“Addie Martin! You’ve lost your freaking mind! How can you own a church?”
“I guess if I can own a fire hall, I can own a church. If you want to go with me to see if the key fits the door, we can run out there one day. It’s out the Nashville Highway. It’s a small white building with a steeple – sits on a small hill.”
“Hey! I know that place. And you own it?”
“If the key fits the lock, I do.”
“If the key fits! This gets weirder by the minute. Yeah. I’d like to see if the key fits. Just let me know when you want to try it,” she said as if humoring Addie. She stood up. “Here comes mom. She’s dragging – must be awfully tired. No doubt dad got held up and couldn’t pick her up and she had to walk back seven whole blocks.”
Addie needed to get back to Stonegate. She was sure the two invalid men were there by now. She hoped William was taking care of them, and not expecting Miss Mattie to. But she had to talk to Mrs. Mitchell. She had to get them moved out of this place.
Wylene excused herself and went to meet her mother. Addie watched her put her arm round her mother’s waist as though she could relieve her exhaustion by helping her along. Perhaps she could. They were soon walking into the dirt packed yard.
“I gave him the choice of reading or watching TV. Instead, he’s sleeping,” Wylene was saying to her mom as they approached Addie.
“Hello, Addie. Is William and Ozzie safe and doing okay?”
“Yes, ma’am, they’re fine.”
“I need to sit and have something cold to drink even if it’s just water. And, Wylene, you’re going to have to attend to the wash this afternoon. I just can’t.”
“Sure, Mom. And, Mom, Addie wants to talk to us about moving, and the prospects of jobs for you and dad.”
Mrs. Mitchell looked at Addie frowning. Hastily, Addie said, “The cottage I have for you has its own washer and dryer.”
“Lord, lead me to it,” the woman moaned as she walked up on the worn, wooden porch. Billy came out the door, slamming the screen.
“Mom!” he said hugging Mrs. Mitchell. “I’m glad you’re home. She wouldn’t let me go to the Square to meet my friends. She treats me like a baby.”
“Son, I know you’re fifteen before you remind me again, but those dope peddlers know you’re at a very impressionable age. We’re just trying to protect you from them. Your sister was only doing what I told her to do,” Mrs. Mitchell said with what seemed like all the breath she could muster. Then she turned to Addie, “Seriously, what are you talking about – moving?”
Addie explained to Mrs. Mitchell about her prospects for a day care center and her part in it, and her desires for them to move to Stonegate. It was obvious the woman couldn’t believe what Addie was telling her. So Wylene backed her up by telling her mother about the prospect of the driving job for her daddy, then added that she and Billy could mow all the grass they wanted to. And Addie explained that there was mowing equipment in a garage. That they didn’t have to buy anything, and Billy became all excited along with his sister. Mrs. Mitchell was all smiles, but it still took another fifteen minutes of answering questions, and assuring her of her seriousness before Mrs. Mitchell asked, “When do we move?”
She drove the three Mitchells to Stonegate, to see the cottage and the apartment for Wylene. She assured Mrs. Mitchell that she would have all the furniture and furnishings moved from the cottage, and would try to find room to store any of her furniture that the cottage would not hold. But Mrs. Mitchell thought the cottage adorable just like it was and preferred to store her own furniture in one of the storage buildings out on the Nashville Highway.
Then they took a tour of the three apartments over the garages. They were all alike, and very similar to the cottage floor plan except smaller. There was even a sofa bed in the sitting area. Mrs. Mitchell agreed that Wylene could move into one until her wedding since she would be near by, and when they were in the car headed back to the slums, Billy declared, “I’ll sleep on that couch until she gets married, then I’ll move into the apartment.” No one paid him any attention, so he added, “After all, I’m going on sixteen, and I’ll be earning my own money mowing grass.”
Mrs. Mitchell turned to look at him in the back seat. “We don’t have time for your nonsense, Billy. Do you understand?” she asked in a steely tone of voice. And Billy didn’t say any more. Addie thought of that voice controlling a room full of unruly children, and she knew this was something she’d have to share with grandpa.
