The Sisters Café

by Carolyn Brown

She leaned forward and whispered, “It was Andy.”

  Agnes slapped the table. “I knew it. Does Marty know? She hates that man.”

  Trixie shook her head.

  “Hmph! I’ll tell her.”

  “No, you won’t, because she’ll think you’ve lost your mind and have you declared incompetent and put you in a nursing home. I visit my mother every Sunday and Wednesday. I could drop by and see you.”

  Agnes exhaled loudly. “You’d do that, wouldn’t you? Make Marty believe I was going crazy?”

  “You came in here ranting again about a man in my room and threw cake at the wall when I wouldn’t let you go upstairs.”

  Agnes bit back a grin. “I’ll get even. You know I will.”

  “Bring it on, old girl.” Trixie leaned a little more until her nose was just inches from Agnes’s.

  “I’m getting the rest of the cake and I’m taking it home with me, and if you scare me again, I’m throwing it at you,” Agnes said.

  She shifted the rest of the cake into a carryout box and carried it out into the darkness as if it were pure gold.

  Trixie giggled all the way to her room. She hated Agnes when she first moved in, but since that night with the shotgun, Trixie had slowly changed her mind. They’d built a crazy friendship and she’d probably be even sadder than Cathy when the old girl died. She sat down at the ceramic table and worked on an owl for Agnes’s birthday coming up in December. She intended to make a card to go with it that said something witty about an owl seeing everything at night.

  A fedora! That’s what her owl needed. Trixie could fashion one with some felt and craft glue. Then she’d put a couple of mothballs in the cavity and stick duct tape over the hole at the bottom.

  Chapter 20

  The devil that robbed Janie’s memories gave them back occasionally. Usually only in five-minute sections, but Trixie was willing for anything she could get and expected nothing.

  That Sunday afternoon, Trixie and Jack showed up at the door and Janie smiled brightly. “Hello. I thought you might come today. It is Sunday, isn’t it? Hello, Jack. I haven’t seen you in quite a while. I see you’ve got a bag, Trixie. Does that mean red beans and greens and maybe some of Clawdy’s pecan cobbler? You still play dominoes?” She sat on one side of the card table, dominoes stacked up like Lego-blocks in front of her.

  When Janie was herself, she loved hugs and she hugged back. When she didn’t remember, she didn’t want Trixie to touch her at all, not even pat her shoulder. That day she hugged back and then laughed. “Mercy, honey. You are going to crush me. I’ll still be right here tomorrow. You don’t have to get all the hugs today. I’ve had dinner already, but if you’ll set that aside, I’ll get the ladies to heat it for supper.”

  “I like your hugs. You smell wonderful.”

  “This is the same perfume I’ve worn since you were a little girl. Don’t see that it would be any different today than yesterday.”

  “You are right.”

  Janie opened her arms. “Your turn, Jack. Remember when you were a little boy and you loved hugs?”

  Jack hugged her tightly and then sat across the table, leaving the chair next to Janie for Trixie. “You are still beautiful, Janie.”

  “You always were a charmer,” Janie said. “Now what are you two out doing today?”

  “Visiting with you,” Trixie said. “And then we are going to buy furniture.”

  “Now that sounds serious,” Janie said.

  Jack smiled. “I just bought a new house in Cadillac, and Trixie is going to help me with the furniture.”

  Janie returned the smile with a slow wink. “She’s good at decorating and making things from nothing. So Jack, you are back in Cadillac?”

  “I am now. I quit the military a couple of years ago and moved back.”

  Trixie laid her hand over her mother’s. “Mamma, let’s talk about you.”

  Janie jerked hers free and put it in her lap. “Who are you? A new nurse. I don’t remember seeing you here before.”

  The devil had snatched back his gift after a tiny glimpse.

  Trixie took a deep breath and straightened her back. “Yes, ma’am. I am your new therapist. Would you like to color? We have princess coloring books in the drawer and we have almost new crayons.”

  “No, I’d like to play dominoes. Daddy says I’m the best. I can beat both of you,” she said.

  Jack laid a hand on Trixie’s shoulder as she set up the game and whispered, “You had a moment there. That’s good at this stage, isn’t it?”

