by Mary Salyers
The movie, Adam’s Rib, starred Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Maggie sat spellbound at the action which seemed to happen right in front of her. She found the scenes in the courtroom fascinating, having never actually witnessed a trial. Hepburn’s argument in court that women had rights impressed her most. While she did a lot of laughing, she also found a lot to think about. For one thing, it had never occurred to her that a woman could be a lawyer. I guess there’s lots in this world I don’t know about.
When they came out of the theater, the street lights cast shadows on the sidewalk. Bud looked at his watch. “I think we can get you home by your deadline, Maggie, if JD don’t fool around too much.”
They had a demanding drive over mountainous roads and had to go all the way into town to take the girls and Bud home. JD, wasting no time, whipped around curves with his tires squealing. They laughed together as they shared their impressions of the movie and ate the cookies Maggie had brought for the wiener roast. “Boy, I really like to died when he put that gun in his mouth and then bit the barrel off.” Kenny laughed.
“I liked the part where she came into the courtroom wearing his wife’s new hat. The look on his face.” Wanda put her palms together as if she were about to applaud.
About halfway home, Bud tapped Maggie on the shoulder. “Did you like the movie, Maggie? Glad you came?”
“I enjoyed it a lot, but I may not be so glad tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry about it, Cuz.” JD leaned forward to look at Maggie. “If Aunt Corie Mae gets mad, I’ll tell her it was my idea.”
As soon as they had dropped Bud and the girls at their homes in town, Maggie turned to JD. “Finish telling about Grandpa and the snakes.”
JD nodded. “The snakes came later after they had a lot more singing and shouting and several people got up and gave their testimonies. Finally, one of the preachers got up and read from the Bible where it says people will take up serpents and drink poison.”
“That’s really in the Bible?” Maggie couldn’t believe it.
“Yeah, it also says they can touch fire and it won’t burn them.”
“I don’t believe that. Where does it say that in the Bible?”
“I don’t know, Kenny. You’ll have to ask Grandpa. Then this preacher got to preaching like Grandpa does, talking real loud and fast and saying ‘Huh’ at the end of every sentence. He paced around on the platform, sometimes hopped along on one foot. Finally, he come down from the pulpit and opened one of the boxes and took out two big snakes. One was reddish and the other was dark brown. They was both about four foot long.”
“Was you scared?” Maggie held her hands in front of her face as if blocking the scene from her sight.
“Not really, but I prepared to get out of there fast if he dropped one on the floor.”
“Did he just hold them out at arm’s length, or what?” Kenny sat up close with his arms on the back of the front seat.
“He put the snakes around his neck and let them curl around his arms, and all this time, he was still preaching. Then another one of the preachers opened a box and took out a snake so big he could barely reach his fingers around it. Then a whole bunch of people, mostly men, but one or two women, come up and stood in a circle, and they handed the snakes back and forth. That’s when Grandpa went up, and somebody handed two snakes to him. Some people would just hold them a minute and pass them on; others would dance around holding them up to their faces, even kissing them.”
Maggie shivered. “What’d Grandpa do when he had them?”
“He didn’t keep them very long but held them in front of his face like he was talking to them while he was speaking in tongues.”
“You’d never catch me picking up a snake, much less dancing around and kissing it.” Kenny leaned back in his seat. “Sounds crazy to me.”
“To me it makes about as much sense as being at the county fair and calling it church.” Maggie was still holding herself stiff, pushed back against the door. “Were all the snakes poison?”
“I asked Grandpa about that, and he said they was. He said some scoffers claim that the handlers have removed their fangs, but that ain’t true. He said he had saw one feller get bit once, and later the man died cause he refused to get any medical help. I guess that’s why it’s against the law in most states to handle snakes.”
“Well, it’s sure against my law.” Maggie shivered again. “Don’t want snakes nowhere near me.” She turned to JD, “Do all Pentecostal churches practice snake handling?”
“No. Grandpa said they’s only a few churches left that do it since it’s illegal. He said he only knows of one in Tennessee.”
