The Belles of Desire, Mississippi

by M. L. Bullock

  “Jeopardy, what happened to you? Did you fall in a ravine?”

  She finally opened her eyes and said something I would never forget as long as I lived. “The devil got a hold of me, Harper Belle. He put his hands all over me. Now get out.” She rolled over and turned her back to me. I wanted to hug her, help her, but I could see it would do no good. She would talk to me when she was ready to and not until then.

  As I went downstairs to cook breakfast, I couldn’t help but think about what she said. What could that mean?

  The devil got a hold of me, Harper Belle…

  Chapter Fifteen—Harper

  Addison and Loxley played a hand-clapping game on the front porch. It was a familiar song, Miss Mary Mack. Loxley did all the singing because Addison had a sore throat, but even the littlest Belle knew to keep things toned down today. The quiet tension rose, and it didn’t help that Jeopardy was stomping around upstairs; I could hear her footsteps as I passed through the Great Room. Fortunately, no one else had yet.

  Momma lounged in the parlor with Miss Augustine. The two of them were flipping through magazines and gossiping about Bette Davis’ new movie, The Man Who Came to Dinner. They’d driven all the way to Mobile twice to see it, and both times came back with something negative to say about the big-eyed actress. According to Desire’s cultural department, the two women in our parlor, Bette Davis was a sourpuss with no acting skills whatsoever. I tried not to snort. I’d never seen a Bette Davis movie, but since these two didn’t like her, I figured I probably would.

  And the debate raged on. Lana Turner was hands down Momma’s favorite, while Miss Augustine preferred Rita Hayworth or Gene Tierney. “Lana Turner is too hoity-toity for my taste.” The two women rarely argued about anything except important matters like who should get top billing in Hollywood’s latest film or which actress had the most beautiful penmanship or some other nonsense they’d fight to the death to have the last word about. Before Daddy left us, Momma used to teach Loxley how to walk and wave properly, just in case she landed a pageant, but not anymore. Loxley didn’t seem to mind. Momma used to win pageants when she was young. Lots of them.

  “Really, Ann. You go too far!”

  Today was one of those days. Miss Augustine made an offhand remark about someone’s bathing suit photos in the tabloids, and Momma exploded. Luckily for Miss Augustine, Momma took her home and didn’t make her walk, but our mother came back in an even greater huff than the one she left in. Everyone got quiet when her car pulled into the driveway. We waited for her inner storm to abate, all except Jeopardy. She kept walking around upstairs, and a few times I thought I heard her talking to herself. Once Momma got settled into her chair again, I said, “The Lady Detective Show is coming on. Should we listen to it?” Addison clapped her hands gleefully and came in off the porch, to which Loxley made a raspberry sound at her back. I noticed she came inside too, though. Momma’s eyes went to the ceiling; she must have heard Jeopardy, but she didn’t care enough to ask about her. But then someone knocked at the front door.

  After fussing with her hair for a moment, Momma went to the door with all us girls except one trailing behind her. I couldn’t believe who was standing there, complete with a bouquet of flowers in his shaking hands.

  It was Troy Harvester, looking nice and smiling nervously at Momma. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Belle. I’m here to see Jeopardy, if I may.”

  Addison gave me a wide-eyed look, which I answered with a shrug. To my surprise, Jeopardy came down the stairs and paused at the bottom. It was clear she didn’t know Troy was coming. For the first time in a long time, I saw Jeopardy’s cryptic smile appear on her narrow face. Her cheeks turned pink, but she didn’t come any closer. She wore her pink romper today, the one that had the cherries at the bosom. It was really too small for her, showing way too much leg. In fact, I remembered Momma telling her to hand it down to Addison, but she never did. She liked it, and the pink color made her tanned legs look long and slender, or so she said. I was definitely too tall for such a thing.

  Jeopardy stood on the bottom step and leaned her back against the wall. She didn’t come to the door or act like she cared at all that Troy was here, but I knew she cared. She always cared about Troy.

  “I know why you’re here. You came sniffing. Boys like you always do. Get out of here now! Before I call your mother and tell her…”

  “Hey!” Jeopardy yelled as she rushed toward the door. “You can’t send my friend away. He came to see me.”

