"Trudy Anne got a tea set from her last year even. It was real pretty. I'd like to have me one a' them. We could take it down to the creek when we make them mud cookies. Wouldn't that be nice?" I asked her.
"It'd be nicer if she croaked," Carolee told me back. "We can play mud cookies without her dumb old tea set just fine."
Poor Carolee. It was her birthday and here she was sad over that Darla Faye already and she hadn't even showed up yet. I come early and helped put the party stuff out. Carolee's ma had little hats for us to wear and these noisemakers left over from New Year's evening night, but they was right nice for regular parties, too. Horns and rattlers and these funny things that whip out like a long curly tongue when you blow.
"I like these best, Carolee," I said. "Don't you?" She put one of them at my place. She's so nice. Her mama had us write everybody's name on a card so she could put them on the table where she wanted everyone to sit.
"Can't have everyone fussin' over what favor they want," she said. "This way we'll get everyone sat down prompt like when we're ready to cut the cake." That was a really good idea. I figured that'd be a good thing for me to do at my party come next year.
"I'm gonna do that at my party next year, Mz.Thompson," I said.
"Weren't you supposed to have one this year, honey? Seems like I remember that."
"Well, I was supposed to, but it didn't work out."
"I'm sorry, Lori Jean," she said.
"Oh, that's okay. If we get us any extra money, I get one next year for sure."
"That's nice," she said.
"So it's pretty for sure, I think. I mean, next year we ought to have ourselves some extra money. It's been a while. I reckon it's about time, don't you think?" I asked her.
"Don't see why not, Lori Jean. Mill's going strong right now."
"That's what I figure. Next year I'll have me a real nice party like this. And you can come and help me get the table ready, Carolee, okay?"
"I wouldn't miss it for nothin'," she said. I knew I could count on Carolee, her being my best friend.
"Yeah, next year I'm gonna have me a fine birthday party," I said.
We set up all the games. We played pin-the-tail-on-thedonkey. Carolee's mama had a prize for the winner who pinned it on closest to where a donkey's tail oughta be. It was a box of Cracker Jacks, which was a really good prize 'cause you never know, you might get the one has a ring in it. Never know. I tried real hard to win that prize, but once they spun me around I lost track of what direction that donkey even was and pinned his tail to the wall. When it come Darla Faye's turn, she peeked out under the blindfold. I seen her and she pinned that tail to Carolee's arm, only it didn't stay put, it just pricked her real good—drew blood even. Looked like to me it was on purpose, but I didn't tell Carolee. I didn't want to spoil her party none. She probably figured it out anyway 'cause she didn't cry or fuss. I think that's what Darla wanted 'cause she looked mighty disappointed when Carolee just giggled.
"That's my arm, Darla Faye. You lose!" Carolee told her and spun Clyde Farris around for his turn. He's real short and left-handed. He pinned the tail to the donkey's nose. It looked like a big drip of snot hanging down and everybody laughed. We was having ourselves a mighty fine time, we sure was.
Next, we played drop-the-clothespin-in-the-bottle. They play that game at every kid party I ever been to, so I should of won that one. I had me a bunch a practice, but Trudy Anne was invited and she always won it. If 'n a body gonna have a party and play that game and Trudy Anne's invited, might as well not play it a'tall and just give her the prize 'cause she's gonna win. She's real good at it. Her ma lets her practice it whenever she wants, so she's like a champion player or something.
"Reckon we oughta play another game, Carolee?" I asked her before the party started. "'Cause Trudy Anne's gonna win this one for sure," I said. I was counting out all the clothespins.
"Well, Ma's got the prizes all wrapped and ready," Carolee said. "What else could we play?" I was thinking real hard about that when Carolee's mama told her to answer the door.
"Carolee, honey, April Dix is here. Take her present and put it on the table over there by the cake."
