The Sky Took Him - An Alafair Tucker Mystery

by Donis Casey

  She felt a sudden pang of loneliness for Shaw. This was not the first time they had been apart during their twenty-five-year union, but it was a rare enough occurrence that it jarred her when it did happen. Truth was, she wasn’t particularly pleased about sleeping in someone else’s bed. She liked her own bed, her own things around her, and she wasn’t looking forward to sleeping alone.

  Well, the likelihood was that Grace would want to sleep with her tonight instead of in the little bed, even though it was a novel place for a nap, made up very prettily with a pink lacy coverlet that obviously delighted the child. Still, Grace was not one to let an opportunity go by. Even if she started out under the lace, she’d end up with her mother before the night was very far along.

  I ought not to allow it, Alafair thought. She knew that once she let Grace sleep with her, she’d have a devil of a time getting her back into her own bed when they got home. She knew she would allow it, though, and be grateful for the company. She wondered briefly if Martha would consider moving in here with her, but decided that Martha was probably overjoyed to have some unaccustomed privacy.

  Alafair removed her shoes and lowered herself onto the bed. She folded her hands over her stomach and stared at the curlicues in the white, stamped tin ceiling until she began to drift between wake and dreams. Her mind floated back to Ruth Ann’s troubles, and she began to conjure up possible ways to be of help. Lester seemed to have stepped back from death’s door for the moment, and she wondered if she would be able to stay here until he actually passed over. Well, her parents would be here in a few days, and she expected they would stay as long as necessary.

  She still felt mildly annoyed at Kenneth for choosing to go out of town instead of sending someone in his place. Not now, when his wife and mother-in-law surely needed his support. Putting the business before family seemed downright absurd, as far as she was concerned. But neither Ruth Ann nor Olivia seemed bothered by it, she admitted to herself, so she guessed she had no call to get all fretted over it.

  She turned over on her side and closed her eyes. If I had him here, though, she thought, I’d give him a piece of my mind.

  ***

  Alafair sat bolt upright, shocked wide awake. She had dreamed that Kenneth was standing in front of her, beside the bed. He looked like he had the last time she had seen him, his hair shaved close, a little mustache over his lip. Nice looking, though maybe running a little bit too much to fat for such a young man. He seemed pale; blue, almost. She hadn’t heard him speak, but she sensed that he wanted to tell her something. The only other soul in the room was Ike, lying next to her on the bed. She chuckled at her vivid dream, and then took a couple of breaths to calm her racing heart.

  “When did you come in here, you big old thing? The bed is no place for cats.” She hoisted him off the quilt and set him on the floor. He looked up at her, his yellow eyes full of indignation, and padded out of the room.

  She didn’t think she had gone completely to sleep, but the angle of the sun coming through the window had changed quite a bit, so she supposed she must have. The breeze had freshened and cooled, and she could see a few large white clouds floating by. The weather was about to change.

  The little daybed was empty. She was surprised that Grace had not wakened her, and she got up to go find her, slightly worried that the child was making a nuisance of herself. She met Ruth Ann in the hall.

  “I was just coming to get you, Alafair. Supper is about ready.”

  “Gracious, I was a bunch more tired from the trip than I thought. I didn’t even hear Grace get up. I hope she ain’t down there pestering everybody half to death.”

  Ruth Ann led her down the stairs. “No, she came down with Martha about half an hour ago. They’re out in the yard with Olivia and the baby, playing.”

  Alafair intended to offer to set the table, but as soon as they went into the dining room, she saw that her offer came too late.

  Ruth Ann had broken out the good china for the occasion, as well as linen napkins and her wedding silver. A beautiful rose centerpiece decorated the table.

  “Are those from your own bushes, Ruth Ann? They’re an eyeful!”

  Ruth Ann looked properly proud. “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much time I spend on those rosebushes, but they’ve turned out so nice that it’s worth it. I ought to be ashamed to say it, but I like to make the other ladies in the garden club jealous.”

  Alafair didn’t comment. She didn’t have the leisure to spend hours a week on landscaping, but she couldn’t bring herself to think of something as lovely as roses as a waste of time. Instead she said, “Looks like you’ve planned quite a spread.”

