Jack held the door of the van. Roxie crawled in first and sat on the second seat with Mimosa right beside her. Bodine took the back seat. He slid the panel door shut and opened the passenger door for Dee. The whole town would see her riding shotgun, and the rumors would have it next week that not only had she murdered her husband and disposed of his body, she was now keeping company with Jack. The story would also have it that he deserved it after the shabby way he’d treated Marla.
“Okay, girls, it’s time to take off the hats and gloves.” Roxie was already removing hers as she spoke.
“But I thought I’d wear mine all day and maybe even to bed tonight. Jack said I looked stunning.” Dee couldn’t believe she was teasing. She’d figured she’d be walking around in a daze for years. And here she was laughing after only forty-eight hours back in Sulphur, Oklahoma. It all went to show the power of a family and one good old fishing friend could have in her life.
“Of course you do, but you’re not ruining my new hat by sleeping in it. Jack thinks you are just as stunning in your old fishing hat. The one with all the lures and hooks in it. You can sleep in that,” Roxie said.
“Do you?” Dee looked at him while they were waiting for the traffic light to turn green.
“Of course, I do.” He grinned.
“You lie so well. I swear you’d think you grew up next door to Roxie.”
Dee removed the hat pin and handed the fancy hat back to Roxie. “Why do we have to wear a hat and gloves if we’re just going to take them off the minute the last amen is said?”
“God expects women to be women, and General Lee would be disappointed in his ladies of the South if we didn’t keep the standard,” Bodine recited the words verbatim.
“Yes, ma’am.” Dee nodded seriously. Bodine would be as warped as the rest of them by the time she graduated high school, but when she chose her broken roads, she could retrace her footsteps and come right back home.
Roxie had barbecue. Bodine ordered a burger and cheese fries. Mimosa opted for roast beef with potatoes and carrots on the side. Dee studied the menu, then ordered a hamburger with mustard and all the works, an order of fried okra, a bowl of red beans, and a plate of cornbread. Jack echoed Dee’s order.
“I missed this kind of food,” Dee said.
“You mean they don’t even have hamburgers in that foreign country where you went? I’m not about to go there, then. Did they have cheese tots?” Bodine asked.
“Yes, they have burgers and I suppose there’s some place you can order cheese tots, but they don’t serve red beans except at Cracker Barrel and Ray hated eating at that place. Said it was absolutely bohemian to eat that close to other people.” Dee picked up the catsup bottle and laid a nice layer over her fries. She even dipped a piece of fried okra in it and shut her eyes when she popped it in her mouth.
“We’ll have no more mention of that man’s name in my presence,” Roxie informed her. “It’ll ruin my barbecue for sure.”
“Mimosa, I can’t believe you’ve been home a whole month, and there’s not been one semi roaring down the lane.” Jack deftly changed the subject, putting Mimosa in the spotlight and giving Dee some breathing room.
“I’m retired, honey. Last week I met a trucker in the Ardmore Wal-Mart store, back there in that little coffee shop part of it. We talked for an hour, and I didn’t even feel the pull to go back on the road. I’m thinking of enrolling in that cosmetology school down there this fall. Put in a little shop right here in Sulphur when I get finished,” Mimosa said.
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Roxie said.
“Then you wouldn’t mind being alone all day?” Mimosa asked.
“No, I wouldn’t mind staying alone all day,” Roxie snapped. “I told you, just because you’re tired of trucking, don’t be thinking you’re a martyr coming home to take care of your mother. I’m not senile. I’m not feeble. And I’ve stayed alone in the house before without wetting my pants or forgetting where the kitchen is.” She accentuated every word with a stab of her fork toward Mimosa.
“Then that’s what I’m doing,” Mimosa declared.
“You should be good at it. Just don’t let them tell you that ratted hair is out of style. I like my hair teased up, not lying flat against my head like a boy’s,” Roxie said.
“You looking forward to school starting up, Bodine?” Jack kept the spotlight moving.
“Of course she is. Get back in with her little friends,” Roxie said.
