by Roxe Anne
“I’m sorry. I’m just upset. Roger was really a gentle man. I know you didn’t—I can’t talk about this right now. This is too much for me to take in!”
Mama turns off the radio and continues working on the pie crust. Every now and then I can see her wiping the tears slowly falling onto her cheeks. I think her hearing about Roger’s accident brings back memories of Daddy dying. It sure does for me. I head to my bedroom and bury my head in my pillow; crying myself to sleep.
• • •
Uncle Sammy is really getting on everyone’s nerves. He doesn’t do anything around the house but make a mess. It seems like Katie and I are always cleaning up after him. He helps himself to all our food without even asking Mama. She’ll go in the refrigerator to get carrots for a roast and they are all gone. At first she thinks us kids are taking everything. Mama even grounds us for a day because she thinks we lied to her. The last straw is when she goes into the refrigerator to get a couple of eggs to make a meatloaf and there is none. She knows she still had eggs left earlier in the day. The farmer down the road just brought her some of his beautiful brown eggs from his prize chickens.
“Frank, Sammy, Katie, Billie, Missy, come here. I want to know who ate the last of my eggs. And I want to know the truth!”
I think she knows we kids didn’t eat her eggs. I am the only one who ever eats eggs, and I don’t know how to cook them. Uncle Frank is too lazy to cook eggs even if he did know how to cook. The only person left is Uncle Sammy.
“Sam, did you eat my eggs?” Mama asks him. “I need those eggs to make a meatloaf for supper. I told you to ask before you take anything. One more time and you either find a new place to live or you purchase your own groceries! Do you hear me, Sam?”
“I’m sorry. I won’t take anything again without asking first. I promise! Do you want me to go to the farmer and see if he has any eggs left?” Uncle Sammy asks.
“No, you can just eat hamburgers now. I’m not in the mood to cook a big meal any longer!” Mama says angrily.
I sure am glad Uncle Sammy got caught taking the last of Mama’s eggs. It serves him right for all the times he got us kids in trouble. Besides, I hate meatloaf. I got sick the last time I ate it and threw up all night. I probably had the flu since no one else got sick. I don’t care if I ever eat meatloaf again or even smell it cooking. Everyone else loves Mama’s meatloaf.
It’s too bad Mama doesn’t kick Uncle Sammy out. What is it going to take for her to see what a creep he can be? I will make it my business to keep my eye on him and tell Mama everything he does wrong.
I never knew a hamburger could taste so good. Every time I look across our kitchen table at Uncle Sammy my hamburger tastes better and better. We don’t have hamburgers very often so they are always a treat. Mama spreads butter lightly on the bottom of our hamburger buns, toasts them to perfection, and then she put the buns on the skillet lid to steam. She adds a small amount of cold water to the ground beef to make them fluffy, puts a small pat of butter in the middle of each hamburger patty pressing them gently so the meat doesn’t get tough. And then she cooks them till there is just a little pink left in the middle. I have never tasted any other burger as good as Mama’s. We call them “Mama’s Better Butter Burgers.”
• • •
Mama and Uncle Frank go out for a drive in the country after supper. They want a little time by themselves. I think they want to discuss Roger’s dying. They aren’t going to get any alone time around here. Mama tells us to do the dishes and clean up the kitchen while she is gone. This leaves Katie and me alone with Uncle Sammy. Billie is outside playing with his army men with Sandy by his side. Uncle Sammy is just sitting at the kitchen table watching us while we clean and do the dishes. Katie and I don’t say a word to each other while we do them. I wonder what Uncle Sammy is up to next.
Uncle Sammy just sits at the table guzzling his beer. His eyes are glazed over like Norman Bates in Psycho. He has an alarming smirk on his face. He looks like he is a bit psycho himself.
Without any warning he gets up from his chair and turns Mama’s radio on really loud. There is a Ray Charles song playing on the radio. I usually love to hear him sing, but not today with old Uncle Sammy lurking about.
He begins singing along with the radio as he grabs our broom to dance with.
“You girls want to dance?” he asks. “Come on, you know you want to dance with me. No one’s around. What are you afraid of? Your old Uncle Sammy hasn’t ever hurt you, now has he? Let me show you how a real man dances. I can show you how to move those hips. Who wants to go first?”
