Yesterday

by Fern Michaels

  “Yeah. I think Mama Pearl would like that. Maybe give some money to the Reverend to enlarge the church. It will be a long time before things can be finalized. The Judge is going to have his hands full making things come out right. I’m not going to help him do it either if that’s your next question, Brie. Believe it or not, I feel the same way you do. I should have been told when I was old enough to understand.” He’d hoped for a smile from Brie, but none was forthcoming.

  There was a desperate sound in his voice when he said, “Listen, I’m open to any and all suggestions. Maybe legally this place is mine. That’s on paper. But in here,” he said, thumping his chest, “it belongs to all of us, and I’m more than willing to share. If you don’t want it sold, I won’t sell it. I can sell off some of the land and keep some acreage around the house and use that money to refurbish it. It won’t be the same for any of us without Mama Pearl. It’s my personal opinion that it’s time to let it go. You both have a vote, and I’d like to hear about it.”

  The air swooshed out of Sela’s lungs. He was right. She didn’t trust herself to speak, so she bobbed her head up and down.

  Sela drew in her breath again as she watched her two best friends eyeball each other warily. Brie was going to say something really stupid and then Bode was going to retaliate and things would go downhill from there. Brie’s voice when she spoke was so cool and neutral-sounding that Sela flinched. So did Bode.

  “Well, Mr. Jessup, I think that’s a commendable decision.”

  “That’s it, commendable?” bode said.

  Brie stalked into the house. Sela hurried after her. Bode threw his hands up in the air. He stormed into the house. “What is it exactly that has your panties in a wad, Brie?”

  What is it that’s wrong? Why am I acting like this? Because, she answered herself, I expected him to wrap me in his arms and tell me he loved me when he saw his birth certificate. If he’d just tell me he loved Callie, I could handle that. And now this wonderful magnanimous gesture.

  So what if she was acting childish? So what if she was tormenting Bode? He deserved it.

  “Do you really want to know what’s bothering me?” she said aloud. “Well, I’m going to tell you. I realized these past weeks that I’ve been a fool. No child, no girl, no woman wants, ever, to admit she made a fool of herself. I realized I tried to buy your affection and then as I got older I tried to buy your love. I used to work myself to a frazzle for you. But it wasn’t for you at all, it was for Callie. Indirectly, at least. I would have prostituted myself for a smile, a pat on the head from you. It was wrong of me to expect something in return. Either you give of yourself with a pure heart or you don’t give at all. At the time, because I was too stupid to do it any other way, my heart was pure. I didn’t care what color you were, or what your background was. Sela didn’t care. But Callie did care. Therein lies the difference. You’re one stupid, mother-fucking son of a bitch, Bode Jessup. And you know something else? I don’t give a shit what your real name is: you’ll always be Bode Jessup to me.”

  Bode galloped out of the kitchen.

  “God!” Sela said.

  “Now dry these dishes, Sela, and let’s get out of here.”

  “Yes, Mother,” Sela said, saluting her. “Guess you really told him. God!”

  “Pearl’s wings must be rustling. Do you think he’ll still go with us to say good-bye to Callie?”

  “Sure. He’ll waltz in here like nothing happened, and we’ll go on from there. Are you okay with this house thing?” Sela asked.

  “Yeah, I am. I couldn’t come back here knowing Pearl wasn’t here. Could you?”

  “No. He’s doing the right thing. In the end all the money will go to pay off Callie’s bills. You’ll see,” Sela muttered.

  “You mean the ones before the Medicaid took over?”

  Sela nodded. “The ones Wyn didn’t pay. Bode will honor them,” she said.

  “Do we have enough money to get to Atlanta?” Sela asked.

  “I have forty-two dollars, and six hundred left in my account at the bank,” Brie calculated. “I can borrow some from my friend Myrna until I get back on my feet. I’ll share. I know you’re tapped out.”

  “I’ll get a job and pay you back right away. Thanks for being my friend, Brie.”

  “Thank you for being mine. We’ve been through a lot, Sela, and we’re still friends. That has to mean something. Do you think Bode will stay in touch?”

  “Nope. We’re history after today.”

