by Brown, Dick
Chapter 24
“Thaddeus Banks poured millions of dollars into his town, and these Shops to provide the best life style that could be found anywhere in this state.”
Called home
Newspapers were strewn across Rick’s desk. A half-full cup of yesterday’s coffee sat on the right side of his typewriter. Copy sheets liberally sprinkled with red marks lay in the middle of his desk. Usually in his chair checking copy by eight o’clock, it was almost nine when Rick walked stiffly into his office. Before he could get a fresh cup of coffee, Candi was standing in his doorway.
“What’s up? Are we still working together?”
“Let me get some coffee first,” Rick said as he brushed past her and headed for the break room.
Armed with a steaming cup of special blend of South American Chicory coffee Dan provided to his staff, that only the two of them could stomach, Rick stopped by Dan’s office first.
“Glad you could make it,” Dan said, “I was beginning to worry about you.” He acknowledged Rick’s presence without looking up from his Charlotte Observer, their competition for best newspaper in the state.
“Sorry. I got a call from home this morning. My father is back in the hospital, and the doctor doesn’t give him much longer. His lungs are just about gone, and the oxygen machine is all that’s keeping him breathing. That puts a strain on his bad heart. It’s just a matter of how long his heart will last. But, don’t worry. I’ll stay on top of Tank’s story.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your dad.” Dan put down his paper. “Look, he won in a free election, so we’re stuck with Tank for at least two years. There’s nothing we can do about that. If you need some time off, take it. Your family is more important than any story. When you come back, I’ve got something else I want you to look into. Point shaving at State. We can talk about it when you get back.”
“Thanks. I want to make sure everything is in place, just in case anything happens. It shouldn’t take more than a few days. What about Candi?”
“She can go back into the photo pool until you need her. Take your time and give your mom my regards.”
Candi was propped on the corner of Rick’s desk when he returned, tapping her foot impatiently. She took a deep drag from the new filtered Pall Mall and exhaled the same time Rick walked through the door. He fanned the cloud of blue smoke with both hands to disperse it.
“Do you have some kind of death wish?” Rick asked, continuing to fan the smoke.
“No more than you do drinking that stuff. It’s strong enough to rot your guts.”
“How many times do I have to ask you not to smoke in my office?” Rick settled into his chair, still fanning the smoke. “If you want to kill yourself, do it in your own space, I hate walking around smelling like a dirty ashtray.”
“Gee, and all this time I thought we were getting to be friends.”
Rick ignored her sarcasm. “I’m going to take a few days off, so you’ll be back in the photo pool for a while. I appreciate your help and good work covering Tanks race,” he said in a more serious tone. “We’re not through with him yet. But right now I have some family matters to attend to.”
“No problem. I’ll be here when you bet back. Sorry about your dad. I heard you telling Dan. I lost both my parents when I was in college—killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. They were on their way to visit me. If you ever want to talk about it, I have a years’ worth of therapy I can share with you.”
She didn’t wait for a reaction. Candi left Rick’s office with a fog of blue smoke hanging like a dark storm cloud over his desk.
Surprised at her openness, Rick rocked back in his chair and wondered what else he didn’t know about his photographer. He pounded the desk with his fist. Why couldn’t he be more civil to Candi? In spite of her New York brashness and disregard for social courtesies, she was beginning to grown on him. He knew she was a great photographer, pretty, and had a keen sense of observation. Her myopic eye for detail let her notice that every time Tank was nervous or unsure of himself, he tended to blink his eyes faster than usual.
Ever since that day in Benny’s, Rick arranged assignments so they could be together, but neither would let the other get too close. The little annoyances about Candice kept her at a safe distance, at least for now. It had been over six years since he last saw Ann. Dan was right, he needed to get on with his life, and she was the closest thing to a relationship he had had since Christmas of 1955.
Chapter 25
“He built one of the best schools money could buy while running three shifts a day to keep up with the demand of the war effort.”
Sad Return
Things had changed since Rick had left Bankstowne. People were resigned to the fate that awaited them when the Shops shut down operations at the end of the year. A few homes were already empty with For Sale signs in their front yards. Others were getting rundown because laid off workers hadn’t found work yet. The beautiful city park that had been paved over for a shopping center was half empty now.
It was strange not to see steam engines lined up waiting their turn in the roundhouse, belching out their acrid black smoke. He actually missed those dark clouds of smoke and soot that covered the town.
The lawn in front of his parents’ home was overgrown and brown. He could tell it hadn’t been mowed for a while before cold weather killed it off. Mary Beth’s flowerbeds were full of weeds, and her annuals hadn’t been dug up to make room for next year’s planting.
The front door wasn’t locked. Rick paused a moment, shook his head, and then walked into the house without knocking. It was good to be home again.
He found his mother sitting at the kitchen table. She looked up when he entered, momentarily startled, and then rushed to him for a big hug.
“Hi, Momma. How’s Daddy doing?”
