“I wish you could come on out of there and tell me the truth about Rupert,” I said to Hattie.
But she just sat there laughing out at me.
I turned to Jake. He thumped his tail on the floor.
“Well, Jake,” I said. “Let’s you and me go find Rupert.”
“Rupert,” I called through the crack in the shed door.
No answer.
“Rupert,” I called again.
Still no answer.
I pushed the door with my finger. It creaked open. I peered into the darkness.
“You in here, Rupert?” I stuck my head in and looked behind the door.
Rupert was standing in the corner, rocking back and forth, back and forth.
I stepped inside. “What you doing?”
If he heard me, he didn’t let on.
I touched his shoulder. “Why you staying in here like this?” I said.
Still nothing. I pulled on his arm, trying to turn him around to face me, but it was like trying to move a cement post.
“Okay, fine,” I said. “Stay in here, then. I’ll just have to tell Uncle Beau you really are crazy.” I started for the door. He stopped rocking. “Uncle Beau,” he said.
“You gonna come on out of this shed, or you staying in here for good?” I said.
“Uncle Beau’s sick?” Rupert said. He turned and looked at me with his arms hanging down by his side and his shoulders drooping.
“Yeah,” I said. “Uncle Beau’s real sick.”
“I made Uncle Beau sick?” Rupert whispered.
“Yeah, Rupert, you made Uncle Beau sick.” I swear I couldn’t stop those words from coming out of my mouth.
Rupert wailed the most mournful sound I ever heard. Then he started carrying on like I never seen in my life. He paced back and forth in that tiny shed. One side, then the other side. Arms flailing and head shaking. He rubbed his hands over his face and up and down his arms like he’d just walked through a spiderweb or something.
By then Jake was wondering what was up, so he came in and started acting kind of perky, like maybe this was some new kind of game we were playing. He even grabbed the leg of Rupert’s pants, but Rupert didn’t pay no mind. Just kept pacing and carrying on.
“I made Uncle Beau sick,” he kept saying. “I made Uncle Beau sick.”
Then, true to Rupert’s unpredictable nature, he rushed out the door and took off running.
“Where you going?” I called after him. Jake started barking and I just stood there dumbfounded, watching Rupert disappear into the woods.
Ten
I laid on the daybed back of the kitchen and listened. The clock over the stove ticked. Low, garbled voices came from the TV in the living room. I heard my daddy come in the kitchen and open the refrigerator. He cussed when he hit his toe on a chair leg.
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to make myself go to sleep instead of laying there listening—and thinking. Rupert was just crazy, that was all. It wasn’t my fault he didn’t have good sense. I wasn’t the one made him act like a dang fool, was I? He was the one thought he made Uncle Beau sick, not me.
Gravel crunched in the driveway and headlights lit up the kitchen. Marny giggled out on the porch. She came in and shut the door real soft. I felt her looking over at me and I smiled to myself in the dark cause I knew she wanted my bed.
After a while everything got quiet except my daddy snoring in front of the bluish glow of the TV When the rain started, my first thought was of Rupert in the woods. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking about that. The rain got harder, pelting down on the tin roof of the back porch. I tiptoed to the window and peered into the darkness outside.
Maybe Rupert wasn’t in the woods anymore. Maybe a miracle happened and he got sense enough to go on back to the shed. I watched the rain in the light of the streetlamp by the road. Suddenly heat lightning lit up the sky like daylight. My stomach squeezed up and I closed my eyes and prayed, “Please don’t let there be thunder. Please don’t let there be thunder.”
Then came the low, soft rumble of thunder, as if the Good Lord was saying, “Jennalee, you done a bad thing. Now suffer unto you the guilt.” In my mind, clear as anything, I could see Rupert covering his ears and shaking like a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs.
I opened the back door and stepped onto the porch. The wind blew the rain, soaking my pajamas, but I didn’t care. I squinted into the darkness, thinking maybe if I wished hard enough Rupert would be snoring away in his sleeping bag in the shed, dry and happy, instead of in the woods, wet and scared of thunder.