  “I don’t want to believe that,” Brie said.

  “We are leaving Mr. Jessup a nice clean kitchen. Pearl’s things are put away. We tidied up our rooms. We can go now, Sela.”

  Sela started to cry. “I never thought I’d have to say good-bye to this place. Do we just walk away? Do we look back and wave?”

  “I think we walk out to our cars and drive away. I won’t be able to look back. I have an idea. When we drive away, let’s sing that ditty Bode taught us when we were learning how to count. You know: One, two, buckle my shoe, three, four, close the door . . .”

  “Yeah, yeah, let’s do that,” Sela said shakily.

  “I just have these two cases. I’ll lug them out and come back and help you. See? When you really need him, he’s never around.”

  When their cars were packed, Sela shouted for Bode. “We’re ready!”

  Bode wheeled his old bike out of the barn. It sparkled in the bright sunlight.

  “I forgot about this bike. How long did it take us to sand it down and paint it? You paid for the front tire, didn’t you?”

  “Yep, and you paid for the back one. It looks nice, doesn’t it?” Sela said.

  “Bet we sank a hundred bucks into that bike with the new seat and the new handle grips. You owe us a hundred bucks for fixing that nightmare,” Brie shouted.

  “It was worth zip when I left it here,” Bode shouted back.

  “Yeah? Well it’s worth a hundred now,” Brie said, sliding into the car. “Send a check.”

  Sela squeezed into her car. “On the count of three . . .”

  “Okay. Turn on your engine,” Brie bellowed.

  “Engine revving,” Sela shrilled. “One, two, three . . .”

  “One, two, buckle my shoe, three, four, close the door . . .”

  He knew what they were doing. His eyes started to itch as he pedaled after their cars, his voice as lusty as theirs. “Five, six, pick up sticks . . .”

  They didn’t look back.

  They were sitting on a hard, wooden bench surrounded by colorful pots of flowers outside the hospital when Bode pedaled up to them.

  “Forty-five minutes.” He beamed.

  “In your dreams. We’ve been sitting here for one hour and twenty minutes. Face it, you’re getting old, and your legs are shot. Riding around in a car will do that to you,” Brie said.

  “Mama Pearl always said when you don’t have something good to say to someone you should keep your mouth closed,” Bode said.

  “Guess I wasn’t there the day she said that,” Brie said, sticking her tongue out at him. Damn, she was acting childish.

  They waited while Bode shackled his bike to the pole of the awning.

  “I will never understand, no matter how long I live, how a person can look exactly the same for months on end,” Sela said quietly.

  During the visit, at first they talked among themselves, doing their respective “do you remember?” routines, until one by one they started carrying on a conversation with Callie.

  They were youngsters again, arguing and laughing under the magnificent angel oak. “I know a secret,” Brie giggled. “We all know it. If you want to hear it you have to wake up. We promised not to tell. Everyone knows but you, Callie. It’s a wonderful secret. Well, part of it is wonderful. No, I’m wrong, both parts are wonderful.”

  Sela took her cue from Brie. “It’s the most wonderful secret in the world. Pearl told it to us. You weren’t there so you couldn’t hear it. It’s a secret, a real secret.
A better secret than any of the ones we had when we were little. We’re going away today, Callie. I’m moving with Brie to Atlanta. We’ll come back and visit when we can. Guess you are never going to hear the big secret, and it is big. I think you’re just doing this to get attention.” Sela made her voice sound childish and whiny. “You always used to do that to get attention, and Bode fell for it every single time. Brie and me were too smart for most of your tricks, but because we wanted to go to Parker Manor, we let you get away with it.”

  “We never told Mama Pearl when you made us give you half of our Popsicles after you gobbled down your own. She would have fanned your bottom. You were selfish,” Brie said. “But we have a secret now. That’s better than anything you have. Guess what? We had eggs and ham for breakfast and all you get is that shitty-looking stuff in a bag. You can’t even chew anymore. What we have is better than a whole Popsicle. Sela and I are going to buy some when we leave here and we’re going to eat them all by ourselves. We won’t have to give you even a lick. So there, Callie Parker.”

