A Trail of Crumbs

by Finkbeiner, Susie;

  “Well, I don’t know if I ever could,” Daddy said. “That’s something else.”

  “Yes indeedy.” Winston nodded. “You need cream? Sugar?”

  “Cream,” Mama said. “Please.”

  He handed her a small pitcher and she poured a good amount of it into her coffee. The spoon made a swishing sound against the cup as she stirred.

  “Have you lived in Bliss long?” Daddy asked, cutting into his pie. He’d picked peach and the fruit was a real pretty orange-pink.

  “All my life,” Winston told him. “I’ve never spent a single night outside this town.”

  “That so?”

  The man nodded. “Yup. Never had a reason to leave.”

  “What is it you do here?”

  “Well, I sit here and eat Shirley’s grub most days.” Winston finished off his coffee and poured himself more. “Other times I go around town spreading mischief.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Daddy told him with a grin.

  The two men went on talking about things that interested grown-ups. Mama slid her plate in front of Ray, the pie untouched, and sipped at her coffee. I could tell she was trying to get it down without making a face. After a minute or two Shirley came to the counter and asked Ray and me how we liked the pie.

  We told her it was real good.

  “I’m glad,” she said.

  “Shirley,” Winston said. “How about you let me get their bill.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” Daddy said. “We’ve got money.”

  “This is my treat.” Winston looked over the bill. “This isn’t much at all.”

  “Thank you,” Mama said. “It’s real kind of you.”

  “I’m happy to do it.” Winston smiled at her. “Just think of it as your welcome from the mayor of Bliss.”

  “Well, I should have known,” Daddy said. “Gus said Bliss had a good old boy for a mayor.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” Winston told him. “You know, Tom, I’d like to talk to you sometime.”

  “Is that so?”

  “We’re short a lawman here in town,” the mayor said. “Chief O’Brien had a heart attack and Doctor Barnett told him he can’t work anymore.”

  “How about that.” Daddy nodded as if he knew the folks the mayor was talking about. “And there’s nobody else in town wanting the job?”

  “Nobody I’d trust.” He raised his eyebrows. “I wonder if you’d think about taking the job?”

  “You’ve never seen me before today. You don’t know if I do good work.”

  “Gus said you’re good. I take him at his word.”

  “Well, I’d like to talk about it, I guess,” Daddy said. “Not today, though. I’d like to get us settled first.”

  “You think about it.” Winston nodded. “It pays all right, if that’ll sway you.”

  “I’ll think on it.”

  “I’d be happy if you did.”

  “Say, I wonder if there’s a telephone I could use,” he said. “I’d like to give old Gus a call before getting to his place.”

  “Sure,” Shirley said. “Jake, how about you show him where it is.”

  “Right this way,” Winston said, nodding to the swinging door.

  Daddy followed him, leaving us with Shirley. She leaned on the counter and gave Ray and me a pretty smile.

  “You kids like gum?” she asked.

  We told her we did and she handed us each a slice.

  I thought of Mama’s idea of entertaining angels and wondered if sometimes they saw fit to entertain right back.

  If so, they’d serve up pie and glasses of milk and a stick of gum for good measure.

  CHAPTER NINE

  An old tan-colored dog sat among the green grass and yellow flowers that dotted every inch of Gus Seegert’s front yard. It didn’t bark, that hound didn’t, it just panted hard, letting its tongue hang out the side of its mouth, and watched as we pulled up the drive toward the house. By the way it had its tail wagging I knew it wasn’t much of a guard dog. I did hope, though, it might make a good friend.

  “Guess this is it,” Daddy said, parking the truck before turning to me and giving me a smile.

  He didn’t hop out of the truck or go running up the steps of the porch like I’d expected him to. Instead, Daddy blew out a deep breath and nodded before opening his door. In all my life I didn’t think I could recall a time Daddy acted more nervous.

  A woman stepped out onto the porch of the well-kept white house. She wiped her hands on her apron and smiled like she was the happiest woman in all the wide world. She stepped down to the walk and came toward the truck.

