"That's a great name. Can I call you Peas for short?"
Ruby scrunched her eyebrows. "I guess so."
"Oh, good. We've already got a secret together."
Ruby studied the girl. She was wearing a light brown shirt with square front pockets. Brown shorts with deep side pockets. Brown boots with long laces. White socks that stuck up from the boot tops. A brown hat hung on her back. It was hard, with a domed top and a leather string through it, to keep it around her neck. She wore a pocket watch on her belt loop. She was brown and white all over.
"Are you going on a trip to the jungle or something?" Ruby couldn't guess.
The girl pulled a pencil out from behind her ear and reached into one of the shorts' big pockets and pulled out a spiral-topped notebook. She moved to the porch railing. "I'm an anthropologist."
"A what?"
"An anthropologist. I study people. Do you know Margaret Mead?"
"No. Does she live in Memphis?"
"Margaret Mead! Margaret Mead! She was an anthropologist. Famous! She studied people. Tape-recorded them. Made notes. Wrote books."
"Why?"
"To find out why people do what they do."
"Why?"
"It's important! It explains human beings. We're all different and we're all the same—that's what Margaret Mead said. And I'm going to be just like her and travel all over the world and study people."
Ruby pulled on her earlobe and narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?"
"I'm Helen Dove Ishee, but folks call me Dove. My grandmother's name was Helen. She died right before I was born."
"I still have a grandma. Sort of."
Dove gave Ruby a questioning look. Inside the house the music had stopped, but the dancing continued. Ruby heard the farm report now on the radio. Mr. Ishee and his wife were dancing to the farm report.
Ruby explained. "My grandma—she's on a trip; she's not here right now. But I have chickens, and eggs about to hatch."
"Wow! I wish I could see that."
Ruby felt important. "I'm sleeping with the chickens starting next week, so I can make sure to watch the chicks hatch. You can come if you want."
"Really? You mean it?"
Ruby caught herself. She didn't mean it at all.
Dove plowed ahead. "That's great! Can I bring my equipment?"
Mr. Ishee and his wife danced into the screen door. It whipped open, and they were suddenly on the porch, doing a last twirl. Ruby sidestepped them just in time, and Dove laughed.
"You are Ruby, I bet." Mr. Ishee was bent over with his hands on his knees, breathing hard. "Look at that ruby-red hair."
Ruby's hair slopped out of its ponytail. Great wisps of it trailed all along her shoulders and face. She brushed it back with a dusty hand. "Yep, it's me. Are you the new teacher?"
"You bet I am. Come on in! Come on in!" He motioned everyone inside, while gazing adoringly toward the woman he had been dancing with. "And this is my dear wife, Tot."
Tot was trying to catch her breath. Her face was as red as Ruby's hair. She smiled and gave a weak wave. "Bless your heart. Bless your heart."
Dove grinned at Ruby. "See? Nice as pie. Come on. Let's have some ice cream."
"How do you take your root-beer floats, Ruby?" Uncle Tater/Mr. Ishee pulled two half-gallons of Blue Bell ice cream from the freezer. "Vanilla or chocolate?"
"Vanilla." Ruby had dodged dozens of half-unpacked boxes as she'd followed Dove to the kitchen. The front-room couch was piled high with books. Clothes draped the back of every chair. The walls were covered with the ugliest paintings Ruby had ever seen and more leaned against the walls. The kitchen counter was lined with geraniums growing in Chock full o' Nuts coffee cans.
"Good garden of peas! Y'all had a tornado go through here."
Tot laughed her belly laugh. "That's what moving will do for you." She bent over, rummaged through a tall box, then stood up, puffing, and pulled an ice-cream scoop with her. "Here it is, sweetheart!"
Mr. Ishee took the scoop from his wife and planted a long kiss on her large lips. "Leave it to Tot to find what I can't see." He sledded the scoop through the ice cream. "Tot, did we think to buy root beer?"
Tot patted her husband's bearded face with a meaty hand. "It's in one of these Winn-Dixie bags here, somewhere."
Dove was already looking. "Here it is, Aunt Tot."
"Oh, good. Bless your heart, Dove. Bless your heart."
Mr. Ishee stood with the ice-cream scoop dripping full of vanilla ice cream. "Do we have glasses, Tot?"
Tot laughed again. "Somewhere! Let's see, which box?"
Ruby moved a stack of National Geographies from a kitchen chair. "Here's some bowls..."
