Different Drummers

by Jean Houghton-Beatty

  “Hang on, Beulah,” she said as she closed the door. “Columbia isn’t all that far. You’re going to be fine.”

  * * *

  Within four hours of arriving at the hospital, Beulah was in the operating room undergoing surgery.

  As soon as she’d checked Beulah in, Kathleen had telephoned the Morrowcroft Hotel in Atlanta, hoping Ron would already be there. When she was told Mr. Velnes hadn’t checked in yet, she asked the desk clerk to give him a message.

  “Please tell him Kathleen Conroy’s plans have changed and she will not be coming to Atlanta after all.”

  She telephoned Eastern Air Lines to explain why she’d missed her flight, then called the Banks Hotel who informed her coldly she’d lose her deposit.

  * * *

  “Mrs. Conroy?”

  Kathleen felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, nudging her awake. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep and felt her face redden as she smoothed her hair with her hands and at the same time looked into the tired eyes of a man in a wrinkled operating gown, face mask hanging loosely on his chest.

  “I’m Dr. Silverstein,” he said, as he sat companionably by her on the couch. “Your mother-in-law is in the recovery room.”

  Kathleen scooted over to give him more room. “Is she all right? When can I see her?”

  The doctor looked around the otherwise deserted waiting room. “I’d like to speak to her husband first,” he said. “Is he here?”

  “Not yet. There’s only me. Can you tell me what you found?”

  Dr. Silverstein fiddled with his fountain pen as he talked. “We were more or less flying blind at first because we couldn’t tell where the bleeding was coming from. That’s why we opted for an exploratory. When we got in there we found her left ovary to be cancerous. It was much enlarged and as careful as we tried to be, it ruptured as we removed it, spilling cells into the abdominal cavity. We tried flushing them out and hope to hell we got them all. It’s always hard to tell, though.”

  “You mean there’s a chance she may still have cancer?”

  “There is that possibility.”

  He rubbed his brow, almost impatiently. “She’s been bleeding for some considerable time. If we could have just got to her sooner…”

  Kathleen cast her mind back to the day Beulah had complained of pain in her abdomen. Why hadn’t she been more insistent that Beulah see Dr. Parker? If she had, Beulah might have had a better chance.

  “So where do we go from here?” she asked.

  “I’ll need to talk to her husband about his wife’s prognosis and explain about her medications.”

  “Will somebody let me know when I can see her?”

  “Yes, one of the nurses will, but it’ll be a while yet.”

  Kathleen called Otis from the phone outside the coffee shop. After two rings, she heard the hated voice.

  “Otis, this is Kathleen. I’m at Memorial Hospital here in Columbia. Did Dr. Parker get in touch with you?”

  “Yes.”

  She resisted the urge to ask him why he hadn’t felt the need to follow along to the hospital. “I’ll tell you what I know so far. Beulah’s had an operation and they’re going to let me see her soon. They found one of her ovaries to be cancerous. They…”

  “Stop right there,” he said sharply. “I don’t think it fittin’ for you to be discussin’ my wife’s female problems with me. This ain’t the sort of thing a preacher of my standin’ needs to be hearing from his son’s wife.”

  “But…”

  “But nothin’. I reckon I’ll be hearing this from the doctor.”

  Kathleen swallowed hard to keep from saying something she’d be sorry for. What a two-faced creep the man was.

  “I’m puttin’ this in the hands of Jesus,” Otis said. “When life’s burdens get too much for us to bear, Jesus takes them on his own shoulders.”

  “In other words you won’t exactly be falling over yourself to get here.”

  “Selma and me will be comin’ when we can.”

  Kathleen slammed the receiver down and walked toward the cafeteria.

  * * *

  Beulah was wheeled on a stretcher into her hospital room just after midnight.

  “I knowed you’d be here.” She slurred her words as she looked at Kathleen through heavily sedated eyes. “I…”

  Kathleen felt the tears at the back of her own eyes as she watched Beulah drift back to sleep.

  “She’s resting comfortably and in no pain,” the nurse said from the other side of the bed. She was the motherly type and looked at Kathleen appraisingly.