So we ended up playing the clothespin game. They give you five clothespins. Then they turn a regular kitchen chair around and put a milk jug on the floor below the seat. Then you kneel on the seat of the chair and hang your arm over the back of the chair. Then you aim each clothespin one at a time and try to get 'em to drop into that bottle. If it sounds easy, it ain't. You don't get to hang your arm over the chair very far; that'd be cheating. A body's lucky to get one in. Now Trudy Anne, I seen her plenty of times get all of them in, right through the neck of that milk jug. And it's a real skinny neck, too.
Sure enough, Trudy Anne, she won the prize. It was a shiny new red yo-yo. The string was all wrapped up in plastic still. I didn't feel so bad losing when I seen that. I don't got a yo-yo, but I tried Chester Britt's once and it weren't much fun. Mostly it laid on the ground and wouldn't come back up, even when I jerked on the string real hard. Except once, but then it come back up and smacked me in the head. Chester Britt, he can make it roll up and down that string like a window shade gone haywire. He's amazing!
"It's time for cake and ice cream!" Carolee's mama called out, and everybody run to the table lickety-split to find their name. Darla Faye climbed up on the chair at the head of the table with the princess hat.
"Darla Faye! Shame on you. You know that's the birthday girl's chair," Carolee's ma scolded her right away.
"You sit right here." Mrs. Thompson pointed to the chair next to Carolee and scooted her over. Darla took her place and stuck out her tongue at Carolee when Carolee put the princess party hat on. Darla's hat was the one that looked like the dunce's cap the teacher used at school. Carolee's ma had put a real nice circus hat out for Darla, one with bright blue polka dots on it. We switched it when her ma wasn't looking to the one me and Carolee thought was the ugliest.
"I hate you. You give me this dumb old hat!" Darla whispered to Carolee. I could hear her, though, 'cause I was sitting right next to Carolee on the other side. We put our hands over our mouths and tried not to laugh, but it come out funny through our throats. That made Darla so mad her face turned kind of purple. For once, we got her good.
Carolee's mama brought out the cake. It was Carolee's favorite. White cake inside with chocolate fudge frosting. Her mama lit the candles. We all sung that "Happy Birthday" song. Then her mama turned out the lights. It was so pretty. Carolee sucked in real hard and blew out all the candles. I didn't ask what she wished 'cause whatever it was, I wanted it to come true for her, for sure.
When her mama turned the lights back on, chocolate frosting was smeared all over Carolee's new party dress. A big gob of it covered up two of them pearl buttons.
"Carolee, honey. Look what you done to your new dress," her mama said.
Darla Faye looked at me and smiled like the devil hisself, if he'd been a girl. She was licking her fingers off, one by one, when no one was looking but me. I think I hated her more that day than when I wet my pants, but I couldn't be for sure.
Carolee started crying and run to her room in the back of the house. I run after her. Her mama did, too.
"I'll help her, Mz. Thompson," I said. "I reckon a best friend's real important right now, don't you think?" She just pressed her lips together and nodded and went back to the party.
Carolee had her dress off. She was rubbing at it with a wet washcloth. Made a terrible mess. That pretty dress weren't never gonna be the same. Carolee was crying the kind of tears where no noise comes out for a long time, but your chest moves up and down a lot. Then all of a sudden a big noise comes out. That kind a' crying. Which hurt my heart 'cause I loved Carolee as much as I loved Lexie Ann and Mama and MeeMaw all together. More even.
"Don't cry, Carolee," I said. "That's what she wants, don't ya' see?" I took my dress off and laid it next to her on the bed.
"You can wear mine, okay?"
I said. Carolee looked up at me.
"It's not the same," she said.
"'Member all the times you admired it?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well now's your chance to wear it. And on a special day like today, it's perfect!" I said. "Let me wear your brown school dress. It don't matter none. I'm not the birthday girl." Carolee stopped crying then.
