I said, ‘He think you're going on this trip to meet men? Put him on. I'll tell him he's right.’
By the time I was through with her, Vern had got a smile back on Crystal's face, pulling one of his tickle-fight stunts, and he was on his way out the door, going eel-netting with John Pharaoh.
Goddarned mitts. Probably full of bugs and all sorts. But that's Maine folk for you.
24
We had such a day. Never got to Cromer ‘cause Ed had decided that would have took us too deep into Indian country. He said Betty was allowed to go to Hunstanton, so that's where we went. I had lost the will to argue. Same stretch of water, far as I could make out. Audrey was navigating.
I asked Kath if she minded about Cromer. She said she didn't, and she sure didn't look like a disappointed woman. Got her head tied up in a scarf Lois gave her, to cover where the permanent had gone a little wild, and she was wearing a pair a peep-toe sandals, bought with her beet-hoeing money.
We got buckets and spades soon as we arrived, and Crystal ran on to the sands, started right in digging. She said she was building an air base for Sandie.
It was a wide, wide shore. Kath asked a man selling newspapers where was the water and he said the tide was out, gave her a withering look. So we spread our blankets up against the sea wall and waited.
Crystal was getting unwanted help from Sandie, trampling across the nice runways she had made.
I said, ‘I thought you said it was for her?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘She's too young for an air base. She'll just wreck it.’
So Gayle tried to distract Sandie and get the Gillis girls playing in the sand too, helping her to build Fort Jackson, but they were too busy torturing their dollies and calling them bad names. Deana banged Sherry's doll against the wall in a blind fury. Then she bit its face and threw it back at Sherry.
Betty was a little way off from us, laying out the picnic, all nice and dainty. ‘Play gentle, now,’ she kept calling.
Kath was watching them. She said to me, ‘I suppose they play so nasty ‘cause of what they've seen at home. They'll have seen her getting a few weltings.’
In some respects, Kath was ahead of her time.
We had cold chicken and meatloaf sandwiches. Welch's Grape Juice to help it down and Lois and Gayle never travelled far without some hard liquor. There was some kinda puppet show just along the sands, and Audrey and Kath and Gayle took the girls along there, give us five minutes’ peace. We could hear Crystal and Sandie squealing at the puppets from where we sat. Betty was tidying away the picnic. Lois was stretched out alongside of me.
I said, ‘How're you doing there, red-haired momma? You glad you come along?’
‘Yeah,’ she said. She still sounded kinda weary. ‘Sooner I drop this brat, the sooner I'll be my sweet old self.’
I said, ‘I can't hardly wait.’ I looked her in the eye. I said, ‘Herb happy? About the baby?’
‘Herb's always happy,’ she said, making herself a pillow out of sweaters.
I said, ‘Then you're a lucky woman.’
She missed a beat. Then she propped herself up on her elbow. ‘Meaning?’ she said.
I hadn't realised till then how a thought, once you have thought it, can never be laid to rest. It may lay low, but any time it can pop right up again, put certain words in your mouth. ‘Meaning nothing,’ I said, but I was blushing at what I had remembered, and she saw.
‘Right,’ she said. ‘Anyway, four weeks and I'm outta here.’ She was going back to Astoria, Queens, staying with her cousin Irene till her time come. ‘Back to the world, Peg!’ she said. ‘Root-beer floats, yellow cabs, the Coney Island Steeple Chase …’
I said, ‘You are going on a ride in your condition?’
‘Well … no,’ she said.
I said, ‘And I thought Irene had roaches?’
‘Okay, roaches,’ she said. ‘But what about egg creams? I bid vanilla egg creams against roaches.’
I said, ‘I guess there's no point mentioning crime, vermin and high humidity?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘Cause I'll just come right back at you with hot corned beef and Radio City Music Hall.’
I said, ‘It must be real hard to drag yourself away from us.’
She was quiet. I could see the gang coming back from the puppet show.
Kath and Gayle were showing off, seeing who could walk on their hands the longest time. That was something I never could get the hang of.
‘Well, I'm gonna miss you, Lo,’ I said, after a time.