  “I expect you didn’t have a very good dinner on that train, and besides, it’s not every day my big sister comes to visit. I think Lu has done herself proud tonight, too, judging from what I saw in the kitchen a minute ago. I told her I’d take care of the serving, since we’re all family, here. She’s gone upstairs to take a little broth to Lester and sit with him while we’re eating. Let’s you and me tote the food out, and then we can call the girls.”

  Lu had indeed done herself proud. A giant pork roast had already been removed from the oven and was sitting in its roasting pan on the back of the stove, along with a casserole dish of mashed squash. Ruth Ann pointed to something incredibly fragrant which was simmering in a pot on a front burner. “Ladle up that soup into the tureen over on the cabinet, Alafair. There’s a green bean salad under that dishtowel and some succotash in this pot here. If you’ll take that off the fire and put some cream and butter in it, I’ll make gravy for the roast. I think we can serve up the squash in its dish. Lu already put butter and syrup in it when she mashed it up, but I think a chunk of butter on top wouldn’t do any harm. There’re potatoes in the oven that will be done browning in about five minutes.”

  As she carried dishes from the kitchen to the table, Alafair thought it was a good thing that they hadn’t eaten very well on the train, because it was going to take an army of starving people to make a dent in this meal. By the time Ruth Ann left to call the girls, they had loaded the table with the tureen of gumbo soup, the huge pork roast with gravy, bowls of creamed succotash, browned potatoes, a warm bean salad, buttery orange squash, as well as pitchers of sweet tea, milk, and pots of coffee.

  ***

  After they all were settled around the table and the meal was properly prayed over, the Tucker females dug into the food like it was their last day on earth. Apparently, the trip had sharpened their appetites as much as it had tired them out.

  “This roast is delicious, Aunt Ruth Ann!” Martha exclaimed. “Why, it’s so tender that it just about melts in my mouth. You must have been cooking this since yesterday.”

  “Thank you, honey, but I can’t take credit for the cooking. Lu fixed this all up herself. Pork is her specialty, in my opinion.”

  “Do you expect she learned to cook like this in China?” Alafair asked.

  “I don’t know where she learned about American cooking, but I expect it was in San Francisco. I don’t know anything about Chinese cooking, but I know that Lu likes to fix up some mighty odd things for herself.”

  “She likes rice,” Olivia interjected. “I swear she eats rice three times a day, every day of the world.” She sat up straight after checking on the baby in his bassinet beside her chair. “When I was little, Lu used to let me taste some of the things she made for herself, if I asked her about it. I’d always end up making a horrible face and spitting it out, and she’d laugh and laugh. Actually, some of it was pretty tasty, but I liked it when she laughed, so I’d carry on no matter what I really thought.”

  “Does she have any family around here?” Alafair wondered.

  “She has a couple of grown sons, and I think some grandchildren,” Ruth Ann said. “One or the other of them will come visit her every once in a while. I usually don’t even know it till after they’re gone. They all live down in the City. Moved out here from California a while after their mother did, I
think. One of her boys is a teamster for some oil equipment company. He’s delivered a load up here to the warehouse a few times.”

  “Do you suspect she gets lonesome with no other of her own folks around to talk to?”

  Ruth Ann shrugged. “I don’t know, Alafair. If she does, she keeps it to herself.”

  Olivia seemed to be equally uninterested in the question of Lu’s social life. “Aunt Alafair, why don’t you and the girls walk around town for a while in the morning? They’ll be setting up the carnival and the tents and bandstands for the fair all day, and y’all could do a little shopping, as well. Then, when you come back, maybe Mama and me can walk around some, ourselves.”

  “Now, Olivia,” Alafair interjected, “I came here to be of help to your mother, not have a holiday. But if you want to take your mother around, that’d be…”

  Ruth Ann cut her off. “Oh, Alafair, there’s no need at all for you to stay cooped up in this house every minute of the day. I’ll feel a whole lot better about taking advantage of you if you’ll get out with the girls for a while tomorrow, and go to the Founders’ Jubilee some, too, when it gets going. Then you can spell me with Lester later, and maybe Martha can watch Ron, and Olivia and I can get out a bit. I’d like that a lot better.”