"Bowlsl That'll do!" They made root-beer floats in red plastic bowls and sat on the porch, with spoons and straws. Ruby listened to Dove's aunt and uncle complete each other's sentences and remembered, Miss Eula and Grandpa Garnet used to do that.
"...and I'm invited to spend the night with Ruby already!" Dove was talking about the chickens.
"Well, bless your heart!" Tot said to Ruby. "Bless your heart. You surely know how to make a body feel welcome."
Mr. Ishee peered, squinch-eyed, into the distance. "Who in the world is coming? Tot, is somebody else supposed to be coming?" A rooster-tail of dust swirled around a green pickup truck turning into the ranch. Old Ezra Jackson's truck. It rattled up the lane to the house, stopped in front of the picket fence, and the passenger door opened. Gingerly, someone stepped out with a package and waved thanks to Old Ezra. Ezra tipped his hat at everyone and drove off in another powdery cloud. His passenger posed, hand on hip, and smiled. The others on the porch wouldn't know her, but Ruby did.
Her heart sank. Melba Jane.
9
No one moved. Ruby was struck speechless. Melba's hair was curled into a mass of catfish guts even loopier than before. Her lips were painted a brilliant red. She was licked to a gloss in a poofy scarlet dress, shiny black shoes, and enough bangle bracelets on her wrists to sound like a tiny band.
"Can we help you?" Mr. Ishee looked worried.
Melba sashayed to the porch, sweetly smiling, and put a gloved hand to her cheek.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't realize you had company! I was just stopping by to be neighborly. I can come back another time."
Ruby opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Tot beamed. "We wouldn't hear of it! We love company! How lovely of you to welcome us to Halleluia, bless your heart. We're the Ishees from Memphis. Tell us who you are, dear."
"I'm Melba Jane Latham, thank you. My mama runs the beauty shop in town, Locks by Leila. If you need your hair done, you just come to our house. We have the most hairdo books in the county and all the latest movie magazines to read while you're under the dryer."
Tot patted at her straight-as-straw hair and smiled. "Come on up here, sweetheart, and let us get a good look at you. That's a stunning outfit. I believe you're in Mr. Ishee's class this September. I remember your name."
"I don't want to interrupt..." Melba gave Ruby a cool stare.
"Another student of mine!" Mr. Ishee came to life finally. "Come, come! Do stay and let's get acquainted. We were just enjoying root-beer floats on this sweltering day. I'm sure you know Ruby."
"Oh, yes, sir. I know Ruby." Melba raised an eyebrow at Ruby. "Hello, Ruby."
"Hey," Ruby managed to croak.
"This is our niece, Dove. She's staying with us for the summer," said Aunt Tot.
"Yes, ma'am! I heard that at the beauty shop. I brought this present for you, Dove."
Dove clapped her mouth shut. Then she opened it and blurted, "You would be great for my studies. Can I tape-record you?"
"Certainly. I have a wonderful voice."
Ruby blinked.
Dove opened the present as everyone looked on. Inside was a handmade flyer:
* * *
COUPON!
Good for ONE
Shampoo and Supper Anytime
at Locks
by Leila
* * *
Tot touched her fingertips to her chest. "How very sweet!"
Dove giggled with delight. "Thanks!"
Tot waded to her feet. "Let's get our new guest a float, sweetheart. These girls can keep each other company while we do." She pulled at her husband's sleeve, and the two of them left the porch.
Ruby sat cross-legged on a porch rocker and watched Dove, whose blue eyes were transfixed, mesmerized by Melba Jane, the walking beauty shop. Ruby felt a stab of jealousy that made her wince.
"This is great!" Dove had her notebook out, her pencil poised. "I'm going to write all of this in my book."
Ruby tried to pull Dove's attention away from Melba. "What's that book for?"
"I keep track of my studies in here," said Dove. She explained to Melba: "I study people, just like Margaret Mead did. When I'm grown up, I'm going to Fiji and Africa and Las Vegas to study people there." She looked at both girls. "I'll get lots of practice here. A whole new town of people to practice on! I'm just about practiced-out in Memphis, or at least that's what my mama says."
"I'm good to practice on. What do you want to know? I'll tell you everything." Melba gave Ruby a brick-hard stare, and Ruby looked away.
"I'll interview you first, Melba Jane. Then who?"
"I'm the most interesting," said Melba. Ruby rolled her eyes.
