Miss Julia Weathers the Storm

by Ann B. Ross

“Well, it been a week since he got operated on, an’ the hospital want rid of him. They say they gonna send him to some place that keep him longer, an’ he don’t wanta go.” Lillian scrubbed a pot, then, without looking at me, she said, “He call me las’ night.”

  “Thurlow called you? Why?”

  “He want me to come work for him so he can come home. He say he match what you pay, an’ go up a little.”

  Outraged, I said, “Why, that sneaky, underhanded old man! What a nerve! The very idea!” Then, the thought of Lillian leaving us brought me up short. “What did you say?”

  “Well, I didn’t say what I was thinkin’, ’cause I wouldn’t work for that ole man for all the tea in China. So what I say was I already got a good job, but I try to find somebody to help him out. But, Miss Julia,” Lillian said, turning to me, “won’t nobody come work for him no matter how much he pay. Nobody can put up with him. I jus’ don’t know what he’ll do, ’cause he too crazy an’ everybody know it.”

  “That’s a real relief. Oh, I don’t mean because nobody will work for him, but that you won’t. But by the way, what’s happened to that old dog of his? What was his name? Ronnie?”

  “Yes’m, they say he out in a kennel somewhere, an’ he pinin’ for that ole man. So you know that dog be the first thing he bring home when he get home hisself. An’ that mean whoever work for him gotta work for that dog, too.”

  “Well, I guess I ought to go visit him wherever they put him. Thurlow, I mean, not Ronnie. But, I’ll tell you this, it’ll be all I can do not to knock him out of the bed with my pocketbook. The very idea of going behind my back to try to hire you! And I’ll tell you another thing, Lillian, if you’re ever tempted to take another job, tell me first. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “You don’t need to worry ’bout that, Miss Julia. I’m not goin’ anywhere. Won’t nobody else put up with Latisha like you do.”

  We laughed together, I with a great lessening of anxiety over the thought of losing Lillian, and she with the rueful patience needed to raise a grandchild.

  Sam walked in then, smiling at our laughter. “Lillian, if you’re at a stopping place with dinner, let’s go get your car. They should have it ready by now, and I want to ride around with you a little to be sure you’re comfortable with it.”

  “Yessir, Mr. Sam,” Lillian said, folding a dish cloth, “I can put everything on low an’ it be all right. Lemme go get Latisha. She’ll wanta ride in that new car.”

  “Well, call Lloyd, too, if you will. He helped pick it out.” Then, turning to me, Sam said, “Come go with us, honey.”

  “No, I think I’ll stay here. You’ll have a full car without me. And I sure don’t want to distract Lillian from learning where the light switch is or the windshield wiper.”

  Lloyd and Latisha, boistrous and excited about the new car, ran through the kitchen on their way to Sam’s car. Sam would drive to the dealership where they’d transfer to Lillian’s car for her test drive.

  Just as I thought I’d have a few minutes of quiet, Latisha bounced back inside. Snatching her little red purse off the back of a chair where she’d hung it, she slung it on her shoulder. “Got to take my pocketbook,” she sang out, then let the door slam behind her.

  Welcoming again a few quiet minutes, I walked into the library and looked out the back window at the soaked yard. As much rain as we’d had the last few days, everything was drenched—tree limbs dripping, water puddling in low spots, and flowering plants looking stripped. But no rain was falling at the moment, though the sky was still gray and foreboding.

  “Maybe,” I said to myself as I left the window, “we’ll have a beautiful Indian summer to make up for this.”

  Just as I got comfortable on the sofa, the phone rang.

  “Julia?” LuAnne said as soon as I answered. Breathing heavily, she hurried on. “Julia, I’ve narrowed it down, but I need your help to confirm it.”

  I hesitated. “Confirm what?”

  “Why, who it is, of course. I told you, I’ve been following him every day, and he’s so oblivious he doesn’t even know it. But I’ll tell you this, he is not the homebody I thought he was. This is the second day—second this week, Julia—that he’s been here, so I know this is where he meets her. And I’m going to catch him in the act if it’s the last thing I do.”

