by Rosa Jordan
“Then he’s covered with rotten egg!” A big grin spread across Chip’s tear-streaked face. “You know what, Luther? That’s a smell that never washes off.”
Chip and Luther got to their feet and strutted around as if they had never felt so brave in their entire lives.
I can’t believe this, Kate thought. They just about got killed and all they can think of are those stupid rotten eggs!
“Get home, both of you!” she snapped. “And hold on to Sugar’s collar so she doesn’t walk out in front of traffic on the highway.”
Chip and Luther each took hold of Sugar’s collar. They walked along beside the goat, their heads tilted together over her neck, whispering. When they reached the highway they stopped.
“Kate,” Chip said, “we have a question.”
“What?”
“If we got an alligator when it was a baby and never fed it meat,” Luther asked, “would it grow up to be a vegetarian?”
“No,” said Kate, turning her head so they wouldn’t see her smile. “There is absolutely no such thing as a vegetarian alligator.”
20
Looking Good
Ruby and Kate wanted to go to town early Saturday morning, but Mom had asked them to wait till she got back from work at noon.
“I’ll try to come home a little early,” Mom told Kate. “You finish hemming that skirt and when I get here, I’ll help you get dressed.”
When Mom came in from work Kate was standing in front of the mirror, twirling around in the full skirt.
“Nice hemming job,” Mom said, and went down the hall to her room.
Kate followed. “What about a top?”
“Don’t you have a shirt that will do?” Mom asked.
“Nothing I can get buttoned anymore,” Kate said.
Mom sighed. She stood in front of her dresser for a minute, then, as if making up her mind, opened the bottom drawer and took out a white angora sweater. Kate knew that sweater was Mom’s favorite, the nicest piece of clothing she owned. She didn’t even wear it to church, but only for special occasions, like to parties back in the days when she and Dad used to go to parties. The only other time Kate could remember her wearing it was the year Kate sang in the sixth-grade Christmas program, and then only because Kate had begged her.
“I guess this’ll do,” Mom said. She tossed the beautiful sweater to Kate without looking at her.
Kate gave Mom an awkward hug. “If we get our business going,” she said, “I’ll give what I earn to you. You know, to help make our house payments.”
Mom kissed Kate. “That’s sweet of you, honey. But I doubt it will make any difference.”
If it hadn’t been for the soft sweater in her hands, Kate might have cried. If more money wouldn’t make any difference, then it must be true that they were going to lose the farm.
I just won’t think about it right now, Kate decided, and pulled the sweater over her head. It felt wonderful, and it reminded her of what Ruby had said: it’s not how clothes look, but how you feel in them that really matters. She went over to the mirror and took a peek at her new outfit. The sweater was a little big, but that didn’t change how good it felt. She whirled around to thank Mom, but the sadness in her eyes stopped her in her tracks.
“Please, Mom,” Kate pleaded. “Don’t worry about me going to town with Ruby. She really is a good person. She’s my friend.”
“I know,” Mom said, still looking sad. “I understand.”
Justin appeared in the doorway. “Ruby’s here. She’s waiting out by the porch.”
Kate and Mom jumped up together. “Let me,” Mom said, and moved quickly to the front door.
Ruby was standing by the steps holding Billy’s lead rope. She wore a red outfit and she looked, as always, like she’d just finished modeling for a magazine cover.
“Ruby!” Mom called. “Come in here and tell me what you think of Kate’s outfit.”
Ruby hesitated a second, then handed the lead rope to Justin, who was standing back pretending not to stare but sneaking glances at her when she wasn’t looking. Mom held the door open wide, and Ruby walked in.
Kate twirled a circle for her.
“So what do you think, Ruby?” Mom asked. “Will that do?”
Ruby walked around, looking at Kate from all angles. “Nice, but …” With a sudden movement, Ruby unsnapped the red elastic cinch belt she was wearing and fastened it around Kate’s waist.
Ruby stepped back, looking pleased. “How’s that?”
Mom stared, like Kate had just morphed into a total stranger.
Kate looked from one to the other. “What?” she asked, and headed for the hall mirror.
