The Arcanum of Beth

by Mary Jane Russell

  “I’ll take your word for it. That looks like a little more than I want to maneuver while my mind is on something else. But I do like that you can carry your makeup kit on the front.”

  “What are you talking about?” Beth followed her friend’s line of sight. “Doofus. That’s the box filled with weights to keep the front end of the tractor down and all four tires on the ground to compensate for the bush hog attached to the power take-off on the back. If I maximize the tire pressure, it really makes a difference with the way she handles but makes her a little too light on a slope unless weights are added. Without the weights, I’d have to go up and down the slope instead of being able to loop around. I’d end up down there,” she pointed to the woods, “and not in a good way. Lou rigged it from an old toolbox, adding bolts to keep the lid closed tight and filling it with the old cast iron window weights we took out of the casings, adds well over two hundred pounds. We had about half what we needed, the guys at the college found the rest for Lou when she told them how she was using them. That way, it’s easy to remove the weights if we’re skimming a light snow off the driveway.”

  Janet feigned a yawn.

  “Okay, I get it. I forget you’re a city kid.”

  “Thank God. I don’t understand you or Andy. He’d be fighting you to get in the seat and take a turn on this thing.”

  Beth giggled. “I know. I’m too comfortable on a tractor. My farming methods make Lou crazy. I tend to think that I can get this machine to do anything I can visualize in my head as though I’m connected to it. Lou thinks I’m too reckless. I have all the respect in the world for farm equipment, but it was my playground as a kid. You should’ve seen Andy and I race tractors before we were allowed on the highway in pickup trucks.”

  “Neither of you have changed a bit.” Janet hugged her. “Mmm, you smell good, like a piña colada.”

  “Sunscreen. Better safe than sorry. I hate sunburn.” Beth climbed up the step to the small seat. “Let me roll this in the shed, and I’ll be right back. The only tricky part about running the tractor is dodging Lou’s projects. I’ve learned that she’s great at starting something and usually years in finishing. That’s one.” She nodded to the shed and a pile of new roofing panels on the ground that had rusted the same as the old attached ones. The pile was partially covered in weeds. “I clipped that with the bush hog, talk about a cheap thrill. Her latest is extending the downspouts underground and not telling me how far she made it toward the creek with the underdrain. Soft spots in the earth are not good to find by accident on one of these. Go on in the house. I’ll be right behind you.” Beth started the tractor, backed up from the car, and slowly made the turn toward the equipment shed that housed another smaller tractor and a riding mower. Buddy followed along.

  “Hello,” Janet called out as she entered through the front door. If nothing else, she would alert the cats to scatter instead of waking one up unexpectedly.

  “We’re in the back,” Lou answered.

  “With the cold beer,” Ellen added.

  Janet blinked as she walked into the kitchen. Stainless steel appliances and Birdseye maple cabinets popped against the dark red paint of the walls. The original red oak flooring had been restored and refinished. A sunroom off the kitchen held the formal dining table and chairs Beth had grown up with.

  “Wow.”

  “I know. Sometimes I don’t think I’m in the same house that I’ve lived in for ten years. No more 1970s avocado appliances and boxy little cabinets. If we had a toilet in here, I’d never leave the kitchen.” Lou sat on a stool at the island with the newspaper and a cup of coffee. She wore her usual paint-stained shorts and shirt that appeared to have legs and sleeves trimmed by dull scissors. “Miss Crack-of-Dawn had to get up early and finish the mowing before you got here so it would look nice.”

  Ellen sat across from Lou, already settled in with the sports page. “I hate to drink alone but not that much.” She raised the dark green bottle and her eyebrows.

  “I’ll wait until after I see Keith.” Janet walked over to the large oval wooden bowl on the counter beside the stove.

  “Her grandmother’s dough tray, she also made bread this morning.” Lou returned to the newspaper. “I tried to tell her to mix it last night, but she doesn’t listen to me.”

