May Cocker (Cocker Brothers Book 24)

by Faleena Hopkins

  Hank interrupts his own conversation to bellow, “Say Jer, pull over. Let’s drop the top. There’s a moon out!”

  Gertie bounces in her seat, “Oh could we? We know where Sable lives. We won’t get lost.”

  Jerald turns the wheel, “I wasn’t worried.”

  But Marvin’s car is. The horn honks a loud aaahooooga!

  Sable sticks her head out as they slow down, too. “Say, what gives?!”

  I wave that it’s okay while Jerald and Hank work together to fasten the top down.

  She frowns and disappears.

  Turning in my seat I laugh to Gertie, “Can you imagine the argument they’re having right now? We don’t have time to waste!”

  Gertie plays the role of Lily, “Oh, relax, Sabes! You’ll straighten your hair with that attitude!”

  Soon both cars resume the journey, and I throw my hands into the warm night sky, “I hope we never get there!”

  Gertie does the same. “This sure is swell, isn’t it, May?”

  I cover my hair with my hands, enjoying how it whips through my fingers. “Mmhmm!”

  Jerald smiles, “You’ve never ridden in a convertible, I take it?”

  “First time! But I can tell you right now, when I have my own car, it’ll be one!”

  Gertie cries out, “Me too!” while Hank laughs, happy his idea paid off so well.

  I turn to Jerald, running a finger over my forehead to push my hair back so I can see. “Do you mind my asking, what do you do on the submarine? I’m afraid I don’t know much about them.” I hurry to add, “I’m willing to learn, and despite how it may have seemed, I’m quite bright!”

  Jerald grins like he can’t help it. “I’m a planesman.”

  “What’s a planesman?”

  “We call it a boat. Or the sub. Or vessel, sometimes, I guess. But mostly we call it a boat.”

  “What job does a planesman have on the boat?”

  “I steer.”

  My eyes go wide. “You’re in control of the whole thing?”

  “The Captain is in control, but he trusts me and three other men to take direction as quickly as he gives it.”

  “They must think the world of you. And while I was watching you drive I thought to myself, you look at home behind the wheel. Is that why?”

  “Guess it is.”

  “This must seem like peanuts compared to an entire submarine!” I pull back my windblown locks. “You steer the whole boat, wow! That’s so important!”

  Dazzling green eyes land on me long enough for my heart to skip two beats, before returning to the road. “Everyone in the Navy is important, May.”

  MAY

  J erald removes his hat as soon as we’re inside her house, but the other boys don’t. Peter asks, “Say, where are your parents anyhow? They won’t be walking in the door at any minute, will they?”

  Lily smirks, “That would be a riot!” while setting her handbag on the oak hutch. It’s a lovely home; I’ve often thought so. Four levels including the basement, beautifully decorated by Mrs. Howard, a woman who passed down her worrisome ways to her daughter.

  Sable just can’t help herself from taking Lily’s bait. “Oh you think so, do you? I don’t see you volunteering your house, Lily Marlow! It’s all good and well for you to act so la-di-dah when it’s not your folks who could walk in on you at any minute alone with strange boys.”

  Hank objects with a dazzling smile. “We’re not strange, if I do say so myself. Think about it, Sable. We’ve seen you at church nearly every other Sunday, haven’t we?”

  She frowns, not wanting to give in to his charms. He’s just the sweetest thing, but Sable is bullheaded and nothing can change that about her character. “Church and here are two very separate things. They’d think you strange enough, believe you me!”

  Peter whistles, “Say, is that a new record player? Can I have a look?”

  He strolls over while Gertie tries to make peace with Sable’s better judgment. “How long are they gone for, Sable? You did say just earlier this evening that you were alone for two more days, didn’t you? Before May fainted, I mean.”

  Lily laughs as she follows Peter to choose a record, “Oh, let her be. If she couldn’t complain she wouldn’t have anything to talk about.”

  “That isn’t so!”

  “Yes it is so. Don’t be such a sourpuss.”

  Marvin reassures Sable, “I think it’s reasonable to be cautious.”