I didn’t wait for the sun to come up. I hurried over to the store and ran around back to the shed. I could hear Jake barking inside the store and knew he was probably itching to get out, but I couldn’t wait another minute to see if Rupert was in the shed.
He wasn’t. It sounds funny to tell it now, but I actually went over and felt around on the sleeping bag just to make sure it was really empty. It was.
While I unlocked the door to the store, I could hear Jake whining on the other side.
“Hey, Jake,” I said, patting his side. “It’s me, Gravel Gertie.” I tried to make my voice sound light and joking-like, but my insides were so heavy it’s a wonder I could stay on my feet.
I knew Vernon would be mad at me for opening the store without him, but he was too slow for me. I’d already turned the sign, made the coffee, put out the doughnuts, and got the produce from Howard Harvey by the time Vernon got there.
“I told you to wait for me, Jennalee,” he said.
I wanted to say something mean and nasty, but I knew it was because of Vernon that I was getting to run the store. I ain’t no genius, but I know when to turn on the nasty and when to turn on the nice.
“I know it, Vernon,” I said. “I just thought I’d get a jump on this stuff so you could relax a little before things get busy”
He gave me the eye but he didn’t say nothing. Just poured hisself a cup of coffee.
“Where’s Rupert?” he said, looking around.
I got the feather duster and started dusting the moccasins and stuff. Maybe he wouldn’t ask again.
“Where’s Rupert?” he asked again.
“I’m not sure.”
“What does that mean?”
“I mean he ain’t in the shed.”
“Well, where is he?”
“I said I’m not sure.” My tone was getting an edge of nasty to it. I cleared my throat and kept swishing the feather duster around on the tepee salt-and-pepper shakers.
“Where you think he went?” he asked me.
I shrugged, watching Jake sniffing at the doughnut plate. I felt my face burning hot and red, and I knew if I looked at Vernon, he’d see “I’m lying” written all over it. With that in mind, I didn’t look at Vernon.
That afternoon, Curtis Rathman came by to mind the store and I went to the hospital to see Uncle Beau. His room was dark. I wanted to open the blinds and let the sun in, but I didn’t. Uncle Beau was sleeping, breathing in and out real slow and raspy. I pulled up a chair and sat for a while, watching his whiskery face. He looked about a million years old. Every now and then, his mouth would twitch or his eyelids would flutter, but mostly he was still. I thought about him being dead. That was a terrible thought, I know, but I couldn’t help it. I pictured him in a coffin, his chicken hair all slicked down and his whomper-jawed hands crossed over his chest. I imagined myself kissing his cold cheek. While I was thinking that terrible thought, my heart ached so bad and I felt so scared that I wiggled Uncle Beau’s arm to wake him up.
His eyes popped open and he looked confused for a minute. Then he smiled. “Well, hey there, Gravel Gertie.” He lifted his hand in a feeble wave.
“Hey,” I said, worried that he might know I’d been imagining him dead.
“I hope you brung me some ham biscuits.”
“Shoot.” I stamped my foot. “I didn’t think of it. You want me to go get you some?”
“N
aw.” He took a sip of water. His arm was all bruised, the skin hanging loose and wrinkled. I looked away.
“When you coming home?” I asked.
“Soon as that baby-faced doctor gets his butt in here maybe I can find out. I’d sure like to know what in the hell these damn doctors get paid for.” He took another sip of water and dropped his head back on the pillow. “Did you tell Rupert to bring my clothes?”
There. I knew it was coming sooner or later.
“No, sir.” I held up a paper bag. “I brought em.”
“That’s good.” He took the paper bag and set it on the nightstand. “Is Rupert coming by?”
“I don’t know.” Well, I didn’t know.
“He helping with the store?”
“No, sir.”
Uncle Beau’s eyebrows came together. “How come?”
The man in the other bed stirred a bit under the covers. “Shhh.” I held my finger to my lips. “We better quiet down.”
Uncle Beau flapped his hand at the other bed. “How come Rupert ain’t helping with the store?”