She turned away from me, but she grabbed my hand and took it with her. ‘Gonna miss you too,’ she said. If I didn't know better, I'd have said Lois Moon had a tear in her eye.
Somebody sighted the sea about two in the afternoon. It was just a strip of silver, far across the sands, but we set off to get a closer look at it. Betty stayed behind with her knitting and Lois was asleep. Kath carried Sandie on her shoulders.
‘Lois'll have her work cut out,’ she said, ‘after that little baby comes along. I could give her a hand. When I'm not at the singling, I could push that little baby out in its pram, sit this one on the top. Give her five minutes.’
I said, ‘She won't be here, Kath. She's going back Stateside to have her baby. Then the boys'll get orders, some time in the fall, and we'll be gone too.’ I heard my words fall, ruining her plans.
‘Oh yes,’ she said, ‘that's right. I remember that, now.’
Audrey was first to the water's edge.
‘Excuse me,’ she said, ‘I was looking for the rocky shore that beats back the envious siege of watery Neptune? Is that anywhere hereabouts?’ Miss Scholastic Quiz Kid.
That North Sea Ocean or whatever it was called was just creeping across the sand like it could hardly be bothered.
‘Is that it, then?’ Kath said. ‘That's nothing much, is it? The way Harold Jex spoke, I thought that'd be something worth seeing.’
The lagoon at Matagorda was the only thing I had to measure it by, but Audrey said it was a real apology for a shoreline. Still, I liked the smell of it. I liked the cool wet sand under my feet. Crystal was fascinated with some little squiggly lines she found. Audrey said they were worm-casts. Then Gayle showed Sherry how to walk on her hands, so Crystal had to have a go at that too. Kath held her legs in the air, till she found her balance, then she was off, her and Sherry giggling at what we looked like upside down.
Kath said to Deana, ‘You want a try?’
Deana said, ‘No. We're not allowed. And if Sherry gets sick, then there'll be trouble.’
There was a band playing on the promenade and a little carousel we all rode on, and a stand selling crab claws. We just had so much fun. Looking back, years later, I realised that day was the last time ever we were together, all six of us.
Lois had been improved by her nap. One side of her nose was sunburned, but she was smiling again, walking arm in arm with me and Kath. ‘Find me some cotton candy,’ she said, ‘and I'll make believe I'm at Coney Island.’ She started singing ‘On the Good Ship Lollipop’, and some old bubba sitting on a bench took exception to it.
The English don't care for high levels of noise. One of the first things I learned about them was, they never speak out loud and clear, and they don't like it if others do neither.
‘Why don't you stop your caterwauling and git back where you belong?’ he said.
‘Any day now,’ Lois shouted back to him. ‘Soon as our brave boys have blown those Russkies outta your back yard. And I wonder how long it'll be till you need us the next time?’
‘Ruddy Yanks,’ he shouted. He was waving his stick at her. ‘Clear off where you come from!’
‘Our pleasure, y'old tight-ass.’ Lois loved a fight. ‘Think we like being in this mouseshit country of yours?’
Betty was trying to get the kids into the cars, Deana and Sherry playing up because they didn't want to ride with her, Crystal snivelling because Sandie had gotten taffy on her rabbit mitts.
Lois had to h
ave the last word, of course. ‘And another thing,’ she shouted. ‘You call that an ocean?’
I offered to drive in front, knowing what a old lady Betty could be when she got behind a wheel, dithering at every turn she come to, but she insisted she wanted to lead the way. And when I seen her taking that right turn when she should have kept straight ahead, I did my best to stop her. Flashed my beams, got Audrey to lean out and wave her arms around, but she wouldn't be stopped and, even when she knew she'd gone wrong, she still kept going, thought she could cut across country and make good instead of turning back, till we ended up in a barnyard.
She blamed me, of course. Said I'd flustered her, signalling an’ all. She also blamed Lois for upsetting everybody with that ugly scene and Audrey for looking smug, like she never took a wrong turn in her life.
‘Hey,’ Lois said. ‘How about Gayle? You ain't blamed her for anything yet. And Kath here. This some kinda discrimination? And you ain't even mentioned General MacArthur.’