"Lori Jean, you're the most special girl in the whole world," she said. Fancy that! That's how I felt about her. We give each other a hug. Darla Faye wasn't gonna ruin the party, that's for sure. Carolee got her brown dress out of the closet. I put it on and she buttoned me up. Then I helped her into mine.
Carolee twirled round and round the room in my dress. It was even more beautiful on her. She was smiling and her eyes was sparkling like stars.
"I'm gonna love you for ever and ever," I said.
Her face lit up like one them angels I seen on a pretty storebought Christmas card MeeMaw give me once.
"And I'm gonna love you back from heaven itself, Lori Jean, if 'n I get there first," she said. "I promise."
Chapter Six
That fall MeeMaw caught the flu. Lots of folks got it, but MeeMaw was the only one in Roseflower Creek that died from it that year. She was near sixty-three years old, real wrinkly, but I wanted her to be with us no matter how old she got. Reverend Sims said she had a long, fruitful life and it was her time.
"Mz. Howard was a God-fearing woman. She was a fine Christian lady who helped anyone she could. She was a loyal friend. We'll all miss her," he said. He said some other words, too, but I can't remember them. They sounded right pretty, though.
I reckon MeeMaw would of liked it fine, but she'd of probably liked it a whole lot better if he'd skipped that part about her burning all the pancakes when they had the first hotcakes and pork sausage prayer meeting last year. That preacher repeated what Darla Faye's cousin Jimmy said when the blessing was being given. He'd started gobbling down his pancakes while Reverend Sims was still praying.
"Reverend Sims, you best pray o'er these real good," Jimmy yelled. "They's the worst cakes I ever tasted." When Reverend Sims told that story while MeeMaw laid in her coffin bed, everyone laughed real loud, except for me. I knowed MeeMaw took her pancakes serious. If she was gonna laugh herself good, it weren't gonna be over her cooking, that's for sure.
Mama took it real bad when MeeMaw died. She let Ray move in right away that year and give him all the money in the jar MeeMaw'd saved up. They went out drinking and dancing, and they come back real late and made a whole lotta funny sounds in the night. Scared me to death. I told Carolee about the bed knocking into the wall and all that moaning and groaning.
"He's killing my mama, for sure, Carolee," I said. "He sure enough is."
"Oh, Lori Jean," she said. "You're so funny!" She scrunched her neck down and giggled real good. "My folks does that all the time! They's makin' whoopee."
"Whoopee?" I said.
"Uh-huh." And that's when she told me what Connie Dee told her about making babies and stuff.
"Grownups get all in a tizzy when they does it, Lori Jean. My cousin Millie Anne said it's like she went to the moon and back. She said she did a whole lotta screamin'. So don't be payin' your mama no mind. She might be yellin', but she probably likes it real fine."
"How can you be so sure about that, Carolee?"
"'Cause my mama's always got a smile on her face the next day."
"Well maybe she's smiling 'cause she done lived through it," I said. Carolee thought for a moment.
"No, it ain't your regular kind a' smile. It's a special smile. I think she likes it."
"Sure be nice to know for a matter of fact," I said.
"We'll just have to wait and see, Lori Jean," Carolee said. "Millie Anne was fourteen when she found out. I reckon I'll jist wait 'til I'm fourteen and find out for myself," she said. "How about you, Lori Jean?"
"Ain't no sense in both a' us findin' out is there?"
"S'pose not," she said.
"That's what I figure," I said. "How about when you find out, I just take your word on it?"
That first winter after we buried MeeMaw, my ma got sick. Every morning she'd throwed up in the chamber pot she kept under her bed. After a while she got a bit better, but come one night Ray fetched a strange doctor to come around I ain't never seen before. Mama cried the whole day long 'fore he got there. Ray told me to wait in the bedroom and not to come out 'til he said to.
"Git yore butt in the bedroom and stay put, 'til I tell ya' different," he said. He come in not long after. We sat on the bed while my ma stayed in the kitchen with that doctor fella.
"How come you didn't fetch Doc Crawley?" I asked him.