“He’s doing something else.” Why couldn’t I just make up a lie?
Uncle Beau squinted at me. “Like what?”
Then for once in my life the Good Lord was on my side. He sent in a nurse to rescue me.
“G-o-o-o-d afternoon,” she sang, bustling around the room, opening blinds and plumping pillows. “How are we today, Mr. Goody?” She stuck a thermometer in Uncle Beau’s mouth before he knew what hit him. I took that as a sign to get the heck out of there.
“I got to go help Vernon close the store,” I said, making a beeline for the door. I hurried down the hall without looking back. Only one thing on my mind now. I had to find Rupert Goody.
Back at the store, Vernon let me close up by myself again. I did everything from turning the sign to buttoning the door. While Jake ate his doughnut, I made a cheese sandwich and put it in a plastic bag, then poured apple juice into a jar. I went around back to the edge of the woods and put the sandwich and the juice under a tree.
I stood for a minute looking into the woods, searching for a sign, listening for a sound. Then I turned and went home, dreading the thought of going to bed cause I had a strong feeling I wasn’t going to sleep too good again that night.
Eleven
The sandwich and juice were gone. In their place were three little guinea-hen eggs. Uncle Beau’s favorite. I squinted into the woods. Okay, Rupert Goody. Now you really got me messed up. I picked up the eggs and thought about throwing them as far into the woods as I could. Was I glad to know Rupert was still out there somewhere, or did I wish he’d’ve kept on going and never looked back? I don’t know.
Me and Vernon minded the store for the next two days. Once in a while, someone would ask about Rupert and I’d toss my head toward the back of the store or flap my hand and say, “Oh, you know Rupert.” That seemed to satisfy most everybody but Vernon. Even when things are smooth as ice, Vernon’s like a lit firecracker. The sizzle before the bang. So I had to be careful when he said, “What you up to, Jennalee?”
I watched the guinea-hen eggs boiling on the hot plate.
“Boiling eggs for Uncle Beau,” I said, trying my best to keep that firecracker from blowing.
“I mean with Rupert.” He squeezed my arm, but I didn’t let on that it hurt.
“I ain’t up to nothing with Rupert.”
“Then where is he?”
“He’s okay, Vernon.” I pulled my arm away but kept my voice calm. “I know what I’m doing. It ain’t none of your business.” I never should’ve said that.
“Well, I can make it my business.” He pushed my shoulder so hard my head snapped back and my teeth clattered together. “Rupert’s just up and disappeared. Don’t that seem a little peculiar to you?” he said.
“Way I see it, Rupert’s pretty peculiar hisself.”
“You tell Uncle Beau Rupert’s gone?”
The way Vernon was eyeing me, I was starting to squirm a bit. “Ain’t no use getting Uncle Beau all riled up over nothing.” I smiled at Vernon, but he didn’t smile back.
“You’ve gone and done something, ain’t you?” he said. “What you done?”
“I ain’t done nothing.” My voice got a little squeaky at the end.
“You know where Rupert is?”
“I got an idea,” I said, shuffling my toe around on the dusty wooden floor.
“You mind telling me what that idea is?”
I could see that being sweet and reasonable wasn’t working, so I switched tactics. “Yes, Mr. Bossy Butt, I do.”
Big mistake. Vernon grabbed me by the shoulders and put his face in mine.
“I can call the sheriff out here. Get some hunting dogs out there in the woods to look for Rupert. That what you want?”
“Rupert’s gonna come back, Vernon. He’s just having a crazy spell, is all. Ain’t no reason to go and get hysterical.”
Vernon glared at me. Ordinarily, I could match that glare with one of my own, but that day I struggled to keep my face looking as close to sweet as I knew how.
“You listen to me now, Jennalee,” he said. “If you’ve gone and done something stupid, I’ll be the first in line to kick your butt. You hear me?”
I nodded and put the boiled eggs in a paper bag for Uncle Beau.