  Janet glanced out the window and watched Beth walk across the yard from the equipment shed. She slowed by the cottage and walked over to the open window. “They’re here, Mom. We’ll come over in ten minutes or so. Take your time getting dressed, you’re doing great.”

  “It must be so much easier having Keith here.” Janet’s eyes stayed on Beth.

  “Easier. I don’t know. At least Beth is driving less. Her getting home so late after checking on her mother each day was getting old and made dinner too close to bedtime. We have to get up early to commute into town for work.” Lou skimmed the newspaper as she spoke.

  Janet remained silent for a moment and tried to convince herself that she was not hearing what she thought she was. “Your households have blended together well. This place is wonderful.”

  The newspaper didn’t move. “You bet. I keep telling Beth what’s mine is mine and what’s hers is mine.” Lou peeked around the paper. “It’s a joke. Beth is a catch. I’d help her with most anything. Look at what’s been added to the property value. I couldn’t afford all this. Who needs to throw parties or play the stereo full blast? Keith living here is a small sacrifice on my part.”

  “Or none,” Janet said to herself as Ellen coughed to hide the comment she knew Janet would make.

  Beth came through the back door talking to the Australian shepherd on her heels. “I’ll be back in just a few minutes. You know I’ll bring you something. Keep an eye on Mom. Good boy.”

  Lou glanced over the top of the paper. “Don’t encourage him.”

  “The neighbors don’t love him, and we do. He just has that annoying habit of barking at Mom every time she tries to leave the cottage.” Beth chuckled as she washed her hands at the kitchen sink. She raised the corner of the towel over the dough tray. “Cool. Almost doubled, never know with yeast bread.” She walked over to Janet and hugged her.

  “Don’t mind me, I know you love her more.” Lou topped off her coffee.

  “Whiney butt.” Beth stepped closer to Lou and hugged her. “Oh, don’t look like an abandoned puppy.” She hugged Ellen again, then looked at Janet. “Don’t pay any attention to her. She hasn’t absorbed enough caffeine yet. What may I get you? Hot coffee or iced tea?”

  Janet shook her head. “I’m an early riser, too. I’ve already had my quota of caffeine for the day, drank my usual pot of coffee before I left home. Ask my sweetie how many times I had to stop to pee. I swear my bladder is shrinking.”

  “How about a tour?” Beth took Janet’s hand.

  “I’ll wait for you here.” Lou didn’t budge.

  “You’ll show me the shop in the basement.” Ellen emptied her bottle and took the newspaper from Lou’s hands.

  “I’ll show Ellen the shop.” Lou led the way to the stairs to the basement.

  Janet and Beth toured the house. Every room was freshly painted. Beth’s furniture mixed with Lou’s to give the look of an antique store. “We didn’t have to buy any furniture. What little extra space we had filled up when Mom sold. It’s so good to see you.” Beth hugged her again.

  “You’re happy?” Janet stopped at the head of the stairs.

  “Hell, yes. I know you don’t want details, but the physical relationship is the best I’ve ever experienced. I love being back in the country without the baggage of the home I grew up in and watched my father die in. I can work fifteen acres. I worried about three hundred. Lou is just fun in so many ways. We went to Virginia Beach for my birthday. You and Ellen have me hooked on the ocean. It’s as though we have the best of all worlds. She’s great with Mom. Keith actually tells everyone that Lou is now officially her adopted daughter.”

  “How is Keith?” Janet held onto Beth
’s shoulder as she led the way down the steps to the living room.

  Beth sighed. “She’s holding her own. I pray that the operations she went through repaired everything. I just function day by day and try to spend as much time with her as I can. I alternate between feeling guilty that I’m either with Lou too much or Mom too much.”

  They returned to the kitchen. They could hear muffled voices from the basement.

  “Come on, take a look at Mom’s cottage. Those two will be down there all day if we let them.”

  “Ellen and I are next in line for the cottage, you know. We’ve decided to adopt you so you have to take care of us in our old age.”

