"Did Mrs. Pruitt appear to have a bruise on her cheek?" Mr. Howard said.
"Well now, I can't say 'cause I don't rightly recall," Mr. Johnson said.
"Think back to that day, Mr. Johnson," Mr. Howard said. "Surely you can remember…"
"All's I remember is her havin' fine legs," Mr. Johnson said, "and I remember…"
"Yes…yes, Mr. Johnson…what?" Mr. Howard said.
"Well, I remember she had herself a right fine chest, too," Mr. Johnson answered. The jury and them other peoples there was back to laughing again. I think Mama even smiled a bit when he said that about her chest. I think I seen her mouth move a little.
I don't really think that was what Mr. Howard had in mind, though. He tried again and again to get Mr. Johnson to recall how scared my mama must of looked that morning.
"Mr. Howard, I don't remember nothing else," Mr. Johnson said, and he probably wasn't lying, either. He looked to be older than MeeMaw was when she died, and MeeMaw had trouble remembering things, too.
"Lori Jean," she told me once, "at my age, I've about done everything and seen everything. I just can't remember everything."
So Mr. Johnson was probably telling the truth. He just weren't much help to Mama's case. In fact, when Mr. Bartholomew questioned Mr. Johnson, he made it seem like everything was fine and dandy with my mama that morning.
I was waiting on that Chester fella to be called to the stand, that man that pumped gas for Ray at that filling station in McCoy. Mama was pleading at him with her eyes that day and he was glancing at that bruise she had on her cheek when Ray weren't looking. Now he was a young fella, not likely to forget what he seen that morning. He could help set things right. But he never showed up. Then I realized he wasn't invited. Mama was the only one would have known to tell Mr. Howard about him and she still weren't talking, not even to Mr. Howard. Mr. Howard even shared that with the jury, how Mama wouldn't even defend herself she was so eat up with guilt by what she didn't know and by not knowing wasn't able to protect her daughter and save them both from the monster that Ray Pruitt was.
Uncle Melvin come and testified about Ray and I know the jury listened real good, what with Ray being his brother and all. Melvin, he was pretty much all better by then. And Lexie come and sat in the witness box and she told the jury folks about the nice birthday supper Mama fixed for me that was spread out on the table when they got to our trailer that night. I thought things was looking a bit better for Mama. If she would just get up in that witness chair and speak for herself, now that Uncle Melvin and Aunt Lexie come and told what a fine woman she was, she'd have a fighting chance, but she never said a word, not to Mr. Howard, not to the jury, not to Melvin or Lexie. She just sat and stared straight ahead.
On the last day of the trial more peoples than could fit wanted to get into the courthouse. Those that didn't get to wouldn't leave and clustered about the door like June bugs buzzing 'round a porch light. Mr. Bartholomew give his closing speech that day and he was so good he was like an actor in a stage play. He told that jury if they was going to sleep at night they best err on the side of justice and put this woman where she belonged. He said no amount of speculation by a well-intentioned attorney for the defense could erase what happened.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "a little girl lies in her coffin, dead the very day she turned ten years old." He meant me, and I weren't in no coffin!
"A deputy lies cold in his grave, his widow sitting before you now weeping and broken," he said. Now that part was true. She was there crying like she done every day of the trial.
"Two toddlers face a future without their daddy, all because of this woman." He whirled around and pointed his finger directly at Mama.
"I ask you to bring justice to these precious victims, to bring closure to their wounds, to bring an end to the idea that this woman is innocent. I ask you to return a verdict of guilty, guilty as charged. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for doing your duty." He sat down.
When Mr. Howard give his closing statement all the ladies in the jury seats was crying. I don't think they heard what he had to say. The men was listening, but they had real stern looks on their faces. I don't think they much believed anything Mr. Howard was telling them.
The jury folks went to a little room behind the judge's bench to decide. They come out in less than an hour.
"Have you reached a verdict?" the judge asked.
The man that got voted to speak for them said, "We have, Your Honor." The judge told him to hand the verdict to his bailiff man. The jury man handed the bailiff fella a tiny little folded-up piece of paper. Fancy that! The answer to the whole rest of my mama's life was on that little piece of paper. The bailiff man brought it over to the judge. He unfolded it, read it to hisself and folded it back up and handed it back to the bailiff. The bailiff took it on back to the same man on the jury who'd handed it to him in the first place. It was worse than pass the hot potato. The judge told that man to read the verdict. Then the judge asked each and every one of the folks on that jury if that was their decision. They all said, "Yes, Your Honor; guilty, so sayeth we all."