“About as good as he can,” she said as she held onto the embrace. “They sent him home with one of those breathing machines like he had at the hospital. But I’m afraid he’s given up.”
Tears welled up in Mary Beth’s eyes. Rick looked away; he had never seen his mother cry.
Mary Beth let go of Rick and pulled out a handkerchief to dab her eyes dry. “He didn’t want to go to the hospital, told the doctor he wanted to die at home.” Her voice was stronger now. “He sleeps most of the time. I’ll be fixing his lunch in a few minutes and will wake him up so you can visit with him. Don’t expect too much. He can hardly speak and is so weak it tires him out to talk much.”
Rick’s attempt at conversation with his father proved frustrating. Even when Roy mustered the strength to respond, Rick couldn’t understand what he was saying. He just smiled and shook his head as if he understood. The few ounces of broth from chicken noodle soup Mary Beth spooned into Roy were more for her benefit than Roy’s. The IV was his real lifeline, but her effort to feed him kept her feelings of helplessness at bay. She knew it was coming but wasn’t ready to admit that she was watching him die a little each day.
“How’s your job going,” Mary Beth asked after cleaning the broth that leaked from the corners of Roy’s mouth and fluffing his pillow.
Rick and Mary Beth retreated to the kitchen table covered with the same worn gingham print plastic cover they used at the old apartment.
“It’s going well, Momma.” He never got into the details of his work, especially his ongoing pursuit of Tank’s investigation.
“Gladys comes to sit with your daddy so I can go to the grocery store. With you boys gone and Roy not eating much, it doesn’t take many groceries nowadays,” she said wistfully. “Don’t know what I’m going to do when he’s gone. It will be lonesome here all by myself. Sometimes I wish I had learned to drive so maybe I could go to church once in a while.”
“I’m sure you can get someone to pick you up if it becomes a problem. It’d be bes
t if you kept up with some friends.”
“I’ll have my soap operas to keep me company. In the evenings I always watch The Lawrence Welk Show and GE Mystery Theater. I watched The Ed Sullivan Show when the Beatles were on, and I half liked them,” she confessed.
“You never let us watch that show or I Love Lucy because they came on Sunday nights while we were at church.” Rick chuckled. “Remember? We wanted to watch Elvis on The Ed Sullivan Show, and you said, ‘Absolutely not. That boy is bound for hell as sure as the world.’”
“It didn’t hurt you to miss a little TV, especially to watch all that trash. Have you found a church yet?” Mary Beth quickly changed the subject. “There must be lots of good Baptist Churches in a city as big as Raleigh.”
“No ma’am, I’ve been traveling a lot, but I’ll find one soon.”
Bam! The Kitchen windows rattled when Wil slammed the front door.
“I declare, you’d think that boy was raised in a barn. Wil, you’re going to wake up your daddy.”
“Sorry Momma,” Wil said as he came into the house. “How’s he doing?”
“He’s just waiting on the good Lord to take him home. The doctors can’t do any more for him.”
Rick got up to shake hands with Wil but soon turned to address his mother again. “I’m glad you’re prepared for that time, Momma. Wil and I want to make sure everything is taken care of. Daddy never talked to us about those kinds of things.”
“Your father has burial insurance with the railroad and we bought a plot out at Memorial Gardens years ago. There’s room for you two boys, too. Everything is already planned. Reverend Baker will preach the funeral service.”
“When the time comes, Ginger and I want you to come live with us in Raleigh,” Wil said, taking a seat at the kitchen table. “We’ve already fixed up a room for you.”
“That’s sweet of you, but I’ll be just fine. I wouldn’t want to impose on you newlyweds. Besides, I have my friends and church here. Now why don’t you boys visit while I fix you something to eat?”
“I’ve got a better idea,” Wil said. “Why don’t I go get Gladys to sit with Daddy while we all go out to eat? When’s the last time you had some good Winks barbeque?”
“That sounds tempting, but I had better stay here. You boys go on and enjoy yourselves.”
“Okay,” Wil said with a smile, “but we’ll bring you a tray with some hushpuppies.”
Chapter 26
“Any Student who wanted a college education was prepared by one of the best curriculums in the state.”
Old hangout
Winks was Bankstowne’s favorite barbeque restaurant—also, it was the only barbeque restaurant, always crowded after football games and Saturday date nights. Their foot-long hotdogs were beyond compare: a wiener slathered with mustard, buried under a layer of hot chili with Cole slaw and topped off with diced onions. Their hamburgers were good too, but not in the same league with the foot-longs and barbeque with hushpuppies.
“This place hasn’t changed much except for the large dining room they added,” Rick said after he and Wil entered. “I wish we could move this place to Raleigh. Their Eastern North Carolina barbeque can’t compare with Winks.”
Tank had even brought his campaign entourage and broadcast one of his better speeches from the new dining room. The effect of hundreds of campaign barbeques and fried chicken suppers had begun to show on his waist line, Rick thought.
Rick spotted Max Trexler, the gas station owner that had kept their old ’47 Chevy running.