  Bode blinked. What the hell were they doing? Sela shrugged. Brie stared him down, defying him to screw up.

  “It’s time for you to wake up, Callie,” he joined in. “We’re all leaving, and there won’t be anyone here to take care of you but nurses you don’t know. I suppose they’ll do your laundry, but will they brush your hair and put ribbons in it like Mama Pearl and the girls did? There won’t be anyone to bring you flowers. Wake up. Come on, Callie, you have a whole life ahead of you. You told me yourself you were going to make a fine lawyer. Are you really going to let me believe you’re a worthless pissant? Wake up. Open your eyes, Callie.”

  “She’s not going to open her eyes,” Brie said contemptuously. “She’s doing what she’s always done, waiting for someone else to open them for her. She is too damn lazy to do anything for herself. She made a tired old woman her personal slave and couldn’t be bothered to get up out of that bed to go to her funeral.”

  “Bode’s right. You’re worse than a worthless pissant. You know what you are, Callie Parker? You’re a taker. That’s the worst thing in the world. We’re all givers and you know something? Pearl knew that. That’s why she told us the secret and not you. So there. I can’t believe I’m saying these things. I don’t think it’s doing any good. We’ve been talking like this for months, and she doesn’t move an eyelash,” Sela whispered.

  “We agreed to do it in two-hour segments. I’m telling you, I read that coma patients can hear you. The trick is not to stop talking. We have to keep it up. We’re here. I want to leave knowing I did everything humanly possible,” Brie said.

  “Okay, we’ll keep at it,” Bode said.

  “Get really mad, get stern with her,” Brie said. “Stop being Mr. Nice Guy.”

  “It’s worth a try, Bode,” Sela urged him. “Hell, anything is worth a try. Ganging up on her just might do it.”

  A helpless look on his face, Bode’s eyes swiveled first to Brie and then to Sela as he laced into Callie—something he’d never done in the whole of his life. “I knew there was a reason I didn’t want to hire you, but you whined so convincingly I agreed to it,” he began, scarcely able to say the words. “You’re not dependable. Jesus, you couldn’t even go through with your own wedding. That doesn’t say much for you, Callie. All your education down the tubes. Wasted. All our hard work for nothing just so you can lie here in bed and have people wait on you for twenty-four hours a day. Did you really think we’d stay around forever to make your life comfortable? We’re not. We’re all going to get on with our lives and we’ll have our semiannual and annual reunions and you won’t be invited because you can’t get to wherever it is we’re going to have the reunion,” Bode said breathlessly, his eyes rolling from side to side.

  “Keep it up, you’re doing good,” Sela hissed. “Don’t stop now.”

  “We all have such a grand secret. I’m sort of sorry you aren’t part of it, but we’re all tired of sharing with you. Even if you were here with us you’d probably spoil it. You’re never going to know the secret. We’re going to leave and take the secret with us.”

  And on and on it went. When Bode’s voice started to lag, Sela picked up and then Brie and then they started all over again.

  When Sela gave up her turn, she said, “I’m going out to the machine to get us a soda pop. My mouth is as dry as dust.”

  Brie looked at her watch. They’d been at it for two hours, and were fifteen minutes into the third hour. They’d finish up and be on their way. She leaned back and listened to Bode’s voice drone on and on until she wanted to scream. What was the use? Why were they doing this? It was all so hopeless.

  It was a warm, wonderful, scary place she was in. Probably the attic. They were calling her, saying things she didn’t want to hear, things she didn’t want to think about. They were going away and taking the secret. They weren’t going to tell her what it was. They were talking about her like they didn’t like her. She could hear them. She should crawl out and tell them she was going to tell Pearl. She wanted to tell them to be quiet; she wasn’t interested in their old secret. She tried to move, to wiggle out of her warm cocoon and make them stop saying such terrible things to her. They were her friends, how could they say such things? Don’t go away, don’t leave me. This place is dark and I’m afraid to open my eyes.

  “I know you hear me. I know it! Don’t pretend you can’t, Callie Parker. We want to say good-bye before we leave. It would be nice if you’d open your eyes and say good-bye to us. We don’t know when we’re going to be able to come back to see you again. Do it, Callie! Open your eyes and maybe we’ll tell you the secret. Maybe, but I’m not promising.”

