by Linda Ellen
Grinning up at him, her eyes twinkling mischievously, she bit her lip and murmured, “Twenty.”
“Twenty!” he reacted, blowing out a low whistle. “You sure you know what you’re doin’, sis?”
Louise pressed her lips together and nodded. “Yep. Someday, if I play my cards right, I intend on bein’ Mrs. Victor Matthews,” she declared determinedly.
He nodded and raised his eyebrows thoughtfully. “Ya know…it takes a mighty good poker player to run a full-on bluff all the way to the end and win,” he murmured sagely. Touching a finger to the tip of her nose, he added softly, “Hope this plan ‘a yours don’t backfire on ya.”
“Me, too,” she admitted softly.
“You just be careful,” he added as he leaned to place a quick kiss to her forehead.
Louise nodded, determinedly quashing the ever-present feeling of dread, and gave him a soft smile as they continued on to the apartment door.
‡
CHAPTER 14
Fleet, Louise, and The Hearse
February marched on. For Louise’s birthday, the family had a quiet dinner with several small presents and a plain chocolate cake. Her father hadn’t been able to make it home again, but he sent Louise a telegram wishing her a happy birthday and that he was so very sorry he wasn’t there to help celebrate with the family. The telegram touched her heart, and she put it carefully away in her memories box.
Then, free from chores for the evening, and thrilled that Lilly had actually given her permission to have a sleepover at Fleet’s house, Louise grabbed the bag she had packed and bid a hasty goodbye to her family. She couldn’t wait to get to Fleet’s and get ready for what would be her third date with Vic Matthews. It didn’t matter to her that they wouldn’t be alone on this one. As long as she was with him, nothing else mattered.
Fleet lived about ten blocks away, in a big rambling house in the bad part of Seventh Street. Her grandmother, Myrtle, lived downstairs, and Fleet and her mother lived on the second floor. Lilly had never asked Louise where her friend Fleet lived, and Louise had never volunteered the information. Thus, the mother had no idea she had allowed her daughter to go and spend the night in a house that sported a red light on the front porch…
But none of that mattered to Louise. She vaguely knew what Fleet’s mother and grandmother, who was in her early fifties, did for a ‘living’. She knew they ‘entertained’ men, but beyond that, she had no idea of the details. Fleet was Louise’s friend, and that’s all she cared about. The rest…well… It was 1937 and the Depression had been raging for eight long years. A person had to do whatever they could to survive. At least, that’s what Willis had always taught his children. Louise knew, however, that he had not intended the definition to stretch to that extreme.
Hurrying up to the door of the house, and pointedly dodging the leering looks of several men walking down the street, Louise clutched her bag and knocked briskly. After waiting a minute, she was about to knock again when she heard the lock being turned and the door opened to reveal Myrtle standing there in a faded blue robe. She was a tired looking woman, and despite the carefully applied, overdone makeup, seemed years older than she was. Her hair, like Fleet’s, was the color of pale honey, her eyes a faded blue.
“Oh, hello Louise. Fleet’s waiting for ya, you can run on up,” she greeted in a friendly manner as she allowed the door to swing wide. “How ya been? And Happy Birthday, honey. Fleet told me,” she added in answer to Louise’s surprised glance.
“Thanks, Ma’am,” Louise answered as she scampered on up the narrow, dimly lit staircase.
Upstairs, Louise cast her eyes around at the mess. Clothing lay strewn around on chairs and the couch, and dirty dishes occupied the sink and the table. Fleet’s mother stood scrubbing a piece of clothing at an antique ringer washer, in preparation for hanging it on a sagging wire line stretching across one end of the kitchen. Worn, dusty draperies hung at the windows, and virtually no pictures or ‘pretty things’ adorned the rooms.