  Impressed with his support, she pauses, gathers herself together and walks to the kitchen. “If you are going to be in my home, I can’t have you hungry.” Throwing her hands on her hips, she says, “Well, are you going to help me, Marvin, or aren’t you?”

  He dashes after her like someone shot him out of a circus cannon.

  Jerald and I have been standing beside each other this entire time. I’m aware of his closeness and somehow wish it were closer. Together we watch his brother guiding Gertie to a chair where he sits on the arm and tells her a story I couldn’t focus on if I tried.

  With Peter and Lily arguing about records and using them as weapons to swat each other with, Marvin and Sable preparing practical snack options, and Hank charming Gertie into a puddle, Jerald asks me with a private tone, “Would you like to step outside? It’s an awfully nice night.”

  My heart beats so fast I answer with a nod. He opens the door for me, and a warm Georgian breeze greets us with a heavenly smell floating on it. “Lily, your favorite smell!”

  She runs to poke her head into the foyer. “Night blooming jasmine?”

  “Mmhmm!”

  Shutting her eyes, she takes a deep breath. “There it is! I don’t think there’s a better scent in all the world.”

  Jerald follows me outside, quietly closing the door. The porch light was left on to greet Sable upon her return, and it shines a warm glow on rocking chairs that face the street, a small round table, and a stack of cut firewood lining the house.

  As I sit, Jerald takes hold of the chair, steadying it so I may sit gracefully. “Thank you.”

  He nods, large hands fiddling with his fedora as he sits down, balancing on the edge of his rocking chair with knees spread, shined shoes firmly balanced.

  We’re silent for quite some time, so long in fact that I begin to wonder if he’ll ever say a word. I don’t want to be the first. I quite like sitting with Jerald this way. It’s comfortable and yet exciting at the same time. I’ve never sat alone with a boy before, and right now I can’t imagine ever sitting with another one.

  When he does speak, his voice is thoughtful. “That’s the only thing I miss when I’m at sea.”

  “What do you miss?”

  He gestures toward the trees with his hat. “The cicadas.”

  “Oh,” I smile, posture slumping in relaxed agreement. “Aren’t they something?”

  “Most nights I doze off imagining their song. Can’t fall asleep otherwise.”

  I look at his handsome profile, tilting my head as I try to imagine what life on a submarine is like. “It must be frightening knowing there’s water all around you like that.”

  He blinks to the hat slowly spinning in his hands, blonde eyelashes heavy. “I’m not frightened, May. Especially not by the ocean. No, I’m certainly not frightened of that. I can’t fall asleep because a man has to stay alert with the job I’ve got.”

  “Oh, I see.”

  “Hank said he sees you at church.”

  “I heard that but I can’t honestly say I remember him.” Jerald laughs and I immediately explain, “I don’t mean he’s not memorable, it’s just I never noticed him.“ Realizing that also doesn’t sound very flattering I frown and try again. “You see, for the past few years we watch after some of the children in our neighborhood. Sometimes it’s as many as five, and I’m often occupied with keeping them contained. Father gets frustrated and Mother only cares about her hymns once we’ve arrived — she’s very devout — so it’s up to me, and they really are a handful.“

  “Is
that your job? Babysitting, I mean.”

  “Oh no, we don’t get paid for it! And it’s normally Mother who watches after them. But on Sundays, you see, it falls on me for the reasons I just explained. But it’s not a job by any means. Many of the women who live nearby pile into a pickup truck and ride to the Air Force Base down in Valdosta. Most of them go to church, too, but in order to save gas, what with it being rationed, some have taken to staying more local, renting a room with other women. And we are more than happy to lend them a hand here.”

  I stop short from explaining my mother’s plight, because I feel I dominated the conversation too much already.

  Jerald doesn’t seem to mind.

  He’s staring at me intently as if he’s interested in what I have to say.

  I offer a smile and fold my hands onto my lap. “That’s why I hadn’t noticed your brother.”

  It takes him a moment to speak, during which I feel my body get warm by how he’s watching me. As if he knows that, he smiles and licks his lips to offer, “There are two churches we attend, so it’s even less likely you would’ve run into each other. I just figured after what was said in there…”

  “Two churches? Do your parents practice separate religions?”