When Maggie walked into the front room, her mother sat at her sewing machine making a dress for Jeannie from some material Lottie had given her when she went to the funeral. She looked up briefly, “Did you have a good time?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, you better get to bed. We got a lotta work to do tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, Mama.” Maggie leaned over to plant a kiss on the top of her mother’s head. “Thanks for letting me go.”
“You done a lotta work while I was gone. I ‘preciate it.”
Maggie climbed the stairs hanging her head in shame. After she got into bed, the scenes from the movie kept running through her mind. She finally drifted off to sleep and dreamed she sat at the defendant’s table, accused of lying. When the judge said “Guilty as charged” and slammed down his gavel, Maggie woke with a start. She couldn’t go back to sleep. She heard the rooster crowing and knew it was about time to get up anyway.
* * *
In the weeks before school started, they canned more fruits and vegetables and dug white potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots. They put apples in the sun to dry, set onions on newspapers to dry in the smokehouse, and made a big crock of kraut. They filled the barn loft with fresh hay, and Ray and the boys had started digging a foundation for the wellhouse where they would eventually install the pump and pressure tank.
On the Friday evening before school started, Maggie decided to approach her parents about the gym suit. Corie Mae sat at the kitchen table making button holes in a shirt for Johnny Ray, and Ray sat in the porch swing smoking his pipe. She joined her father in the swing, enjoying the long twilight of the late summer evening. She breathed in the smoke from his pipe and tasted it in her mouth. The odors of sweat and horse rose from his clothes and mingled with the swirling pipe smoke. They rocked slowly in the swing for several minutes while Ray puffed on his pipe.
“I need you to get the box of last year’s books for me. JD’s going to take me to town tomorrow to buy books for all you kids. I can sell back any that you kids don’t need.” Ray took a puff on his pipe. “I heard the state is talking about passing a law to provide all the books for school children. That’d be a big help. Buying books for five students takes a lot a money, especially if I can’t buy used ones.”
“I wanted to talk to you about that,” Maggie said, heart racing and chest tight as a drum. “You know I’ll have to take gym class this year, and they expect all us girls to have a gym suit.”
“Where do you have to get it at?”
“I think they sell them at Montgomery’s Five and Ten where they sell the books.”
“Tell me what size to get. Do you have the list of the classes you signed up for?”
She couldn’t believe her father would agree to buy the gym suit with no argument. “Me and Mama made out the list yesterday of what grade all the kids is in and what classes I’m taking. It’s in the box of books right behind the front door.”
Maggie listened to the crickets and the jar flies for a few minutes as a slight breeze cooled her cheeks, and a whippoorwill sang in the distance. In the dimming light she could barely see the fragrant smoke from her father’s pipe swirling around his head. She took a deep breath. “Daddy, I was afraid you and Mama wouldn’t want me to wear shorts in gym.”
Ray took his pipe out of his mouth. “Do you wan
t to wear shorts?”
“I want to wear what everyone else wears. I don’t want to take gym in a dress. That’d be real embarrassing.”
Ray leaned over and knocked the ashes out of his pipe on the porch rail. “Then I guess we’ll just have to buy the gym suit.”
“But what’ll Mama say? You know she don’t let us girls wear jeans or pants, much less shorts.”
“I guess we can talk her into it.”
Maggie stood, leaned over her father, and kissed him on the forehead. “Thanks, Daddy. I love you.”
“Goodnight, Sunshine.”
* * *
On Sunday afternoon, Aunt Lillian and Maggie came up the steps onto the porch where Ray and Corie Mae sat in the swing. Maggie had been playing ball at Kenny’s barn when Aunt Lillian had come to offer to cut her hair.
Maggie pulled a couple of chairs from the front room so they could all sit on the porch. Maggie saw Corie Mae was still upset. She had objected loudly when she saw the blue gym suit among the books Ray had brought in yesterday afternoon.
“Now, Corie Mae.” Ray had spoken gently. “You don’t want the kids to make fun of Maggie, do you?”