For the first time since grade school, Kate found herself looking in a mirror and actually liking what she saw. The belt nipped in her waist in a way that made it tiny compared to her hips, which were round under the full skirt. The white sweater, instead of sagging from shoulders to hips, now curved softly over Kate’s small but definite breasts.
Mom and Ruby had followed her to the mirror and hovered behind her. “Oh, gosh, do you think.?” Mom began in a doubtful voice.
“Stand up straight,” Ruby said, jabbing Kate between the shoulder blades. “You got the same as your mama and me, and it’s nothing to hide.”
Ruby turned to Mom. “Give that girl another year and she’s going to have a terrific figure. Just like yours.”
Mom looked embarrassed. “Who, me? I don’t—”
Ruby waved at the mirror. “See for yourself, woman. Can’t deny what God gave you.”
They all stared at themselves in the mirror: Ruby in her red outfit, Kate in a white sweater and skirt, Mom in blue jeans and a blue denim work shirt.
“Red, white, and blue!” Kate laughed. “Look, we’re almost the same size!”
It was true. Except for Kate being shorter and a little slimmer, the three of them had almost the same figure.
“You look fine,” Ruby said, giving Kate’s shoulder a little squeeze. “Just remember, it’s not what you hang on your body that matters, it’s the body itself. Nothing looks better on a woman than a strong, healthy body.”
Mom looked over at Ruby and gave a little nod. Kate saw it in the mirror and wondered if Mom was finally beginning to figure out that even though Ruby was older, she wasn’t necessarily a bad person for Kate to hang around with.
Kate twirled away from the mirror and picked up the red velvet lying on Mom’s bed. “Look, Ruby. Look what Mom gave us.”
“Hey!” Ruby exclaimed. “This is expensive stuff, Mrs. Martin!”
“Let’s go see how it looks.” Mom took a cardboard box, some thumbtacks, and a hammer, and led the way outside.
Justin sat on the front step holding Billy’s rope. Chip and Luther were cartwheeling around the yard.
“See how good we brushed him?” Chip called out.
“And polished his horns, too,” Luther pointed out.
“That is certainly one handsome goat!” Mom exclaimed. She walked around the cart to get a better look at the gold lettering on the side. “Who did the calligraphy?”
“Ruby,” Kate told her.
“It’s beautiful.” Mom glanced at Ruby. “Not only artistic, but very professional.”
Ruby cut her eyes at Kate in a half-embarrassed but totally pleased way and lifted out the basket of chocolates so Mom could line the cart with the velvet.
“I was just telling Kate,” Mom said, working as she talked, “that if we put this empty cardboard box upside down in the cart and cover it with the velvet, you can arrange the boxes of candy on top. That way it’ll look like the cart is full to the brim, and your pretty bows will show over the top.”
“Great idea!” Ruby exclaimed. She and Mom began arranging the boxes of candy on the velvet, fluffing up the bows that had been mashed.
“You’ve definitely got an artistic eye!” Mom exclaimed.
“You, too, Mrs. Martin.” Ruby sounded surprised.
The surprise in Ruby’s
voice caused Kate to wonder if maybe Ruby had prejudged Mom just as much as Mom had prejudged her. Ruby must’ve thought that because Mom worked at the dairy and wore boots and blue jeans all the time, she was some kind of dumb cowgirl. Ruby didn’t know that when Mom had the money to buy fabric and time to sew, she could make the most beautiful and complicated things, not just clothes, but stuffed animals and quilts and wall hangings that were as pretty as any picture.
Watching Mom and Ruby working together, Kate thought that if they’d had a project like this a long time ago, they probably never would’ve gotten the wrong idea about each other in the first place. At the same time, she was secretly glad that Mom and Ruby hadn’t been friends before, because now Ruby was her friend.
Billy tugged at the rope, impatient to go. Kate held out two books. “Could we put these in too? I’ve got to return them to the library.”
Ruby tucked the library books down in one corner of the cart and turned to Kate. “There. Are we ready?”
Just then Sugar pranced up and nipped at one of the bows.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Mom pulled the goat away from the candy.
“Sugar, what’re you doing out again?” Kate demanded.