  Jerald nods, hat spinning slowly with thoughtful fingers. “My Father is Catholic and my Mother is Protestant.”

  A small bright green bug lands on my blue dress. I almost swat it away but stop myself just in time. “Oh look! A katydid!”

  Jerald leans to see better. “You named the grasshopper already?”

  “No silly!” I laugh. “This is a katydid. That’s what it’s called!”

  “Looks like a grasshopper to me.”

  Touching my finger to my lips, I concentrate on it. “We learned about them — I believe I was only around six or seven. Can’t recall exactly, but I was very young. I see them now and again, but not so often as I’d like. I believe they’re lucky. Are you superstitious?”

  “No, I am as grounded as they come.”

  “Isn’t she cute?”

  He laughs, “A pretty girl who likes bugs. Never thought I’d see the day. You are a rare one.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that,” I blush, pleased.

  He points his hat toward the yard. “It flew away.”

  Trying to spot it I lean in my chair, squinting into the night. “See? It flew. Grasshoppers jump.”

  “So they do.”

  “Those cicadas? Their song now has one happy katydid.”

  Jerald smiles, but it disappears. His profile becomes serious, thoughts someplace far, far away. Instinct is telling me that he’s thinking about the war. I’ve seen this look on some of the boys who’ve returned home, wounded in battle. They stare off just like that.

  I whisper, “Aren’t you ever frightened? I would be.”

  He pauses like he might admit he is, but then shakes his head, voice deep. “Never. I’m never scared.”

  “You must be very brave.”

  Jerald’s hat becomes motionless for the first time since he sat down, since we walked out here even. “Lives are in my hands, May. If I were scared, what kind of a sailor would I be?”

  I don’t dare give a response because none seems fitting. We stare at each other until my lips part without my knowing it at first. I’m made aware by the fall of his gaze to them, and I get this funny feeling in my belly, a warmth I have never known. It drifts down until it’s all I can think about.

  Jerald bites his lower lip, concentrating. We stand up without speaking and he drops his hat on the rocking chair with a soft thump. I stay right here, heart fluttering.

  “May, I hardly think this is proper but I’m going to say it anyway. I wanted to kiss you when you fainted in my arms. And I want to again, right now. But you can’t let me.”

  “Can’t I?”

  His voice is huskier as it comes a little closer. “You sure can’t.”

  Why can’t I kiss him? That’s the only thing I want to do!

  So I close my eyes.

  Heart pounding.

  JERALD

  SABLE OPENS THE FRONT DOOR TO ANNOUNCE, “I made sandwiches,” and gasps.

  I step away from potentially damaging May’s reputation.

  Her eyelashes flutter open, blue eyes sharpening quickly. “I got a spider web in my eye, Sabes.” Rubbing it, she turns around. “Jerald was helping me remove it.”

  Sable drolly says, “And here I thought you were necking on my porch in front of the neighbors. You know the ones who have big mouths?”

  “We weren’t necking.” May walks on ahead, “Yet.”

  “Then I arrived just in time!” Sable looks at me from over her glasses with a warning.

  I drag a hand through my hair, grab my hat and follow the girls in, floor boards creaking. I sure do like how May handled that. She’s a smart cookie.

  We find the others in the living room, a platter of neatly cut sandwich triangles between them on an otherwise empty coffee table.

  My brother’s still on the arm of Gertie’s chair, only now his hand is on her back as he talks to the group. “Oh, I’ve always wanted to travel more. We’ve done some traveling, mostly to D.C., of course. But I can’t wait for school to end so I can join the Navy, too. See the world!” At Sable motioning to the sandwiches, he reaches long and selects one that might be ham. Taking the flask from his deep pocket, he hands it to Peter who offers it to Lily first.

  “Gin?”

  Her face scrunches, and Sable tells him, “Lily doesn’t drink. I’ll have some!”

  He watches her snatch it from his hands and take a sip.

  Hank asks with his mouthful, “Who else feels school is a waste of time when everyone’s fighting a war?”