  “Gus,” she called. “They’re here.”

  From around the house came a big man, just about the same age as Daddy and at least a head taller. He had on overalls that were so faded they almost looked white. And he had on a collared shirt with both sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Daddy pushed open his door and got out of the truck, laughing and clapping his hands.

  “Lord have mercy, Gus,” Daddy said, shaking his head. “As I live and breathe. Look at you.”

  “Tom,” Gus called back, making long strides across the yard toward Daddy. “Still handsome as the devil.”

  I’d never in all my life seen a man pick Daddy right up off the ground the way Gus did that day. The two of them slapped each other on the back and laughed like one of them said something real funny.

  It sure did my heart good to see Daddy smile so big.

  Mama and I got out of the truck and Ray jumped out from the back. The tan-colored dog made his way to us and sniffed at our fingers and give them a lick like he wanted to make sure we knew we were welcome.

  “Mary,” Gus said, making his way to Mama. He took one of her hands in both of his. “It’s real nice to have you here.”

  “I’m glad we made it.” She let out a breath of air like she’d been holding it for days. “It’s been so long.”

  “Sure has.” He nodded at her. “Too long if you ask me.”

  “I don’t think I’ve seen you since right after you came back from the war.”

  “I do believe you’re right about that.”

  “You left so sudden …” Mama said, then shook her head.

  “It took me a long time to get the nightmares to stop,” he said. “Still can’t think about a trench without gettin’ nervous.”

  “Well, it’s just nice to see you now.”

  “A lot’s changed since then,” he told her. “I’m not that same man anymore. I was young and foolish. Now I’m just old and foolish.”

  “You aren’t old,” she said.

  “Turned forty beginning of the year. Sure feels old to me.”

  Mama smiled at him. “You seem happy.”

  “I am.”

  “Why didn’t you come home?” Mama asked.

  “Because I found home here.” He nodded at his wife. “She’s done me a lot of good. Just like you done for Tom.”

  Mama didn’t say anything to that or smile even.

  Gus went on to meet Ray and me and introduce his wife, Carrie. If I’d had to make a guess, I would have thought she was right around Mama’s age, or maybe a little older. She stepped toward us and shook all our hands. That was when I noticed she wasn’t wearing any shoes. When she caught me looking, she waggled her toes and gave me a wink. I liked her already.

  “Gus, how about you show Tom and the kids around the farm.” Carrie looked at both Ray and me. “One of our barn cats had a litter last night. I’ll bet you’d like to see the kittens, wouldn’t you?”

  We both nodded. I hoped as hard as I could that Gus might let me hold one of them if I promised to be real gentle.

  I tried not to hold out hope that he might let me keep a kitten for my very own. That might have been just too much good all in one day.

  Mama decided to stay at the house with Carrie while the rest of us took a tour of the farm. That was fine with me. I didn’t want her fretting about me getting overtired or climbing on a
tractor or anything like that.

  She wanted so bad for me to be a lady. It just wasn’t my time for that yet. Being a lady seemed like it wasn’t fun at all and I had plans to put it off as long as I could manage to.

  First we walked out to the fields where Gus showed us how good the crops were coming in. He said they grew a little of everything. Corn in the north field and soybeans in the east. To the west was wheat and in the south he kept an apple orchard.

  “Even got us a pumpkin patch,” he told us. “Y’all like pumpkin pie?”

  Ray and I looked at each other, neither of us sure what to say.

  “Ain’t you never had pumpkin pie before?” he asked.

  “It’s been awhile for things like that, Gus,” Daddy said. “It isn’t so easy to grow pumpkins in dust.”

  “Well, I’ll tell you, you’ll be glad to have one that Carrie makes come fall.” Gus whistled. “Best part of Thanksgivin’.”

  “Can’t hardly wait.” Daddy touched his stomach.

  “Even got a bunch that’ll be good for carvin’,” Gus said. “We have a Halloween party here at the farm every year. Hayrides and doughnuts and all the works. You think you’d like that?”

  “I’ve never been to a Halloween party before,” I told him.