“Yes, I am. I think it’s a great waste of time to go to school, but I can’t get on one of those space shuttles and go to the moon without an education. Southern belles are fast becoming a thing of the past, you know. Us women folks have to learn how to survive in a man’s world.”
“Yes, ma’am, I agree. The charms of a southern woman are about to be put at the top of the endangered species list, but I’m sure. What do you intend to do when you get to the moon?” he asked in all seriousness.
“Why, I intend to have an Orange Julius and go to the nearest mall and see if they sell parasols.” Her face lit up in a smile, showing two front teeth that she’d be a couple of years growing into.
“Take them a little charm, then?” Jack asked.
“Of course. Why else would anyone want to go up there anyway? I don’t even like green cheese. It smells gawdawful,” Bodine said.
“You want me to wash your mouth out? They got a bathroom in this place with lots of soap,” Roxie said.
“No, Roxie, I apologize. Tally is a bad influence on me. Just thinking about going to see her, why, I can’t stop those bad words from sneaking right out of my mouth,” Bodine told her.
Dee suppressed a giggle. Jack reached under the table and squeezed her knee. He’d done that a million times in the past, but never had it affected her like it did right then. Her stomach went all mushy and if she’d had to utter a complete sentence or die, she’d have had to ask for a blindfold and a firing squad. It had to be the fact that she was back home in the bosom of her family, and—crazy, weird bunch that they were—they still were family.
She chewed slowly and remembered the night she told Jack she was leaving the next day, both of them just out of high school. Eighteen years old and green as a pair of newly hatched garden snakes. He’d tried his best to talk her out of it. Said she should at least wait a month to see if she still loved Ray then. He’d reminded her of the time Ray had hit her. But she would not listen. No sir, she was going to Pennsylvania where a perfect family awaited her, where she’d be a flawless little corporate wife. She shook away the memories and came back to the present, enjoyed every bite of the hamburger, and had the last piece of cornbread on her plate for dessert. She sliced it open, slathered on butter and covered it with honey, then ate it with a fork like it was a piece of cake.
After they’d all finished, Jack picked up the tab and drove them to the county jail. They found Tally waiting in the fenced yard.
Her eyes widened when she saw Dee. She crossed the yard in a few easy long strides and wrapped her sister into her arms. “I was going to call you tomorrow, and here you are. I’m so glad to see you. Did you divorce him or kill him?”
“He annulled me,” Dee told her.
Tally was eight inches taller than Dee, had a magnificent head of thick, naturally blond hair and the bluest eyes in all of Oklahoma. Her waist was small, her bosom big; her legs went on forever. If she could have sung, she would have made a stunning addition to the country music industry, but her voice was thin and nasal.
“How does one annul a marriage after seven years?” Tally asked.
“Money greases machines,” Dee answered.
“Well, God will forgive you for that one. He was a horse’s rear end, and you’re better off without him. Hey, Roxie, they said I could have three weeks off for good behavior so could you send someone after me next Saturday?” Tally said.
“I’ll come get you,” Mimosa said.
“Thanks. Now come and tell me everything that’s gone on this
week. Bodine, you look like a princess.” Tally drew her daughter to her side and hugged her.
“Of course I do,” Bodine said. “But princesses can’t say bad words. Roxie threatened to wash my mouth out with soap. Right there in a public place.”
“Bodine! What Roxie says is the law!” Tally shook her finger at her daughter.
“Yes, ma’am, but you say those words. I heard you call Dee’s husband worse than that.”
“Yes, but he made our Dee sad.”
Dee sat down on a bench next to a picnic table. “How’d you know that?”
“Oh, honey, I’m the older sister. I can tell by the tone of your voice when you’re sad.”
“Is she sad now?” Jack asked.
“Lord, no. How could anyone be sad with something as pretty as you to look at? Or eating Roxie’s cooking? Or fishing the Buckhorn? She’s as happy as a piglet in a fresh wallow. I would’ve given her a gun and an alibi if she’d wanted to finish that business off out there before he decided to pay his way out of a marriage,” Tally said.
Dee changed the subject. “So what are you going to do when you get out?”
