‘Who’s Androcles?’
Nancy rested on an elbow and looked down on him. ‘You’re telling me you don’t know who Androcles is? You’ve never read the story of Androcles and the lion?’
‘No. I’ve never heard of him or the lion.’
‘God, Gene! This is what happens when you live your life on a couch.’ She punched him on the arm and then rolled on to her back. ‘You should be ashamed of yourself. And I’m definitely not being nice to you now!’
‘I wouldn’t expect any patient to be nice to me, Nancy. It’s against medical ethics. I could get thrown out of school.’
‘Well, in that case, get ready to be thrown out of school then, because my ethics are more than okay with it!’
There are billions of people in the world, and many millions of them in the 1960s lived in the United States. In theory, and with time, Gene and Nancy could have fallen in love with hundreds of other people. They did, however, fall in love with each other, and believed each to be the fulfilment of the other’s life; the proverbial needle discovered in their own backyard haystack. They talked of a future together and of marriage.
Like all couples they argued – maybe more than most – but they felt comfortable arguing, and doubted the nature of any relationship characterised by a lack of argument. The sun set on many of these differences of opinion, and days would often pass without any sort of communication between them, until one or the other would break the deadlock with a phone call or a visit.
It was the occasional silences when they were together, however, that confused and worried Gene. They could be lying side by side, either touching or only inches apart, when Gene would suddenly sense a gulf between them of unfathomable and mysterious depth. Nancy would be in her own world, distant and unreachable, lost in thoughts she’d never share or admit to having.
‘Penny for them,’ he used to say.
‘Nothing to buy,’ she’d answer with a forced smile.
‘You know I love you, don’t you?’
‘Of course you do,’ she’d answer, and then move away from him. Gene would lie there uncertain.
In the summer of 1963, however, things between them were good, and Nancy invited Gene to spend the last week of August with her and her family in the Delta.
Oaklands
Gene and Nancy flew to Memphis and were met at the airport by Nancy’s sister, Ruby, and the heat of an oven. While Gene struggled with the suitcases, the two sisters ran to each other and hugged. Catching up to Nancy, Gene held out his hand to Ruby, who brushed it aside and hugged him. She told him she was pleased to meet him after hearing so much about him for so long, and teased Nancy for not bringing him home sooner.
‘I think she was afraid you’d fall in love with me,’ Ruby said.
Slightly shorter than her sister, Ruby was also darker complexioned and had the blackest of hair. She also carried more weight than Nancy, but the kind of weight Rubens had been happy to immortalize.
Driving south into Mississippi, Ruby asked Gene what Nancy had told him about the Delta.
‘Only that it’s flat,’ Gene replied.
‘Oh boo, Nancy. Shame on you,’ she said. ‘You didn’t tell Gene how it got its name?’
‘No,’ Nancy said. ‘Are you going to?’
‘Damn right I am, sister. Now listen up, Gene, because all your friends back home’ll want to hear this. It’s called the Delta because it’s shaped liked a D. Delta’s the Greek name for a D. Did you know that?’
Gene nodded.
‘Anyway, it stretches two hundred miles from Memphis in the north to Vicksburg in the south – there’s a big Civil War battlefield there – and at its widest point it’s no more than eighty-five miles. So if you draw a straight line from Memphis to Vicksburg, and then a curved one from Vicksburg to Memphis taking in the widest point, you get the letter D. Now that’s interesting.
‘Mom and Pop live in Tallahatchie County, but there are eleven others. I live in Leflore County, that’s another one, so that leaves ten. Nancy, are you going to tell Gene what the names of the other ten are?’
‘No,’ Nancy said. ‘I doubt Gene’s that interested.’
‘You are interested too, aren’t you, Gene? Your friends back home’ll want to know this as well.’
Gene said he was interested.
‘In alphabetical order,’ Ruby continued, ‘they are Bolivar, Coahoma, Humphreys, Issaquena – that’s my favourite name – Quitman, Sharkey, Sunflower, Tunica, Washington and Yazoo. And do you know how many acres the Delta has? Four million! Did you know that, Nancy?’
‘No,’ Nancy said. ‘I don’t know why you just don’t buy a bus and set yourself up as a tour guide.’
‘I could do that,’ Ruby laughed. ‘I love this place. I wouldn’t live anywhere else in the whole world – and I’ve been to lots of places too, Gene. I’m going to die here and be buried here. Make the soil even more fertile. You might want to make a note of this too, Gene, but the soil here is twenty-seven feet deep. It’s the best soil in the whole damned country!’
