The Women of Jacob’s Mountain Boxed Set

by Hining, Deborah;

  “Yep! That’s me, Silver Gilded Lilly straight from the hills of West Virginia. I’ve never danced with a munchkin before.” She stood up and made her way to the small men. “Who wants to be the first?”

  One of them jumped up and grabbed Lilly’s hand. Another approached Sally Beth, and the next moment, she was kicking up her cowboy boots in the Electric Slide. The three little men got down on the floor and went through an amazing break-dancing routine while Sally Beth whirled around with a man who didn’t talk, but danced a funny, disjointed dance like a puppet on strings. Someone else pulled out juggling balls, and soon after, people were juggling, tumbling, and break-dancing all around them. Someone behind her said, “They’re from the circus. They’ve been in Midland all week. Wonder what they’re doing way out here?”

  After another fast dance, a slow waltz started up, and Sally Beth let herself be pulled out to the middle of the floor to dance with her little partner. She was a bit tipsy, but when he mashed his face into her breasts and wrapped his arms around her waist, her mind sharpened, remembering the night before.

  “Excuse me, but you’re dancing a little close,” she said quietly.

  “Sorry,” he said, and backed off. But a moment later, he pulled her close again, breathing hot air into her blouse. At first, she was merely embarrassed, and she wondered how she could get out of the situation gracefully, but when he moved his head and his mouth zeroed in on a nipple, her embarrassment turned to mortification. A second later, something she had never felt before came washing over her.

  She thought about eleven-year-old Edna Mae, missing the love and protection of her daddy, being awakened from a sound sleep by rough hands and foul breath. The image of the little girl exposed and afraid, fighting for her childhood, sent her into a hot rage against perversity and meanness. Before she knew what was happening, the little guy lay on the floor, and Sally Beth’s boot heel pressed heavily on his throat.

  Edna Mae appeared at her elbow, pulling her away, “Good job, sweetie,” she said loudly enough to cover the sound of his coughing and choking. “That’ll teach him to mind his manners.” Reaching down to grab the man’s hand, she pulled him upright with one swift move and gave him a vigorous brushing off, as if he were covered with clinging sawdust. The scene was absurd: Edna Mae’s enormous bulk bending over the tiny man, her muumuu billowing out like the Big Top, whacking at him with far more force than necessary. It wasn’t clear if she were helping him or beating him up, but Sally Beth wasn’t about to stick around and find out. Flooded with shame and panic, she fled to the parking lot.

  Lilly followed her out. “Hold on, honey!” she called, catching up with her and steering her toward the car, then she unlocked it, jumped in, and started the engine. Sally Beth flung herself into the front seat, and as Lilly backed out of the parking space, Edna Mae hurried out. She yanked open the back door, jumping in as the car lurched forward, and Lilly roared away, laughing hysterically. Edna Mae whooped and screamed.

  “It’s not funny!” wailed Sally Beth. “I don’t know what came over me.”

  “Oh, yes it is, darlin’! You should have seen that little guy trying to get at your tits. It looked like he thought you were his mama. And you had him on the floor before he knew what hit him.”

  “Good for you, Sally Beth!” exclaimed Lilly. “You took down a man and just about broke his windpipe; I didn’t know you had it in you. Wahoo! My sister, the Destroyer. Look out perverts—Sally Beth will take you down!”

  “He was a midget!” sobbed Sally Beth. “Half my size—I could have hurt him!”

  “But you didn’t,” soothed Edna Mae. “He was fine, just surprised, that’s all. Besides, he’s a clown in the circus; he’s used to tumbling around. You saw him earlier. He was just taking advantage of you, just like that guy last night. I am so glad I taught you that move. Now I don’t have to worry about you.” And she and Lilly laughed and laughed as Lilly stomped her cowboy boot down on the accelerator and blazed her way southward.

  The adrenaline did not began to ebb from their blood until after they crossed the border into Texas, when the memory of the night could no longer fuel them and the dusty miles sucked away their energy. Lilly and Edna Mae continued to giggle between yawns, but Sally Beth felt a small, hard knot forming in her chest, and she realized it had been a while since she had had a good talk with the Lord. She felt small and sad and disconnected when she realized that she hadn’t been a very good influence on her sister.