  “Well, all right, if that’s what you would like, Sister.”

  “I’d enjoy doing some shopping, Mama,” Martha said. “I withdrew some money from my bank account just so I could buy a few things while we’re here that I can’t get in Boynton. I’d like to buy some presents, while I’m at it. It’s not every day I get the opportunity to shop in a department store, and I could use a new dress or two for work.”

  Alafair shrugged her acquiescence. “Grace needs some new shoes.”

  Grace straightened on the several pillows upon which she sat and clapped her hands in delight. “I want shoes! I want pink shoes!”

  “I don’t think shoes come in pink, sugar, but we’ll find you some nice ones.”

  “I was noticing that the wind has shifted in just the past couple of hours,” Olivia observed. “I’m wondering if it might actually rain.”

  Ruth Ann spooned more mashed squash onto her plate. “We could sure use it. I swear I’m about to wilt in this heat, and it’s hard on Lester, too. Of course, rain coming in on top of this dry heat is just the right combination for a bad storm. I hope Kenneth gets home before it comes a gully-washer.”

  “Me, too,” Olivia seconded. “Well, if he’s on the road and gets a notion there’s a storm coming, he’ll probably hole up for the night in Woodward or Slapout or somewhere and come on in tomorrow morning.”

  “So you’re expecting Kenneth is already on his way home?”

  “Oh, I imagine so, Aunt Alafair.”

  “Funny. I just had a dream about him.”

  “What kind of a dream, Sister?”

  Alafair shrugged. “You know how dreams are. Nothing that made any sense. Mercy, this squash is delicious! I don’t believe I’ve ever tasted squash done like this before.”

  “This is winter squash, Alafair,” Ruth Ann told her. “I grew it myself in the back garden. It’s just coming in right now. Lu bakes it in the oven then scoops it out of the peel and mashes it like potatoes with a little maple syrup and butter.”

  “And nutmeg,” Alafair said.

  Martha put down her fork and eyed Alafair with something on her mind that had nothing to do with squash. She was less inclined than the rest of the company to so readily dismiss the fact that her mother had dreamed of Kenneth.

  ***

  After eating too much dinner, they practically foundered on dessert, but none of them intended to do dishonor to Lu’s lovely white cake topped with peaches and cream. When Grace began to alternate between whining and drooping with fatigue, Alafair gave up and took the child upstairs, leaving Ruth Ann and the younger women to coffee and conversation.

  Grace was quite intrigued when Alafair cleaned her up in a bathtub with running water, but by the time her mother dried her off with a big cotton towel and put her into her flour-sack nightie, she was nearly asleep on her feet, and Alafair carried her back into the bedroom.

  Just as Alafair had predicted, Grace wanted to sleep in the big bed with her, and she didn’t argue. She tucked the girl under the sheets and together they sang “This Little Light of Mine,” as they did every night. Alafair usually finished the bedtime ritual with a Bible story, but Grace was asleep before she could even mention that young David was a shepherd boy. She gave her little angel a kiss before she walked down the hall to fulfill her promise to see Lester for a few minutes after supper.

  ***

  Alafair knocked on the bedroom door. There was a moment’s pause before the door seemed to open itself, and Lester gestured from his bed for her to enter. Alafair took a step into the room and blinked when she saw the minuscule Lu, half hidden behind the open door, her hand on the knob. Alafair had heard that servants were supposed to be unobtrusive, but Lu had practically perfected the art of invisibility. She nodded her usual silent greeting to the woman, who nodded back before she padded out of the room.

  The windows were wide open. A pleasant breeze intermittently billowed the curtains. Alafair was surprised, since the wisdom of the day dictated that a dying person was best served by passing on in a dark, close room.

  The breeze felt wonderful to her, but Lester looked as though he had no blood left to warm him. She walked over and looked out into the evening. She could barely see Ruth Ann’s cat nosing around the bushes in the backyard. She put her hands on the sill to close the window, but Lester said, “Leave it open, Alafair.”