‘That’s because Miss’ippi was the last state to emerge from the mud.’
‘Oh boo, Nancy. Don’t come bringing any of your eastern ways back home with you. You know you love it too. Say you do or I’m stopping the car right now.’
‘I do,’ Nancy said.
‘That’s what she’ll be saying to you soon, Gene. I dooo. I dooo.’ Ruby then burst out laughing and didn’t stop for what seemed like three miles.
Nancy rolled her eyes, but it was clear she enjoyed every second of her sister’s company. ‘Don’t take what she says too seriously,’ she whispered to Gene. Gene smiled, but sat there feeling uncertain again.
‘How’s Homer doing?’ Nancy asked.
‘He’s doing fine, doll. In fact, I’d go so far as to say mighty fine. He treats me well and buys me presents. If he’d just do something about his damned last name, life would be perfect.’
‘Homer’s last name is Comer,’ Nancy told Gene.
‘Can you believe it? Homer Comer! I’m Mrs Homer Comer, for God’s sake! He was once stopped by the police in Memphis for going through a red light, and when he told them his name was Homer Comer they thought he was taking the P-I-S-S. Homer Comer! I ask you. He almost got his sweet fanny hauled off to jail that night. I mean, it’s like you being called Gene Bean or Gene Mean, Gene. What parent does that to a child – and to their child’s wife?’
The car had turned off the main highway and was now travelling through the Delta proper. Gene wasn’t sure what he’d expected when Nancy had told him it was flat. The Delta wasn’t just flat, it was prostrate; level beyond imagination and endlessly so. But there was also an unexpectedly strange beauty to it: the cotton globes covering the flat fields were of the purest white and shimmered in the sun’s glare.
The conversation between Nancy and her sister turned more serious when Nancy asked how her Mom was doing.
‘She’s doing okay, I suppose,’ Ruby answered, ‘but she’s still as forgetful. Maybe more so. She scared me the other week when the two of us were driving to Memphis to visit Daisy. We’d been chatting away, and all of a sudden she just turned to me and asked me who I was. I said: ‘Mom, it’s me – your daughter, Ruby!’ And she looked so relieved and happy when I told her, I could have burst into tears. It’s scary, Nancy. I’m wondering if she isn’t going to go like Grandmamma. Daddy says she won’t, and he’s going to make sure she sees the best people. He’s already taken her to doctors in Memphis and Jackson, and now he’s got the name of a specialist in New York.’
‘It just seems so unfair,’ Nancy said. ‘She’s barely into her sixties. I hope to God she doesn’t go like Grandmamma.’
For the next fifteen minutes or so, conversation in the car was sparse and eventually stalled into silence. It was a relief when Ruby squealed out: ‘Oaklands!’ The car passed through two large brick pillars set at either side of an entrance. Oaklands was written in large brass letters on one pillar and Plantation on the othe
r. Large trees lined the drive.
‘Oaks?’ Gene asked.
‘Yup,’ Nancy said. ‘Imagination’s always been a Travis strong point. The memory’s shit these days, but the imagination’s still okay.’
‘Nancy! Wash your mouth out!’ Ruby rebuked. ‘Don’t let Mommy and Daddy hear you talking like that.’
‘Sorry,’ Nancy said. ‘What I meant to say was S-H-I-T.’
Gene had seen photographs of houses like this in magazines, but had never supposed he’d ever be a guest in one. Six huge Doric columns rose from ground level to a hipped roof. The façade of the two-storey house was symmetrical, with windows evenly spaced. The second floor bedrooms opened on to a balcony that ran the width of the house, and below the balcony a covered porch similarly ran its width.
‘Wow, this is some house you’ve got yourselves,’ Gene said. ‘How old is it?’
‘The original house was built in 1853,’ Ruby said, relieved to be back in her role as tour guide. ‘It burned down in 1925 after a lightning strike, and when Grandaddy rebuilt it he decided to use bricks instead of wood – which the house was originally built from. He figured if, God forbid, there was another fire, the house would burn more slowly and the fire trucks stand a better chance of arriving in time to save it. Wood just goes up in no time. The pillars are original though: they’re not wood. You’ll see a lot of big houses like this in Miss’ippi, and they’re all built in this ancient Greek style. Do you know why that is, Gene?’