  Lord, I feel myself changing, as if this country is making me coarse and rough. Make me gentle again, Lord. Forgive me for my anger, my violence. Forgive me for being a bad example to Lilly. Take off this hardness that I feel creeping up on me, and shape me to be like You want me to be.

  August 13, 1978

  On the mountain where Singing Eyes wept

  Deep into the night, he woke her, shaking her gently and kissing her forehead. “Wake up, darlin’. Time for the show.” Geneva blinked, not comprehending, but when he pulled her from the herb-scented bed, she suddenly realized what was afoot. Quickly, she slipped on her shoes, gathered up the sleeping baby, and wrapped them both in blankets. Then she slipped her arm around Howard’s back, and together they went out the door and up the mountain.

  The stars were already falling in a sky so clear and black it looked like quicksilver streaming across black satin. She swaddled Blue tighter, and then lay down, placing the baby beside her, knowing what delights were to come.

  For a while, Howard lay quietly beside her, before he seemed to make up his mind. He flung his blanket aside and rose to stand still under the falling stars, and then he began his dance. It was just as she remembered, his naked, smooth body twirling and leaping, his voice rising and dropping into a sustained note. She stood so that he could enclose her in his warm embrace, lifting her high into the cascade of stars. Flinging her neck back and her arms wide to embrace the night, she wept with gladness as she enfolded him to her, and even as the spinning stopped and the night stilled, she could not let him go. Arms and legs wrapped around him, she held him, feeling his warmth seeping into her, filling her with dreams and desire and laughter and more tears than she could hold, with the bittersweetness of knowing how beautiful, how fragile, how lovely, how temporary this life was. She wanted to make him understand just how much she loved him and how much more she wanted to love him in this short time they would have each other on this earth. But she could not speak.

  At last, he broke from her and said, “I owe you something.”

  “What else could you possibly give me?”

  He slipped a ring onto her finger. “This is a year late.”

  She blinked back the salt water, trying to make light of her deep emotion. “No, only a few months late.”

  “No, Geneva. I married you one year ago tonight. You didn’t know it then, but I did. I told you then this was a marriage dance.”

  The tears ran freely now, as she felt the ridges along the band and knew what they meant: a stream of comets stretching around the circumference. A mark of this night, a mark of her, Strikes fire in the soul. He had let her go after that, because he believed he could not live up to her vain notions of what her life should look like. But he had released her only to bring her back again when she had finally grown enough to realize what he meant to her. Now she knew how much he loved her, how much he had loved her then, and that they truly had been wed that night twelve months ago. She marveled at the knowledge that nothing in this creation could ever pull them apart.

  The soft breath of the Milky Way whispered, “You are home now, and safe,” and she heard her heart singing a hymn.

  Seven

  Pecos, Texas

  Let’s go to the gym again,” said Edna Mae the minute Sally Beth opened her eyes. “You need to get these self-defense moves down good so you won’t forget them.” Before Sally Beth could object, Lilly was already out of the bed and pulling her hair into a ponytail. “Today, you’re going to learn how to break a man’s neck b
efore breakfast. How many people can say that?”

  Sally Beth’s eyes flew open with alarm, but Lilly whooped, “Hot dog! I’ve always wanted to know how to do that.” Sally Beth was so taken aback by the image of her delicate sister forcefully twisting a man’s head that she wondered what other strange thoughts she might be harboring underneath that platinum hair. She said nothing as they trooped to the gym, pondering how to discourage Edna Mae and Lilly from becoming too violent, but once she saw Edna Mae stepping as lightly as if she were dancing, she found the moves so interesting, so graceful, and so beautiful that she forgot to feel guilty about learning them. Before the morning was gone, she had learned how to dance away from an opponent before leaping in to surprise him, grabbing his head in a gentle, almost loving embrace before giving his neck a quick snap. It was almost fun, if she didn’t think about it too much.

  After they left the gym, they showered quickly and put on their coolest dresses before loading the car and heading eastward. It was proving to be a hot Texas day, hotter than they had seen so far in the high deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, so they were glad to be on their way in the coolness of the air-conditioned car.