Heaviness seemed to hover in the atmosphere. It was so different from Louise’s own home, which Lilly made sure was always clean and orderly, with sunshine streaming in the windows and something delicious cooking on the stove. For not the first time, Louise felt sorry for her friend, having to live in such squalor. She knew Fleet slept on a narrow cot in a tiny bedroom not much bigger than a closet. Not that she herself lived at the Ritz, having to share a bed with Edna, but still…
“Hello Louise. Happy birthday,” Blanche greeted as she smiled at her daughter’s friend, pausing to swipe straggling bits of hair away from her forehead with the back of her wrist. Observing the girl, who was standing awkwardly with her overnight bag clutched in front of her, Blanche glanced around ashamedly and mumbled, “’Scuse the mess…ain’t had time to clean up in here…” Louise nodded uncomfortably.
At that moment, Fleet opened the bathroom door and grinned as she saw her friend. “Hey girl. So, wha’gya get for your birthday?” she asked as she made her way to the cluttered vanity table in her mother’s bedroom. As she began to brush out her hair so that it lay in natural waves, she glanced at her friend expectantly.
Louise shrugged, “Oh…Mama crocheted me a real pretty scarf…Billy made me a card…Edna and Sonny went together to get me a sweater, though Edna said it was so I wouldn’t be askin’ to use her new one,” she added with a chuckle.
Fleet nodded. “Your Dad make it back?” she asked, glancing at Louise’s crestfallen expression. Instantly, she knew the answer.
“No…but he sent me a telegram,” Louise responded, smiling softly as she thought of his thoughtful gesture. It was almost as good as having him there. Almost.
“Oh. Well, that’s good…” Fleet mumbled, silently thinking she herself would be thrilled and overjoyed if her own father – whoever he was – were to contact her on her birthday. She could hardly imagine how that would feel… Shaking her head, she grinned and whispered, “Well…it’s gettin’ late…you better start gettin’ ready.”
“We, you mean. Don’t ya wanna go?” Louise asked as she placed her bag carefully on the unmade bed and opened it, taking out her new sweater, which was a soft, baby blue, square necked, short sleeve creation. She laid it on the bed and removed the scarf from her bag, holding it up for Fleet to see. It was a lighter shade of blue than the sweater, with black around the edges.
“Well…” Fleet hesitated. “If you’re sure you want me to…”
“Of course I do!” Louise blustered, pausing to gape at her friend. “Vic said there would be other guys going…I don’t want to be the only girl!”
Fleet laughed, as she’d only been half teasing about her hesitation. “Okay, okay, I’m goin’. But we better step on it, it’s already past 6:30…”
They set about changing, with Fleet helping Louise to artfully arrange the scarf around her neck and secure it with a pin at the back, under her hair. Then giggling together, they shared the blotchy, speckled vanity mirror, Fleet urging Louise to apply more makeup on top of what she was already wearing.
“Oh Fleet, not too much!” Louise gasped, but her friend just chuckled.
“You wanna catch his eye – and hold it – right?”
Louise blushed as she held her lips firm for Fleet to apply lipstick.
A few minutes later, Fleet squinted at the tiny bedside clock and quickly finished her preparations. Stashing Louise’s bag in her tiny room, she grabbed her friend by the arm, and murmured, “We better get on downstairs.” Louise nodded, barely having time to grab her purse before she was tugged out of the room.
“You girls have a good time,” Fleet’s mother offered nonchalantly. Louise noticed that Blanche hadn’t even asked Fleet where they were going, or with whom, and the thought occurred that despite griping about her own family’s over protectiveness at times, it did make her feel that they at least cared.
Fleet muttered something unintelligible as they passed the woman, who was still scrubbing bits of clothing, and started down
the stairs. The girls glanced at one another, as they paused to let a man pass by on his way up. No one said a word, although the man cast a rather lewd look at both of the young women on his way by.
Louise shivered with disgust and rushed down the stairs, only then beginning to wonder if this had been such a good idea – staying overnight at her friend’s house. She swallowed back the sick feeling she had when she thought about the ever-growing list of lies and half-truths she had been telling lately. It wasn’t like her at all, and it still didn’t sit right. Staying in Fleet’s house wasn’t quite sitting right, either.
Both girls hurried out the door, Fleet allowing it to slam behind her, and casting a look back at it over her shoulder. In truth, she hated where she lived…and she hated what her mother and grandmother did for a living. But, she never let on that she was ashamed, preferring to just shrug it off and pretend she was immune to the looks of the other girls and the whispers of the boys at school. She knew what they all whispered about her, but they can whisper all they want, it still don’t make it true.