Gene said he didn’t.
‘It’s because ancient Greece represents the spirit of democracy – or that’s what people at the time thought.’
Gene searched Ruby’s face for a hint of irony, but didn’t find any. Spirit of democracy juxtaposed with Mississippi had to be oxymoronic.
Two bird dogs came bounding from the side of the house. They ran straight to Nancy, who bent down and fussed with them, greeting them by name: Jefferson and Franklin. The door of the house opened and an elderly black lady walked out, dressed in a server’s uniform and wearing a large white apron.
‘What y’all doin’ standin’ out here in the sun? Nancy, come give me a hug an’ introduce me to that gen’leman friend o’ yo’s.’
Nancy stopped playing with the dogs and ran to give the black lady a big hug, indicating to Gene that he should follow her.
‘My girl, you all skin an’ bones; ain’t nothin’ o’ you to get ahol’ of. They ain’t feedin’ you? How you gonna get chil’ rearin’ hips if you don’t eat nothin’?’
‘I’ve done all the growing I’m going to do, Dora, and my hips are just fine, thank you very much. And who said anything about me wanting children? Who’s going to look after you if I leave and start a family?’
‘Oh hush yo’ mouth, girl. I don’t need no lookin’ after. What you think I married Ezra fo’ – his good looks? Now introduce me to that fine lookin’ man by yo’ side.’
‘Gene, this is Dora. Dora’s been with us forever and a day, because Mommy and Daddy are too scared to fire her. Make sure you don’t cross her or she might stick a fork in your back when you’re not looking.’
Dora laughed and took Gene’s hand. ‘Mr Gene, I very pleased to meet you. I surprised you ain’t bin scared off by Nancy’s big mouth. Sure has a big one, fo’ one so skinny.’
Gene smiled, and said he was pleased to meet her, too. ‘Nancy’s already told me about you, Dora. I hear your cooking’s the best in the Delta.’
‘Sure is, Mr Gene. An’ I gonna make it my business to fatten the two o’ you up.’
Ruby went to give Dora a hug. ‘Don’t go ignoring me, Dora, just because Nancy’s home with her gentleman friend. I don’t leave you for months on end, and besides, you’ve known me longer. Where is everyone, anyway? This place is quiet as a Sunday.’
‘Yo’ Daddy, Brandon an’ Ezra’s out lookin’ for Miss Martha,’ Dora said, more serious now. ‘She went walkin’ this mornin’ an’ she still gone. Missed lunch an’ ever’thin’. They be back by the by, so no use you frettin’ yo’self. It happened b’fore an’ it’ll happen again. Now get yo’selfs unpacked an’ I’ll fix you a drink an’ a bite to eat. You must be wore out by all yo’ travellin’.’
Ruby and Nancy looked at each other, and Gene looked at both of them; neither of them spoke. They picked up their cases and went inside the house. Nancy and Gene climbed an imposing staircase that led to the second floor rooms. Nancy put down her case outside her own room, and then showed Gene to the guest bedroom.
‘What’s wrong with your Mom, Nancy?’ Gene asked her.
‘Can we talk about this later?’ she asked. ‘I will tell you. I want to tell you. But when I do, I’ll also want to ask something of you. Just let’s enjoy the next few days. There’s plenty of time for everything else.’
‘Sure,’ Gene said, ‘Whenever you’re ready.’ The two of them then held each other in silence until a gong sounded.
‘Time to go downstairs,’ Nancy said. ‘You don’t want to get on Dora’s wrong side on your first day. She’s quite something isn’t she?’
‘Yes,’ Gene said. ‘I think it’s safe to say that.’
Downstairs, Dora had laid out plates of sandwiches and a pitcher of iced lemonade.
‘I want it all eaten,’ she said. ‘Ever’ las’ crumb! An’ Mr Gene, I don’t wan’ no soft-shoe walkin’ to Nancy’s room in the night.’
‘Dora!’ Ruby shrieked. ‘You can’t say things like that. Gene’s our guest.’
‘An’ I sure he’ll behave like one, but if he anythin’ like Ezra…’
‘Maybe we’re already doing it,’ Nancy teased.
‘Nancy!’ Ruby shrieked.
‘Well maybe you is an’ maybe you ain’t, but there ain’t nothin’ happenin’ in this house,’ Dora said. ‘You hear me?’ she said, turning to look at Mr Gene.