  Wondering where here was, I mumbled, “Well, I’m not sure. . . .”

  “Don’t back out on me now, because I have everything worked out, and all you have to do is exactly what I tell you.”

  “Like what?”

  “I’ll tell you later. I’ll call you tomorrow, probably about midmorning, so you be ready to go. I’ll pick you up and we’ll follow him. Then I’ll tell you what to do.”

  No longer hesitant, I was now alarmed. “LuAnne, I don’t think—”

  “Just be ready.” And she hung up, leaving me holding a dead phone and probably the bag, as well.

  What in the world was she going to do? And why did she need me to help her do it? I jumped up and began to pace from one side of the library to the other. It was a fact that LuAnne had a one-track mind. When she took on a project, she pursued it to the bitter end.

  One thing was sure, though, I did not want to be involved in whatever that end was. Who knew what would ensue? Creating a scene or causing a spectacle could be the least of it. Maybe I should be somewhere else tomorrow when she called. But even as I considered absenting myself, I knew I wouldn’t fail her. I would answer when she called and try my best to keep her from ruining her life. As for Leonard’s life? Well, he was on his own. The old goat.

  —

  Hearing the clamour of Lillian, Sam, and the children returning from their joyride, I hurried to the kitchen to hear all about it.

  “You oughtta see that car!” Latisha’s voice had edged up to the deafening level. “Miss Lady, it’s the best car in the world!”

  “Well, I’m glad you like it, Latisha.” Then, turning to Lillian, I asked, “How about you, Lillian? Do you like it?”

  She was beaming. “I never thought I’d see the day I’d get a new car an’ a new roof in the same week. Yes, ma’am, I like it. It crank right up when you turn the key, an’ it stop when you want it to. Thank you, Miss Julia, an’ you, too, Mr. Sam. You real good at pickin’ out cars.”

  Lloyd was standing around, grinning at the delight of Lillian and Latisha. Sam touched my elbow and nodded toward the library. Leaving the others to recount the features of the new car—Latisha yelling about a radio with push buttons—I followed Sam out of the kitchen.

  “Everything all right?” I asked when I reached him.

  “I’m not sure,” Sam said, a note of concern in his voice. “We left my car at the dealership and transferred to the minivan. I had Lillian drive in traffic out on the boulevard, then on the interstate to the first off-ramp, then back into town to the dealership. She did well, but the minivan is a little longer than her old car, so it’ll take some getting used to. We sat for a few minutes when we got back while I made sure she knew where everything was.”

  “So how did she do? Are you saying you’re worried about her driving?”

  “No, no,” Sam said, waving his hand. “She did fine. No, what I’m worried about is the black Suburban that seemed to pick us up on the boulevard and followed us onto the interstate. It didn’t follow us off, but it was pretty obvious that we were heading back to town.”

  “Could you tell if it was the one we’ve been seeing?”

  He shook his head. “No, there was no way to be sure. It was the same make with tinted windows that Lloyd has seen, but that’s not enough for a definite identification. I’ll admit, though, that seeing what looked like the same one apparently following us spooked me a little.”

  “Oh, my goodness, Sam, don’t tell me that. If you’re spooked, then I’m scared to death.”

  Ch
apter 38

  I turned away and stomped across the room. “Why don’t they just ring the doorbell and tell us what they want? All this sneaking around—or stalking around—has me so on edge I can hardly stand it. I’ve a good mind to call the sheriff.”

  “No use, honey,” Sam said in his most soothing way. “Simply driving past our houses is not an arrestable offense. Let’s just hold on until Pickens and Coleman get back. They’ll get it straightened out.”

  Hold on was about all I was able to do, especially because in addition to watching others watching us, I had to worry about what LuAnne had up her sleeve for me to do.

  —

  It was late morning before LuAnne called and after I’d spent a few anxious hours. I had arranged for Latisha to take her shells, glue gun, and frame over to Hazel Marie’s to work under her supervision, and Lloyd was at the tennis courts, both safely escorted by Sam at my insistence. Frankly, I hated having either of them out of my sight, but life had to go on.