  “Then you’ll have to for sure come this year.” Gus nodded once like it was settled. “You’ll have a real good time. That is if your folks’ll let ya.”

  I looked to Daddy, not sure if he’d be all right with a Halloween party on account we were Baptists.

  “Sounds fine by me,” Daddy told him.

  I was sure glad for that.

  “Over thataway,” Gus went on, “Carrie’s got her garden. Every kind of vegetable’s growin’ in there.”

  “It’s a real nice place, Gus,” Daddy said.

  “Yup. We like it just fine.” Gus breathed in through his nose. “What we lack in foldin’ money we make up for with what we grow here. We got just about all we need right here. A good deal more, even.”

  “How you managing it?” Daddy asked. “You need money to pay the mortgage and your field hands.”

  “Tom, I’ll tell ya. I never did trust no bank, not never.” Gus turned his head and spit. “Never put a dollar in a bank in my whole life. Carrie said I was crazy, hiding it away here at the house. I always said, at least here I could keep a eye on it. Turned out I was right.”

  “I’m sure glad for that.”

  “Me, too,” Gus said. “Can’t imagine having to leave this place. Can’t hardly think of it.”

  The two of them stood in silence the way men did sometimes. They squinted off over the land like they liked what they saw just fine.

  “Well, I’m sure I’m forgettin’ somethin’,” Gus said. “What else y’all wanna see?”

  “Mr. Seegert?” I asked.

  “Oh, you don’t gotta call me that, darlin’,” he said. “It’s either Gus or Uncle Gus. And I’ll bet Carrie’ll wanna be called Aunt Carrie. We’re family. I can’t have none of this Mr. and Mrs. Seegert stuff. Whatcha need, honey?”

  “Well, Uncle Gus, I wondered if you had any chickens.”

  “Sure we do. Got the coop off to the other side of the house.” He pointed. “You like hens?”

  “Yes, sir, I do,” I answered. “I know how to tend them.”

  “Ain’t that somethin’?” He nodded like he was real impressed. I hoped he was.

  “I don’t break the eggs, either. I’m real careful.”

  “I bet if you asked nice, Carrie might let you visit them hens sometimes. Maybe even feed ’em if you give her a good smile.”

  “I’d like that,” I told him.

  “Wanna meet my goat?” Uncle Gus asked.

  Ray told him he would.

  We followed him to a pasture off the side of the barn. There stood an old goat with thick horns curling up out of his head. He had him a beard and chewed the cud, making that beard wiggle back and forth. The way that goat eyeballed us, I thought he’d take great pleasure in knocking us right off our feet.

  “Fella over there? That’s Squash,” Uncle Gus told us. “He’s a ornery old cuss. Stay outta his way if you wanna keep all your fingers.”

  “Why’s he so ornery?” I asked.

  “Just wait and see if you don’t turn into an ornery cuss looking at Gus’s mug every morning,” Daddy said, laughter in his voice.

  “It’s sure a miracle Carrie ain’t turned mean on me,” Uncle Gus said. “Not yet, at least.”

  Clear to the other side of the pasture from Squash stood a pair of stout pack mules. They watched us, their eyes full of curiosity. Ray went right up to them and rubbed their noses.

  “Come on, Pearl,” he said to me. “They’re soft.”

  I shook my head and stuck by Daddy, too nervous of their square teeth to touch them. I told myself maybe I’d try another time when I was more used to them.

  “That’s Molly and John,” Uncle Gus told us. “Some mules ain’t so nice. These ones, though, are good friends to me.”

  Uncle Gus made sure to show us his three dairy cows and the little calf that had just been born the week before. I wasn’t so scared of that little fella and put my hands on either side of his sweet face. He blinked up at me and I couldn’t help but love him right away.

  We found the kittens in a stall of the barn. They were cuddled up against the mama cat, some of them feeding off her. She kept her eyes on us, that mother cat did, and I didn’t dare get too close to her babies for fear she’d hiss at me.

  I figured after a day or two she’d get to trusting me. She’d realize that I belonged there same as her.