  She swallowed hard before she nodded. “It is. I’m just greedy.”

  Janie pushed the score pad and pencil away from Trixie and in front of Jack. “Might as well not be greedy today. I won’t let you win. Young man, you keep score. Greedy people might cheat.”

  “Tell me all about your daddy as we play,” Jack said.

  Janie leaned across the table and whispered, “My daddy is dead but I have a friend. Do you know Clawdy Barton? She’s my best friend. Sometimes Mamma lets me stay at Clawdy’s place all night.”

  “My mamma knows Clawdy,” Jack said.

  Janie straightened up and looked at him. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Beulah’s son, Jack.”

  Janie twisted her mouth to one side and studied her hand. She laid out a double six in the middle of the table. “We don’t talk when we play. We concentrate.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Trixie said.

  Janie nodded. “Shh!”

  Halfway through the game, she yawned. That meant she was ready for a nap and would grow agitated if everyone didn’t leave. Then she looked up, life came back to her eyes, and she pointed.

  “Would you look at that? Cathy Andrews, I haven’t seen you in years. And who have you brought with you, today? It’s so good to see you. Mercy me, but we’re having a family reunion, aren’t we? Trixie and Jack are here. All we need is Marty and we’ll have everyone. We could make sugar cookies and all you kids could decorate them.”

  Cathy crossed the room and gave her a hug. “That would be so much fun. I remember making cookies at your house and you made the best icing for them.”

  “Now who is this handsome young man?” Janie held out her hand.

  “This is John…” Cathy hesitated.

  “I’m her brand spanking new boyfriend,” John said quickly and kissed Janie’s fingertips.

  “Well, it’s about time. Unfold a couple of those chairs and have a seat. Shall I call down for some coffee and cookies? This is a fancy hotel, you know.” She winked.

  Trixie touched Cathy’s arm and whispered, “Thank you!”

  Janie was lucid enough to talk to them for ten minutes and then she yawned again. “I don’t know why they send so many doctors and nurses in to see me some days and none others. I’m sleepy now so if y’all are through, you can go so I can take a nap.”

  Cathy stood up first. “Yes, ma’am, we’ve got other patients to see. Is there anything else we can do for you?”

  She pointed to Jack. “That one can cover me with my afghan.”

  “I’ll be glad to,” Jack said.

  Trixie wanted to hug her again, but Janie adhered to a strict code when the life went out of her eyes. It said that she wasn’t allowed to hug anyone she didn’t know or take candy from them either.

  Cathy wrapped an arm around Trixie’s waist as they made their way slowly toward the lobby. Several of the nursing home residents were gathered in the lobby where a local preacher led them in singing “I Saw the Light.” Old voices blended with young and the music echoed up and down the halls.

  Cathy squeezed Trixie tighter. “She did see the light for a little while there, didn’t she? Do you think us being together triggered a memory? I should come more often,” Cathy said.

  “Who knows what works and what doesn’t, but it seems
to help when y’all visit.”

  * * *

  The Sherman city park was alive with screaming kids running from swings to monkey bars or to the merry-go-round, the tetherball pole, or the springy riding toys. Jack slouched onto a wooden bench and pulled Trixie down beside him.

  “This is my favorite spot in the whole world,” he said.

  “I thought we were going furniture shopping,” Trixie said.

  “We are in a little while. Cathy and John wanted a few minutes to get an ice cream cone and Marty is running late.”

  “What are we really doing here, Jack?”

  “Watching the kids play. I love kids. They are so innocent and rambunctious. Someday I want a dozen to bring to the park on Sunday.”

  “You better be getting a woman in your life pretty soon if you want a dozen,” she said. “I wanted kids when I was first married. But it didn’t happen. Andy never did want any. Guess he got his way and the way things turned out, it was for the best. I wouldn’t want to have a kid going through what I am with my mom. Jack, who’s going to take care of me when I get that horrible disease?”

  Jack air slapped her on the shoulder. “Trixie, nothing says you’re going to get it. And if you do, you’ve got all of us to take care of you.”

  “I love you, Jack Landry.”

  “I know, darlin’, and I love all four of you wild girls.”

  “Four?”