I’d had a small streak of good luck by timing my visits to the hospital just right. One time Uncle Beau was sleeping and once he was gone getting some kind of tests on his heart. But I knew it was only a matter of time before we met face-to-face and he said, “Tell me where Rupert is, Jennalee, and don’t you go sugar-coating nothing cause I ain’t in the mood.” And that’s almost exactly what he said.
“He run off into the woods back of the store.” I peeled an egg and handed it to him. “But he’s okay I been putting food out for him. He left these eggs for you. I figure he’ll be back by the time you get home.”
I felt Uncle Beau’s eyes on me, but I looked down at my hands, busy peeling another egg. Then his thin hand covered mine, and I stopped peeling but I didn’t look up.
“Why’s he in the woods?” he said.
I forced myself to chuckle and said, “Well, no offense, Uncle Beau, but he ain’t exactly working with a full deck, you know.”
“You see him, Jennalee, you tell him I’m coming home and I need him to be there, okay?”
I nodded, squeezing my jaws together tight so my chin wouldn’t quiver. I wanted to say, “Yessir, I’ll tell him,” but I couldn’t say nothing.
The day Uncle Beau came home, Jake just about wagged hisself to death. Folks came by the store with tuna casseroles and sweet-potato pies and homemade pickles. Everybody fussed over Uncle Beau and told him not to lift that box or stack them jars, but he wouldn’t have none of it.
“I ain’t dead, you know,” he’d say.
We all sat on the porch and listened to Uncle Beau tell about how he got his batteries recharged right there on the glider. Everybody laughed when he told about his chicken hair. Before long, it got dark and folks wandered on home. I could see Uncle Beau was wearing down.
“You want an extra pillow?” I asked him.
“No, that’s okay.”
“Might make you sleep better.”
“I’ll be okay.”
“You want me to put a extra blanket on the bed?”
“I ain’t sleeping in my bed.”
“Where you sleeping?”
“I’m taking me a lounge chair out back and waiting for Rupert to stick his big toe out of them woods and then I’m gonna get him back in here where he belongs.”
“Then I’m gonna stay back there, too.”
“No, ma’am.” Uncle Beau shook his head. “You get on home and let me take care of my doings my own self.”
Well, he just might as well have shoved me off the porch cause I’d’ve felt the same way as I did, hearing that.
“They my doings, too,” I said, hanging my head and feeling like a little bed-wettin�
�� kid like Ruth. I lifted my eyes and looked at Uncle Beau. He looked smaller than I’d ever seen him look before. His shoulders slumped down and his hands rested on his bony knees. The quiet between us stretched out so long that ole Jake started thumping his tail on the floor like maybe something was up.
“Then go on in there and call your mama,” Uncle Beau said, jerking his head toward the store.
I reckon it must have been about midnight when Jake jerked his head up and growled. Me and Uncle Beau like to jumped out of our skins, waking up from a sound sleep.
“What was that?” Uncle Beau said, sitting up.
I listened, squinting into the darkness. There was a snap, like a twig breaking, and the sound of breathing. Jake growled again.
“Hush up, Jake,” Uncle Beau whispered.
Another snap.
“That you, Rupert?” Uncle Beau stood up. There was rustling and then silence. “You come on out of there, Rupert.”
Jake trotted over to the edge of the woods, sniffing along the ground. Suddenly he stopped and wagged his tail.
Uncle Beau walked over to where Jake was at. The crunching gravel sounded loud and spooky in the dark. I pulled my blanket around me and shivered. Uncle Beau shined his flashlight into the woods. The circle of light darted through the trees like a lightning bug.
“I know you’re in there, Rupert,” Uncle Beau called out.
Silence.
“Come on, Rupert,” Uncle Beau said. “I been missing you. I need you here with me.”
Now, if that wouldn’t break a person’s heart, I don’t know what would. The next thing I knew, Uncle Beau and Rupert were walking toward me, with Jake trotting after them.
“Let’s go in and warm up,” Uncle Beau said.
Even in summer, Smoky Mountain nights can be chilly. I was glad to get into the warmth of the store.
Me and Rupert Goody Page 5