by Linda Ellen
The wise lady smiled understandingly, knowing far more about Louise’s life than the girl knew…but the older woman held back on telling her that she was familiar with her history. “The key is to choose to believe what the Bible teaches. It is our roadmap for life. It contains the story of God’s love for us, and His rules for healthy living. He has rules, but He doesn’t make us follow them. He wants us to obey Him out of our love for Him. We make wrong choices and mistakes, but, He’s always there, ready to step in when we ask for His help.”
Louise thought about this for a moment. No one had ever told her anything about God loving her – it was always about Him being up there ready to mete out punishment for the slightest infraction.
They continued on with their discussion, still talking in soft tones so as not to wake the slumbering child. In this way, the rest of the two-hour bus ride flew by quicker than either of them wished.
*
When the bus pulled into the Louisville terminal, Louise turned to Irene.
“Thank you for talking with me. I do feel better now. And…I think I’m going to try that little church up the street on Sunday,” she added with a shy smile.
Irene grinned and leaned to take the young girl in her arms for a moment, encompassing little Tommy, who had awakened and charmed the kind new friend with his shy smile and adorable giggle – and his big blue eyes. When Irene pulled back, she paused for only a second, feeling impressed to open her Bible to the small notebook inside the back cover and jot down a few words. Tearing off the end, she pressed the slip of paper into Louise’s hand. “Here’s my address. If you ever need a friend…”
Louise nodded and slipped the note into her purse. Bidding Irene goodbye, she reached up to retrieve her luggage from the compartment overhead.
Making her way down the steps of the bus, carefully holding onto Tommy, she looked around for T.J., but he was nowhere in sight. Hmm, that’s odd. He said he’d pick me up…I hope he got my telegram of when my bus would arrive… Louise mused as she glanced around. Threading her way through the throngs of people, she found a comfortable place to sit and wait.
Trying to pass the time, she thought back to how surprisingly sweet T.J.’s mother, Beatrice, had been to her the day she had left for her trip, and how T.J. had obligingly offered to allow her to go for a visit to see her mom and dad. He had even gone so far as to pay for the tickets. Maybe things are getting better…I just need to look for the good, I guess.
However, after thirty minutes, Tommy was beginning to get fussy and Louise was starting to feel a twinge of apprehension, leading her to approach a taxi and ask the driver if he would take her to the apartment and let her pay him there. He agreed.
Louise did her best to comfort her now fretting child during the trip. She couldn’t wait to get home, take off her traveling outfit, and relax. Sam, the taxi driver, was a kindly older gentleman with wisps of gray hair visible beneath the shiny bill of his cap. He reminded Louise a tiny bit of her father, and he kept up a friendly conversation as they rode along, politely asking about her trip, and regaling her with funny stories.
Finally, they turned onto her street. She asked the driver to wait, left her suitcase in the cab, and walked to the door. Trying the doorknob, she found it was locked, so she maneuvered Tommy to one hip and knocked on the door. Expecting T.J. to come out, pay the driver, and retrieve her suitcase, she was already planning on the earful she would give him for forgetting to pick her up. However, after several minutes, no one came. Louise’s uneasiness was worsening by the second.
Holding onto a squirming Tommy, Louise clumsily dug through her purse for her key. When she put it into the lock, she was flabbergasted when it did not fit! What is going on here? She felt like she was living a bad dream. A strong feeling of foreboding began to creep up her spine.
“What’s the matter, missy? Can’t get in?” the driver called from the cab.
She turned and shook her head, panicked tears beginning to fill her eyes. Tommy began to wail as he felt the fear in his mother. Where is T.J.? Stepping aside to a front window, she shaded her eyes and tried to see inside, quickly making the shocking discovery that the room appeared to be completely devoid of furniture!
In desperation, she hurried to the taxi and asked the driver if he would take her several streets over to her in-law’s house. Nodding, he climbed out and hurried to assist her into the car with her now wailing, wriggling child.