Katie calmly says, “Uncle Sammy, you know we have to finish doing these dishes and clean the kitchen before Mama comes home. Why don’t you wait for Mama and maybe she’ll dance with you?”
As I reach for a dry dishtowel in a cupboard across the kitchen, Uncle Sammy drops the broom and grabs me.
“Dance with me. Show Katie you aren’t afraid to dance with a real man!”
“Uncle Sammy, I don’t like dancing with anyone. In fact, I don’t like to dance at all! Besides, I need to finish the dishes before Mama and Uncle Frank return home.”
“Come on, Missy, this is no way to be to your Uncle Sammy. Didn’t you miss me just a little bit?” Uncle Sammy quickly grabs me, swinging me around to face him. “Just put your right arm around my waist, then put your left hand on my shoulder and follow my moves.”
Katie shouts. “Uncle Sammy, stop! Let, Missy go! Please. She’s too young to dance like that. You don’t know what you’re doing. Let go of her now!”
I sure hope Mama returns home soon. Uncle Sammy smells like a brewery. He must have been drinking all day. He is really making me nervous.
“Katie, are you getting jealous of Missy now? You want me to show you how to dance? Come on, I bet you’ve never had a real man show you how to dance, have you? Those little boys you play with won’t know what to do with you if you even give them a chance. You know you want a little kiss from your Uncle Sammy. Let me show you how a real man kisses, honey. It won’t be a peck like your little boyfriend Charlie gives you. A kiss from me will make your knees go weak!”
Uncle Sammy lets me go so fast I almost fall flat on my face onto the kitchen floor. Katie looks frightened. We have never seen Uncle Sammy look like this before. Katie backs up as far as she can go as Uncle Sammy places his hands on both sides of her face. He has her pinned up against the pantry door with nowhere to escape. I can see beads of sweat on poor Katie’s frightened face.
“Come on, Katie, just one little dance with your old Uncle Sammy. Don’t tell me you don’t like to dance. I bet you dance with Charlie. I bet he hasn’t even kissed you with his tongue in your mouth. I’ll do all that and more! I’ll even show you how to move your hips to the music really nice and slow.”
“Uncle Sammy, please let me go? You don’t know what you’re doing. Mama’s going to be home real soon. Please stop!” she cries.
“I have been watching you every day, Katie. You know you want me. I can see it in your eyes. The wait will have been worth it; you’ll see!”
Uncle Sammy puts his arms around Katie real tight and moves her body with his. He is holding her so close you can’t get a pin between them. It looks like he is going to smother her. Katie is trying frantically to push him away. But he is too strong and she can’t budge him.
“Doesn’t this feel real nice? Oh…Katie…this feels so…good. Doesn’t it make you want more, Katie? How about a kiss for your favorite uncle?”
I pound on Uncle Sammy’s back. “Stop! Leave my sister alone! You’re hurting her!”
“Go away, Missy. I don’t want to hurt you!” Uncle Sammy shouts. He pushes me away with one hand while he continues hanging onto Katie with his other.
Uncle Sammy grabs Katie’s face and pulls it toward him. I can smell his breath from where I am standing and it makes me want to puke. His face looks like he hasn’t shaved for a couple of days so his stubble is rubbing on Katie’s poor flawless face causing it to become red
.
Katie gags. Uncle Sammy’s whole mouth covers hers. I see fear in her eyes as she struggles to get free.
I need to help her and fast. I’m afraid of what Uncle Sammy might do to her next. I wish Mama was still here. She would let Uncle Sammy have it.
I take a very large cast-iron skillet out of the dish drain and swing it with all my might at the back of Uncle Sammy’s legs. He lets go of Katie and falls to the floor moaning. It serves him right. I hope I broke his leg and he can’t run after me.
Uncle Frank and Mama walk into the kitchen as the cast-iron skillet lands on Uncle Sammy’s legs. Mama looks shocked at the scene she just witnessed. My aim isn’t as good as I would like it to have been if Uncle Sammy had been facing in my direction. I would have aimed at his third leg, and he would never have thoughts like that again.