So they found Mama guilty and the judge sentenced her to die in their old 'lectric chair and there weren't nothing I could do about it even. Hurt my heart something terrible. Mama was the first ladyfolk in Georgia ever to get that kind of sentence. The judge said the way things was going she probably wouldn't be the last.
"Nadine Pruitt," he said, "may God have mercy on your soul."
Chapter Twenty-four
Lexie fainted when the judge said Mama had to sit in that 'lectric chair 'til she was dead. He used some fancy words when he said it, but that's what he meant. The judge had them take Lexie to the sofa in his chambers and Melvin, he come to see about her. He was in bad shape but put on a good face for Lexie. They headed home and he give her this talk on how they had to get on with their life. The kids were counting on them.
"Sugarplum, I been thinkin'," he said, "we ought to head back to Alabama when this is…when…well, when…it's done." Lexie just nodded her head. They was in the Chevy. Lexie was driving on account of Melvin's shoulder still being in a sling.
"We ain't had much luck here, ya' know?" he said. Lexie shook her head in agreement with him.
"It's time we head home. I can always find some kind a' work to tide us over. Maybe try a little farmin' again." He reached over and patted Lexie's shoulder with his good arm.
"I want to go see Nadine," Lexie said.
"Now, honey, I don't want you to go upsettin' yourself…"
"I gotta say goodbye, Melvin. I have to. I can't rest 'til I do." Lexie started to sniffle.
"Honey, we're gonna get through this, you'll see," he said, and he patted her shoulder again.
"I know. It just hurts so bad, Melvin," Lexie said. "First Iris Anne, then Lori Jean. Now Nadine. I don't believe for one minute she had anything to do with any of it."
"'Course she didn't," Uncle Melvin said. "But them authorities, they need theirselves a live person to pay for the crime and Nadine is it. I reckon if she wouldn't a' shot Ray, they wouldn't have bothered with her. Probably woulda made her a victim for sure. What with her bein' Lori Jean's mama and all."
"Then why'd she do it? Why'd she kill him?" Lexie asked. She grabbed a hankie out of her purse and blew her nose, but kept one hand on the wheel.
"I guess she wanted them both to pay, Lexie," Melvin said. "Him for doing it, and her for not being able to keep him from doing it."
"But she didn't know nothing about it," Lexie said. "I'm sure of it. How'd she figure she coulda kept him from doin' somethin' she had no way knowin' anything about?"
"Well that's just it, sugar," Melvin said. "She probably figured she should have known, that bein' a good mama demanded it."
"But she was a good mama."
"Better than good, Lexie," Melvin said. "The best. She give her life for Lori Jean. She just didn't get a chance to give it sooner is all, or Lori Jean would still be with us." Then Uncle
Melvin, he cried. He did! He and Lexie—they both cried, all the way back to Roseflower Creek.
'Bout that time Maybelle got out of the hospital in Atlanta. She looked like a 'tirely different person. Acted like one, too. She were a pretty thin lady now, had creases on her forehead like Mama sometimes did. And her mouth weren't so mean-looking no more. Matter of factly, it was a much nicer mouth, soft around the corners, and she smiled at folks when they passed by. Fancy that! And she kept her nose straight ahead when she walked, 'stead of pointed upwards like she used to. She still had her funny little bird legs, but now they matched her body better. Talk was, the kind of cancer Maybelle had herself would probably kill her dead; that what them doctors done for her with their crazy operation were just a temporary thing. Maybelle marched herself home and started visiting every church in Roseflower Creek, and she drove her big Oldsmobile to a whole bunch of others that weren't. Every one she stopped at, she asked folks to pray for her. And she gived them all her money, week after week. Took every dollar from whichever one of her pocketbooks she had with her and put it in the collection basket. One of them mens who passes 'round the baskets swung one by her row twice and acted like he didn't know he had. Maybelle found some more loose dollars at the bottom of her bag and give them, too. Word got out. They all wanted her to come. It were a church's lucky day when Maybelle showed up asking for prayers 'cause even though she gived a whole lot of money away already, she had a passel more where that come from, I'm telling ya'. But no matter how many of them churches she went to, Maybelle got sicker and sicker. She ended up at the Glory Be, Church of Jehovah, Praise His Name, Bless My Soul, Amen Brethren AME Church in Roseflower Creek. That was Odell and Pearlie's church! It was the one all them nice colored folks went to; the very one Maybelle made fun of, that one she called a clapboard shack, said they did their jive jumpin' in. Ain't that something? There she was, jumping up and down right along with the rest of them, her on her funny little bird legs. She was whooping and hollering, praising Jesus's name and clapping her hands to the music. And mighty good music it was, I'm telling ya'. Been right nice to have that kind of music at our church when I was growing up. Maybelle was having the time of her life, and once she tried Odell and Pearlie's Glory Be Church, she stayed. She give them her money, week after week. They prayed over her and laid their hands on her. Still, Maybelle didn't get well. Looked like that cancer would kill her dead for sure. But Maybelle kept going, kept dancing, and kept giving.