“Look, uh…” the willowy young woman said now, “I think it’d be better if the guys don’t come here and see the house.” She gestured toward the porch light. “Let’s start walking toward the corner and let ‘em pick us up off the street. It wouldn’t do to…give ‘em the wrong impression…”
With a relieved nod from Louise, the two took off, strolling slowly up toward Breckenridge. The girls had purposely dressed to get attention, especially Fleet. She was wearing one of her mother’s dresses, topped with a short jacket. Along the way, several cars rolled slowly by, their drivers emitting wolf whistles at the two young ladies, along with some not-so-nice remarks yelled out their windows. For the most part, the girls steadfastly ignored them, except for one exceptionally rude man who added the action of laying on his horn as they were in the middle of crossing a side street.
“Aw, blow it out yer ear!” Fleet yelled, adding a quite not-so-nice gesture along with it. Louise clamped her lips and blushed scarlet, fervently wishing Vic would come to her ‘rescue’. What have I gotten myself into?
Just then, from up ahead, she saw the now familiar long black vehicle turn the corner from Breckinridge and head their way. Immediately, her heart sped up.
“There they are,” she murmured to her friend, both girls striving to look as nonchalant as possible as they strolled.
The vehicle rolled to a stop alongside them as the passenger window rolled down.
“Hey! Where you two headed?” Vic asked, a bit confused as to why Louise would be walking down the street when he had told her he would pick her up at the address.
The girls exchanged looks. “Um…” Louise began, “the house felt kinda stuffy…so we thought we’d get some fresh air. I knew you’d be coming from this direction,” she added quickly. Vic grinned and nodded, accepting the explanation as he opened the door and climbed out.
“Vic, this is my friend, Fleet McDougal. Fleet, this is Vic,” Louise made the introductions. Fleet smiled at the man, thinking he truly was every bit as gorgeous as her friend had said. “Nice to meet ya.”
Vic nodded a greeting and turned toward the car. “Girls, that’s Earl behind the wheel, and Ruth next to him,” he explained as the two nodded and waved. “That’s Alec, Gerald, Phil, and Eugene in the back, plus uh…” he paused as he tried to remember the names of the girls he had just met. “Barbara and Thelma.”
Alec and Gerald had begun climbing out the back doors as Vic was speaking, both of them heading toward the girls with huge grins on their faces.
The girls smiled at the two guys and nodded. Louise recognized Gerald as the man Vic had spoken briefly with on the street during their first date. Vic had moved to Louise’s side and gently took hold of her elbow in a silent show of ‘ownership’ as Alec and Gerald rushed to flank the taller of the two young women.
“Hey…” “Hi there,” they both greeted with wide grins, suddenly launching into competition. “You can sit with me if you want…” “There’s room in the back…” they each tried again, nearly tripping over themselves, each one holding out a hand toward her. Fleet laughed, totally enjoying being the center of attention. She sized them up quickly, thinking they were about equal in looks, but there was a special spark in Alec’s eyes as he grinned at her that made something inside of her respond. With a ladylike chuckle, she glanced at Gerald with an apologetic smile and a murmured, “Thank you,” before reaching to place her hand in Alec’s.
“Aw man, that makes me the odd wheel,” Gerald good-naturedly grumbled as the five climbed into the vehicle.
Vic sat down on the passenger side of the front seat and patted his lap as he looked up at Louise. “I’m afraid we’ve got a car full…you mind sittin’ on my lap?” he asked innocently, though in truth he had hoped it would work out that way.
Louise grinned shyly and shook her head, proceeding to climb carefully inside the car and settle herself onto his legs as she greeted the other occupants. She shivered a bit as she felt his arms immediately encircle her. “Comfy?” he murmured in her ear, and she nodded a bit self-consciously.
Alec and Fleet settled themselves in the back and Gerald managed to close the back doors securely.
“Everybody in?” Earl called out as he put the car in gear. To a rousing chorus of “Yep!” he chuckled and off they went.