  Lou called from the basement. “You mean you aren’t there already?” They heard Ellen punch her. “Just kidding. We’re staying down here. I may even share the location of the treasure trove some refer to as a fifty-year-old trash dump.”

  “She has a shop and a pool table,” Ellen called. “I’m seriously jealous.”

  “Gee, thanks.” Janet looked at Beth.

  “Well, there was room, and I knew a guy selling a table cheap.” She shrugged and called down to the basement. “You girls play nice.” Beth took Janet’s hand. “She’s like a kid at Christmas going through the stuff we brought from the farm. Will can’t do anything with any of it. Lou is always tinkering with something here or at the college.”

  Janet nodded. “I should pay Keith for the entertainment value Ellen has had with eBay and selling the surplus tools. She’s just about decided she could make a business out of selling secondhand castoffs if she needs the extra money.”

  Beth pointed to the woods at the low side of the property. “People will buy anything. Can you believe that Lou sells what the people before us filled in the swale in the woods with as trash? Lou loves digging through the pile for old medicine bottles. She’s found newspapers in perfect condition from way back in 1950.”

  “Damn, that old? That’s the year I was born.”

  “Oops.”

  They followed the walkway to the bungalow. Buddy was stretched out on the small front deck. He moved only his eyebrows as he watched them approach, tap on the door, and enter the house.

  Janet felt as though she’d entered a time warp. The cottage had the look and feel of a World War II-era movie set. Overstuffed furniture with large floral upholstery and crocheted antimacassars on arms and backs filled the small living room. Mats were on every tabletop. Beth had carefully arranged the best of the Candler antiques so that her mother could maneuver yet still have her favorite furniture. Framed photographs of young men in uniform were interspersed with those of Will and Beth all the way from infants to teenagers.

  Keith came out of the bedroom slowly, using a walker to guide her. She breathed heavily. The customary sparkle in her eyes and easy smile on her face drew Janet to her.

  Janet leaned over and carefully hugged Keith. The older woman seemed to be shrinking.

  “Look at what these girls did for me. Isn’t it beautiful? All I own on one floor and with central air conditioning. No grass to mow or snow to shovel. Beth picks up my mail each night and brings my paper to me every morning. I never thought I’d have it so easy.” She lowered herself carefully into the nearest chair and looked at Janet. “It seems so long ago since you drove me here the first time.” She plucked at the hem of her knit shirt. “How is your better half?” She grinned at her own joke.

  Janet smiled. “Fine, she’ll be out to see you later. She took a detour by the girls’ shop and we can’t get her back upstairs yet.”

  “Have you had meds and breakfast?” Beth watched her mother’s every move.

  “Oh, yes.” She looked at Janet. “She does all my grocery shopping and won’t let me pay her back. We go to the doctor every three weeks, and I do my errands then. My monthly check just goes to the drug store. I don’t miss driving at all with such good chauffeurs.”

  “The neighbors are great. Several of them take turns coming by to pick up Mom and take her to church. They couldn’t be any nicer to her if she’d lived here all her life.”

  “Kindness of strangers.” Keith nodded. “Will may come this weekend. Depends on how busy he is with clients.”

  Beth rolled her eyes. “Or how many plans Princess Patti has already made. She gets so bored at home by herself all week.”

  “Beth.” Keith frowned at her daughter. “You know Will would help if he could. He has other obligations.”

  “Meaning Patti can spend money faster than Will can make or inherit it, and all from the comfort of home.”

  “Now,” Keith scolded. “You must promise me you’ll look after your brother. He’s going to need your help, and yours, too,” she looked at Janet, “when he realizes he has to get rid of that wife.”

  “Ma!”

  “We all know it and avoid talking about her. She’s awful and awful to him.” Keith gave way to a deep rumbling cough.

  “And if he could find his backbone…” Beth handed her mother a tissue.

  “Bitter?” Janet looked at her friend.

  “I’ll stop. I promise, Ma.” Beth walked over and kissed her mother on the cheek. “We’ll be back with lunch in a little while. I’m baking bread.”

  “Bring honey,” Keith reminded her.