  And life picked up its pace when the phone rang. With neither a greeting nor a by-your-leave, LuAnne said, “When I blow the horn, you come running out. I don’t want to lose him.”

  So I ran to her car when it slid to the curb, and LuAnne took off before I got the door closed. “I know where he’s going,” she said, “but I don’t want to take a chance that he’ll change his mind.”

  “Where’s he going?”

  LuAnne was hunched over the steering wheel, her eyes peering over it like lasers. “For the third time this week, the courthouse.”

  Uh-oh, I thought, and clasped the armrest.

  LuAnne turned into the huge parking lot beside the new courthouse, then began trolling the pear tree–lined aisles of parked cars.

  “There it is,” she said, pointing to a tan Camry or something similar. “That’s his car. Perfect, he’s here.”

  It didn’t feel perfect to me, but then I still didn’t know what we were doing.

  LuAnne wheeled her car on past, then turned into a lane a couple of aisles over and parked beside a paneled truck.

  “He won’t see us here,” LuAnne said. “He won’t even look, he’s so sure of himself. Or maybe of me. Now, Julia, here’s the plan. I want you to go in that side door to the basement—see it? See where those people’re going in? Go in there, and you’ll see a large board right beside the door that tells where all the offices are. Be prepared to say what you’re looking for, because somebody may ask you.”

  “What am I looking for?”

  “Anything. Whatever. You own property all over the county, so surely there’s something you need to see about. Maybe you want to check the water level on a plot of land. Or maybe you need an easement of some kind, or an inspection of a new building, or you could want to double-check a deed of Wesley Lloyd’s. I don’t care, just come up with something that’ll let you wander around searching for an office. Only don’t find it, because what you’ll really be doing is looking for Leonard. Find out where he is and who he came to see.”

  “LuAnne,” I wailed, “I can’t do that! What if he sees me?”

  “That’s the beauty part, Julia. It won’t matter a hill of beans if you run into him. You have legitimate business in the courthouse, and he doesn’t. He’s the one who’ll avoid you, not the other way around.”

  Well, that made sense from her viewpoint, but not from mine. If he saw me, he’d know something was up—I don’t hide guilt very easily. But, unhappily and reluctantly, I moaned, “Oh-h, me,” and climbed out of the car.

  Walking across the parking lot in the heavy heat was a trial in itself, but I trudged on, looking back occasionally to see LuAnne waving me onward. I pushed through the heavy door into the air-conditioned basement floor of the courthouse, which was full of twisting corridors and one office after another. Studying the board that listed the various departments, I stood for a moment gathering myself. Unbeknownst to LuAnne, I knew what I was looking for—the County Building Inspections office. That is, if the word from Sam’s breakfast buddies at the Bluebird was on the money. I just didn’t know what to do about it when I found it.

  Should I walk right in and say I needed something inspected? Should I ask for Totsie? And what would I say if I ran into Leonard? I studied the board awhile longer as busy people came and went behind me. But it was either face LuAnne with nothing to report or go ahead and do it, so I began wandering the halls, reading the names on the office doors and glancing through the narrow windows as I went. Pretending, pretending, and hoping that Leonard had left by another door.

  Hopefully imagining Leonard tooling home in his Camry as I scanned one door plaque after another, I turned a sharp corner and ran smack into him. It startled me so badly that I dropped my pocketbook. Befuddled by being face-to-face with LuAnne’s solace-seeking husband, all I could think to do was hightail it out of there as quickly as I could. Mumbling, “Sorry, sorry,” I bent over to snatch up my purse—and so did Leonard. Our heads cracked together—hard.

  Stunned by the collision, I leaned against the wall while Leonard, holding my pocketbook and reeling a little himself, said, “Julia? Are you all right? What’re you doing here?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said, holding my head and trying to focus around the flashing lights, wishing not to see who I was seeing. But there he was, tall and round shouldered, his bland face creased by a slight frown of concern. “I mean, getting inspected. My word, Leonard, I think I just got knocked a little goofy.”