“Sshh, honey. It’s okay, sweetheart,” Louise whispered, rocking and trying to comfort him when she, herself, also needed comfort. Her heart was hammering, and her stomach was a coil of nerves.
At the Blankenbaker’s home, Louise climbed out and again asked the driver to wait. He nodded again, although now concerned. Something didn’t feel right, even to him.
Louise mounted the steps and knocked on the door, balancing Tommy on one hip. Breathing in deeply to try and calm her nerves, she was glad that his wailing had been reduced to shuddering sniffles.
In a few moments, the door opened a crack and Beatrice glared out at her daughter-in-law. “What do you want?” the woman snapped.
Taken totally aback, Louise stammered, “I…I just got home, but…my key doesn’t work…T.J. isn’t home. Do you know where he is?”
Her mother-in-law raked her eyes down Louise’s body and back up, as if looking at a tramp, and not her own daughter-in-law whom she had so sweetly helped pack and get ready for her trip just a mere two weeks before. The woman barely even looked at Tommy, her own grandson. Puffing herself up to her full height, she declared in a haughty voice, “T.J.’s not here, and I don’t know where he is. The best thing for you to do is to go on down to your brother’s.”
“But…” Louise started to argue, but the woman shut the door in her face.
In shock, Louise turned slowly, tears spilling from her eyes. This can’t be happening. I must be having a nightmare. Why can’t I wake up? Where is my husband???
Sam the cabbie had turned off the meter when they pulled up. He had watched the frosty reception the young mother had received from a woman she had confided was her mother-in-law, so he opened his door and got out of the car. Walking up to Louise, he asked gently, “Is there somewhere else I can take you, Miss?”
Shuddering and holding on to her emotions by a thread, Louise swallowed and brought up a hand to swipe at the moisture on her face. Hugging Tommy to her tighter, she remembered Beatrice had mentioned the word ‘brother’, and so answered, “I’m sorry, but can you take me over to First Street to my brother’s apartment?”
Without a word, the man inclined his head affirmatively and escorted the distraught young woman with her child back to his cab. As he moved to shut the door after they were settled in, he happened to glance up at the house to see the hateful expression on the face of the woman glaring out at them. She immediately dropped the curtain when she saw him looking. Old Sam wondered what kind of people this sweet young lady was mixed up with.
Shaking his head, he made his way around to his door.
*
“I don’t understand, where would T.J. have gone?” Sarah, Sonny’s wife, sighed as she stood stirring a pot of bean soup at the stove. Pressing one hand against the small of her back, she watched as her sister-in-law positioned pillows securely around an exhausted Tommy, whom she had placed on the couch for a nap. “And you said it looked as if all of your furniture was gone? Do you think…could somebody have stolen it?”
Louise turned and made her way back to the table, sinking wearily into a chair next to her concerned brother. “I just don’t know,” she murmured, shaking her head. “The lock had been changed. But, I can’t figure out why Beatrice acted like she was mad at me…she’d been so nice the day she helped me pack to go see Mama and Daddy…and where is T.J.? The last time I heard from him, he said he would pick me up at the station. I hope nothing has happened to him. But…if that were the case, his mother would know… Oh, I just don’t know!” she fumed, smoothing her hair back and rubb
ing a hand over the back of her neck. Her entire body felt wound as tight as a drum from the emotional pressure.
Sonny, thoroughly disgusted with the entire business, pushed back from the table and muttered, “All of this stinks to high heaven. I’m goin’ over there and see what I can find out.”
Louise caught his hand and looked up at him. “Thanks, Sonny. I hope you have better luck than I did.”
Smiling fondly, he leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Be back in a while.” Then, he circled the table and gave his wife a kiss as well.
“Be careful…those people seem crazy,” Sarah warned with a touch of derision.
The young women watched him go, and then Louise stood up and made her way to the stove. “Is there anything I can help you do?” she asked softly.
“No, I got it. Thanks,” Sarah replied. The two women felt slightly uncomfortable together without Sonny’s presence as a buffer.