‘Meanwhile,’ Audrey said, under her breath, ‘back at USAF Drampton, First Lieutenant Ed Gillis paces the floor …’
Soon as we were back on the highway I kept my foot on the gas. Kept checking my mirror, making sure I could still see Betty's worried little face peering out at me. Personally I was in no big hurry to get home. But I did it for Betty, ‘cause I kinda knew what she was in for.
Six grown women, travelling in broad daylight, with plenty of good American steel between us and the Cherokee, but we were scurrying home like a bunch of scared kids. Hell, in the end we were only twenty minutes late. Half an hour, max.
25
It was so hot the tarmac was melting. I took back every word I'd said about the English climate. I was over at Lois's with Audrey and Gayle, helping clean out the quarters before she flew home. Herb was going off-base for the remainder of his tour.
When friend husband gets orders and the time comes to clear the post, you better make a good job of it. Quartermaster sergeant comes around, he better not find a speck of grime or your life won't be worth living. That's why we had organised a clean-up party for Lo. Her ankles were all swelled and anyway, she never had much idea about housekeeping.
Crystal was playing out front with the Kurlich kid, gotta a little table Dorothy Kurlich had carried out for them and they were selling Kool-Aid, five cents a cup, strawberry flavour and green.
All of a sudden we heard a woman screaming. I was first out of the door, and there was Betty, standing in the middle of the road, got Sherry in her arms. ‘Somebody help me!’ she was crying. ‘Somebody help me!’
Sherry had a towel wrapped round her foot and it was turning bright red as I looked at it.
‘Oh Peggy!’ she said, when she saw me. ‘She's cut herself so bad. Can you drive me to the dispensary?’
Deana was watching from the door. Crystal come running to the scene, eyes goggling at the gore dripping from Sherry's foot. She said, ‘Does she have to be put to sleep? I'm coming to watch.’
I said, ‘You're to stay right here with Aunty Gayle and Aunty Lois. You too, Deana.’
Deana shook her head at me, sullen child. She went inside.
Audrey's car was the nearest. She fetched a plaid blanket outta the trunk, spread it across the seat, save it getting stained.
Betty said, ‘Oh please hurry! She's losing so much blood.’
Aud said, ‘Trust me.’
Like the medic said, a cut toe can look a lot worse than it is. Still, he said he'd put a suture in and give her a tetanus shot, so I took Betty outside, away from the action, and Audrey stayed with Sherry, singing her ‘I Know an Old Lady That Swallowed a Fly’.
Betty was kinda grey and shaking.
I said, ‘There, now. She's gonna be fine. And when they're through stitching her, y'all can come to my place, get an iced tea. You look like you're in shock.’
She said, ‘He took the car keys, Peggy.’ She was whispering. ‘Ed took the keys, ‘cause we were late back from the beach. I couldn't stop her foot bleeding and I couldn't even drive her ‘cause he took the keys.’ Ed was on assignment. He was gone for five days, same as Vern. She said, ‘I know I should have been home when I promised, but I'm in a real fix without the car.’
I said, ‘How're you getting your shopping? You walking to the commissary in this heat?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘I have my store cupboard. I always keep a store cupboard.’
They did that at Future Homemakers. Being Prepared for Hurricanes, Twisters and Enemy Invasion.
I said, ‘You idiot. Why didn't you get a ride with me? You wanna go later, when Sherry's fixed up? There must be stuff you need.’
She looked down at her feet. ‘He took my ID,’ she said, real quiet.
DW don't have ID, she can't go anyplace. She may as well not exist. I said, ‘Betty, I never heard anything like it. How much more of this are you gonna take?’
‘He can't help it,’ she said. ‘It's just the way he is. He worries about his little family. You know? He's doing a tough job out there, and when he gets home he doesn't need more pressure. He needs to know where we are and what we're doing, otherwise he gets in a spin. That's all.’
I said, ‘That's all?’
Sherry come out in a wheelchair, looking all pleased with herself, foot bound up and a candy bar from the medic for being so brave.
Betty said, ‘He's a good man really, Peg.’
Betty wheeled Sherry to the parking lot. I hung back a little, then me and Aud walked behind.