“I’m going to college. Roxie said so. I’m thirty-one years old. I’ve tried singing. I’ve tried about everything. Nothing worked. So Roxie said I’m going to Murray State College and getting an education. After I finish two years there, then I’m going to East Central in Ada and becoming a teacher,” Tally said.
“No more bad checks,” Mimosa muttered.
“No, ma’am. Roxie done broke me from sucking eggs on that issue. No more bad checks. No more lazy husbands. Although I only had one of those. You kind of outdid me on that issue, Mimosa,” Tally said.
Roxie threw up her hands. “Thank God you didn’t follow in her footsteps.”
“What are you going to do?” Tally asked Dee. “You only got one mistake under your belt.”
“But it’s a big one, isn’t it?” Dee patted Roxie’s knee.
“Yes, but like the preacher said, I am a generous woman and I forgive my offspring their mistakes. I might put out a contract on that sorry man who hurt you, but I will forgive him while he’s bleeding to death,” Roxie said.
“Let’s don’t kill him,” Dee said.
“Then forgiveness will be a long time coming. I’ll just have to outlive him and then forgive him when I lay a wilted rose on his casket, because I can’t forgive that man as long as he’s got air in his lungs,” Roxie declared.
Tally looked at Dee. “So you didn’t answer my question. What are you going to do?”
“I’m not going to do a blessed thing but drink lemonade in the evenings while I watch the sunset. I might do a little fishing. I might take care of the rosebushes and help with the vegetable garden and cook a few meals if Roxie will let me in the kitchen, but I’m not doing anything until after Christmas. Then I’ll decide what I want to do,” Dee said.
“Bravo,” Tally said. “The prodigal comes home with a plan.”
“I rather like it,” Jack said.
Dee turned quickly to find him staring at her, his eyes sparkling and a grin showing off his perfect white teeth.
“Me too.” Bodine added her approval. “That way Jack and Dee will both be there when I get off the bus.”
“Yes, ma’am, we surely will,” Dee said.
Tally looked at her grandmother. “Roxie?”
“Rules is rules. You’ve had enough chances, Tally. You don’t get to laze around the garden and the fishing hole. You’ve got to get some direction to your life. Both you and Mimosa. Dee can have her time to get settled and get her heart back in working order,” Roxie declared.
Tally stuck her tongue out at Dee.
Dee did the same, right back.
Bodine tattled.
Jack roared.
Mimosa pretended she didn’t see a thing.
Roxie bit the inside of her lip to keep from laughing. Her family was home and safe. She was the grand matriarch, sitting on her throne once again. Today the blessin’s outweighed the bellyachin’.
Chapter Four
Halle-blessed-lujah, I am home,” Tally said dramatically as she flung open the front door and stepped inside the house.
Roxie came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a tea towel. “And tell me you’re not going away again?”
“No, ma’am, I am not. This is heaven. I’m going upstairs for a long hot bath, then I’m going to fix a glass of iced tea and sit out under the shade trees with no fences between me and freedom,” she said.
“You’re going upstairs for a long bath, and then we’ll have supper. We’ll all sit on the back porch together and watch the sun set after we eat like we always do, then you can sit out under the shade trees until midnight if you want to,” Roxie said.
“A good cold Dr Pepper then, while I soak?” Tally asked.
“Dee, honey, pour up a cold Dr Pepper in a glass and take it up to Tally,” Roxie yelled toward the kitchen.
“Yes, ma’am.” Dee came out, an oversized bib apron over her cutoff denim shorts and faded red tank top, barefoot, her hair held back with a plastic head band. “Welcome back home, Tally. Here, let me help you with those sacks.”
“Honey, I can carry the Wal-Mart Samsonite up to my room if you’ll just bring me a something cold to sip on while I soak. Roxie says I can’t laze around until after supper,” Tally said.
“Wal-Mart Samsonite?” Dee asked.
“That’s what those blue plastic bags are called in redneck language,” Tally laughed.