  She looked back over her shoulder at him. “Aren’t you cold?”

  “I’m about smothered with covers. I like the air. Makes me know I’m still breathing.”

  “Are you up to this visit? Your voice sounds stronger than it did this afternoon. How are you feeling?”

  “Well, I’ll tell you why I’m looking to get on with it. If it don’t hurt like fire, I’m asleep or bored, or dreading the next spell. Ruth Ann helps a lot by reading to me. I swear she’ll wear her throat out, but it does help.”

  Alafair took a seat next to the bed. “Martha brought along Mr. Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson to entertain herself on the train. She mentioned that you might enjoy for me to read to you.”

  Lester brightened at the suggestion. “Why, yes, I enjoyed that book particular when I was a youngster. Lately Ruth Ann’s taken to mostly reading to me out of the Bible, trying to get me ready for heaven, I reckon. But if I’m not ready now, I never will be. Besides, I heard it all before. I’d rather she’d read me some Robert Louis Stevenson, or that Kipling. My last chance to travel to exotic climes, don’t you know.”

  Alafair patted the desiccated hand that lay on the quilt. “Pretty soon you’ll be able to see all the exotic climes you want, if that’s your fancy.”

  “Now, that’s a nice thought. But never mind that now, Alafair. I reckon your dad will have plenty to say on that subject. I want to talk about Ruth Ann and Olivia.”

  “Ruth Ann expected that’s what you had on your mind. They’ll miss you terrible, Lester, but they’ll go on. You can’t be troubling your rest with that now.”

  “I know. I fixed it so that Ruth Ann will be taken care of. She gets the house and enough money to see her through the rest of her life. I love Ruth Ann. She’s been all I could want in a wife, but I know she’s not the most practical woman ever born. She’s just too blamed good, is what. Never thinks a bad thought about anybody, never expects that anyone would want to take advantage of her trusting heart. Now, Olivia’s got a good head on her shoulders, just to be twenty-one. I reckon being an only child has made her older than her years. I’ve already told her to watch over her ma, and make sure she don’t get led astray by some unscrupulous banker or the like. But it’s the business I’m worried about.”

  Alafair was surprised. How on earth could she possibly help him with that? “Kenneth has been your partn
er in the business for some three years now. Surely Kenneth knows how…”

  Lester cut her off. “Kenneth means well, Alafair. But he’s young and inexperienced. I don’t want him and Olivia to have the burden of the whole business on their shoulders for a while.”

  “He’s not much younger than you were when you started the business, Lester. Besides, that’s how you learn. You jump in there and sink or swim.”

  “Maybe. But I want to make dang sure they don’t sink. I’ll do anything to make sure my girl and that baby are taken care of proper.”

  “Like what? You can’t run things from heaven, Lester, no matter how bad you want to.”

  Her comment caused him to puff a little laugh. “Are you sure?” he asked wistfully. “All right, maybe not. But I’ve been thinking on how I can protect them best I can before I go. I’m leaving controlling interest in the shipping company to your brother George. I trust George. He’s a good honest man. He wouldn’t try to cheat Olivia and Kenneth out of their due, and he’d be a good teacher for Kenneth. I told my lawyer to fix it so that George can sell them his share any time after five years from my death, whenever he thinks Kenneth is ready.”

  “George is a good businessman, but he lives in Arkansas. I’d be surprised if he’ll want to pull up stakes and move out here to Oklahoma so he can manage Yeager Shipping and Storage.”

  “I know he won’t. We’ve already written back and forth about it at length. But I’m fixing it so that Kenneth won’t be able to make any big decisions about the business without George’s approval. I instructed that the youngsters have to send statements to him once a month and he’s agreed to check them over, as well as to come out here a couple of times a year and give the place an eyeball. I’ve done my best to teach Kenneth what he needs to know, and he is full of gumption and big ideas. But he’s inclined to be rash, sometimes. He needs time to grow some sense. Olivia could run things, though, and do a real good job at it. What I’d really like is to leave the whole thing to her, lock, stock, and barrel. But Kenneth is her husband, so even if I did, it’d be his anyway.”