I said, ‘Sonofabitch only grounded her. Left her with no car while he's gone. And no ID. It's her punishment for getting home late from the beach. She reckons a jock like Ed, he's under so much pressure when he's flying he can't help turning a little cranky when he gets home.’
‘Mm,’ Audrey said. ‘Course, there's some truth in that.’
I was thinking, it was a pity Betty had spent so much time learning about store cupboards. It was a pity Future Homemakers didn't teach Being Prepared for Bristle-Headed Bullying Husbands.
Then I thought out loud. I said, ‘Pity she didn't learn how to swing a bat and hit a moving target.’
‘My word!’ Audrey said. ‘Aren't you the avenging angel? I hope you don't have any ideas about reporting this? It wouldn't look good, you know. It wouldn't look good at all.’
26
It was Lois's last day. She was all packed and ready for the transport, couldn't wait to get back to the city, even though it'd be like a hothouse. I was meant to be going over to Kath's, let her drive to Smeeth.
Betty said, ‘Lois, honey, why don't you go along for the ride? Let me have a last little time with Sandie, I'm gonna miss her so.’
I said, ‘Betty, this girl's got a long enough trip ahead of her. Why'd she want to come out driving with me?’
But it was too late. Lo had already decided she liked the idea.
When we got to Kath's, she got outta the car, rubbing her back, saying she couldn't get comfortable, didn't matter which way she sat.
‘I'll stay here, Peg,’ she said. ‘I'll wait here, till you and Kath get back. Maybe take a walk down to the eel reach. I think I just need a little exercise.’
I didn't care to think what kinda exercise she might have in mind. I just said, ‘Lois!’ Tried to give it a warning tone. I couldn't say more in front of Kath.
‘Yes, Peggy?’ she said, so insolent.
What was I supposed to do? She was a grown woman. I wasn't her keeper. Anyway, there was no sign of John Pharaoh anywhere about.
I said, ‘Well, stay here. Bring a chair out in the sunshine. And don't go wandering off near that water. You fall in, I'll have Herb to answer to.’
‘Yes, Mommy,’ she said, in a stupid baby voice.
Kath said, ‘Help yourself to a glass of pop, Lois, if you get dry. Make yourself at home.’
Kath wanted to go to Dr Lowe's surgery.
I said, ‘You feeling okay?’
‘Yes, thank you,’ she said.
We
got to Smeeth, she pulled up outside a public house there, called the Flying Dutchman.
I said, ‘Where's the doctor's office?’
‘In the snug,’ she said. That was the deal in Smeeth. The doctor came once a week and hung his shingle outside the pub.
I was planning on staying in the car, reading my murder mystery.
‘No, you'll have to come in with me,’ she said. ‘I'm not sitting in an ale house on my own.’
There were three waiting ahead of Kath, two Jexes and a Gotobed, sitting in a little bar with the smell of that dark English beer. The doctor was just the other side of a partition, asking somebody to hold their breath and then let it out slow. We could hear every word that was said.
Kath said, ‘That's Thad Chaplin in there now. His mother had nine girls. Just kept on going till she got Thad. Can't think why. He's always had a bad chest.’
I kept my head in my book. I figured that was my best hope of Kath falling silent.
‘What you here for, Lilian?’ she said. But Lilian didn't seem like she wanted to tell.
‘Makes no difference,’ Kath whispered to me. ‘We shall hear soon enough.’
‘Kath,’ I said, ‘I'll be right outside when you're done.’
27
She was happy, driving home with all the windows down. The doctor had given her muscle rub for where she claimed she had a stiff neck.
‘We've got the National Health now, you know,’ she said. ‘We don't have to pay. We can be poorly as ‘often as we like now.’
I said, ‘The doctor give you anything reduce the size of your ears?’
She laughed. ‘Why,’ she said, ‘that's a good morning out. Nice little drive. Get a bit of gossip. Lilian's got trouble with her waterworks. Hilda's got ulcerated veins. I tell you what, when you go back home to Yankeeland, I shall have, to walk down there.’
The door to the house was open. It usually Was.
‘This heat,’ she said. ‘I don't know about you, but I'm parched. Come on in. I've got a bottle of dandelion-and-burdock fizzy pop or Tizer.’
The Future Homemakers of America Page 8