  Mama told Ray and me we needed to get baths before supper. She didn’t get an argument, at least not from me. The warm water felt good on my skin. I scrubbed a good week’s worth of filth off my arms and legs and from between my toes. I came up out of the tub feeling drowsy, like I could have slept the rest of the day away.

  Ray did obey and got in the tub like Mama asked him to. But he didn’t stay long enough, as far as she was concerned. She had to send him back more than once to scrub at his neck with a washcloth or under his fingernails with a brush.

  I knew he was embarrassed by how red his face got and I wished she’d leave him be. Boys were part grime and it was like asking them to remove a thumb, having them scrub so hard. Then again, Mama never had been around boys too much and I wondered if she didn’t know how they were.

  “He doesn’t know how,” I told her after she sent him to get between his toes real good.

  “Mrs. Jones had it hard, Pearl,” Mama said, scolding me. “She did the best she could.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said. “I was just—”

  “You were just nothing. He’s a good boy.” Mama turned me so she could give my still-wet hair a good brushing. “I won’t have you shaming him.”

  I was glad my back was to Mama just then. I wouldn’t have wanted her to see how her words had stung me.

  Aunt Carrie didn’t let us help her cook supper or set the table even as much as Mama asked if we could. She just went ahead and did all the work herself which made Mama fidget and blush.

  “You’re my guests,” Aunt Carrie said. “Just tonight, let me serve you.”

  She set out fine dishes with roses painted around the edges and silverware that sparkled in the light from the windows. A frilly white cloth covered the table. Just looking at it made me nervous.

  “Carrie makes a nice table, don’t she?” Uncle Gus asked, pulling out a chair for me to sit in. “Real fancy, huh?”

  Ray took a seat across from mine, sitting slow and careful like he was afraid to bump something and cause it all to crash to the floor.

  “Other day I dropped a whole dish of ketchup at dinner. Made a awful stain.” He winked at Ray. “Believe it’s right where you’re sittin’, son. Go on. Look under your plate.”

  Ray did as he was told. Sure enough, right there on the table cloth was a faded stain of dull red.

  “She t
ried scrubbin’ it out, but it just wouldn’t budge,” Uncle Gus said. “She wasn’t mad at me for it or nothin’. These things happen. Carrie ain’t never been one to get ruffled over something like that.”

  Ray put his plate down and his shoulders relaxed. Mine did, too.

  I sure did like Uncle Gus.

  The sky dimmed on that first day in Michigan and Daddy told us we’d best get ready for bed.

  “Gus needs his beauty sleep,” Daddy said. “He’s gotta get up before the sun.”

  “Eh, couldn’t sleep past five no more if I tried,” Uncle Gus said, rubbing at his eyes and yawning real wide.

  Daddy went to the truck to bring in a couple of our things. Just night-clothes and such. He called to Ray and me, saying we should come out with him. We did, thinking he needed help carrying a bag or two. Once we got on the porch, though, we saw him standing in the middle of the yard, staring at something in front of him.

  “Look at them,” Daddy said. “Pearlie, you have to see them.”

  I looked but all I could see was nighttime falling.

  “See it?” he asked.

  I didn’t at first. But then I caught the blinking lights flashing bright here and there in the air. They faded only to flash bright again.

  “Are they fairies?” I asked, awe and wonder making me feel as if I were in a dream.

  “They’re lightning bugs.” Daddy reached for me, pulling me closer to himself. “Watch.”

  He cupped his hands around the air, catching one and holding it in front of my face. It crawled on Daddy’s finger before glowing and taking to hovering near my face.

  “Try to get one,” Daddy said.

  We stretched out our arms, Ray and Daddy and me, collecting the little critters. They tickled on my skin, moving up my fingers and hand to my wrist.

  The way they glowed seemed pure magic. A good kind.

  Aunt Carrie brought us a canning jar to put them in.

  “Do you know why they do that?” she asked me, holding one of her own on an outstretched palm.

  “No, ma’am.”

  “So they can find each other,” she told me. “Isn’t that nice?”

  “It’s the nicest thing I’ve ever heard,” I said.