"He don't do this kind a' doctorin'."
"What kind a' doctorin' is that?"
"Your ma's got a special problem. A lady problem. That's all you need to know." Ray got a real mean look in his eye.
"You don't mention this night, you hear? You didn't see nothin'. You didn't hear nothin'. You got that?" He grabbed my shoulder and dug his fingers in.
"Yes, sir," I said. But it was a lie. I seen that man. He didn't look like no doctor to me. And I heard Mama scream out in the kitchen, some plumb awful cries. I heard that man, too. He had a deep, gravelly voice.
"Don't move!" he said. "You move, it's gonna hurt all the more."
Ray kept staring at me. After a while Mama come back and laid down on the bed. Ray got a bottle of whiskey out and took a long swig. He offered the bottle to Mama, but she shook her head and rolled over onto her side and faced the wall. Then Ray left. I curled up next to Mama and fell asleep. When I woke up there was blood all over the bedclothes.
"Lori Jean, git up, honey. I gotta change these sheets 'fore Ray gets home," she said. I got up.
"Oh, Mama," I said, "we best fetch a regular doctor. That other one's done somethin' bad awful to you!"
"I'm gonna be fine. You go on back to bed now."
"But Mama…"
"Go on…it's nothing. Just a little blood is all. I'll be fine come morning," she said. Even so, I was mighty scared. I give her a hug. Her face was pasty white, and she was all clammy.
"Go on now. I'm fine. Just fine."
But she wasn't fine, not a'tall. I woke in the night to check on her. She was on the floor in a puddle of blood as big as me. Her nightie was all hiked up and all that blood was coming out of her private place. She didn't have her panties on, and I could see the fuzz down there she ain't never let me see before. Ray was asleep in the front room on MeeMaw's old sofa. I about woke up the moon I was so scared.
Ray stuffed some towels up against her bottom and fetched Doc Crawley. I know he come directly, but it felt like I waited three days' worth of revivals 'fore he got there. Doc took one look and said we needed an ambulance. We didn't have a phone. Time was a wasting, he said, so they did the next best thing. They wrapped her up tight in the bedsheet and put her in Doc's Buick.
"What in thunder went on here?" Doc Crawley asked Ray as they was tucking her into the back seat. I heard Ray tell him my ma took a coat hanger to herself.
"I begged her not to, Doc. Begged her. I went out for a piece and that's when she gone and done it. Found her like this when I got home," Ray said. Doc got in his car and tore down that dirt road that led back to town. I found out later he called for an ambulance there and it come and took her clear over to the hospital in Decatur. She near bled to death.
I don't know why Ray told Doc Crawley that lie about my mama and that coat hanger. That's plumb crazy talk. Why would she do something like that? I wanted to tell Doc when they was wrapping her up tight that if a coat hanger got took to her, it wasn't her that did it, more likely it was that stranger Ray'd paid money to, done it to her on the kitchen table. I wanted to, but Ray was staring me down good. His eyes was black as a hoot owl fixing to strike. I was sore afraid if I told, Ray'd call that man back once Doc Crawley left and pay him to hurt me next. I was a coward for sure, I was, but I forgived myself,
'cause a coat hanger poked in a potty spot sounded like a sorrowful way to die.
My mama made it. Doc Crawley said it was no small miracle, either. I listened through the walls the first night she got home. They's like paper. My mama was crying. It sounded like they was trying to talk soft, but it didn't do no good. I could hear every word.
"There won't be no more babies, Ray Pruitt. That's what this done to me."
"What's it matter?" Ray said.
"It's what you promised, Ray. Git married. Have us a baby. You'd settle down. You said, Ray. You said." I heard Mama cry harder.
"Shoot, Nadine, we can still get married. I kin settle down. I don't need me a baby to stop chasin' women."
"Is that so?" I heard my mama blow her nose. "What's it gonna take then? Huh?"
Roseflower Creek Page 4