  “Maybe you’d better sit down. My head’s pretty hard, so you got quite a lick. Come on in here.” He pushed open a partially ajar office door and guided me to a chair in front of a desk.

  I leaned back, closed my eyes to stop the spinning, and heard a woman’s voice asking Leonard if he’d forgotten anything. There was a little mumbling, but I wasn’t hearing too well and didn’t care to hear. Then Leonard said, “Maybe some water?” And in a few seconds a paper cup of water was put into my hand.

  After sipping from it, I began to feel better, so I straightened up in the chair and decided that I’d had all the run-ins with Leonard that I could stand. “Thank you,” I mumbled, beginning to rise as I put the cup on the desk. “I think I’ll go home and come back another day.”

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” I heard somebody ask that question, but Leonard’s mouth was closed. I looked around, saw a short, plump woman with a head of bushy hair that needed a control product, sporting a pair of spectacles on a cord around her neck, gazing worriedly at me from behind the desk. A sizable badge on her sizable bosom read TOTSIE.

  “Fine,” I said, springing to my feet. “I’m fine. Thank you both so much. I must be going, thank you again.” I snatched my pocketbook from Leonard’s hand, noting—why, I don’t know—as I did so that he was wearing pleated trousers which I thought had gone out of style years before. But Leonard had never been a fashion plate to start with, nor was his lady friend, who was clad—as I saw when she walked around the desk—in a granny-style gingham dress that reached the top of her rubber-soled Earth Shoes.

  Feeling that I had perhaps been knocked back a few decades by the blow to my head, I careened out of the office and sped out of the building.

  The heat hit me as I reached the parking lot, but, after staggering for a minute, I finally got myself headed in the general direction of LuAnne’s car.

  “Did you see her?” LuAnne demanded as soon as I collapsed inside. “What does she look like? You didn’t run into Leonard, did you? Talk to me, Julia. I’ve been going crazy waiting for you.”

  “LuAnne, get us out of here. It’s hot as Hades, and my head is spinning. I’ll tell you as soon as I catch my breath, but I’ll thank you not to mention running into anybody ever again.”

  —

  She wouldn’t let me out of the car. Parked by the curb in front of my house, she kept the car running for the air-conditioning, but every time I reached for
the door handle she held me back.

  “Tell me again,” LuAnne pleaded. “Tell me just how she looked—in detail. She had on a gingham dress? In a professional office? How tacky. You think she’s the one he’s seeing? Start at the beginning and tell me everything.”

  Feeling the throb of a low-grade headache, I nonetheless started to retell it. “Well, I rounded a corner—not looking where I was going, you know, because I was reading the plaques on the doors. Then all of a sudden, there he was. LuAnne, I nearly passed out. And that was before he nearly knocked me out.”

  “Oh, you’ve already told all that.” And this from my friend with the one-track mind. “Tell me about her. Are you sure you were in the right office?”

  “He’d just come out of it, LuAnne, so I’m sure,” I said, although I didn’t tell her how and why I was sure. But it had been Totsie I’d been looking for and it was Totsie—with Leonard—that I’d found, and I knew I’d never doubt any word coming from the Bluebird again.

  “Well, how old is she?” LuAnne persisted. “What color are her eyes? Her hair? Is she thin, fat, tall, short, or what? And her name is Totsie? What kind of name is that?”

  I closed my eyes trying to bring up Totsie’s image in my mind. Which was no problem—I could see her as plainly as I’d seen her in the flesh. The problem was this: how to describe her in terms that LuAnne wouldn’t recognize. Because the fact of the matter was that, excepting for her style, Totsie was almost a dead ringer for LuAnne herself.

  Hand Totsie over to one of the stylists in Velma’s Cut ’n’ Curl, put an Ann Taylor suit on her with a nice brooch on the lapel, put her in a pair of medium-heeled Ferragamos, stop by the Estee Lauder counter, give her a cell phone with a prayer list to call, and you’d have the spitting image of LuAnne Conover. They could’ve been twins.

  Chapter 39

  “It s’posed to storm again today,” Lillian said as she walked into the library where I was nursing a tall glass of lemonade and a headache.