The front door opened and voices sounded in the hallway. Brandon Travis walked into the room, hugged his sisters and shook Gene’s hand weakly.
‘Daddy sends his apologies for not being here to welcome you, Gene, but he’ll see you in the drawing room at seven for pre-dinner drinks and formally welcome you to Oaklands then.’
‘Where is he now?’ Nancy asked.
‘He’s taken Mom to lie down.’
‘So what happened? Is she okay?’
‘I guess,’ Brandon said with a shrug. ‘We found her wandering on one of the dirt tracks, about a mile from the house. She’s forever disappearing these days and it’s becoming a problem. I don’t know why Daddy doesn’t just put a leash on her or keep her in the paddock.’
‘Don’t talk like that about Mom,’ Ruby scolded. ‘She can’t help herself!’
‘It’s okay for you and Nancy, Ruby – you’re never here! It’s not your lives that are being affected by her behaviour so don’t go lecturing me! I’ve got more important things to do with my damn time than play hide-and-seek with my mother. I was supposed to be spraying crops today. Maybe the two of you should consider spending more time here and sharing the load a bit more.
‘Anyway, I have work to do. I’ll see you at seven.’
Five minutes before seven, Nancy knocked on Gene’s door, and together they descended the staircase. The drawing room had an expensive formality to it, and an emphasis on antique furniture and animal death. The floor was spread with skins of exotic animals, and the walls were lined with an array of heads. In particular, Gene was drawn to a footstool made from the lower portion of an elephant’s leg, and a giant bear skin that lay in front of the large fireplace. He wondered if there was now a three-legged elephant hobbling around Africa, and a bear shivering from cold somewhere in Oregon.
There were shelves against the far wall displaying ceramic and glass ornaments and stuffed birds, and a display case against another wall crammed with antique firearms and daggers. Reading matter displayed consisted of local and state newspapers and glossy magazines: the Charleston Sun-Sentinel, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the Jackson Clarion Ledger, the Greenville De
lta Democrat Times, Harper’s, Time, Life, the New Yorker and the Saturday Evening Post. The family obviously read a lot, Gene concluded, just not books.
Ruby was already there, and shortly they were joined by Brandon and his wife Becky. Conversation and atmosphere nosedived immediately. Perhaps noticing this, Ezra assiduously attended to their drinks, ensuring that no glass was ever empty. Gene checked his watch: Mr and Mrs Travis were running fifteen minutes late and he’d already drunk two gin and tonics. He was about to catch Ezra’s eye to request a refill, when Hilton Travis walked into the room with a smiling Martha on his arm.
Hilton and Martha Travis looked every inch the couple. No one, Gene thought, would have ever raised an eyebrow to question why either one was with the other. Hilton was tall, slim and his features were pale but handsome. He had thick greying hair, worn longer than the norm for men of his age, and a striking aquiline nose. He wore an expensive linen suit and a striped military-looking tie.
Martha, on the other hand, had the dark complexion of Ruby, and the same dark hair that showed only traces of life’s autumnal grey. Her face was tanned but relatively unlined, and she wore little make-up. She was dressed in a bright flowered dress with a shawl draped over her shoulders.
Nancy and Ruby went straight to their parents, hugged and kissed them. Brandon and Becky kept their distances. Gene stood there awkwardly waiting to be introduced, wondering if somehow they’d forgotten he was there. Ezra came to his rescue and handed him another gin and tonic.
‘Mommy, Daddy, this is Gene,’ Nancy said eventually. Gene shook hands with them both and, for some unknown reason, bowed his head Teutonic style as he did so.
‘I’m very pleased to meet you,’ he said.
‘The pleasure’s all ours, Gene,’ Hilton Travis drawled. ‘And I must apologise for not being here to greet you when you arrived. Martha decided to go for a walk today and got herself lost.’ He smiled at Martha when he said this.
‘Oh my,’ Martha said, ‘I don’t know what I was thinking. I’ve walked this land my entire life and I’ve never once got lost. Why it happened today of all days I have no idea, but I got good and properly discombobulated. I guess this is what happens when you start to lose your marbles,’ she laughed. ‘But I tell you, when I saw Ezra, I’ve never been gladder to see a person in my whole life. I thought I was going to be out there forever with the snakes and mosquitoes.’
Last Bus to Coffeeville Page 4