All the while, Mama was locked up in her cell. For two months while the judge heard this appeal thing Mr. Howard brought to him, Mama stayed in that cell, walking back and forth, twisting her hands up in knots, not eating, not sleeping. I might could be wrong, but knowin' Mama, she was probably worried they'd change their minds about 'lectricuting her and the thought of that happening, them changing their minds, was making her sick. I guess she wanted to die. She surely didn't do anything to help herself not to. She was tore up with guilt and anger and regret. All them sorrowful things had her plumb eat up and dying 'fore she's even dying. It was a worse death than that old 'lectric chair even, 'cause it was a slow, suffocating death, one second at a time, it was.
"Mama?" I called to her. "Kin ya' hear me, kin ya'? Let it go, Mama! It'll just eat ya' alive right up to the end and there jist ain't no sense in goin' 'til you're goin'." I don't think she got my message, but she did get word her appeal got turned down and they set her death date three months away. She'd be gone 'fore Christmas.
Lexie come to see Mama for a goodbye visit. She packed some snacks for them to eat and the deputy lady was real nice, let her go right to Mama's cell. It was a few days before they were fixin' to take her on down to Jackson to wait on the execution date. Lexie and Mama spent the better part of the afternoon together. It was like a miracle. My mama was back to talking! She sounded like her old self again.
"Oh, my," Mama said and patted Lexie's tummy. "When's this one due?"
"Doc figures about four more months," Lexie said.
"Well, I guess I won't get to see this one then…"
"Sure you will," Lexie said. "You'll have a bird's-eye view." Lexie hugged Mama good.
"You take care a' all those young'uns, ya' hear? You tell 'em their aunt Nadine's keepin' an eye on 'em for all eternity."
"I will," Lexie said and give her another hug. "I will, oh, I will," she said and didn't stop hugging Mama 'til the tears welling up in her eyes slipped back in place.
It was a real nice visit, it was. They talked about when they was little girls and how they met. They told old stories they thought they'd forgotten about. They was saying, "Remember this?" and "Remember that?" and had themselves a fine old time. Then they made a promise they'd see one 'nother again someday yonder. The warden lady come after that to tell Lexie it was time for her to go. After Lexie left, Mama seemed right peaceful. Guess everything was turning out the way she wanted. Before long, they brought in her dinner. Mama waited 'til they left 'fore she set down to eat it. Then she got on that bed was hooked onto the wall and for the first time in all them months since they put her there, she rested herself; slept like a baby, she sure enough did. It made my heart dance like it never done before, to see my mama rest herself like that. It felt so good I didn't much care if it never danced again.
Chapter Twenty-five
They found Mama in her cell the next morning. She was curled up under her covers, holding her tummy like it hurt something awful. She didn't have an ounce of breath left in her. Rat poison. It was in her mashed potatoes. Most of them was still on her plate, right next to the collard greens.
So's the State of Georgia never got to put my mama in their 'lectric chair, after all. I sure was happy about that. Rat poison didn't seem like a real nice way to go, neither, but at least she got to keep her hair. MeeMaw always said, "Lori Jean, be grateful for every little thing. They adds up." So I tried to think about that, her keeping her hair instead of what that poison probably done to her belly.