  “If we push it, we can make Dallas tonight,” said Lilly. “I want to go shopping at the Galleria, and we’ll have enough time to stay a couple of days and still make it to Memphis in time for the Elvis anniversary.”

  “Sounds good,” said Edna Mae from the back seat. “Let’s not go out for breakfast, but just get some stuff to go.”

  When they stopped at the gas station, Sally Beth pumped gas while Lilly went inside to get snacks. As she lifted the nozzle, the distinctive odor of fuel wafted to her nose. “Somebody has spilled some gas here,” she commented to Edna Mae. Better not be lighting up right now.”

  Lilly returned with doughnuts and Cokes. “Wow, this took a lot of gas,” said Sally Beth. “We just filled up last night.”

  “Not really. I was tired and the pump was slow. I probably didn’t put more than a couple of gallons in. Besides, it’s been getting really bad gas mileage lately. I think something is wrong with the fuel pump,” she said as she put the key into the ignition. The car sputtered and died twice before it finally started. “Darn it. I’m going to get a new car just as soon as I can get another job. It’s gotten to where it costs more to keep this one repaired than car payments on a new one would be.”

  The car finally started and Lilly rolled back onto the highway. Edna Mae picked up Lilly’s old guitar, strummed a few chords, popped the top of a Coke and munched on a donut, then stretched out across the back seat, picking out a tune. Sally Beth leaned against the window while Edna Mae tried out some new lyrics, and before long, Lilly joined in. The air conditioning, turned up high, felt good; the sun shimmered in the morning sky, and all of Texas lay before them. Sally Beth smiled a sleepy smile as she listened to her sister’s sweet voice and let her thoughts slide up the long rays of sparkling sunbeams. Time had ceased to be a taskmaster. The day was long, they had no particular plans, and they were flying across miles and miles and miles of sand and road while music floated around her. She felt, not just free, but free-floating, disconnected from the reality of the world, free from her nagging fear that Lilly was making bad choices that she could not stem. She felt free in a way that she had never felt before, and she wondered if maybe it was because Lilly was acting happier and less artificial than she had seen her in a long time. It was wonderful to see how her baby sister was opening her mouth wide and letting the music flow unbridled and joyful.

  The day grew hotter. Edna Mae leaned forward. “Turn up that AC, will you? It’s getting really hot back here.” Sally Beth punched the buttons, but when she put her hand to the blowing vent, she felt a blast of hot air.

  “This is just warm air coming out. Lilly, I don’t think this air conditioner is working.”

  “Oh no,” said Lilly. “I had it fixed before we left, but the guy said the compressor probably wouldn’t hold out all the way home. I had hoped it would last until we got closer.”

  “You reckon there’s any place around here that might sell some dry ice?” said Sally Beth. “We can put it around in the car and let the air blow over it.”

  Lilly shook her head. “We aren’t far from Midland, but it’s Sunday, so it’s likely we’ll just have to make do with regular ice.”

  They rolled all the windows down. In the back seat, Edna Mae rummaged through her bag, complaining. “I can’t wear this muumuu in this heat.” Hope you girls don’t mind, but I’m changing into something cooler,” she said as she tore the dress off, exposing her transparent bra and tiny thong panties. Intimidated by Edna Mae’s beautiful bulk, Sally Beth averted her eyes. It was easier to talk to Edna Mae when she was covered up.

  “I hate these panties, and this bra, and look at these stupid shorts! Lawrence, you jerk. I haven’t been comfortable since I left my good things in the bathroom back at the Grand Canyon.” She lay on the back seat, struggling into a pair of shockingly short cut-off jeans and yanked a tank top out of her bag.

  Sally Beth was sweating, but the heat was kind of nice, she thought. The sun before them was bright and friendly, just high enough to be shaded by the lowered visors, and it seemed to be leading them, pulling them gently across the vast Texas horizon. She idly gazed out at the sagebrush and the hypnotic, shimmering sand until something oddly familiar caught her eye.

  An old truck, blue with a rusty red door, was parked on the shoulder. Just beyond the truck was a slim man, waving a cowboy hat over a dog that was having some sort of a fit, spinning in a tight circle, snapping at his tail.

  “Stop!” she yelled, sitting upright. Lilly tapped the brakes, then tapped them again until she had slowed dramatically.