Louise nodded mutely, scrambling for something to say. “Sarah…I’m sorry to bring all this here…I just didn’t know where else to go… I appreciate you letting me stay until I find out…” she stumbled to a halt. Find out what? Where my husband is? If I still have a home? What the heck is happening?
Sarah gave her sister-in-law a tiny smile. “That’s okay, Louise. Um…here you can set the table. Hopefully Sonny’ll be back while the soup is still hot,” she added with just a slight edge to her voice.
Sighing, Louise meekly began placing bowls on the table, at once hoping Sonny would come back with answers…but also afraid of what he might find out.
*
“I can’t believe it!” Louise gasped when Sonny had finished relating the incredible tale he had managed to glean from one of T.J.’s younger brothers, whom he had happened to catch walking down the street near the Blankenbaker’s house.
“Me neither. I never heard of such a thing, but I don’t think his brother would make it all up, do you?” He queried, glancing up at his wife as she placed a bowl of soup in the center of the placemat where he was sitting.
“No…Keith has usually been pretty nice to me…” Louise murmured as she stared straight ahead, mouth agape. “And his brother said T.J. sold everything to buy some woman what?”
“A diamond ring and a fur coat,” Sonny reiterated, shaking his head in disgust.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Louise and her eyes opened wide, “But…if the landlord has already changed the locks…what about my clothes…my things…Tommy’s things?”
Sonny drew in a breath, hating to unload more onto his sister, but it can’t be helped, thanks to her no-good husband. “I’m not sure about the rest of your things, but…Keith said Tommy’s baby bed is…right inside the front door in their living room.”
Louise’s mouth dropped open in realization, anger now superseding her earlier bewilderment. “Do you mean to tell me…that woman talked to me that hateful, glaring at me like she hated me – me standing there holding her only grandchild – and his baby bed was right there behind the door?” she ground out incredulously.
“That’s about the size of it,” Sonny acknowledged. Then with a sneer, he added, “Some nice family you hooked up with, Louise.”
“Well…it wasn’t my idea! I…” Louise reacted animatedly, but Sonny quickly interrupted, laying a calming hand on her arm. “I know, I know. Relax, don’t get your feathers ruffled.”
“Hey,” Louise suddenly sobered as another thought occurred. “Isn’t what he did illegal? I mean, he was making payments on the furniture…”
Sonny nodded, swallowing a bite of his dinner and reaching to take a sip of iced tea. “Yep, sure is. Maybe the law’ll get after him.”
Louise narrowed eyes that contained twinkles of mischief. “I hope they do. It’ll serve him right.” Again she shook her head in amazement, thinking about all that had transpired in only two short weeks. She remembered again how sweet he had been in the weeks preceding her departing for her trip. They had even…gotten friendly several times and she had begun to feel a small amount of affection for him. After all, he could be quite charming when he tried – the trouble was, with her, he never seemed to care to try. And his mother…coming over to the apartment on the pretext of helping her get ready for her trip, saying she would miss Louise and Tommy. What was that all about? Had T.J. been planning this – and had she known about it? Does she hate me that much? But…why?
Louise pondered long and hard, but the only thing that made any amount of sense was the fact that T.J. had always been a ‘Mama’s boy’ and he could do no wrong in Beatrice’s eyes. He could always talk her into anything. I wonder what he told her to get her to go along with this? I guess he made me out to be the villain. I’m a terrible wife, yada yada. But, that still doesn’t excuse her treating her grandson like that!
Thinking about the entire fiasco was starting to give Louise a raging headache and she reached up to rub her temples, mumbling, “If it’s okay…I think I’ll lay down on the couch awhile. I’m not feeling too good.”
The couple exchanged glances, with the wife’s expression revealing her dissatisfaction with the whole situation. However, for the time being, there wasn’t much they could do to change it.
Louise noticed the quick look exchanged between her brother and his wife and she added quietly, “I’ll…I’ll try to find some place for Tommy and me to go, don’t worry.”