Ruby said, “Guess she heard there was a convention of beautiful women here this afternoon and figured she ought to join in.”
Billy looked at Sugar. “Ba-a-a,” he said, tugging on the rope.
Mom laughed. “I think Billy just voted Sugar ‘most beautiful female.’ As far as he’s concerned, the rest of us aren’t worth noticing.”
Kate smoothed a hand over Sugar’s sleek sides, which were getting fatter by the day. “You are definitely looking good,” she said to the goat.
“So are you, Katie.” Mom smiled at Kate, and then at Ruby. “Go on, you two. Go turn some heads.”
“And you!” Mom said to Sugar. “I am going to fix that gate right now so you’ll never get it open again!”
21
Downtown
They stopped on the sidewalk in front of the library. Kate dug down under the candy to get the books that were due. A garden club meeting must have just been breaking up, because several women were standing at the top of the steps. The only three she knew were the librarian, a retired history teacher named Mrs. Mayfair, and old Mrs. Bainbridge.
“Will you look at that!” exclaimed Mrs. Mayfair. She came down the steps and scratched Billy between the horns. “Aren’t you a darling old thing!”
The librarian read the words on the side of the cart. “Oh, are you selling candy?” she asked Ruby.
“Yes ma’am,” Ruby said. “What we have here is for a client, but we’d be glad to take your order.”
“Candy, did you say? How much?” asked Mrs. Mayfair. Kate went inside to put her books on the librarian’s desk. When she came out, Mrs. Bainbridge, who was about eighty years old, was hobbling down the steps with her cane. The librarian put her hand on Mrs. Bainbridge’s arm to steady her, but Mrs. Bainbridge jerked it away. Even though she tottered, she never allowed anybody except her son Junior to help her. When Mrs. Bainbridge got to the bottom of the steps, she stopped and glared at Ruby. “Are you Ruby?” she asked. She thwacked the lettering on the cart with her cane. “That Ruby?”
“Yes,” Ruby said. “I am.”
“Don’t mind bragging on yourself, do you?” Mrs. Bainbridge said in a cranky voice.
Kate rushed down the steps. “It’s the candy we’re saying is ex … um … exqui—”
“Just as I suspected. You can’t even pronounce it,” Mrs. Bainbridge looked down at the word “exquisite” in gold lettering on the side of the cart. “Spelled it right, though.” She turned her glare back on Ruby. “You gave my son a box. And he gave you a dollar.”
Kate saw Ruby’s embarrassed look. Ruby had probably figured out that old Mrs. Bainbridge was the mother of Junior Bainbridge, who ran the gift shop. Kate was sure Ruby hadn’t forgotten how he gave them a dollar and told them to “run along.”
“That was only a sample,” Ruby said sharply. “I told him—”
“Waste of breath,” Mrs. Bainbridge interrupted. “Junior wouldn’t know good chocolate from a stick of licorice. Luckily, I do. I’ll take one. Write it down. One pound for Clair Bainbridge.”
“Your address, please?” Ruby asked, pencil poised over her small notebook in a very businesslike manner.
“Everyone knows where I live,” Mrs. Bainbridge said haughtily.
Ruby cut a sideways glance at Kate. Kate nodded to let her know it was true; everyone in town knew the huge house where the Bainbridges lived, a house that looked like something out of Gone with the Wind and made creaking noises when you went by. But nobody ever said it was haunted, because it was a well-known fact that Mrs. Bainbridge wouldn’t tolerate a ghost around the place for one minute.
“So that’s one pound, Mrs. Bainbridge?” Ruby asked.
“Yes. Every Saturday.”
“Every Saturday?”
“Is there any reason why I shouldn’t have fresh chocolates every week?” Mrs. Bainbridge demanded.
“No ma’am,” Ruby said, ducking her head and trying not to smile.
Mrs. Bainbridge gave one final glare at the other women gathered around the cart. “Chocolates are good for me,” she announced. “They improve my disposition.”
The librarian ordered a box of candy and Mrs. Mayfair ordered two. Ruby wrote their names and orders under Mrs. Bainbridge’s. Then they led Billy up Main Street to Miss Tutweiler’s hotel.