  “What?” she yelled back. “What’s wrong?”

  “Stop the car! That’s Jimmy Lee.”

  Lilly careened to a stop, pulled over to the shoulder, then backed up to within feet of the man and the spiraling dog. Jimmy Lee, still waving his hat, did not see them until the sisters jumped out of the car and ran to him. He startled when they both yelled, “Heyyyy, Jimmy Lee!” Sally Beth was so happy to see him it was all she could do to keep from hugging him. “You are a sight for sore eyes!”

  His face lit up with a luminous grin as he shaded his eyes against the morning sun. “Why, Sally Beth! Lilly! What on earth are you doing here?” He grinned wider, until his face just about cracked apart, and he grabbed Sally Beth in the hug she had been too shy to give. She could feel his joy as he caught her up and spun her around as the traffic whizzed by and the dust and sand blew up around them.

  “What’s happened here?”

  “Radiator hose sprung a leak, and poor old Lamentations nearly got run over, and, well…” He trailed off, giving his dog a sad glance. Recovered from his fit, Lamentations slunk over to him, whining, and tucked his head up under his master’s hand, his tail low, but wagging. Jimmy Lee gave him an affectionate caress before turning back to beam at Sally Beth and Lilly. “Boy, am I glad to see you here, not just because it’s you, but because the truck won’t go nowhere. Can you give me a ride up to Midland?”

  “Why, sure, Jimmy Lee. Just get on in. Hey, Lamentations,” Sally Beth added, holding her hand out to him.

  The dog cringed as he licked Sally Beth with timid little thrusts of his tongue. He always was embarrassed after one of his episodes, and she had learned to be gentle with him until he got over it. Carefully, she squatted down to put an arm around him.

  “Hey, Lamentations. Did all the traffic scare you? Huh?” She ruffled the fur at his neck. “Did you just get all bent out of shape? Well, that’s okay, you just come on with us. We’ll keep you safe.” He licked at her face, this time a little more enthusiastically, and trotted after them to Lilly’s car.

  Edna Mae had remained in the back seat. She had put her extra-extra large orange University of Texas sweatshirt on and had tucked her knees up inside it, her bare feet on the seat. A line of sweat trickled down the side of he
r face. She sat quietly, looking like a big, sweaty pumpkin.

  Sally Beth believed that pity was an ugly thing and that Edna Mae would be mortified if she thought she was the object of her pity, but she couldn’t help but feel sorry for her in her silence and stillness, knowing how uncomfortable she must be. She jumped in the back seat next to her, moving the guitar cases around.

  “Jimmy Lee, you sit in the front with Lilly. This is Edna Mae, our friend who’s traveling with us to Texarkana. Edna Mae, this here is our real good friend Jimmy Lee from back home.” She paused, then added gently, “He’s real nice, Edna Mae, one of the nicest boys I know.” Edna Mae smiled tightly, averting her eyes until Jimmy Lee ducked his head and grinned at her. His face was honest and friendly.

  “Hidy ma’am,” he said, touching the brim of his hat with his fingertips. Edna Mae’s smile grew a little more relaxed and she wiped the sweat off her forehead. Her red face clashed something awful with her burnt orange sweatshirt.

  “Sorry it’s so hot, Jimmy Lee,” offered Lilly, “but the AC is busted. We’re hoping we can pick up some dry ice in Midland.”

  They arranged themselves as comfortably as they could. Jimmy Lee and Lamentations sat in the front seat with Lilly; Sally Beth and Edna Mae shared the back seat with the two guitars, the camera case, and various bags the short distance to a service station outside Midland, where Jimmy Lee picked up a hose for the radiator and a can full of water. The three old friends chatted, but Edna Mae endured quietly, smothering and steaming silently in her sweatshirt as she perspired and fanned herself with a magazine, even when the others took refuge in the air-conditioned service station. Sally Beth brought her an icy drink, which she guzzled gratefully, but by the time they got back to Jimmy Lee’s truck, she looked like she was roasted and ready for the barbeque sauce.

  “Why don’t you get out for a minute and cool off some,” urged Sally Beth as Jimmy Lee tinkered under the hood of his truck. Edna Mae shook her head.