Chin Up, Honey

by Curtiss Ann Matlock

  “Okay, the second winner is…well, for heavensake. It is Emma Berry!”

  Belinda was so excited that all she said into the phone and over the air was, “That’s it for today. Bye.”

  Then she pressed the receiver button, cutting off the clapping, and dialed Emma’s number. As she did this, she looked up to see Lyle leaving with Giff. She covered the speaker with her hand to call to him, but then heard Emma’s voice over the line. She told her friend the good news and went on to say, “I’ll buy a ticket and go with you. I don’t mind at all. In fact, I’d really like to go. I’ll drive, too.”

  She was quite satisfied. She was getting a complete day away. She would get to dress up and look nice all day, and maybe she could get her consciousness raised and figure out a way to lure her husband back where he belonged.

  Over at the radio station, Winston said into the microphone, “Let me see what we have in the prize vault.”

  Jim Rainwater set off a squeaking door. He and Winston looked at each other with the glee of two boys with a new toy.

  Holding out the paper to read, Winston said, “Here’s one…a gift certificate for a half-hour therapeutic body massage by Oralee Beaumont down at the newly opened Body Beautiful Salon and Day Spa. This gift certificate goes to the first caller to give me the name of Hoyt Axton’s mother and the famous song she wrote. While we take your calls, here’s Hoyt singin’ ‘In a Young Girl’s Mind.’”

  Vella Blaine’s Land Rover sat in an old drive a quarter of a mile up the hill from the radio station, with its four doors open wide and Hoyt Axton’s voice singing out of the radio in the dash. Vella, on a blanket with Jaydee in the shade of an elm tree, brought out her cell phone and dialed the radio station.

  “Hello, Jim,” she said, when the young man’s voice came over the line. “The answer is Mae Axton, who was co-author of ‘Heartbreak Hotel.’”

  Jim Rainwater replied that he didn’t know if he could take her call, since it wasn’t on the radio station line. “And anyway, I don’t know if you’re right. I’ll have to ask Winston, and he’s in the bathroom.”

  “I know I am right,” Vella told the young man. “Hoyt was born right over there in Duncan, and my family knew Mae’s. I’ll come by and get my gift certificate this afternoon. Thanks.” She clicked off.

  Chuckling, Jaydee shook his head as he passed her a glass of wine. “You are a woman mighty certain of herself.”

  “At my age, I cannot waste time being uncertain.” She touched her glass to his in a salute. Wine and it wasn’t even noon. Mercy!

  They kissed, and Vella felt Jaydee’s hand slip beneath the hem of her skirt and run upward on her thigh. She asked him what he thought he was doing. He said he thought he would find out if she was wearing panties. She told him that he was acting like a schoolboy. He said he had never felt more of a man in his life.

  “Vella, darlin’, I think I may have finally grown up enough to enjoy myself…and I’ll tell you somethin’—for the first time in my life, I think I know what love is.”

  Hearing the words “darlin’” and “love” mentioned close together, Vella lost some of her good sense.

  Vince Gill’s voice floated out from the Land Rover’s radio, and they laughed and kissed, and in between talked about a business deal to use Jaydee’s money to build a housing development on the eighty acres of land spreading out from where they lay and which Vella owned. They enjoyed themselves as only two people can who are in the twilight of their lives and have learned how to live in the moment, and how to give unconditionally.

  They were also two people who did not particularly hear too well any longer. They did not hear the faint noise from the old abandoned and dilapidated house some distance up the hill, nor the whisper of the tall grass as something moved through it.

  Then, quite suddenly, Vella looked over Jaydee’s shoulder and saw that her Land Rover appeared to be moving. It was actually rolling backward!

  Letting out a scream, she thrust aside a startled Jaydee, hopped to her feet and began chasing her beloved vehicle, which picked up speed down the incline, while Garth Brooks’ voice sang out from the radio.

  “Stop! Stop!” Vella yelled in her panic.

  The vehicle did not obey. It did stay in the ruts of the old drive all the way to the bottom, where it rolled within two feet of the radio-station building and stopped. It was as if an angel had put out a hand and stayed disaster. Had the vehicle continued on, it would have ploughed into the studio’s concrete block wall and picture window, where Winston sat on the other side.

  As it was, Winston, upon seeing Jim Rainwater glance around and go wide-eyed and Willie Lee get to his feet, turned and looked out to see the back end of the car in front of his eyes, and Vella standing there with her hand on her chest, her blouse partially displaying her black bra.

  His first thought was of Vella having a heart attack, and he just about gave himself one as he got to his feet without even thinking that he had any joint problems, and hurried out and around the building. He found not only Vella but Jaydee there, too, his hand on the hood of the vehicle and trying to catch his breath. The man’s shirt was hanging out of his trousers. Winston surmised there was no heart attack involved.