  “Are you here alone?”

  “Yes.”

  “I think it’s safe to leave her,” she said. “If I were you, I’d go home and get some sleep.”

  “Are you sure? What if she wakes up and asks for me?”

  “She’ll sleep for hours now.” The nurse adjusted the night light. “The nursing station’s right opposite this room and we’ll be checking on her constantly. And you can leave us your phone number. Do yourself a favor, honey, and get some rest. You’re not going to be much help to her when she does wake up if you don’t.”

  Kathleen nodded. “I suppose you’re right. She does look peaceful and I am very tired. I just wanted to make sure she was OK. I’ll be back early tomorrow.”

  * * *

  Late as it was when she arrived home, she walked straight to the phone and rang the Morrowcroft Hotel.

  The worry in Ron Velnes’s voice carried down the phone. “Thank God it’s you. The desk clerk gave me your message. He said you rang about ten minutes before I got here. I’ve been calling you every hour on the hour ever since.”

  “I knew you’d be worried and I’m so sorry. I’d already picked up my suitcase to walk out the door when the phone rang…”

  There was a long pause. “What happened?”

  “It’s Beulah, my mother-in-law. She’s been taken ill. I don’t know what to tell you, except I think the world of her and honestly don’t feel I can leave her just now.”

  “I didn’t know you were so attached to the family.”

  “I’m not. Only to Beulah.”

  “But what about your father-in-law. Where was he?”

  “He wasn’t at home when Beulah collapsed. They’re not very close anyway. She, well, she sort of relies on me.”

  You fool, her inner voice screamed. Tell him you care. If you don’t, you’ll lose him. You’ll never hear from him ever again.

  “I feel I’ve let you down badly.”

  “No you haven’t,” he said. “Don’t worry about it, Kath. We all have to do what we have to do. I shouldn’t have asked you to come in the first place.”

  “Yes, yes, you should have. But it was a sort of madness, wasn’t it? I mean to think we could do this.”

  She ran a hand through her hair, desperately aware she wasn’t handling it right.

  “I suppose it was,” he said.

  She cleared her throat, then gave a little cough, struggling to put a bit of a smile in her voice. “Anyway, even if I can’t come, maybe you’ll still have a good time. Tomorrow’s New Year’s Eve, and in a big hotel like the Morrowcroft must be, they’re bound to have a party planned and all.”

  “Yes, maybe so.”

  The bitter disappointment in his voice was almost more than she could bear.

  “I hope your mother-in-law gets well soon,” he said.

  “Thanks, Ron. And, again, well, I’m sorry.”

  “Take care of yourself, Kath.”

  “Yes, you too.”

  The conversation had become awkward and stilted. Kathleen was so exhausted that her brain hardly functioned. What would meeting him accomplish anyway, she had to ask herself. It all seemed too late now, an opportunity lost.

  “It’s late and you sound all in,” he said suddenly, as if he too felt the need to end this pointless conversation. “And for what it’s worth, Kath, Happy New Year.”

  “Yes,” she said, her voice beginning to crack. �
��The same to you, and God Bless, Ron.”

  Tears streamed down her face as she ran the water for a bath. Half an hour later, sleep reached out to claim her even as she slipped between cool sheets. Her last waking thought was she’d telephone Ron Velnes first thing in the morning when she wasn’t so tired. Everything would sound better then.

  * * *

  She woke to sunlight streaming in her window, which immediately let her know she’d overslept. She glanced at the alarm clock beside her bed. It couldn’t possibly be nine-thirty. She’d slept hours longer than she’d meant to. She leapt out of bed and went to the phone.

  “Morrowcroft Hotel.”

  “I’d like to speak to Mr. Ron Velnes please.”

  “One moment,” came the impersonal reply.

  Her heart raced dangerously while she waited for Ron to come on the line.

  “I’m sorry ma’am,” the operator said. “Mr. Velnes doesn’t answer. Is there any message?” What should she do? Ask him to call her? She was on her way to the hospital. And anyway, what would that accomplish? She’d already explained to him why she hadn’t gone to Atlanta. Was there really anything left to say?