Mama’s face turns as red as her freshly polished nails. She screams at Uncle Sammy. “Go to your room! Frank and I will be there in a few minutes to talk to you! Don’t you even think of leaving this house until I’m done talking to you!”
She asks us if we are all right and if Uncle Sammy hurt us in any way. Katie and I know what she means and we both assure her he hadn’t.
Mama tells us to finish our dishes and go take a nice hot bubble bath. I think she knows we both want Uncle Sammy’s sweaty, smoky, beer breath off of us. He made us feel dirty.
“Girls, if you want to talk later, just tell me.”
Uncle Sammy is standing in the living room glaring at me. He should have listened to Mama. He is going to be in big trouble with her now.
“Sam, if those girls tell me you put a hand on them, I’m calling the police to have you arrested. You make me sick to my stomach. Pack your bags! I’m giving you fifteen minutes to get out of my house, out of my sight, and as far away from my kids as you can possibly go! If any of your items get left behind, I will have Frank drop them off at whatever poor soul’s door you end up at! And, Sam, don’t ever come on my property again!” Mama screams.
“Dot, I am truly sorry, I didn’t know what I was doing. I am drunk and—”
“And what? You grabbed another beer? Stop making excuses. There’s nothing you can say to me or my kids to make things better.”
Uncle Frank doesn’t say anything to Uncle Sammy. He just follows Mama around looking stunned. I think he is afraid Mama is going to throw him out next. If it was up to me, I would kick him out immediately. He frightens me.
• • •
Uncle Frank helps Uncle Sammy pack and carry his belongings to his car. It looks like they are having a serious talk out by his car. I try listening through the kitchen window. I think I hear Uncle Frank tell Uncle Sammy it’s too bad they came back so early. But I must have misunderstood. They both start laughing. And then I hear Roger’s and Daddy’s names. I bet Mama wouldn’t find them laughing about Daddy so funny.
When they finish talking, Uncle Frank gives Uncle Sammy one last pat on the back. If it were me, I would have given him one last smack upside his head.
Chapter Ten
It has been a couple of weeks since Uncle Sammy moved out. Mama tells us we are going to turn the guest room into a study. We don’t have enough books to call it a library.
Mama is going to paint the study a crimson red, being red is her favorite color. She purchased an old lace tablecloth at a garage sale which only has one small stain on it at the very edge. She cut the stain off and made lace curtains for the window.
The floors are hardwood, and the trim is all natural. Mama purchased an oriental rug from a garage sale last summer. The rug has some crimson in it which matches our freshly painted walls. The rug is going to look great in our study.
Mama takes us around to a few garage sales to find more furnishings and books for our new room. We find two green marble floor lamps real cheap. The lamps will give us more light in the room to read by. I find a complete set of Franklin W. Dixon, Hardy Boy books at one garage sale for barely anything. I also found a few Bobbsey Twins books at another garage sale. It feels like Christmas and my birthday combined. We usually only receive a couple presents for Christmas. I even found an Amelia Earhart novel I wanted to read in the school library but it was always checked out. Billie found some army men at a garage sale which Mama purchased for him. He really doesn’t care for reading anything but comic books. Katie won’t be caught dead at a garage sale so she stayed home and listened to the radio.
We go to a church rummage sale and find two red overstuffed arm chairs which almost match the one we have in our living room. The arms are a little worn, but Mama can get Aunt May to crochet some arm chair covers to cover up the thin spots.
Mama finds a real nice man who works at the church sale to deliver the chairs to our home free of charge. The church even gives us a couple of bookshelves for free that didn’t sell earlier in the day. It must be our lucky day.
Uncle Frank helps Mama arrange the furniture in our new study. Mama even gives me two whole shelves for all of my new books. They look nice on those shelves instead of being in a box in the back of my closet. Our new study looks like a picture in a magazine!
• • •
Mama and Uncle Frank are going out to dinner at the Castle Rock Restaurant and Bar for their Friday night fish fry. Of course, the fish won’t taste as good as Mama’s. We kids can’t wait. Katie and I don’t have to worry about old Uncle Sammy bothering us anymore. It has been a while since we have been home alone without any adults to supervise us.