Then Mrs. Mitchell turned to Addie, “I’m so excited about the prospects of the day care center, Addie, but I couldn’t possibly run a place like that by myself. My sister, Ruby is a trained LPN. She didn’t quite finish her training because she was eight months with Adam and the doctor put her to bed. She had almost three weeks of her training to go. I know she would love the opportunity to get away from her job as waitress at the Pink Elephant. And she loves children. One of the other apartments would be perfect for her and Adam. She could pay you the same rent she’s paying now, but could increase it as soon as she’s making more money.” Then she waited for an answer from Addie.
It would get one more family out of the slums even if the day care center didn’t come about. And the apartments are just standing there empty. Why not? she thought. “If your sister thinks she’d like to move to Stonegate with the prospect of working in a day care center, that would be great.”
“I know she would,” Mrs. Mitchell assured her.
“Then I’ll add her to Mooney’s list of people to move,” she said.
Mrs. Mitchell couldn’t express her gratitude enough for all she was doing for them, and said Mr. Mitchell would be so grateful for even the prospect of a job that he would probably break down and cry. She confessed that he had become so depressed lately that she was afraid each time he left to go in search of something to earn a little money, that he wouldn’t return.
Addie expressed her gratitude that she was in a position to help them, and they could help her. Wylene was in the back seat rummaging through the cigar box of keys. “Addie, this tag tied to these two keys says ‘church/house’. Is this the key you have to find out if it opens that church door?”
“Yep.”
“Let me know when you want to go out there.”
“We’ll go just as soon as I can find an hour or so. I’ve got to get back to Stonegate right now. I have people there that I have to see about.”
Mrs. Mitchell thanked her for taking the time for them and asked, “Would it be all right if Jud and his friend Wesley go see Mr. Morgan this afternoon?”
“They probably need to call him first. He’d doing a lot of running around for me right now.”
At Stonegate, Mattie met Addie at the kitchen door with William’s grocery list, and the news that Mooney and his two helpers had moved a desk and TV from the fourth floor and put them in the dressing room to Addie’s bedroom, that the two men had been delivered and were resting in the hospital room, that she and William had fed everyone lunch, and that her lunch was waiting for her.
Addie thanked her for all she had done, and thought what a good person Miss Mattie was. She was becoming as fond of her as she was of grandpa. As she ate the good lunch left for her, she thought of all she had to do. She needed to see grandpa, she had so much to tell him, call Mr. Sully to see if the Kinnards could move immediately into the fire hall apartment – that is, if he wanted the job, and see Mooney.
But she didn’t connect with Mooney until she returned from the super market with William’s groceries. She had not done much grocery shopping before. That was something her mother always did because she had to count every penny and use as many coupons as she could. She was appalled at the cost of the things she had bought, and wondered how long it would feed eight people. That also made her wonder what Miss Mattie was using for grocery money? Neither of them had mentioned it – and all the food she had been cooking these last few days?
Mooney arrived with a load of the Cas
tle furniture right after she pulled in. He helped her carry the trunk full of groceries into the Summer kitchen as his helpers were checking out the middle garage where they were to store their load. “I have three more families to move, I hope,” she told him. “Can you help me on Wednesday and Thursday? I know you start your job on Friday.”
“Baby, I’m yours ‘til the end of time.”
“Mooney!” she giggled. “Be serious. How are your helpers working out?”
“Happy to get the work. They’ll be overjoyed to know there is more coming. And I need gas money.”
She rummaged in her shoulder bag and brought out a handful of small bills. “Gas and lunch for you and your helpers.”
“Thanks, Babe. You seem in a hurry, so call me tonight and tell me about these other moves.”
William came to put away the groceries, and Addie joined Miss Mattie in the kitchen where she was enjoying a cup of hot fruit tea.
“I need to go check on the Simmons ladies, but I wanted to tell you that Mr. Sully talked like it was just a matter of checking zoning laws and such for you to have a dinner club. He didn’t know any reason why we couldn’t. Said he’d get in touch as soon as he knew anything.”