Bodine appeared at the top of the stairs. “We might be rednecks, but as soon as I can find a frog to put in my witch’s brew, I’m going to make a potion that will turn us all into sophisticated millionaires. Can we go to the Buckhorn and find a frog? I need a real one. Not an old brown toad.”
“Of course, honey. As soon as I have a long, soaking bath, we’ll go find a frog. Bet there’s one down by the Buckhorn. After supper, we’ll drive down there and see what we can find,” Tally said.
“Can we ride our bicycles rather than drive?”
“No, we cannot. That’s five miles and my legs aren’t up to that kind of punishment today,” Tally told her.
“I’ll get the Dr Pepper,” Dee said.
“I’ll be waiting in the tub. I’ll be the one with bubbles up to my chin. Bodine, get that recipe out and make sure a frog is all you need. Maybe you’ll need the skeleton of a bass or a pilfered catfish head from a barbed wire fence.” Tally grinned.
“I’ll go check,” Bodine said seriously.
When the water pipes stopped rattling, Dee carried a chilled can of Dr Pepper and an empty glass up to her sister. The bathroom door was wide open, the curtains covering the window tucked up over the curtain rod. Hot afternoon sun streamed in through the spotless window pane.
Tally opened one eye a slit. “Ahh. Light. Bubbles. Cold soda pop. The world is a good place to be.”
Dee poured enough Dr Pepper in the glass to swish it around and handed it to her sister, who reached out through the bubbles to gulp it down in one sip.
“Now for the good stuff,” Tally said.
Dee put the sweating can in her hands and she tilted it back. “Don’t you dare tell Roxie I’m drinking from the can. She’ll put me back in jail for those last three weeks.”
“Wouldn’t think of it. She tried to make me marry Jack just because we fished all night and drank from the can.” Dee set the empty glass on the vanity and pulled the bench out, settling down and entwining one leg around the other. “Tell me, weren’t you mad at her for letting them take you to jail? That’s a whole year out of your life.”
“Oh, sister, mad ain’t even the word for it. I paced that cell for a month. Refused to come out on Sunday to see any of them, even Bodine. But Roxie came every week and brought a sack full of goodies. Pecan pies. Chocolate cakes. Magazines. Books. A Game Boy. Even a television set for my cell. On the fifth Sunday I went out in the yard to wait, to give her a piece of my mind.”
“What happened?” Dee asked.
“I gave her a good-sized chunk of my mind. Told her she would have never missed the money to pay my fines and pick up the checks,” Tally said.
“And then?” Dee asked.
“She said I was right. She wouldn’t have missed the money, but a year inside would be good for me. To think about what direction my life was going. I wrote the checks to cover my gambling debts, Dee. I’m an addict. Can’t go anywhere near those Indian casinos. Took me a year of thinking, but it won’t happen again. Roxie also said that she wouldn’t be around forever to raise Bodine and sometime or other, I’d need to pick up the reins and take care of my daughter. That really sobered me up. I figured Roxie was born right after one of those big wars, not one or two, or even the northern aggression, but one in the Old Testament that the preacher talks about. Maybe when the Israelites went in to conquer the Promised Land. And I also figured she’d be the last one to leave the earth when all the nations pull out their nukes and start playing hardball. The thought that she might not be here when we get into trouble scared the bejesus out of me.”
“So you really are going to school this semester?” Dee asked.
“I really am. That’s one of the reasons they let me out early. I’ll begin school Monday. Bodine goes back that same day, and Mimosa starts cosmetology school. It’ll be a tomb around here after the weekend. You might go stark raving mad,” she teased.
“I don’t think so. I’m barely settled in, and besides, I need a while to get my head on straight. What are you going to do when you graduate? By then Bodine will be fifteen,” Dee asked.
“When I get finished, I’m going to take Bodine with me wherever I can find a job. If it’s within driving distance, I’ll probably stay right here and do what Mimosa keeps mouthing about—take care of Roxie if she ever does need me. But if it’s far away, I’m going to stop playing around and take care of the daughter I produced. That’s something Mimosa hasn’t ever done, so maybe Roxie did teach the two of us something, even if it’s taken me a long time to figure it out. Now what about you?”
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