Ruby surprised Kate by saying, “I’ll take the order in today. You stay with the cart.”
Kate didn’t mind waiting outside at all, because people smiled when they saw the cart. Children tugged at their mothers’ hands and pointed, and some even crossed the street to get a better look. All the children loved Billy, except one toddler who cried when Billy snatched the cookie out of his hand and ate it in two bites. The little boy’s mother didn’t see what happened and thought her child was crying because he was scared. She picked him up and kept saying over and over, “There, there, don’t be afraid. He’s a nice goat. He won’t hurt you.”
Ruby came out of the hotel with shining eyes. She cracked her purse to show Kate some bills. Kate gasped. For the first time she really had a sense that they were “in business.”
As they started back down the street, Kate saw Bubba watching them from the gas station.
“Oh, sweet mama!” Bubba said in a loud voice. “Here she comes.”
Ralph laughed. “That gal ain’t coming, Bubba. She’s going.”
Ruby kept walking like she hadn’t heard a word they said. Kate covered her mouth to keep from giggling.
Bubba started combing his hair. “Man, what you don’t know about women!”
José scooted out from under the car he was working on and sat up. “Bubba, you loco. That pretty thing is not even looking this way.”
“The goat looked over this way,” Ralph said to Bubba. “Maybe it took a shine to you.” He and José laughed.
Bubba revved his motorcycle. Kate saw that he was going to follow them the same way he did before. She hoped he wouldn’t come too close. The noise of the bike might upset Billy, who was hard enough to manage as it was.
Just then Mr. Jackson came hurrying up behind them. “Excuse me,” he called. “Ruby? Ruby Wilson?”
Kate pulled Billy to a stop. Ruby looked Mr. Jackson up and down, from his short black hair to the books he was carrying under one arm. “Do I know you?” she asked in a cool voice.
“I know him,” Kate said. “He’s Justin’s math teacher.”
“I just moved here recently. When school started.” He stuck out his hand. “My name’s Richard Jackson.”
Kate thought Ruby was going to ignore Mr. Jackson’s hand, but just then Bubba roared up on his motorcycle. Ruby turned so that her back was to Bubba. She smiled at Mr. Jackson in a friendly way and shook his hand.
“Where are you from, Mr. Jackson?”
Bubba slow
ed for a second, then revved the engine and roared away. Billy looked after the motorcycle with an evil eye. Kate held tight to his harness until Bubba and his bike were out of sight.
“I’m from Chicago,” Mr. Jackson told Ruby. “What about you?”
“I grew up here, but I’ve been away awhile. Living in New York.”
“Bet you’re glad to be back,” Mr. Jackson said. “This is a great town.”
Ruby looked astonished. “You like this town?”
Kate noticed that Mr. Jackson was carrying a big bag full of candy boxes. “You bought some of our chocolates!” she exclaimed.
“Well, yes. I did. I just picked them up from Miss Tutweiler. In fact, I’d like to get one more box.”
“She doesn’t have any more?” Ruby asked in a voice that said she knew Miss Tutweiler did have more.
“She does, yes, but I didn’t want to take all of them. She’ll be needing some for her other customers. I’d be glad to drive out to your house to pick it up.”
“Sure!” Kate said excitedly.
“Well, Kate’s my partner. If it’s okay with her, I suppose it’s okay with me.” Ruby smiled at Mr. Jackson in a teasing way and Kate realized that they were talking about more than candy.
“Do you like music?” he asked Ruby. “There’s a great jazz group playing in Orlando this weekend.”
Ruby looked at Kate. “What do you think, partner? Should I give him my phone number?”
Mr. Jackson reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out one of Ruby’s cards, the kind she gave to each of their customers. He flashed it at Kate.
“I already got her phone number. From Miss Tutweiler. I was just asking permission to use it.” He arched an eyebrow at Ruby.
Ruby tossed her head, causing the sunshine to sparkle on the beads woven through her tiny braids. “Call if you like, but you’re wasting your time.”
Ruby took hold of Billy’s lead rope and started walking. Kate turned back to wave good-bye. The math teacher was grinning happily.
