“It’s early but how’s about we grab a bite to eat?”
“That’d be fine.”
“Let me just wash up and get ready. Would you like to walk over to Barney’s?”
Mildred remembered the last time they were there. The idea of running into Pat made her cringe but she knew that she would have to face her again at some point. “Sure, be good to stretch my legs.”
After Charley cleaned up, they walked up his street, turned down Main Street, and made their way to the cafe. Satchel and Jake Cummings, standing in front of the telegraph office, stopped talking as they approached. Charley nodded and continued on. Mildred was relieved she did not have to make any small talk. When they arrived at Barney’s, and she noticed Pat was serving, her stomach seized up.
Pat caught sight of them and approached smiling. “Why, look whose here? Let’s see…” She looked around. “Yes, I’ve got a table for you over there.” She pointed to a table in the middle of the room and escorted them over to it. That was the last place Mildred wanted to sit and Pat’s uncharacteristic friendliness gave her a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Before she had a chance to sit, Pat blurted out in a loud voice, “I understand congratulations are due.”
A hush settled over the other customers in the cafe. All eyes turned toward Charley and Mildred.
“Congratulations over what?” asked Charley as he helped Mildred to her seat and took his.
Mildred felt a sinking feeling.
“Why Charley! You’d keep us all guessing till you two went and got married.”
“What!” Charley in a reflex motion pushed back his chair. “What in heaven’s name…”
“And Mildred, this is nice news for you. Lunch’s on the house. I’ll be right back.” Grinning, Pat left them to get the menu.
The color drained from Mildred’s face. “What is this about?” she whispered to Charley.
“I have no idea.”
She felt trapped with all eyes on them and all she could entertain was he had lied to her and was somehow in on this. How could I have been so stupid? So blind to walk into this? She didn’t have the time to think this through and see that this was what she fundamentally wanted, which was for him to reject her. She was too taken aback by the surprise, the jolt, that she had been so wrong about him. But why should he be any different than anyone else? The whole damn town’s been making fun of me for years!
She was accustomed to being talked about, ridiculed behind her back, but this forthright public display and embarrassment made her livid.
“Mildred, I didn’t know…”
“Not here.” She worked to maintain her composure.
They ordered and Mildred forced herself to eat a sandwich.
At a distance, Pat snickered to herself, “Oh, this is good.”
Charley saw it, and wanted to get up and slap her. He felt helpless to do anything but sit there and be civil.
Mildred took his lack of action as reinforcement that she was right about him, that he was out to humiliate her.
Charley, still dumbfounded, motioned for the check. He paid it and they left without speaking. The silence continued on the walk back to Charley’s, where he saw Lil nervously pacing and knew her horse sensed that something was wrong. He was still confounded by Pat’s outburst and didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know how to rectify something when he had no idea what brought it on and saw Mildred shutting down, burning up inside. His way was to meet confrontation with silence until he had a grasp on what was happening, and then he would try to address it, but here he was at a loss for anything to say other than to repeat, “I had no idea…”
“That’ll be enough, Charley.” She stepped into her buggy, hit her whip to Lil, and screamed, “Go!”
Mildred fumed the entire ride back. Midway, she let out a yell where she was sure no one would hear. “God damn it all to hell! I hate this town!” She swung the driving whip over Lil. “Move girl! Move!” Lil’s trot picked up to a gallop and the horse moved with unbridled spirit, leaving clouds of sand right up to Mildred’s front door.
She stormed in, slamming the door so hard that the dining room table shook and a lamp fell over. She picked up the first object she set eyes on, a glass vase, and threw it up against the wall, waking Edra who was napping in the bedroom.
“I’ve had it!” Mildred screamed. “I’m finished with this town!” She picked up one of her mother’s antique bowls and smashed it onto the floor.
Edra entered the living room dazed. “Mildred?”
“Start packing! We’re leaving this place. I’ve had just about all I’m going to take!”
“What?”
“God damn those small-minded meddling…they have no life so they have to get into everybody else’s!”
“You’re scaring me.” Edra put a hand on Mildred’s back. “Calm down. Tell me what happened.”
Mildred pulled away, stomping and ranting. “Get the suitcases out!”
“Please,” Edra begged as tears welled in her eyes.
“You were right to question the dumb plan! The damn bigots won’t let us live in peace! And as for Charley…he’s just trying to embarrass me. Have another laugh on Mildred! God damn them all!”
Edra’s attempts and pleads for Mildred to calm down and tell her what happened fell on deaf ears. What had been pent up inside Mildred for years; all the abuse and ridicule she had taken from people who did not know her and had judged her harshly; the suppression of her emotional reactions to the vindictiveness she had personally incurred; the years of putting on a false front, and smiling in the face of persecution exploded out of her. Worse was she felt utter helplessness over the lack of control she felt in protecting the one good thing in her life, her relationship with Edra.
Edra knew there was nothing to do but allow it. She stayed by Mildred till she started to quiet then asked, “Can we talk now?”
Mildred told her what happened. “All he said was he had no idea. No idea, my foot! Oh, everyone in there got a good eyeful…”
“Mil, I’m so sorry you had to experience this. But what if he is interested? I told you he might be. He was so nice here the other day.”