The phone rang as she was passing the kitchen desk. She picked it up and was surprised to hear Mr. Sully’s voice in reply to her ‘hello’. “Addie, my girl, we’re in luck! I had lunch with three members of the zoning committee. Two of them, a bachelor and an unhappily married man want to be the dinner club’s first members, and the woman member is desperate to find competent day care for her two grandchildren, whom she has to baby sit. Neither of them could see any reason why you couldn’t have both these ventures, but the matter of a nursing home will have to be looked into further. And of course, all three businesses would have to be okayed by the department of health. And Elinor tells me I have appointments with four possible drivers – I believe two of them are ones you have sent. Word really gets around.”
“Oh, Mr. Sully, Miss Mattie is going to be so excited when I tell her about the dinner club. You know it’s going to be her dinner club. She’s a fabulous cook and makes the best rolls. They just melt in your mouth.”
“Then I want to be first in line for a membership.”
“You will have the first one, and, Mr. Sully, I need you to ask the Kinnards if they could move immediately? That is, if they’re interested in the apartment? Some boys keep trying to break into the fire hall ...”
“We can’t have that,” he said. “I’ll ask Fuzzy just as soon as he comes in tonight and call you back.”
“What about the dinner club?” Miss Mattie asked with anticipation, as soon as Addie had replaced the phone.
“We haven’t exactly got a go ahead, but it sounds certain enough that two members of the zoning committee want to be your first members. But of course, Mr. Sully has to be first. And, Miss Mattie, I need to talk to you about grocery money. You have been doing a lot of cooking, and you haven’t said anything about money for groceries. And I’ve just learned how costly eating is.”
Mattie laughed. “Addie, so far I’ve been cooking mostly from Miss Willy’s well stocked pantry and freezer, and our home canned vegetables. And, dear, I don’t need grocery money, and won’t for a long, long time just for us, and anyone else we choose to feed.”
“Why?”
“Remember, I’ve told you once or twice already that Wilhelmina Stone was a peculiar person in some ways. Well, I’ll tell you about another one of her peculiarities, but this has to be a secret just between us. I intended to tell you sooner or later, but you’ve been running so, I haven’t had time to tell you about much of anything.”
“I know, Miss Mattie. I haven’t even had time to call mama this morning.”
“Della is fine. I talked to her just a little while ago.”
“Thank you, Miss Mattie. I sure appreciate you.”
“You’re welcome, child, but I need to tell you about Miss Willy. The woman had an unreal fondness for new money- bills. She was always having Ry... that man bring her pads of new bills. I don’t think she cared too much for ones and fives. If that was all the bank had, he’d bring it, but she preferred fifties mostly, or even hundreds. Sometimes it was tens and twenties. She kept them in the pockets of those hostess gowns she wore – sort of playing with them. Reminded me of children carrying paper dolls or a ball or something that they just liked having with them all the time.”
Addie had never heard of such a thing and was listening intently.
Miss Mattie went to the kitchen sink, opened the door under it and brought a big three pound coffee can and sat it on the small table where she and Addie had been sitting. “We all liked our coffee, so I bought it in three pound cans. These big cans come in handy for some things.” She removed the plastic lid, then a folded up paper towel, and tilted the can so Addie could see the contents. “When she had rumpled the money and wanted new, she gave me the old to use for household expenses.”
Addie gasped as she looked inside the can, which was more than half full. It was packed with pads of new bills, their newness worn off, but still un-circulated bills of money. And as Miss Mattie had said – mostly fifties and hundreds, but a few twenties. She looked up at Miss Mattie, who stood there grinning. “I have another can stuffed full in the right bottom of the chest freezer in the pantry. I use the money mostly for groceries, grass mowing, dry cleaning, and any thing that’s delivered to the back door – except for the meat that Murchesons deliver. It’s yours, Addie, to do with as you please. Do you want to count it?”