  Momma simultaneously slammed the front door and slapped Jeopardy to the ground. “You little whore! So that’s who you’ve been taking up with! I should have known you would pick up with the trashiest boy in the county,” she screamed as Jeopardy managed to crawl away and didn’t waste any time getting to her feet. Loxley began to cry, and Addison clutched her stomach.

  I stood between the two of them but kept my head down, in case Momma decided to rain down her fury on me. “Run, Jeopardy!” I whispered, and she ran up the stairs.

  Momma didn’t slap me, but she twisted my arm and warned, “You mind your own business, Harper Louise!”

  “Momma, please!” I squealed as I twisted away. It was alright, though. Jeopardy had escaped, and I heard the door slam behind her. Momma headed up the stairs after her, but not before she grabbed her brush with the red handle from the parlor side table.

  Loxley cried furiously now, and I squatted in front of her. “You and Addison go outside. Go to the potting shed. I’ll come find you. Okay?”

  She poked out her bottom lip. “Is this like Hide and Seek?”

  “Exactly like Hide and Seek, but you might have to count to a hundred before I come, okay?”

  “Okay, Harper.”

  “Take care of her, Addie.” Addison nodded and wiped her tears away as the two of them went out the back door and into the yard. I wouldn’t be able to stop Momma from beating Jeopardy, but maybe my presence would deter her, at least a little. I really didn’t know what I would do except try to stop the inevitable, horrible ending.

  I prayed as I bolted up the stairs, “Please, God, don’t let Momma hurt Jeopardy. Daddy, if you’re here, help us. Send a whole army of angels to help us.” I moved quickly across the first landing and then on to the next flight of stairs. Momma banged on Jeopardy’s castle door with her hairbrush, they shouted swear words at one another, and all I could do was cry. I stepped into the hallway and nearly fell backward.

  A lady all in white swooshed in front of me, passing from one door to the one across the hallway. I could hardly believe my eyes. There were only six rooms up here, and two of them were closets, but she was moving between them. Her face twisted, and her dark hair flowed behind her. She appeared to be a young woman in a white dress with a faded gray rose between her breasts. Her hair hung down her back in ringlets, and her hands were clutching her stomach. I froze. There she was again!

  She passed from one closet to another and then slid straight down the hallway toward Momma, who was standing at the top of the attic staircase. My mother didn’t notice the woman in white. She rammed her left shoulder against the door, striking it repeatedly and obviously hoping to knock it down.

  “Open this door, Jeopardy! You open it now!”

  “No! Go away! I hate you! You killed Daddy, and now you want to kill me!”

  I watched in horror as the woman sailed on toward her target. Just at the last moment, Momma swung around with her brush. She must have thought it was me coming up behind her. Her face was a mask of terror as she swung through the invisible woman. She fell forward down the staircase in a heap with a terrified scream.

  And then the woman was gone.

  Chapter Sixteen—Harper

  The days after Momma’s fall were a blur. The ambulance came about a half hour after my call, and she remained unconscious until they arrived. I don’t think she immediately remembered any of what happened, but she must have recalled the horrific moment by the time she got home with her face bruised and her arm broken
. The Lady in White put the fear of God in Momma. She never spanked any of us again after that, and Jeopardy, who knew nothing about that ghost (or so I then believed), enjoyed new freedom. And so did I.

  Aunt Dot moved in for a while to help take care of her sister and largely left us to entertain ourselves. School would start soon, and for the first time ever we had new clothes to wear, thanks entirely to her. These weren’t just church hand-me-downs either. Aunt Dot bought me two sweaters, one pink and one blue, matching skirts and two pale yellow shirts. I loved every item, as did we all. Even Jeopardy got new clothes, and I saw her hug our aunt more than once.

  “Come on, Harper. Let’s go,” Jeopardy said when she appeared in my doorway one day. She usually spent all her time in her castle whenever she was home, but since Momma was incapacitated, my sister visited my room too. Loxley spent a lot of time on the second floor; she claimed to be playing with Daddy, and I didn’t doubt her. Summerleigh had become a house of spirits. I ventured upstairs once after Momma’s accident in search of the lady. There was no trace of the ghost, except I thought I saw the trailing edge of her skirt as it slipped away into a closet. That could have been my own imagination, but it was enough for me. I pried Jeopardy for information about the ghost to no avail.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To the river. I want to swim.”