Dove scribbled in her notebook. "I need the whole town. That's how you find out why people in a certain place do what they do. So, I'll interview everybody in Halleluia. I'll learn about the town excitements and tragedies, and customs and traditions, and then I'll write it all up, and say, "The Halleluians act this way, and here's why.' But first I have to know all the facts. For instance, what's the biggest thing that ever happened in this town?"
Ruby's face grew hot. She wanted off the porch. "I'm going to help make the floats."
Melba planted herself in front of Ruby's rocker. Her voice was sweetly polite, but her face was a sneer for Ruby only. "What's the matter, Ruby? You don't want to talk about the biggest thing that ever happened here? Why not?"
Dove jumped up. "Wait. Let me get my tape recorder and my camera. I'll be right back." She disappeared into the house, and Ruby and Melba were alone. Dark clouds had been drifting over the porch, and the old chicken yard was in shade. A new wind whooshed through the trees, fluffing the leaves and stirring the dust.
Ruby hitched up her left overalls strap. "I'm going home. We're fixin' to get wet out here."
Melba pressed her lips together and popped them apart. "Go ahead. I don't need you here to have fun with your new friend."
Ruby gritted her teeth. "You think it's fun, talking about ... talking about..."
"The accident? I wonder how much of it I should tell. I bet your new friend Dove would love to hear all about it."
Ruby's heart began to skip in her chest. Aunt Tot appeared in the doorway, her arms full of float. "Here, Ruby, help me with the door." Dove appeared with her tape recorder in her hands and her camera slung around her shoulder. She had put on her hat. "Here's my equipment." Behind her came her uncle, carrying a kitchen chair. "Here you go, Melba."
"Why, thank you." Melba used the most syrupy voice Ruby had ever heard. She arranged herself daintily in the chair and with her pinky fìnger pointed to Dove's tape recorder. "Is it on?"
Dove thumped herself into a chair next to Melba and pushed a button. "Yep, it's on. I put new batteries in yesterday." She cleared her throat. "It's June twenty-third, and this is going to be Melba Jane Latham talking about the biggest event ever in Halleluia, Mississippi. Melba Jane, are you ready?"
Melba held up her hand in a stop sign, while she took a long sip of root-beer float. Ruby edged toward the wide porch steps. Uncle Tater and Aunt Tot sat next to each other in the porch swing and held hands. A gusty breeze turned the weathervane on the old chicken house, and the sweet scent of rain danced on the dust.
Ruby stepped down a step. "My mama's expecting me home about now." Her heart made a pounding sound in her ears.
"Don't go yet, Ruby," said Melba, a whine in her voice. "I know you want to hear my story." Melba smoothed her poofy dress across her thighs.
"Do you really have to go, Ruby?" asked Aunt Tot. "Can I call your mother and ask her if you can stay awhile longer? Wouldn't you like to stay awhile longer?"
"No, ma'am. I have to go. I mean, yes, ma'am, I'd love to stay, but no, ma'am, I can't. I mean, I need to go home."
"She means," said Melba Jane with a short sniff, "she means, she doesn't want to hear this story, isn't that right, Ruby?" Melba snatched the microphone from Dove and, with her too-red lips, began: "This story, this biggest thing ever that happened in Halleluia, Mississippi, this is the story of how my daddy died—drowned to death!—last summer in Lake Jasper."
10
"Good glory!" Tot grabbed Tater's arm. "You don't mean to say!"
Dove turned white. Her uncle vaulted out of the swing, and Tot clung to the chain to steady herself. "Well!" said Mr. Ishee. "This is turning out to be quite the day. I don't think a story like this is suitable for Tot, in her delicate condition." Thunder rumbled far away. Ruby's heart skittered into her throat.
"Do sit down, Tater darlin'." Tot released the chain and held out her hands to her husband. "I'm fine, fine. You know I'm as strong as a horse. Go on, Melba, if you can, sweetheart. Do you want some water?"
Melba cleared her throat delicately. "No, ma'am, thank you."
Ruby cast a desperate look at the sky and stepped down another step. "It's getting downright windy out here. I'm going home before the rain hits." No one heard her.
"It was last summer." Melba's voice was even and strong, like she had rehearsed these sentences a thousand times, and in spite of her resolve to leave, Ruby listened. "My daddy and Ruby's granddaddy drove to Raleigh together to a Grange meeting. It was the biggest one of the year and lasted all day and part of the night. They were supposed to stay in Raleigh for the night and come home the next morning, but they didn't. They started for home, but they didn't come home, either. The next morning Mr. Harvey Popham found the car. Ruby's granddaddy had driven them right off the Lake Jasper bridge and into the water. Everybody says he fell asleep. They were still in the car."
