Tail Gait

Cast of Characters

Mary Minor Haristeen—“Harry,” just forty-one, is a Smith graduate who wound up being Crozet, Virginia’s postmistress for sixteen years. Now she’s trying to make money farming. Having survived breast cancer, Harry prefers not to think about it. She more or less lives on the surface of life until curiosity pulls her deeper…as it inevitably does.

Pharamond Haristeen, D.V.M.—“Fair” specializes in equine reproduction. After graduating from Auburn he married his childhood sweetheart, Harry. A year older than his wife, he reads people’s emotions much better than she does.

Susan Tucker—Outgoing, adept at any and all social exchange, she’s Harry’s best friend since cradle days. She loves Harry but worries about how Harry just blunders into things.

The Very Reverend Herbert Jones—A Vietnam veteran, Army, he is pastor at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, which is well over two hundred years old. A man of deep conviction and feeling, he’s known Harry since her childhood.

Deputy Cynthia Cooper—Tall, lean, and Harry’s next-door neighbor, renting the adjoining farm. Cooper loves law enforcement. From time to time, Harry meddles in Cooper’s business, but in her defense the Smith graduate has an uncanny knack of uncovering crucial information.

Sheriff Rick Shaw—The sheriff of Albemarle County, he is overburdened, underfunded, and overworked. Despite that, he likes his job and has learned to trust Cooper. (Originally, he wasn’t thrilled with having a woman in the department.)

Dr. Nelson Yarbrough—Quarterback of the 1959 University of Virginia football team, his pro ball career was ended by an injury. He and his wife, Sandra, practice dentistry and good works in Charlottesville.

Marshall Reese—This defensive lineman on the 1959 UVA team has become a successful developer by building carefully detailed houses, conscientiously following history as much as possible.

Paul Huber—On the 1959 team, Huber was UVA’s right halfback. Now he runs a landscaping company founded by his father and works closely with Marshall. He specializes in eighteenth-century plantings and gardens.

Willis Fugate, fullback, 1959; Rudolph Putnam, fullback, 1960; Lionel Gardner, offensive lineman, 1961; Tim Jardine, linebacker, 1970—These charming old boys are all former UVA football players.

Frank Cresey—He was a UVA halfback, and in 1975 was All-American, which keeps his old friends loyal to him. Supremely gifted athletically, Frank was at one time popular with the ladies and a good student. That was before he destroyed himself with drink.

Professor Greg “Ginger” McConnell, History Emeritus, University of Virginia—His writings on the lives of the common man and women in Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary America made him a world authority on same. Overflowing with enthusiasm for his subject, Ginger remains delightfully young and is universally loved—or perhaps not.

Trudy McConnell—Wife to Ginger and mother to Olivia and Renata “Rennie,” the two daughters are now middle-aged. Like the wives of many prominent men, Trudy is Ginger’s anchor.

Olivia Gaston—After a disastrous romance with Frank Cresey when she was in her late teens, she’s made a good life for herself with a wonderful husband in New Orleans.

Snoop—Possibly middle-aged, it’s hard to tell, he’s an alcoholic who “lives” on the Downtown Mall. The well-mannered African American doesn’t talk about his past. Most of the Mall Rats, as they are known, don’t.