When Maybelle got word Mama was dead, she did something right special. She bought a grave spot right next to where Ray and Mama laid MeeMaw to rest. And then Maybelle did something even more special. She told the church people she wanted to buy the spot next to Mama, too, on account of me.
"A child needs to lie next to their mama," she said matter-offactly. The church folks said that might could be, but there weren't no spot next to the spot she bought for Mama available. Mr. Joshua Samuel Goose was there, waiting on Mrs. Goose.
"Well, can't you move him over one spot?" Maybelle asked. "It's real important," she told them. Well, they said, they weren't doubting that none, but if they moved him over one spot, where would Clara go? Clara, that was Mrs. Goose. She was pretty old and weren't too well herself.
"She might be needing that spot real soon," they said.
"Well, she ain't never got on with that ornery old man while he was alive," Maybelle said. "What makes you think she wants to lie next to him for all eternity?" Church folks wouldn't budge. Said it weren't their place to ask and it weren't her business to know. So guess what Maybelle done? She bought three grave spots at the highest point in the cemetery, the ones them same church folks said was closest to heaven, so they cost more. Then, Maybelle got herself this legal paper gived her permission to move MeeMaw and me on up there to wait on Mama. So, they dugged us up! Ain't that something? Took our casket beds and carried us on up the hill. They was bringing Mama up in the hearse Maybelle hired, once the undertaker fella finished doing her hair. Lexie Ann sent Wanda on over to do it first, but Wanda cried so much, the funeral mens made her leave. Said they'd see to it theirselves. Lexie Ann had a fit.
"Nadine never wore her hair that way in her life!" she said.
"Now Lexie, honey, settle down," Melvin said. "Nadine don't care how it looks, by now. She's off yonder." Which probably weren't the truth. Mama always cared how her hair looked, but Lexie was close to having the new baby, and Melvin most likely wanted to calm her down. Probably said the first thing pop
ped in his mouth. Mama's hair weren't too bad; I seen it look worse when Ray pulled a bunch of it out once. But Aunt Lexie carried on something awful. I think she was just griefed over everything that had happened and Mama's hair just gived her a way to scream it out, 'cause Mama's hair looked sorta okay, excepting where they bunched it back behind her ears real good. That made 'em stick out like that little Dopey fella in the Snow White book Alice liked so much, and Mama's ears never sticked out before. But the rest looked okay.
While Lexie was having herself a hissy fit over Mama's hair, calling them fellas down at the funeral home place, asking where in thunder they went to hairdresser school, Maybelle was tending to another surprise. She bought a grave marker for Mama and me, fit right over the top of the both of us! She had our names carved on it in pretty letters. Mama's side said Nadine Howard Dodson and give her birthday and her death day. Maybelle told them to be sure and leave off Pruitt, or she weren't paying for it. Guess she still couldn't find it in her heart to forgive Ray. My side of the marker said Here lies Lori Jean Dodson. There was flowers carved on top, and right below my name, Maybelle had them put the day I was born and next to that, the day I died. It was the same day, just different years. But the best part was below them dates! It said: Heaven got itself another angel today. Wasn't that nice? Here Maybelle was mighty sick and there she was, seeing about us. There weren't no reason for her to get MeeMaw a new marker. She used the one Ray bought for MeeMaw when she died. These mens just lugged it up to its new resting spot. It weren't as fancy as the one Maybelle got for me and Mama. Still, it looked right nice next to ours. Maybelle paid for everything. And she paid for the biggest bouquet of flowers I ever seen. Had some more spread all around the marker, too. In truth, it was 'bout the prettiest grave spot in the whole place. Probably in the whole world. Near perfect, it was, 'cept I wished she would of paid to have Carolee dug up and moved over next to my spot. But I reckon Carolee's folks might not of let her, even if Maybelle'd thought of it. Mr. Thompson never got over Carolee dying like she did. He near drunk himself to death; cursed everything and everyone around him. Connie Dee got herself a baby 'fore she got herself a husband, and she run off. Mrs. Thompson, she stays pretty much by herself; keeps out of Mr. Thompson's way. Mostly, she tends to Carolee's grave spot and it's right pretty, so I guess it's best Carolee stay there, where her mama takes herself a lot of comfort every morning when the sun comes up.
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