  “I’ll tell Ellen what her new nickname is.” Beth giggled. “You bet. Love you, Mom.” She nudged Janet toward the door and lowered her voice. “If you don’t keep moving, an hour will go by listening to Mom and you would swear only five minutes have passed.” They walked toward the main house.

  “Follow me.” Janet guided Beth away from the back door.

  Beth sighed.

  “What’s with this super woman routine? Are you trying to go before Keith does?” Janet held onto Beth by the shirttail.

  “Her health was fine until I moved in with Lou.”

  “Don’t even try to go there. Look at your mother’s age and lifestyle…no regular exercise and country cooking.” Janet lightly smacked the side of Beth’s head. “Lighten up.”

  Beth nodded. “Mom wasn’t part of the deal when Lou and I got together. Lou’s been great about bringing Keith here and helps out as much as I ask her.”

  “It’s all part of the deal. Mates do come with families. Lou had to be aware of that.”

  “She was, at least she tells me she was.”

  “And she knows Keith being here will keep you here.”

  “What?” Beth stopped and looked at Janet.

  “Face it. All the work on the house and your mother moved in makes it that much more certain that you’ll stay.”

  “Who said I wouldn’t stay anyway?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  Beth was silent for a moment. “Yes, but I don’t like where your thoughts are taking us.”

  “Remember, I am your attorney.” Janet pointed to the dog running across the field. “Your friend’s back.”

  Beth embraced her. “Yes, she is.”

  The five women spent an afternoon to remember together.

  Chapter Ten

  Janet stopped in the hallway outside the room and took a deep breath. She hadn’t been able to get away from the office until shortly before noon. Lou had called her just before she left home that morning.

  The curtains were drawn across the glass wall that enabled the nurses to see inside of the unit. Janet saw everyone’s feet but not the rest of him or her. She recognized Beth’s hiking boots near the head of the bed. She assumed the wingtips in the far corner belonged to Will, the pointed toe stiletto heels to Patti, and the scuffed New Balances to Lou. She knew by the number of people allowed in the unit and by how quiet they were that the prognosis wasn’t good.

  She walked through the center opening and stared at Keith. There was little color and no animation to her face. The brilliant blue of her eyes appeared glazed. There was a ventilator tube in her mouth. An IV bag slowly dripped morphine through a line into her arm. A clip on her index finger and cuff on her upper arm attached her to t
he monitor tracking oxygen level and blood pressure. The catheter bag hung on the side rail. She looked very small in the hospital bed and resigned to knowing this day had been inevitable.

  Beth stood next to the head of the bed with her hand resting on her mother’s shoulder. She appeared as dazed as Keith. There were dark circles beneath her eyes. She looked blankly at Janet.

  “I’m so sorry.” Janet was at a loss for words.

  “She can’t talk.” Beth’s eyes filled with tears that she barely held in check.

  “Imagine that,” Lou mumbled.

  Janet glanced at the corner as Patti smacked Lou on the back of the head and a stricken look passed across Will’s face. They filled the recliner, Will in the seat and the women on either arm of the chair.

  Patti was her usual meticulously groomed self—not a salon set hair out of place, makeup and nails perfect. She wore a sleeveless dress that fit her slim body perfectly and showcased her hours at the gym. Will’s tie was askew from his unbuttoned collar. He wore a sport coat that matched the cream pinstripe in his slacks instead of his usual three-piece suit. Lou wore khakis and polo shirt with the college’s logo. Beth looked as though she had not changed clothes in days. Her jeans and oxford shirt were as crumpled as her spirits. She had tired of her hair hanging about her shoulders and pulled it back in a ponytail.

  Lou met Beth’s stare. “It was just a joke.”

  “An extremely poor one.” Beth frowned toward the corner.

  Janet hoped she didn’t hear Patti snicker. “Will, it’s been a while. Patti, you’re looking well.” She crossed the room and held out her hand. “Lou, smart-ass.” She placed her hand on Lou’s shoulder and squeezed until the woman winced.