  “No, no message. Thank you.”

  “Yes ma’am. Happy New Year.”

  “Happy New Year to you too.”

  * * *

  Beulah was awake when she walked into the hospital room. Kathleen beamed her best smile, hiding her alarm at how very frail her once-tough mother-in-law had grown. But Beulah’s weak, brave smile told Kathleen all she needed to know. The great sacrifice of her rendezvous with Ron hadn’t been in vain. This woman needed her.

  “I’ve been waitin’ for you,” Beulah said. “The nurse said you’d be comin’ back, but I couldn’t be sure. I knew you were plannin’ on goin’ to Atlanta. I messed up your plans didn’t I?”

  Kathleen pulled her chair close to the bed and took her mother-in-law’s hand. “It doesn’t matter, Beulah. The main thing is you’ll get well and be out of here in no time.”

  Beulah’s fingers closed over hers. Kathleen saw the love in those tear-dimmed eyes, a love Beulah had been waiting for years to give to someone, but there’d been no takers. Kathleen leaned forward and placed a kiss gently on her cheek. “I’ll care for you Beulah,” she said. “You have to get well for me, and for Bobby when he comes home.”

  “Yeah, I know, and I’m gonna try.”

  “Well, now, if this don’t beat all,” said the loathsome voice behind her “Ain’t it just about the most touchin’ scene you ever saw?”

  Kathleen stood up abruptly and turned to face Otis and Selma. Selma practically bounced into the seat she’d just vacated.

  “Hi, Momma.” There was no trace of concern on her face or in her voice. “How you been doin’? Daddy and me, we’ve been mighty worried about you.”

  Otis stood at the bottom of the bed, his usually burning eyes cold now, as he stared impassively at some unseen thing or presence directly above Beulah’s head. He didn’t touch his wife or even so much as look at her face.

  Kathleen rose from her chair. “I’ll go down to the coffee shop while you two have a visit,” she said. For Beulah’s sake, she strove to keep the contempt out of her voice. It would have been so easy to let a sneer sneak in. “I’ll be back in about twenty minutes.”

  When she returned Otis and Selma were nowhere to be seen. “Where’ve they gone?” she asked Beulah.

  “They went home,” Beulah said, reaching for Kathleen’s hand. “Now, don’t you fret yourself none. It don’t matter. They don’t care nothin’ for me. Never did.”

  Kathleen sat down again by the bed. “I’m sure you’re wrong about that. It’s just harder for some people to show their feelings.”

  But Beulah wasn’t wrong. If Kathleen had wondered before, she knew for sure today. Otis and his daughter, Selma, didn’t give a damn about Beulah.

  “Are you thirsty?” she asked.

  “Yeah, can you give me just a drop of iced water?”

  Kathleen held Beulah’s head gently while she drank from the glass.

  “I ain’t got my glasses. They must’ve fallen off when I fell. I’m blind as a bat without them.”

  “I’ll look for them. I can’t remember seeing them but they’re bound to be in the house somewhere. I’ll go by there in the morning and look around.”

  * * *

  It was close to midnight when she left the hospital. The car’s headlights cut through the pitch dark of the South Carolina night. She switched on the car radio and listened as an orchestra played “Auld Lang Syne.” She sang softly along. “Should auld acquaintance be forgot…”

  Suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of guilt, she switched her mind to Bob. Where was he this night? Was he attending a makeshift New Year’s party with his unit, or was he in the thick of the battle, not even knowing what day it was? Maybe it was just as well she hadn’t gone to Atlanta after all. Her life had become too complicated for pipe dreams and what would seeing Ron Velnes have accomplished except to entangle it even more?

  And yet, as her car sped along the deserted narrow country roads toward Eddisville, the awful feeling of aloneness racing behind the car caught up. It seeped inside and turned the festive music coming from the radio into a dirge.

  Even though New Year’s Day was a holiday, Kathleen had hoped she’d be lucky enough to find Otis gone from the house. But there was his car in the driveway with his big Jesus Loves You sign stuck to the back window. She shook off her uneasiness. Selma was probably also in the house so surely Otis wouldn’t try anything. It shouldn’t take more than a minute or two to pick up Beulah’s glasses.