And then Bill Andrews walked up and shook hands with both Wil and Rick. Some people thought Bill was retarded because he was slow to learn. But as a grown man, he knew the schedule of every train that came through Bankstowne and could carry on a conversation with anyone he met, and did—it had just taken the right opportunities, the right environment to give him his edge. Bill was probably in better physical shape than most athletes because he walked everywhere he went and didn’t smoke or drink. And he never missed an opportunity to walk down the aisle to be saved on Sunday nights at the First Baptist Church.
“It’s great to come home and see how little some things have changed and visit with the regulars that still hang out here,” Wil said after they were seated. “But that isn’t why we’re here, is it?”
“No, I wanted to see Daddy before he died, but it was so frustrating. We couldn’t carry on a conversation. He’s in bad shape. I know it sounds harsh, but it would be better for Momma if he would pass on sooner than later. But I worry about her living here by herself. Were you serious about taking her to live with you and Ginger?”
A trim blond waitress with dark roots showing sauntered up to their table. “Hey, boys, what can I get you today?” She looked familiar, but neither of them could place her face.
“I’ll have a small tray and a foot long all the way. No hushpuppies. I’m trying to cut down,” Rick joked.
“Bring me a large tray, hushpuppies, and a Cheerwind. It sure sounds like you’re cutting down, big brother,” Wil said. “Bring him a Cheerwine, too. They don’t have them in Raleigh. Oh, we need a tray and hushpuppies to go but hold the order until we’re ready to leave.”
“I’ll put your order in and be right back with your drinks.” She flashed a smile and blew her bangs out of her eyes.
They returned to their conversation after their waitress left.
“Sure, we talked about it. Ginger is okay with it,” Wil said. “Momma sure as hell can’t live with you in that dump you call an apartment. When are you going to get your life together and find some nice girl to settle down with?”
“I’m too busy,” Rick shot back. “In case you didn’t notice, I had at least two stories a day following Tank’s campaign during the primary and general election.”
“The election is over and you’re going to regret being married to your job one of these days. That photographer that traveled with you was pretty cute. You two got anything going?”
“Finally,” Rick said, ignoring Wil’s question, “here comes our food. I’m starved.”
“Here you go, boys, Cheerwine all around. A tray and puppies for you and a tray with no puppies and a footlong for diet boy,” she said, sliding plates in front of the brothers. The young waitress leaned down, exposing her breasts straining at the buttons of her low-cut uniform. “Anything else I can get for you boys?”
The view wasn’t lost on Rick. “Aren’t you Janet Pierce’s little sister? We were in the same class.”
“Yeah, I’m Sarah. And you two are the Barnes boys, right? Y’all really had some class. Janet got herself pregnant before she graduated. But she’s married now and has three kids. How about you, Rick, any more kids?”
Rick’s face turned ashen white. “I don’t have any kids. I’m not even married,” he said and shoveled a fork full of pulled pork barbeque into his mouth.
“I thought sure you and Ann Nestlebaum would be married and have more kids by now. Everybody said it was you that got her pregnant.”
Rick choked on Sarah’s words and sprayed food across the table onto Wil’s shirt. He coughed and drank half of his Cheerwine before he finally got his composure back.
“Where did you hear that?”
“Janet and some of her friends said that’s why she moved away. I’m sorry I said anything. Let me clean that up for you.” Sarah wiped Wil’s shirt with a damp cloth Rick continued his tirade.
“For the record, Sarah,, I didn’t get her pregnant and she moved away because her father got a job somewhere out of town. Let’s go, Wil. I’m not hungry anymore. Sarah, could you wrap up our food? We’re leaving.”
“Don’t leave! I’m so sorry. I thought you knew. Do you want yours and Wil’s in a takeout?”
“Just get us the tray and hushpuppies to go. And don’t believe everythin
g you hear, okay? Tell Janet I said hello.”
Rick threw some bills on the table and stormed out of the restaurant with Wil close behind after he apologized to Sarah for the mess Rick made.
Chapter 27
“And the workers continued to put their best efforts forward to keep the old engines running so Coastline would be the best railroad in the country.”
Aftershock
Out in the parking lot, the two brothers walked to Rick’s car without saying a word. Rick seethed anger and confusion. He started his Chevy Corvair, gunned the engine, and kicked up gravel as he peeled out of the parking lot. He pulled over after a few blocks next to a giant oak tree and turned the engine off.
“Did you hear about that at school?” Rick yelled. “That I’d gotten Ann pregnant?”
“Hey, calm down. They were just rumors, stuff Tank spread all the time. I knew better and didn’t think anybody really believed it. But when her family moved away, well, some people thought there might have been something to it.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t ask me if it was true or not,” Rick said, his voice still showing agitation.
“Look, you were so torn up over her moving that I didn’t want to add to your misery. I’m sorry. I thought you would get over her and get on with your life.”
They sat quiet in the car for a minute before Wil spoke again.
“By the way, you didn’t answer my question back there.”