  ”Okay,” she cried silently, “I’m going to open my eyes.”

  If they hadn’t been standing right beside her bed, they would have missed the sight of her flickering eyelids. Brie’s jaw dropped as did Sela’s.

  “Jesus, did you see that? She opened her eyes,” Bode shouted.

  They were so pleased that Callie wanted to laugh. She blinked and blinked again. Were they laughing or crying? She kept right on blinking because they sounded so funny.

  “Smile, Callie,” Brie said.

  Callie smiled.

  “Blink your eyes again.”

  Callie blinked.

  “Can you move?”

  She tried to lift her hand. It felt funny, heavy and dry. She thought she could feel her skin scratch the warm dark blanket.

  “Nod your head, Callie,” Bode said.

  She nodded.

  “Say something, Callie.”

  “Tell me what the secret is.”

  “She’s making noises. It’s been so long since she used her voice. I bet she’s answering us, we just don’t know what she’s saying. Try again, Callie, we can’t understand what you’re saying. You’ve been in an accident, Callie, and asleep for a very long time. Please try, tell us you understand what we’re saying. Blink if you know it’s me, Brie, and you understand what I just said.”

  Callie blinked.

  “Can you see us clearly? Blink if you can.”

  She blinked.

  “We need to call the doctor, somebody,” Sela said.

  Bode was already out of the room in search of the charge nurse. A call was put in to Trident. Bode spoke with the neurosurgeon.

  Back in the room he said, “They’re sending an ambulance. He really thought I was making this all up. He said this was impossible. Can you believe that? They want to put her in ICU and monitor her. They’re going to bring a portable cardiac monitor and defibrillator, called Lifepak-6, to hook up to her for her transfer to the hospital.”

  “You’re going back to the hospital, kiddo,” Brie said.

  She wasn’t going anywhere until they told her what the secret was.

  “Secret.”

  They laughed, then they cried. “This must be that one-in-a-million miracle people always talk about. I can see it now. A book, movie rights, the whole nine yards,”
Sela grinned.

  “Secret.”

  They babbled as one, saying the first thing that popped into their heads. “I won the lottery,” Bode exclaimed, “money to burn.”

  “I had a baby,” Sela shrilled. Bode collapsed against the door.

  “I found a white knight, and I’m getting married.” Brie giggled.

  Callie smiled, her eyelids closing.

  “Don’t go to sleep,” they shouted together.

  “Baby,” Callie said.

  “We have to keep her awake until the doctor gets here. He didn’t say that, it’s my idea,” Bode said. “Let’s sing, ‘One, two, buckle my shoe, three, four, shut the door . . .’ ”

  Callie smiled. She was still smiling when the doctor, a disbelieving look on his face, entered the room.

  What seemed like a long time later the doctor joined them in the hall, and said, his voice awestruck, “She has intentional activity indicating brain function controlled by the patient, not the involuntary, nonpurposeful eye fluttering or occasional grimace she exhibits when she’s turned or moved. I’ve never seen a patient wake like this. I’ve heard of them though. I think we’re seeing a miracle here. It’s going to be a long road back, though. Intensive therapy. Costly. Minute-by-minute monitoring. Private nurses, at least for a while. We’ll start testing to evaluate her. We’ll take it one step at a time. I still can’t believe this,” he said again as he walked over to the ambulance attendants.

  “Bode, get in there and if she’s awake ask her who was driving the car. I don’t know if she has a memory, but it’s worth a shot. You heard him, this is going to cost a fortune. If Wyn was driving, like I think he was, that means Callie’s insurance will pay for this after his company pays them back. For God’s sake, get in there, and if she’s sleeping, wake her up. Talk to her!”

  Bode was back minutes later. “She just kept saying ‘baby’ over and over. You’d better be able to come up with one.” Bode laughed uproariously.

  “I say this calls for a drink. You’re buying, Bode. We’ll meet you at Jason’s. Lunch would be good, too.”

  “Does that mean you’re staying?”