“I don’t believe in women showing their legs like no damn crane!”
Maggie gasped. She had never heard her mother swear. She saw the corners of her father’s mouth twitch, and for a moment his eyes twinkled. “Corie Mae, what do you expect Maggie to tell the gym teacher?”
“Tell them her mother won’t allow it. If they won’t believe her, I’ll go tell them myself.” Her voice broke, and she seemed on the edge of tears.
“Now, Corie Mae, we ain’t going to make trouble.” Ray put his hand on Corie Mae’s shoulder. “We’ll just have to go along. The gym class is all girls, and the teacher’s a woman. I asked about that when I bought the books. It’s not like she’s going to be showing her legs to a bunch of boys.” Ray spoke in a calm voice, but when Corie Mae opened her mouth to protest, he held up his hand and shook his head. “This is how it’s going to be. Maggie will have the gym suit.” And then he had walked out to the wood pile and chopped wood for a long time.
Now Maggie saw her mother’s rigid jaw, her lips jammed together tightly. She had refused to go to church, and she hadn’t said a word to Maggie.
“Did you get all those taters dug yesterday?” Aunt Lillian asked.
“Sure did.” Ray stretched his arms above his head. “I think we’ve got more food in our root cellar right now than ever before. After that terrible storm back in May washed out so much of the corn, I feared it wouldn’t be a good year. But we’re really blessed.”
“Are you okay, Corie Mae? Maggie said you didn’t go to church this morning.”
Corie Mae turned angry eyes toward Maggie, then gave her sister-in-law an icy look before nodding. A shudder ran up Maggie’s spine. She had a tight feeling in her chest. That look from her mother seemed to cut her like a knife. No way will she allow me to cut my hair.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, Ray pointed to the box Aunt Lillian held. “What you got there?”
“Just some hair stuff.” She opened the box and held up a pair of scissors and a comb. “I offered to cut Maggie’s hair, but she said Corie Mae would have to give her permission.” She looked at Corie Mae expectantly.
“No!” Corie Mae turned to Maggie. “You’re just trying to find another way to go against me. You’ve been kicking over the traces all summer long.” She stood and walked to Maggie, bending over so her face was inches away. “Nothing’s good enough for you, little Miss Smarty Pants. First, it was store-bought underwear cause you’re too good to wear what I make for you. Then it was going to a mixed party where boys and girls could do heaven knows what, and you plan to parade around in shorts–all against my will. Now you want to cut your hair like some harlot.”
She turned and stood over Ray, her balled up fists on her hips, “And you’ve took her side against me ever’ time. Well, I ain’t going to put up with it no more.” She stepped back to Maggie, “No, Miss High and Mighty, you ain’t cutting your hair!” She slapped Maggie across the face.
Lillian jumped to her feet. “No, Corie Mae! She ain’t done nothing wrong. I’m the one suggested it.”
Meanwhile, Ray had grabbed Corie Mae’s hands and led her back to the swing. She sat down and began sobbing into her apron.
Maggie stood and went inside the house, moving like a zombie. Her mother had whipped her a few times with a switch but had never slapped her. She rubbed her cheek, which still burned, climbed the steps, and fell face down on her bed.
She had doubted her mother would agree for Aunt Lillian to cut her hair, so she couldn’t say her mother’s refusal surprised her. But all the things her mother had said stung worse than the slap. What would she do if she knew about the movie? She lay on her stomach with her head buried in her pillow and cried until, exhausted from the shock and weeping, she finally fell asleep.
Maggie roused when she felt hands on her back. She rolled over and saw Ray sitting on the bed beside her. The dim light made her realize she needed to do chores. She sat up, rubbed her face, and looked at her father.
“You okay?” He touched her cheek.
“I guess.” Maggie started to stand, but he put his hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back down. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I didn’t mean to go to sleep. I’ve got to milk the cows.”
“That’s okay, Sunshine.” He patted her hand. “I done it already.”