  I flipped the pages of my magazine and pretended to be bored by her offer. Loxley and Addison were attending a birthday party today. Connie Loper had picked them up about an hour ago, so there wasn’t much to do. I didn’t have to do all the chores like before; Aunt Dot did most of them now. I wondered how long that would last. “I don’t have a bathing suit.”

  “You don’t need one. Come on, Harper Louise. Stop being such a stick in the mud.”

  “You two come back before dark, please.” Aunt Dot paused in the doorway with a basket of folded laundry in her arms. “Or thereabouts. Augustine Hogue is coming over tonight to visit your mother, and I thought that would be a great time for us to go get some ice cream.”

  “Okay, Aunt Dot,” Jeopardy agreed with a wrinkled nose and waved at me to come on.

  Aunt Dot rolled her eyes at the sound of Momma yelling her name. “Coming, Ann. Patience, my dear.”

  I slid on my tennis shoes, grabbed a towel and followed Jeopardy to the back door of Summerleigh. I had never experienced liberty like this! It was dreamlike and somehow felt dangerous—and I never wanted it to end. For a split second, I saw a face on the top floor in the window closest to Jeopardy’s castle room.

  Daddy!

  That was no woman but clearly a man—a man in uniform. Could it be Daddy?

  “Did you see that?”

  “Let’s go, Harper. Stop dawdling.” Jeopardy grabbed my hand and dragged me away without listening to a word I said.

  “I swear I saw Daddy. And the night Momma fell…you have to know the truth! She didn’t really fall, Jeopardy. The Lady in White pushed her down those stairs. Well, Momma took a swing at her and then fell. It all happened so fast, but the ghost was definitely there. I think she was trying to help you.”

  “Too little, too late,” she muttered. “No more talk about ghosts, Harper. You shouldn’t be afraid of ghosts. It’s the living you have to worry about.”

  “I’m not afraid of Daddy if that was him. But the other one…she could have killed Momma.”

  Jeopardy stopped to light a cigarette and frowned. “She didn’t. No more ghost stories. Let’s run the rest of the way.”

  “You can’t run and smoke, Jeopardy,” I said with a grin.

  “Come on, pie-face. I can outrun you with two cigarettes in my mouth.” She took off, and I chased her with a faux growl.

  “You know I hate that nickname!” We laughed all the way to the river. With every pump of my legs, I felt the weight of the past horrible months melt away. For once in my life, I was going to be a girl my age. Whatever that meant.

  There were more kids at the river than I had ever seen before, at least twenty teenagers. Some were smoking, and most were swimming. Jeopardy sauntered up like she owned the place, her wild hair tumbling down her back. Why she didn’t bob her hair, I would never know, but the wildness suited her. My sister was the most beautiful girl in the world, and the saddest.

  Except for now, except for this moment. The Harvester boys were there, all three of them. The oldest, Tony, strolled over and kissed her cheek. She kissed him back and took the soda he offered her. He had a nice car with a swanky radio that played Count Basie’s I Want a Little Girl. How strange that we would hear that song today. Daddy used to dance with us girls every Christmas. At our last Christmas together, this had been our song. I suddenly had the urge to run back to Summerleigh, back to Daddy.

  “Jeopardy, we should go home.” I touched her elbow, but she cast me that look that said, Get lost.

  One of the girls from school, Arnette Loper, walked over. “Hey, Harper. You’ll be in the ninth grade this year, right? Me too. Maybe we’ll get the same teacher. I hope we get Mr. Dempsey. He’s dreamy.” Another girl, I couldn’t remember her name, giggled.

  “Mr. Dempsey? Is he the one with the sad eyes?” I asked as I glanced at Jeopardy, who was guzzling her drink.

  Arnette giggled and took my hand. “Yes, and boy, howdy. I wish he’d make those sad eyes at me. You want to go swim?”

  I looked at Jeopardy again. Seeing as she wasn’t in a big hurry to hang out with me, I said, “Sure.”