“He sat there and did nothing! This isn’t the action of someone interested in me! I nearly choked on what I was eating! He’s like all the rest of them.”
“Is there any way there’s a misunderstanding here? You thought he seemed genuine when he helped you at Doc’s. You’re usually a good judge of character.”
Mildred was despondent. “I’m not a good judge of anything.”
“Mil, let’s just sit tight on this for now,” said Edra. “I’ll make us some chamomile tea.”
Mildred had wanted Charley to reject her romantic reaches but what she never considered was he would go out of his way to make a complete fool of her. This was harder for her to take than the planned rejection by him. They had a cup of tea, talked more calmly, and decided they would sleep on it and determine in a new light how they wanted to handle the situation.
Charley slept fitfully, unable to keep his mind from going over what had happened. He was sure he knew who started it all and that it was designed to embarrass Mildred. She had been a victim of mockery for years and he was fed up with all the nonsense.
The next morning he rode out to his brother-in-law’s place, fit to be tied.
“Helene!” he yelled through the open door as he let himself in.
“Quiet, Charley. The baby…”
“Outside!” Charley demanded as he motioned to the front door.
Helene followed him nervously, hoping that Frank would remain down at the barn out of earshot.
“Did you start that rumor about me and Mildred being engaged?”
“Rumor?” It was the only word that caught her attention. She had hoped it was true.
“It was you! Wasn’t it?”
“What?”
“You heard me!”
“This is the first I heard any such thing,” she lied.
> “Oh, come on now. What do you take me for? I’m not the dumb moron you all think I am. You’ve been niggling away at me to get with Mildred right from the get go. Your meddling has gone too far. You hang around with those women, the likes of Josie…”
“I had nothing…”
“Mildred’s done nothing but help your family out. Your no-good gossiping is just hurting good people, but no, you don’t care a lick about that. Not a decent bone in any of you.”
A very nervous Helene responded. “You have to believe me. I had nothing to do with this. I’ll go talk to Mildred.”
“You’ll do nothing of the sort. You stay away from her! And stay out of my business!”
Just then, Frank walked up with Mabel. “Hey, Charley! Our cow just popped. Want to see the calf?”
“Baby cow!” Mabel ran to hug Charley. “Come see. Come see.”
“Hiya honey,” he said to the child, as he swallowed his anger. “I have some work I need to be getting back to.” He gave Mabel a warm hug, avoided Helene, and reached out a hand to Frank. “Maybe next time.”
A very jittery Helene stepped back out of his way, relieved Frank made no mention about the earlier visit from the ladies.
“Yeah, we had some rough times with her,” said Frank as they shook hands.
“Sorry I don’t have more time to stay.” Charley turned and rode away in a hurry, leaving the others standing there.
“Arguments are to be avoided: They are always vulgar and often convincing.” OSCAR WILDE
19
As Gus swept the porch of his shop, Josie and Pat arrived, yapping about what happened at the cafe. He overheard Pat saying, “They came into the cafe yesterday. I congratulated them. Shut the whole place up. What a scene. Don’t think they said two words to each other.” She stopped to greet Gus.
He responded with a slight nod, “Pat, Josie,” and then escaped into the store to leave the two women to their chatter.
Within a few minutes, they followed Gus in. Pat picked up a basket and headed down the grain aisle while Josie headed to the counter. “Little under the weather today, Gus. Do you have any lozenges?”
“Sure thing.” He went to the aisle where elixirs were displayed, got a pack of lozenges and returned. “Here you go.” She had a peculiar look on her face that made him feel uneasy.
“So tell me, Gus. Which ring did Charley pick out?” asked Josie.
“What?”
“Their engagement. Word’s all over town.”
Gus was flabbergasted. “Where in heaven’s name did you get that idea?”
“From Charley, who else?”
“Charley Milpass told you he’s engaged to Mildred? He came out and told you that?”
“Well, not in those exact words.”
“And?”
“I saw him when I dropped the kids off. Congratulated him. He didn’t deny it. Then Hanah was in the telegraph office when you got the rings. Who else…”
“Are you kidding me? You congratulated Charley for being engaged?”
“Well, Helene also told me they were seeing a lot of each other.”
“Did she tell you they were engaged?”
“Not exactly,” said Josie.
Pat approached to pay for her items.
Josie asked, “How come you got a whole order of rings in?”
Gus was way too annoyed to be civil. “Not that it’s any of your business, but that shipment was for Zack Langford’s General Store over at Walker Junction. To cut shipping expenses we order together.” He shook his head in disgust over what he imagined was spreading through town at the expense of Mildred and Charley. He was usually good about keeping his composure but this, in addition to all the trouble Josie and her brood had caused by their irresponsible babble, pushed the envelope for him.
Pat gave Josie a dirty look.
“There’s still other things going on with them. Probably should be engaged,” responded Josie defiantly.
“And what in the hell do you mean by that?” Gus knew he had better cool down before he really lost it. “Oh never mind. What’s the use in trying to put any sense in your heads.”
Pat and Josie silently paid for their purchases and left the store.