Maggie’s eyes filled with tears again. “I didn’t mean to make her so upset.”
“I know you didn’t.” He put his arm around her. “Don’t feel too bad about what Corie Mae said. When she calms down, she’ll realize you’re a good daughter.”
“But Daddy, I’m really not such a good daughter.” She hung her head. “You recollect a couple weeks ago when I said I went to the weenie roast with JD and Kenny? We didn’t go to the Lewises. We met three of JD’s friends in town and went to a movie.” The tears began trickling down her cheeks again.
Ray sat closer to her and held her while she sobbed. “Sunshine, I’m not glad to hear you deceived your mother, but I still think you’re a good daughter. Now’s not a good time, so we won’t say nothing to Corie Mae about the movie.” He squeezed her shoulder again and said, “Come on now, let’s see a smile.”
“She never hit me like that before.” Maggie hiccupped from her sobbing. “And she called me a harlot.”
“I’m sorry, honey. I should of stopped her sooner.” Ray stood and pulled Maggie to her feet. “Now go down and wash your face. Then go over to Lillian’s and get your hair cut.”
Maggie looked up to see if he was joking. “Mama won’t like it.”
“I’ve worked it out with Corie Mae. She won’t stop you. Go on over there if you really want to get your hair cut.”
“You’re sure?”
“Go. You ain’t got all night.” Ray grinned and gave her a little push toward the stairs.
Maggie turned and put her arms around him. “Thank you, Daddy. You’ve been really good to me this summer.”
Ray kissed the top of her head. “You deserve to be treated good. You’re a good girl. Now get out of here!”
* * *
“Hey, I love your hair cut!” Mary Ann raved when she saw Maggie during lunch hour on the first day of school.
“Thanks. Aunt Lillian cut it last night and pin-curled it. Called it a page boy cut. I’ve had hair half way down my back so long, I keep reaching up to push my braids over my shoulder.”
Mary Ann pointed to the bandage on Maggie’s arm. “What happened to your arm?”
“I burnt it taking the biscuits out of the stove this morning.”
“Does it hurt much?”
“Yeah, it hurts, but it’s not near so bad as the burn Junior got.”
“What happened?”
The two girls sat on the steps to the parking lot. They had had no classes together all morning, so this was the first time they could talk. I
t had been a terrible morning, starting when her father gently shook her awake and told her to get up and cook breakfast. Corie Mae had one of her sick headaches. She hadn’t had one all summer, but when she got one, it meant she would stay in bed for three days. No one could slam a door, talk loud, or let light into her room. She would lie in the darkened room with a damp cloth over her eyes.
Ray had told Maggie he would do the milking. “I’ve made the fire in the cook stove. You make the biscuits and get the oatmeal on, and then roust out the kids.”
“So I had the oatmeal all done and had just opened up the oven to take out the biscuits when Johnny Ray come running into the kitchen yelling at Junior.” Maggie pushed her hair behind her ear. “I turned to tell him to be quiet and wasn’t watching what I was doing. My arm hit the side of the oven, and I dropped the pan of biscuits. The pan landed upside down and I got this burn.”
“But how did Junior get burned?”
“Betty Lou was carrying the bowls of hot oatmeal to the table. Junior had Johnny Ray’s new pencil, and Johnny Ray wanted to get it back. While running to keep Johnny Ray from catching him, Junior bumped into Betty Lou, and the hot oatmeal spilled across his face and down his chest and arm. It’s just lucky it didn’t go in his eye. He screamed like a wild panther. Of course, Mama heard him and tried to get up. That made her throw up all over the bed. It was a real madhouse for a while. I’m surprised we got ready in time to catch the bus.”
“So how bad a burn did Junior get?”
“Before I could get the oatmeal wiped off him, huge blisters had come up all down the side of his face and on his arm. It even made blisters through his shirt. Daddy had Stuart go get Grandma. She mixed castor oil and egg white together and put that all over his burns and bandaged him up.
The bell rang, and Mary Ann stood up. “I bet you won’t never forget your first day of high school!”