Silence. Ruby couldn't go now. "It was an accident." She spoke quietly and stared at her bare feet.
Melba held her chin high. "Some say that. Some don't."
Ruby sucked in her breath and met Melba's eyes. "It was an accident."
"Maybe." Melba turned to face Ruby. "But it never had to happen, did it?" Ruby pulled on her earlobe and felt the sweat beading on her upper lip. Now Melba was out of her chair and standing on the step in front of Ruby. "You want me to tell more?"
"I want you to shut up," said Ruby evenly. Her stomach twisted itself into a knot.
"Girls..." Tot pushed herself up and out of the swing.
Melba hissed into Ruby's face. "I can tell plenty more!"
"Shut up, Melba Jane!" Ruby heard her heartbeat: run-away-run-away-run-away!
Mr. Ishee helped his wife to her feet and stood with her. Dove sat, still as a stick.
Melba Jane's eyes were mean and bright, and her face was smack in front of Ruby's. She spoke in a low snarl, so only Ruby could hear. "I can tell whatever I want to tell, and you can't make me shut up. You can only listen, Ruby Lavender, so why don't you shut up, and just listen, while I tell everything about last summer's accident!" Melba grabbed Ruby's arm and gave it a vicious yank. "Sit down!"
Ruby jerked her arm away from Melba's grasp and was down the stairs, racing for her bicycle. Her heart slammed against her rib cage. She tripped and fell. She pushed herself up with scraped hands and kept running. A downdraft roared in under the trees and through the chicken yard, bringing the rain with it.
She reached her bike just as a boom! of thunder crashed above her and the sky opened. Rain fell so hard it washed over Ruby like a river. It plastered her hair against her face, but still she jerked her bike
away from the fence and felt her way onto the seat, slicking her hair back with one hand and holding the handlebars of her bike with the other. All she could see was the rain, like a white sheet all around her. The sound filled her ears and seemed to yell hurry-hurry-hurry! And she did, wobbling crazily back and forth on her bike until she was sure of herself.
She heard a vague echoing from the porch. It was Tot, Mr. Ishee, Dove, shouting for her to wait. The wind pushed her on, this-way-this-way, and her legs pedaled through the storm as fast as they could take her.
* * *
June 23
Dear Miss Eula,
I was so upset in my last letter, I forgot to tell you the details.
Mr. Ishee has a wife and a niece. The niece is Dove. She is in the fourth grade, like me, and she is visiting for the summer. She is from Memphis. She wears strange clothes. She is an antthoo ... no, an arthra ... a studier of people who live in places and what they do there. I bet she knows all the secret stories about how bad Hawaii is.
Mama let me have chocolate pudding for dinner and said I didn't have to take a bath because I'd already had one, riding home in the rain. She wants me to get some sleep but I can't. It is pouring and pouring rain. When are you coming home?
For your information, Ivy is a sitting fool. Bemmie is mad at everyone. Bess eats all the time and tells Bemmie to shut up. I read tonight from "carnival" to "crab apple." That was a lot of reading, believe me.
Love,
your (most unfortunate) grandchild,
Ruby L.
Pee Ess: How is Hortense?
* * *
* * *
June 24
Dear Ruby,
A family is buying Peterson's? How exciting! Tell me everything—but then, I bet you already did, and our letters are crisscrossing, like they always do, Somewhere over the Pacific. That's like Somewhere Over the Rainbow, but wetter. Ha!
Ruby, I've been thinking, and I want to ask you a favor. On August 1, it will be one year since your grandpa died. I don't expect I'll be there, but it's been on my mind for many months now, long before I left for Hawaii, to do something special on that day to remember him. Before I left on my trip, I thought I would go to the cemetery on August 1, maybe, and set out a nice meal for your grandpa, maybe some fried chicken and coleslaw and potato salad. Since he wouldn't actually EAT what I brought, I had thought to take you with me and have a picnic, and just chat with Garnet. Now I won't be there, and I don't expect a picnic all by yourself is much fun ... but I'd still like to do something. Maybe you could cut a bunch of black-eyed Susans from your grandpa's flower bed and leave them on his grave from me and you?
Love, Ruby Lavender Page 5