Addie had sat spellbound. “No. No, Miss Mattie. I don’t want to count it. If you don’t need to know, then I don’t. I’m just glad you’ve got it.”
Mattie sort of chuckled. “I’ll let you know when we begin to run out, but if I get to open my dinner club, you’ll have to take it and do something with it then.”
“I’ll worry about that when the time comes. I have enough problems right now. But, Miss Mattie, since we do have all that money, may I pay for William’s groceries out of it until I sort of get things organized?”
“Addie, it’s your money. You know where the can is under the sink, that I’m working out of now. Just don’t let anyone see you get into it.”
“Oh, I won’t. And, Miss Mattie, if I’m not here when Mooney brings Deena and her mother, would you show them to the bedroom with twin beds next to the hospital room?”
“Of course I will. What else have I got to do? But why did you have a TV and a desk put in your dressing room?”
Addie didn’t know what to say. She was sure Miss Mattie wouldn’t want to know that she had been living with a ghost all the years she had been at Stonegate. “I, uh, I just needed it to be there.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
“You’re not prying, Miss Mattie. I’m probably a little weird too.”
Mattie just shrugged her shoulders as she took her cup and saucer to the sink. Addie was afraid she had offended the woman.
“When do you want us to go to South Street? We could probably run over there before Mooney brings the Castles.”
“We could do it now. Just get me some boxes from the pantry.”
“Great! I can’t wait to see it. I’ll tell William that we’re going.”
They pulled around to the back door of the South Street house in Mattie’s car. The trunk was loaded with boxes of food – some for the freezer, some for the refrigerator and cabinets, and a large basket of those delicious smelling rolls.
From the eggs, butter, fresh milk, even a jar of catsup, mustard, and mayonnaise that they found in the refrigerator, they knew that Della had done her extra shopping and had already been there. Addie was glad there had been two keys to the doors.
The house was all that Addie had hoped it would be, and Mattie was thoroughly enjoying examining each room whose furnishings she had helped Della to select. “It’s just perfect,” she said to Addie. “I’ve never seen pictures in magazines that looked any bet
ter.”
Addie thought so too. It was sparkling clean, smelling fresh and a little of furniture polish. A single bed had been placed in the small apartment, along with a comfortable recliner, a chest and lamp, and a TV. If Donnie’s gramps wanted to stay, they could finish furnishing it, or he may have furniture of his own that he would want to bring, Addie thought.
The large front bedroom on the right of the entrance hall had been furnished for Donnie’s mother, Denise, she believed her mother had said her name was. The two small back bedrooms had been furnished as one for Donnie since they had a connecting door. The back one held only a queen size bed and a bedside table and lamp. The middle one held a chest of drawers, a desk and chair, even a desk pad and matching waste basket had been found, and a love seat and floor lamp.
They ended up in the living room. “Oh, Miss Mattie, those draperies just fit these tall windows perfectly, and they are just right for that sofa and chair.”
“And I thought we did a good job choosing the other chair. It doesn’t look bad at all, does it?”
“Looks like it was made to go with the sofa and its chair. And I like those tables and lamps. You and mama did well, and I appreciate your helping her so much.”
“And that rug sets everything off just right, and, Addie, I enjoyed helping Della. I haven’t had so much enjoyment in - I don’t know when. I’m just so glad you came into my life, and the life of Stonegate,” she said hugging Addie around the shoulder.
When they were back at the mansion Addie said, “Miss Mattie, I promised mama I would come by the house sometime today. There is something she wants to talk to me about. If you don’t mind showing Deena and Mrs. Castle their room, I’ll just run on home for a little while. I’ll eat a bite of supper with her, so you won’t have to fix for me tonight, but I’ll be back before dark.”
Back at the house, Addie found her mother sitting at the kitchen table, a cup of hot tea in front of her, elbows propped on the table, her chin cupped in her hands, and staring off in space. As she took her seat across from her, Della asked, “Do you know what keeps preying on my mind?”
The Daughters of Julian Dane Page 52