a flush rise in her cheeks. Rhea wasn't used to being noticed, not these days. It was better that way, but now she didn't know how to react to the attention.
"Do you want some corn?" The woman had stopped completely and looked into Rhea's eyes, but Rhea didn't feel uncomfortable anymore.
"Who doesn't?" Rhea was going for a light-hearted joke, but she sounded crass, like someone with no manners. But after so long alone, maybe she didn't have a need for manners anymore.
"Come with me." The woman began walking without checking to see if Rhea was coming. She didn't need to; Rhea was following along. They came to a beat-up Honda Civic; a man was sitting in the driver's seat and didn't look up when the woman opened the back door.
When she turned around, the woman had an ear of corn. Rhea stared at it for a moment. She didn't see the woman swipe it from the stand, but it looked exactly the same.
"Take it," the woman said, not harshly. She wiggled the corn slightly. "Take it. We have plenty. We grow our own."
Rhea couldn't make her hands move. She wanted the corn, even though she wasn't sure what she could do with it once she took it.
"Unless..." the woman lowered the corn to her side. "You want to come see our farm?"
Rhea, who had felt paralyzed just a moment before, had no trouble climbing into the dusty Honda Civic. The woman shot a quick smile at the man, then turned further to give a broader smile to Rhea. "You'll love it there. You'll fit right in. You're just like us."
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