*
The hearse slowly rolled along Marion Street in the Point, its stunned occupants nearly speechless as they viewed the destruction first hand. The condition of the once elegant mansions along Louisville’s ‘Frenchman’s Row’ was positively shocking. The grand old homes had battled against Mother Nature many times, but sadly, they had finally lost the fight.
“I ain’t been back down here since the water went down,” Vic murmured, gazing at the sadly, majestic structures now reduced to ruin. They had been magnificent in their heyday, each one a different design from the next, tailored to their owners’ specifications. No detail had been spared in their elegance. The only thing no one seemed to have taken into consideration was their close proximity to the river. It was the age-old story of man thinking he knew better, and that he was the ‘master’ of his universe.
Earl steered the car around a large obstruction and Thelma let out a shocked gasp from her place in the back. “Look at the Heigold house!” she exclaimed as the others emitted low murmurs of sympathy. “I went there for a party on Derby day last year.” At the incredulous looks from her fellow passengers, she clarified, “I mean, my mom cleans houses for a livin’, and she was hired, along with a couple of others, to serve the guests drinks and such. They let me work, too. Man, what a night that was…I never saw so many diamonds and minks in my life…” she added dreamily, her memory of the once elegant house in stark contrast to its present reality. To say it wasn’t a pretty sight was a gross understatement. Green river slime covered most of the structure, windows and trim were broken, and dried muck and debris littered the grounds. The mansion had suffered so much damage during its submersion that the owners had decided it was too far gone, and too much of a risk to refurbish, as who knew if another massive flood was in Louisville’s future. The carcass of the large home was still standing the way the water had left it upon its retreat.
“You know,” Alec mentioned from the back, “I heard the Mayor has vowed that come Derby, the city’ll be back on its feet and ready for out-of-towners.”
“That’ll take a boat load ‘a work,” Gerald mumbled as he gazed out the window to the slowly passing dilapidated estates.
Vic stared at the sad sight of the ruined homes and nodded. “Yeah, you can say that again.”
“Hey, all this is making me sad. I thought we were gonna have a good time tonight,” Ruth suddenly spoke up, only half kidding. Her blue eyes shot a look at her boyfriend as she pushed back her bright red, wavy locks with one hand.
“You’re right,” Earl nodded as he turned the corner, heading south, and away from the devastation.
“So, where to, guys? Any suggestions?” he called out to the vehicle at large. “We got about half a tank,” he added as he checked the gage on the dash, referring to earlier when all of the guys had pooled their coins to buy some gas.
“We could park down by the river for a pettin’ party,” Alec teased, prompting snickers from the rest of the passengers. All, that is, except Louise.
“Well, that leaves me out,” Gerald pointed out with a chuckle.
Sitting at an angle on Vic’s lap, Louise shot him a look that he correctly interpreted as confusion. She had no idea Vic’s friend had just suggested that they all sit it in the parked car and ‘kiss’.
Glancing back at Alec, Vic narrowed his eyes and mumbled, ‘Nix it, Chief – the bank’s closed.”
Alec retorted, “Aw man, it ain’t no holiday!” as he wondered what had gotten into his friend. The Vic he knew would never turn down the chance to neck with a pretty girl, and from what he’d seen, Louise was sure a looker. His eyes crinkled as he thought back to some wild dates they had doubled on in their teens.
Earl snickered again, prompting his girlfriend to give his arm a playful slap as the others in the vehicle began to good-naturedly argue between the options of what to do for the evening.
Vic, wishing to smooth the awkward moment, announced, “I think Louise oughtta decide…since it’s her birthday.”
“It is?” “Aw Happy Birthday!” chorused the gang. Immediately, Fleet took up the baton, and began to sing, “Happy Birthday to you…” to which everyone else joined in. Pleased and flattered, Louise turned to gaze at each one, her infectious grin flashing as she blushed slightly at suddenly being the center of attention.
Vic, thinking she was adorable when she pinkened like that, tightened his arms around her as he joined in the singing.
As one round came to an end, Gerald piped up from way at the back, “I got another one!” and began the song again, changing the words to, “Happy birthday to you, squashed tomatoes ‘n stew, bread ‘n butter in the gutter, happy birthday to you.”