  The door was ajar and pushing it cautiously, she stepped inside. The radio blared in the empty room. Maybe Otis and Selma were out back, or visiting a neighbor’s house. With luck, Kathleen could find the glasses and be gone before they returned. There was no sign of the glasses in either the living room or kitchen. She went into the hall and looked toward the telephone where Beulah had lost consciousness. She saw them then, under the little telephone table outside Selma’s room. Here in the narrow hall, the blare from the radio receded. She passed Otis’s closed bedroom door and reached the table. As she knelt to retrieve the glasses, she heard sounds. Her hands grew suddenly clammy and gooseflesh raced over her as she listened to the rhythmic squeaking of the bedsprings, keeping time with the frenzied breathing, the unmistakable grunts.

  Terrified to stand for fear of falling against the rickety table and being heard, she stayed where she was. Instinctively, though, she turned her head. From the doorway of Selma’s room, she saw the impossible, watched the unbelievable.

  The loud gasp that was almost a scream left Kathleen’s throat before she could clamp her hand over her mouth to stifle it. Two astonished faces, gleaming with sweat, turned to see her cowering on her knees by the phone.

  As electrifying as the scene was, Kathleen scrambled to her feet on legs of straw, knocking the telephone off the small table in her haste to be gone. She was out the door and into the car within the space of a few seconds. Relief shot through her when she saw the key in the ignition and with fingers trembling so badly as to be almost useless, she somehow managed to turn the key and speed away. She could have sworn she took the turn at the end of Bennington on two wheels and for one terrifying minute thought the car would overturn. There was no mistaking the loud screech of her tires. Somehow though, she managed to right herself and drive blindly toward Columbia.

  What she had just seen was beyond belief. She had watched her father-in-law having sex with his daughter and Selma was loving every minute of it.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Incest!!

  Kathleen had witnessed an illicit act between her father-in-law and his daughter and had no idea what in the world she was supposed to do about it. What was the law on this? Selma was over twenty-one and by the look of things, a very willing participant. No, Otis certainly couldn’t be accused of raping her. And anyway, who in the world would believe s
uch an outrageous story?

  Whom could she tell? Was there anybody at all she could confide in? Not Freddie or the Tates, and certainly not Beulah. She drove slowly to the hospital, fighting every mile of the way for calm, for peace of mind. She stopped at a cafe on the outskirts of Columbia and stayed there at least an hour, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. When she eventually walked into Beulah’s hospital room, she had her emotions under control.

  Her mother-in-law’s eyes lit up at the sight of her. “I been waitin’ for you. I’m feelin’ better, so much better.”

  Kathleen kissed the sunken cheek and did her best imitation of a cheerful smile.

  “I found your glasses. Let’s put them on. There, now you look more like your old self.” She straightened the odds and ends on Beulah’s table. “Have you seen the doctor today?”

  “He ain’t been in yet. He don’t say much when he does come. Just presses my belly till he gets it to hurtin’ again. Then he nods and walks out.”

  “Sounds just like the doctors in England.” Kathleen grinned and looked closely at her mother-in-law. “You really are feeling better, aren’t you. You’re even making jokes.”

  “Yeah, and I’ve been lyin’ here thinkin’. If I was gonna get sick, I guess this was as good a time as any. What if it had been springtime and my garden had needed tendin’. Who would be there to do it?”

  Kathleen fluffed up her pillows. “You’ll be well and strong in plenty of time to plant your garden, but you’ll need to take things a lot slower.”

  She combed Beulah’s tangled mass of wiry hair as gently as she could while they talked. “When you get better, and if we can afford it, I’m going to take you to England to meet my family. They’ll fall in love with you. And I’ll show you an English flower garden, the like of which you’ve never seen.”

  Beulah lay back with an almost contented sigh. “I love it when you tell me about your home,” she said. “I’d give anything if I could see your daddy’s flowers and taste some of that bread he bakes. I could get my hair done in Nina’s shop and listen to little Dorothy play the piano.”