  “Yep, four… you, Cathy, Marty, and Darla Jean. Darla Jean is more like a cousin. You other three are my sisters.”

  It took fifteen minutes for her to finally giggle over the antics of one little four-year-old boy attempting to tame a caterpillar on a spring. Like a bull rider, he held one hand up and kicked back and forth with imaginary spurs. His father kept an eye on his wristwatch and his mother yelled, “Eight seconds and the crowd goes wild as Jason takes home the bull rider’s silver buckle.”

  The boy fell off the side of the caterpillar, landed on his feet, swept his hat off, and bowed. His mom and dad clapped and whistled even louder.

  Jack answered his phone when it rang. He said a couple of words before he put it back in his shirt pocket. “Now we can go furniture shopping. Marty and Cathy are together and meeting us at the furniture store.”

  “I feel better, Jack. Those kids made me laugh.”

  “I knew the kids could do it. If your mom hadn’t been robbed of her mind, would she want you happy or sad?”

  “Happy. She would definitely want me to be happy,” Trixie said. “When she realized this was happening, she checked herself into the nursing home and told me to remember the good times.”

  “Then do it, Trixie.”

  * * *

  Bedrooms. Living rooms. Dining rooms. Dens.

  All set up in cubicles so the customer would want the whole room full of furniture, not just separate pieces. The first one in the living room section was a fancy floral sofa with carved oak legs. Trixie looped her arm in Jack’s and kept walking.

  “I can’t see you stretched out on that thing watching Monday night football.”

  “But it is so pretty,” Cathy argued.

  “Jack doesn’t want pretty. He wants a man cave,” Marty said.

  “If I catch a car engine in your bathtub, I’m going to shoot you,” Trixie said.

  Jack laughed. “Marty, your job is to hide the guns. Cathy, yours is to hide the arsenic so she don’t put any in my beans and greens.”

  “What’s wrong with flowers?” Cathy asked.

  “It looks like tea drinkin’ furniture and I’m a black coffee man,” Jack said. “That one. What do you think of it?” He stopped in front of a buttery soft leather sofa in a rich mahogany brown with matching ottomans and an oversized recliner.

  “Sit down on it and see if it fits,” Marty said.

  “Ahhh,” he said as the leather molded to his body. “This is definitely a Monday night football sofa. Sit here beside me.”

  Marty plopped down on the other end, swung her legs up into his lap, and used the wide arm for a pillow. “Oh, yeah! I could definitely get into a Cowboys game on this.”

  “How long will this last?” Trixie asked.

  “How long will what last? Sitting here? I expect until five o’clock when the store closes. The furniture? Forever. Leather ages, but it never wears out and it’s so easy to clean,” Cathy said.

  Jack pushed Marty’s legs off of his lap and stood up. “I like it. I’m a comfortable leather sofa guy, not a floral, fancy settee type of feller.”

  Trixie moved to another sofa. “Like this one any better?”

  “I do,” Cathy said. “It’s a lighter color and doesn’t look so man-cavish.”

  “That sounds like a disease,” Marty said.

  “It is,” Cathy agreed. “You won’t ever catch a wife if you don’t put a few feminine touches in the house.”

  “I’m not out to catch a wife. Why would I need one? I’ve got you three to help me when I need advice.”

  “Good Lord, Jack. You aren’t going to become a player, are you?” Cathy gasped.

  “Become?” He laughed and motioned for a salesman. “I want this sofa, the matching recliner, and that oversized rocking chair that goes with it. We’ll keep looking.”

  ”Marty, I like your taste better than Cathy’s. What about the tables?”

  “I like the ones that are sturdy and well made and I’m partial to oak if it’s not got flowers carved in the woodwork like that first sofa did.”

  “You don’t like florals? They are really in this season,” the salesman said.

  “See?” Cathy said.

  Marty looked at his name tag. “Tom, I like flowers in vases but not on furniture. I like things that never go out of style, not things that are in for a season. And I think Jack and I agree on that.”

  Trixie grabbed his arm and steered him toward two oak tables. “These would be perfect in your cave.”

  Cathy rolled her eyes. “They look like you could butcher hogs on them.”

  “Or fix an engine?” Jack teased.

  “I swear, Jack, I’ll shoot you,” Trixie said.