Sarah touched her husband’s arm, as if to remind him of something, and he cleared his throat and spoke up, “Um, sis…if you want I can give you the money for bus fare to go back down to Bowling Green…”
Louise sighed wearily. Although it wasn’t an ideal solution, as her mother and father only had a small apartment, it was better than nothing…if, that is, they would allow her to stay there for an extended period. Suddenly overcome with the sad turn her life had taken, she raised her hands to cover her face and dissolved into tears, mumbling through her fingers, “Oh, what a lousy, stinking mess!”
Indeed, all three mused, as the old saying went – When it rains, it pours.
‡
CHAPTER 30
The Last Straw
Louise bent down to retrieve the last diaper from the basket and with a tired sigh, pinned it to the line. Swiping the back of her hand across her forehead, she briefly wondered why she felt so hot, and even a bit nauseous, since there was a nice breeze blowing.
Making her way over to the two chairs near the back door of the apartment house, in which she was temporarily staying with her parents and brother in Bowling Green, she sank down into one, grateful for a few minutes respite. Tommy had gone down for a nap a little while before.
Slouching down in the old heavy metal lawn chair, she laid her head back and closed her eyes against the mid-day sun. Letting out a heavy sigh, she wondered, for what must have been the hundredth time in the last month, what she was going to do.
As if reciting the details once again would make things clearer, she allowed her thoughts to wander back. With Sonny’s help, she had managed to retrieve most of hers and Tommy’s personal items from her former landlord, which she had squeezed into several old suitcases her brother had purchased for her down at Larry’s Pawn Shop. Thank God for Sonny! Louise reflected, as her older brother had surely been her knight in shining armor throughout the whole ordeal.
The bus ride back to Bowling Green had been uneventful. However, her parents’ odd reactions when they picked her and the baby up at the terminal had caused her some pause. Although her father had welcomed her with sympathetic arms, her mother seemed distant, avoiding the offer of a hug. Picturing that moment, Louise snorted softly, thinking that Edna would have said, “Mama sure had her nose out of joint,” but Louise didn’t know why.
Willis had proceeded to let her know in no uncertain terms what he thought of T.J. for treating his sweet daughter in such a way; furthermore revealing that he had never held much store in any of those Blanketyblanks. That had given Louise a chuckle, and took a bit of the sting out of Lilly�
�s frostiness. At least Billy and Daddy were glad to see me, she mused.
T.J. had not tried to contact her, other than a one sentence note with three dollars inside, for Tommy’s ‘support’. Wow, Generous George, Louise had grumbled upon receiving the tiny offering. Her mother had begun hounding her to start proceedings in order to make him pay child support…but all Louise could think was where will I get the money for a lawyer? Everything appeared to be so complicated and everywhere she turned, doors just seemed to be slammed in her face.
Over the weeks, Lilly seized every chance she could to make Louise feel as if it was her fault, and that she should do everything possible to salvage her marriage. “But Mama, he left me for somebody else!” Louise would argue, but Lilly would brush it aside with a flick of her hand and a crisp, “Nevertheless.” As a result, Louise spent most of her time feeling miserable and confused. She did wonder at one point where God was in the whole ball of wax, and like that nice lady, Irene, had encouraged, she had tried to pray for help.
So far, it didn’t seem as if the Big Guy in the Sky was listening.
Suddenly, the squeak of the screen door interrupted her brooding thoughts. Louise turned her head and opened her eyes a slit to see her mother step out the door with a dust mop in her hands, proceeding to give it an overly vigorous shaking.
Training her eyes on her daughter, Lilly sneered, “Are you going to just sit there on your behind all day, or are you going to do some work? Children don’t take care of themselves, you know. They take work, and lots of it!”
Hurt at yet another unprovoked attack, Louise’s cup instantaneously overflowed. Sitting up, she replied heatedly, “Why are you treating me like this, Mama? You act like its all my fault, but…”
Her mother cut her off immediately, stepping near and accusing, “You told me yourself that you hadn’t been a good wife to T.J. A man expects a good meal when he gets home from work, and his wife is expected to perform her duty to him any time he needs…”