  Marvin raises his hand. As does Peter. And May surprises us all by raising hers. Her three friends didn’t.

  Lily smiles, “You too, May?” and pats the sofa cushion beside her, scooting over to make room. “I was going to raise my hand, but I wasn’t sure if one of those industrial jobs counts.”

  Sable hands the flask to Peter, picks up the platter and walks it around to everyone since they’re not eating fast enough for her liking. “It sure counts in my book. I’ve seen them on the news. Annabelle, who lives two doors down, she comes back with dirt under her nails every day. Those women work just as hard as the men did in those jobs. Did you know she had to cut those long fingernails on account of they’re a hazard?”

  Peter teases her, “Cutting your nails isn’t hard work.”

  Sable argues, “Peter Thomas Tuck! She cuts them to avoid dangerous situations. They have to wear headscarves not for fashion, but so their hair doesn’t get caught in the machines when they’re leaning in with all the intricate…” Flustered by his smile, she realizes, “You think it’s so easy to get a rise out of me!”

  “I do.”

  Lily breaks off a corner of her sandwich. “I quite like the way they look, and those coveralls! There’s something very feminine about a woman in a man’s work clothes.”

  I haven’t lost sight of May’s answer. “May, why did you raise your hand?”

  She blushes at the attention being drawn back to her so suddenly. Perhaps it was my tone. I hadn’t meant to sound so serious when the conversation was quite the opposite, but I’m not like these kids anymore. And seeing them so lighthearted only rings that more true.

  Everyone turns their concentration to her, chewing what’s left of their sandwiches and grabbing another as they listen.

  “Well I,” she begins, “I don’t know that I would want to be in a factory. I mean to say, I wouldn’t mind. Mother wishes she could go, and I listen to her friends tell their stories. I understand the appeal, I do! But I saw on the news a little something about women air pilots. WASPS, I think they called them.” Surprised reactions all around except from me and my brother.

  Since Hank is the more gregarious of us two, he interjects, “Isn’t that something? They fly supplies back-and-forth.”

&
nbsp; Sable worries, “Over battlegrounds? Where there’s shooting?”

  “They aren’t in combat, but they do fly bullets by the caseloads!”

  “Just them in a plane with boxes of bullets? Holy hell, no sir!”

  Lily glances to Peter by her side. “Leave it to Sable to worry about women she never met flying planes she will never see, enough to make her swear in front of company.”

  “I just think it would be swell to learn how to fly.” Everyone looks at May because her quiet voice has awe in it. “Just think, it hasn’t been that long since the flying machines were invented, yet now everybody has an opportunity to be a pilot. Just imagine being up where the birds are, and how small the world must look when you’re way up there. To see a cloud up close, right here!” She holds a small hand in front of her pretty face. “It sure would put things in perspective.” Her gaze lands on me and I nod, hypnotized by her.

  Life sure is a funny thing. I’ve got to leave on Monday, only the weekend left. And suddenly time is all I can think about, the lack of it, when before I couldn’t wait to return.

  The telephone rings. Everyone jumps. Even me. Sable dashes to pick it up like the floorboards are on fire. “It’s Sister Charlotte!”

  We exchange glances and Peter asks, “Why’d she take so long?” Lily hits him and they both turn around on the sofa to watch.

  The only ones not watching Sable talk on the telephone now are May and I. We’re staring at each other and she looks as if she wishes we could run away from the world.

  “Hello?” Pause. “Why yes, Mrs. Kearns, May is with me.” Longer pause. “No, there aren’t any boys here. You know me better than that! Why would you think so?” Longest pause yet. The group is frozen. May is holding her breath. “Sister Charlotte said she jumped in a car with the Cocker boys? Well, yes, they drove Gertie and May here because we didn’t have enough room in Marvin’s car, that’s all. But the moment they got here, I told them to leave straight away. They wanted to stay and kid around, but you know me, Mrs. Kearns! I wouldn’t have it. I get hives you know, when I do things my parents wouldn’t like!” Peter covers Lily’s mouth before her laughter causes trouble. “Alright. I’ll tell her.” The mouthpiece makes a racket as she sets it down on account of her hands are badly shaking.