  “Shall I add them to your list?” Tom asked.

  “Yes. The two end tables and that coffee table to prop my boots on at the end of a long shift.” Jack nodded.

  “Lamps?” Tom asked.

  “Not today,” Trixie said.

  “What else can I help you with?” Tom asked.

  “We’ll browse awhile,” Trixie answered.

  “I’ve got this order written up. Call me if you want to add to it.” Tom headed toward a young couple looking at a dining room table.

  “No lamps? I like lamps and the house doesn’t have an overhead light in the living room. Kinda hard to read by candlelight,” Jack said.

  “There’s a Western store on the other side of town that has some really neat accessory items. I saw a couple of lamps that would go perfect with this furniture,” Trixie said.

  Marty clapped a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Oh, I love that store. The man who owns it is one sexy cowboy.”

  Cathy rolled her eyes.

  “Hey, don’t give me that look. I can probably get Jack a damn good discount.”

  “I bet you can,” Cathy said.

  “Speaking of which,” Jack’s eyes twinkled, “shall we take a look at the bedroom furniture?”

  “Nothing pretty and fancy, right?” Cathy asked.

  “Something sturdy so in case he meets a hot little cowgirl sales clerk when we go to the Western store, it won’t break down when he takes her home.” Marty looped her arm in his.

  The four of them moved to the bedroom section and Jack pointed at a king-sized bedroom suite. “I like that one. King-sized bed, oversized dresser with two mirrors. And none of those fancy curls and whirls for dust to settle in.”

>   Tom was immediately beside them. “That’s our new missionary design. Plain lines and it is easy to maintain.”

  “I’ll take the whole outfit. Now let’s go buy ice cream, ladies.”

  * * *

  That evening when she got home to an empty house, Trixie sat down at her scrapbooking table and went to work. A card would never express what it meant for Cathy to show up at the nursing home, but it would let her know that her gesture hadn’t gone unnoticed.

  Trixie found a picture of the three of them back in college and cut, glued, and pasted for more than an hour before it was exactly the way she wanted. Then using her calligraphy pen, she wrote a message inside:

  Some friends are in your life for a season.

  Some friends are in your life for a reason.

  Some are there forever to double your joys and halve your sorrows.

  Thank you for being a forever friend and helping me today.

  She signed her name with a flourish and slipped into Cathy’s room, laid it on her pillow, and went back to her room. Lord, what would she ever do without Cathy, Marty, Jack, and Darla Jean? They were all kin, not by blood, but by heartstrings.

  Chapter 21

  Small towns in Texas are famous for their festivals. Burnet has a Bluebonnet Festival in April; Commerce has a Bois D’Arc Festival in the fall; Whitewright puts on its Grand Street Fall Festival; and General Granbury’s Birthday Party is held on the courthouse lawn in Granbury once a year.

  Other than the name and locale, they were pretty much all the same. Vendors sold barbecue, hot dogs, cotton candy, and hamburgers as well as jewelry, cowboy boots, trinkets, and purses. Local organizations sold Indian tacos, chili, baked goods, and handmade crafts. There was always a parade and sometimes even a beauty contest and a carnival.

  Cadillac hosted the Blue-Ribbon Jalapeño Society Jubilee the second weekend in November, and even the sign on the Baptist church said, “Pray for pretty weather this weekend.” Folks didn’t mind a little nip in the air, but they didn’t want rain. In Cadillac, the Jalapeño Jubilee was an even bigger splash than the Super Bowl, and everyone talked about it for weeks.

  There were framed awards given for booths, floats, bicycles, and horses all decorated for the parade. Tables were set up in the community room with samples of all kinds of jalapeño dishes for folks to sample. If they liked something, they could purchase the recipe for a one-dollar donation to the Blue-Ribbon Jalapeño Society, which was earmarked for the scholarship fund. There were pepper poppers, kabobs, several kinds of pepper cheese dips and cheese balls, jalapeño soups and chili, jalapeño pizza, corn bread, and even chocolate-covered jalapeños and jalapeño banana muffins with cream cheese frosting for those with a sweet tooth. Cathy had promised half a dozen jars of her pepper jelly and she delivered them early that morning.