  “Come on, then. It must be so neat having Jeopardy Belle for a sister. Did she really kiss Tony Harvester after church last spring?”

  “I don’t think so,” I said honestly. “First I’ve heard of it.”

  “Good, because he’s going to be mine one day. Unless you like him,” she added suspiciously.

  “Uh, no thanks. I think I’ll hold out for Mr. Dempsey.”

  We traveled down the hill to the river and eased into the warm water. Arnette carried on with her gossiping, and I agreed with her on most points as we splashed. I wasn’t in the water five minutes before Jeopardy came down. To my complete surprise, she stripped off her shirt and shorts and dived into the dark blue-brown water wearing only her underwear. Every eye was on her, including Troy Harvester’s. He was pouting, his arms crossed, staring at her with his big blue eyes like a hound dog that’d been banned from the porch. I knew he still loved her, or something, even after Momma’s bad behavior.

  Jeopardy didn’t come up from the water right away. Just when I began to worry, she reappeared a good ten feet away, rising out of the water like a siren. Her face was turned toward the sun, and her hands were above her head. She swam toward me. “Hey, pie-face.” She kissed my cheek and dived under again. I forgot all about frog-faced Arnette and played with my sister. We ducked and dived, trying to grab each other. This was the most fun I’d had with Jeopardy since we were just small kids.

  And then Troy was there.

  He’d shed his shirt but still wore his blue jean shorts, thank goodness. If any of these boys took off their clothing, I’d have to go home. I wasn’t prepared to see a naked boy.

  Jeopardy bobbed back up and splashed back in surprise when she noticed him. The three of us were alone now, since Arnette and her blond friend were trolling the other two Harvester boys. I felt like a third wheel, but I wasn’t about to leave Jeopardy alone swimming around in her underwear. The two of them faced one another; Jeopardy’s tan face glistened in the setting sun, and Troy’s blond hair poked up as it quickly dried in the heat. It looked like cotton.

  “I want to know something, Jeopardy Belle.”

  “What’s that, Troy Harvester?”

  “Why don’t you ever kiss me? You kissed my brother just now. Right in front of me. I thought you liked me, but you don’t kiss me. Why is that? I know your Momma hates me. I heard her call me trash.”

  She backed away from him but didn’t go too far. She tilted her head and watched him as she continued to tread water. Her hazel eyes were hard and
full of hurt. “I don’t kiss you because I like you, Troy. And I don’t care what my Momma says.”

  He wiped the water from his face and kept treading water. “Then stop kissing everyone else.”

  “You don’t know a dang thing, Troy Harvester. Why don’t you go find someone else to kiss on? Come on, Harper. It’s time to go.”

  She was angry now. She splashed out of the water, ignoring the stares as she got dressed, and together we left the party. I guessed that was a party. I didn’t have any punch, but it felt like a party. Kind of.

  As we walked, her mood darkened. She smoked, and I walked beside her. I had to ask her the same question. “Why don’t you kiss Troy, Jep? Is he gross or something? Got stank breath?”

  “No, it’s nothing like that.”

  “Then why?” I laughed as I tried to smooth my drying hair with my hands.

  “Because Troy Harvester deserves a better girl than me.”

  I didn’t know how to answer that. We didn’t talk the rest of the way home.

  Chapter Seventeen—Jerica

  When I got out of bed Sunday, I felt like a truck had run over me. My sheets were sweaty, and my teeth and skin felt filmy. The reflection in the mirror didn’t do much to boost my morale. At least I felt somewhat normal now. Moving slowly, my sore back muscles screaming, I stepped into the shower and washed away the remnants of whatever germ had held me prisoner for the past few days. During those feverish days and nights, I had dreamed.

  The Lady in White had pushed Ann down the stairs! Was she protecting Jeopardy, or was she merely a spirit bent on bringing harm to anyone who crossed her path? Was this Mariana McIntyre?

  And then I remembered Jeopardy’s notes, the ones she crammed into walls and floorboards. Harper had never found them, but I had to. My stomach growling, I stepped out of the steamy shower feeling almost human again. I kept things casual with shorts and a tank top. I was so hungry, I could eat a bear, as my friend Anita used to say. Where was a good bear when you needed one?