We make bologna and potato chip sandwiches for supper. Billie puts ketchup on his bologna sandwich and I put mustard on mine. Katie puts potato chips, onion slices, and mustard on hers. After we put our sandwich together, we smash it to make the potato chips stay between the slices of bread. The crunchiness and tartness of my sandwich makes it taste good. We open a jar of Mama’s homemade dill pickles and a jar of her pickled beets to go along with our sandwiches. Our meal is such a special treat after all the fancy meals Mama makes for Uncle Frank and Uncle Sammy. And no one can make better beets than Mama.
• • •
There is a mom and pop grocery store a few blocks away called Candy’s General Store. They have the best penny candy you can get your hands on. They have rock candy, candy cigarettes, jaw breakers, licorice, Bazooka bubble gum, and wax bottles with liquid in them. They also have every type of comic book a boy could ever want. For 12 cents Billie can purchase DC or Marvel comic books. I don’t see what’s so great about those comic books, but they sure make Billie happy. It takes him a half hour to choose one. He chose Marvel’s Strange Tales for 12 cents. It is going to be Dr. Strange’s first appearance.
After supper, we take a walk to Candy’s General Store. Mama gives us each a quarter to spend. Billie says he is going to buy two comic books, I am going to purchase a lot of penny candy, and Katie is going to look at the newest teen magazines to see if she has enough money to purchase one. We all feel rich.
• • •
When we return home, we decide to work on a 1000 piece puzzle for a while. I share my candy, and we talk about how nice it is not to have Uncle Sammy around. Billie says he misses beating Uncle Sammy at checkers.
“Katie, can we make prank phone calls to people like we used to when Mama was gone?” Billie asks.
“I’ll think about it. If you tell Mama she will ground me again!”
“Please? We won’t tell. We promise!” Billie and I try to convince her.
“Okay, but let’s wait until dark. It’s more fun then,” Katie says chuckling.
We work on a beautiful puzzle of mountains, flowers, and a lake. It might take a while to finish. I share my cigarette candy with Katie and Billie. We pretend to be Mama when she smokes. She always makes sure she holds her cigarette in her hand so you can see how beautiful her fingernails look. I pretend to be Uncle Frank ready to light her cigarette. Billie even tries walking like Mama while he smokes his candy cigarette. Billie would have made a cuter girl than a boy.
Last Hallo
ween, Mama put a dress, high heels, and a scarf on Billie. She even put lipstick on him. Everyone thought Billie was the cutest little girl. They even gave him extra candy for being so darn cute. I didn’t get any extra candy. And I always have to share my Halloween candy with Katie because she is too old to go trick or treating. I enjoy the homemade popcorn balls the best.
• • •
We play hide and seek for a while after it gets dark. Katie is the seeker and Billie and I are hiding. I can hear Katie counting to fifty. Sneaking to the barn, I climb the ladder to the hay loft and hide. I hear Billie laughing when Katie finds him. He is usually easy to find. He always laughs the closer you get to him. I don’t think Katie will find me too easily in the barn. She knows I am frightened of the dark. I will fool her!
“Billie, do you know where Missy is hiding? If you do and you tell me, I’ll let you make the first phone call!”
I hear Billie whispering loudly to Katie as they come closer to the barn. All of a sudden I hear a loud crash as I watch my ladder to the hay loft fall to the bottom of the barn floor.
“Missy, if you are in the hay loft, you better tell us before we go into the house and leave you up there all night,” Katie says laughing.
Billie chimes in, “Ha…Ha…Missy. We have you now!” Sandy starts barking at where the ladder used to stand. She doesn’t think I should be up in the hay loft without her.
“Missy, if you like being up in the hay loft so much you can just sleep there in the dark by yourself!” Katie taunts me, as they slowly walk toward the house.
“Please come back. This isn’t funny anymore. Put the ladder back so I can get down. You win, I’m up here hiding!”
“I suppose, but I ought to let you stay up there all night!”
“Yeah, we ought to let Missy stay up in the hay loft all night, right, Katie?” Billie giggles.
“Billie, help me put the ladder back, and let the little baby down. She did share some of her candy with us when we did the puzzle. Maybe if we let her down, she will give us each more candy later. Besides, we want to go in the house and make our prank phone calls, don’t we?”