Charley was in an unhappy state. He did not want to go out to see Mildred without letting her have some cooling down time. He also did not want to go home and be alone. He rode out in the desert and found a quiet place to sit upon a mound of rocks among a few scattered sagebrush plants. In the dead heat, his head buzzed with anger and sorrow bouncing back and forth, riveting around like bullets striking hard ideas that gave no relief. He was about to move when he heard a hiss and looked to the direction it was coming from. A movement of brush, too close to his legs to make a run for, prompted him to reach back to his horse and grab his rifle. He readied it in the direction where the movement increased. Thanks for warning me you’re there. The rattler slithered out into view. With the barrel pointed and finger on the trigger, he waited as it wound closer, now less than a foot away, with its rattle sounding like dried bones grinding together indicating a warning before it strikes. Man, you are one huge fellow! He estimated it at least six feet long. He knew it had poor eyesight, would react to the vibration of movement, so he sat still, sweat dripping down his face, hoping that the one, maybe two, second window of danger would pass and the snake would change its mind and move away. The second he felt his horse get antsy, his finger hit the trigger, and time was up. No sooner was the rattler limp than a turkey vulture flew overhead, and another, until four were circling. He left nature to do what it does and rode back to town.
Still not wanting to be alone, he headed to Gus’s, who was closing as he arrived. “Mind if I come in for a while, Gus?”
He took one look at Charley and knew what must be on his mind. “Come on in. I think we could both use a drink.”
Charley nodded and followed Gus up the stairs.
“Want any food?” He handed Charley a shot glass of whiskey.
“Nah, thanks though. I’m not hungry.”
Gus felt for Charley’s misfortune, the undeserved injustice. He also sympathized for Mildred’s plight. It was not lost on him that they were both good people. She was helpful to most of the people in town when financial need arose and kept to herself, minding her own business, and maintaining her manners in the face of challenging adversity. He also knew Charley to be a kind man, who tended to his wife during the worst of their time together, helped the kids at school, did odd carpenter jobs for people who couldn’t afford to pay him, and also steered clear of gossip. Of all the people in town, Charley and Mildred were among the handful of decent people who did not deserve the hand they were dealt. “I had words with Josie today. Heard what must be bothering you.”
“Where’s all this coming from, Gus? What the hell is wrong with people? Josie’s too damned bored. She has to get into everybody else’s business. She’s the worst of them.”
“It’s not boredom with Josie. I kinda feel sorry for her.”
“What! Feel sorry for her? Are you kidding me? What’s to feel sorry for! Why, I’d like to slap some sense into her and all the rest of those meddling busybodies.” Charley held his glass out for another pour.
“She can’t help her hatred.”
“Oh come on, Gus!”
“I’m not just making conversation here. I know some things about her.”
“Like what?” Charley, filled with disgust, continued, “There’s nothing…” He gulped down what was in his glass and banged it on the table indicating he wanted another. “There’s just no excuse.”
“Oh, I agree with you there. All I’m saying is there’s a reason. You learn about someone and it changes things.”
The booze was softening his brain. Half-facetiously he asked, “So what’s this big sob story?”
He took a long look at Charley, the new wrinkles formed around his bloodshot eyes, the stubble of beard, all signs of the strain he was under. “I really don’t like meddl
ing or telling other’s business. There’s enough of that going around.” Although he was reluctant to continue, he knew it was the right thing to do to help his friend understand. “I trust you, Charley, or I wouldn’t say a thing. If you knew a few things it might help take some of the sting out. Help you understand.”
“Understand whaaaa?”
“Josie has some history.” Gus went on to relay that when Josie’s mamma took ill she had to sell whatever she could to make ends meet. She sold him a box of books that she’d kept since she was much younger. It was the last of the worldly possessions that meant anything to her. She told him there were antique books and possessions that were too painful for her to look at before giving them away. Without appraising the content, he made her a charitable offer and watched her cry as she left the box behind. When he opened it and went through the items, he found a journal. On the inside cover was inscribed this diary belongs to Mary Calhoun, Josie’s mother.
Charley made a face that he could care less.
“I see you’re disgusted. I would be too. I don’t need to continue if you’d rather I didn’t.”
Not wanting to take out his anger on Gus, and still alert enough to follow the conversation, he relented. “Go on.”
“Josie’s mamma must have forgot she put it there. I knew she didn’t want to look at the things she left and I didn’t want to intrude in her privacy, so I put it in a drawer and there it sat for several weeks, until…I’m a little embarrassed to admit, my curiosity got to me.” He went on to explain that their family lived in the south, Georgia to be exact. Last name was Calhoun. Before the Civil War broke out, they owned a small cotton plantation and a few slaves. When Sherman came through, he burned it to the ground after he seized their cotton crop and freed their slaves. Left them destitute. Their rich relatives refused to lift a finger to help them.
“Who were they related to?” asked Charley.
“Calhoun doesn’t ring a bell? They were distant relatives of John C. Calhoun who had been Vice-President of the United States. James Calhoun, mayor of Atlanta during the war, was also a relative. Josie was just a toddler at the time.”
The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap Page 13