  “I suggest you both get yourselves put back to rights,” he told them sharply, annoyed as all get-out at the sight, and pointing to the people hurrying over from MacCoy’s Feed and Grain.

  Then, with Willie Lee bringing his cane, he went back into the radio station to give a report of the near-accident. After that, he told Jim Rainwater to put on a couple of gospel tunes.

  Fifteen minutes later, after a lot of discussion as to how the Land Rover had managed to roll down the hill, and innuendo as to what Vella had done or failed to do, Vella and Jaydee drove back up to collect their blanket, wine and picnic basket.

  Underneath the tree, they found their blanket, wine and glasses, but the picnic basket was missing. Jaydee thought Vella must have put the basket back into the Land Rover before the incident. She knew she had not done so and was not surprised that Jaydee didn’t find it there. He then made the suggestion that it might have fallen out of the vehicle during the wild ride down the hill. Firmly convinced this had not happened, she did agree to search the hillside.

  The basket was not found. The circumstances appeared plain to Vella. She had not forgotten to put the Land Rover into park, nor had the transmission somehow failed.

  “It was a calculated diversion so as to get the picnic basket of food,” she said.

  “Well, maybe,” said Jaydee, far from the full conviction that Vella required.

  “It was. And I don’t think I like it that you made the immediate assumption that I had been forgetful and caused the whole thing.” It fell all over her that her knight in shining armor had turned out to be a frog.

  She started the Land Rover, and Jaydee had to be quick to get into the passenger side. He knew he had made a grave error, and all the way to the sheriff’s office, he employed every bit of his attorney’s persuasion skills to get himself back into her good graces.

  In the small radio studio, Winston was crammed into the corner in his chair, making room for his guest.

  “We are here at 1550 AM on the radio dial, chattin’ with Miz Lillian Jennings, a retired history professor. Welcome again, Miz Jennings. Glad to have you with us this mornin’. Now, for the benefit of the people who may have just joined us, tell us again why Oklahoma is a Southern State.”

  “Thank you, Winston. I’m delighted to be here. As I was sayin’, the South as defined politically by the Congressional Quarterly is the eleven original Confederate States, plus Kentucky and Oklahoma. While Oklahoma is very Western, the heritage of this state is distinctly Southern in history, linguistics and tradition. This is a natural result of the westward expansion process that made this entire nation. Quite early in the process we see that the Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw Indian tribes were pushed off their lands in North and South Carolina and Georgia, because the whit
es stole their property when gold was found on it. Now…”

  Winston loved to hear Miz Lillian talk. It was not so much what she said, because he tended to get bored with all the details the woman insisted on putting forth, but he was enamored with her smooth tone and cultured drawl. The sound of her voice rolled over him like a lazy river on a hot day.

  However—he frowned as he gazed at her mouth near the microphone—that arresting, melodious voice came out of the ugliest pair of lips upon which he had ever laid eyes. Thin and wrinkled like an accordion, they had black hairs sticking out over them. It was a revolting sight. He could not imagine why the woman didn’t shave.

  But as her seductive voice f lowed on, Winston began to be mesmerized. Right before his eyes, her lips changed to those of a young and beautiful woman, all soft and full and red.

  Winston became so spellbound that he rested his chin in his hand, and when it was time to take a break and play an advertisement, Jim Rainwater had to practically pull out a red f lag to get his attention. This happened several times, and each time that Winston saw the real Miz Lillian, he got disappointed all over again.

  Then he recalled Belinda’s telephoned radio spot. That was the answer. In the future, he would interview Miz Lillian by telephone.

  Winston moved the microphone as far out and low as it would go, and Willie Lee did the sign-off for that day’s show.

  “Mis-ter Hoyt Ax-ton said ‘Jer-e-mi-ah Wass a Bull-frog,’ and to clo-ose out to-day’s show we will pla-ay his so-ong. This is fro-om Wil-lie Lee to Gab-by. Mis-ter Win-ston says remem-ber Is-ai-ah for-ty-one ten.”

  Winston helped Willie Lee by holding up fingers for the numbers. By the time Willie Lee got it all said, a lot of listeners were sort of leaning toward their radios and having the urge to help him. Those who followed the show every day smiled and thought Willie Lee was improving.

  Willie Lee thought he was, too. He felt very proud of himself. When they left the radio station, he stood up tall and pushed Mr. Winston in his wheelchair down the short-but-bumpy gravel drive to the paved road, and then to the IGA Grocery. He was certain that he was growing, because he could see over Mr. Winston’s head pretty good.

  While Mr. Winston went inside the grocery store to talk to Mr. Juice Tinsley, who owned the IGA, and see if he could get some more advertising money out of him, Willie Lee chose to sit out front on a bench, and watch people come and go from the store and on the road.

  While he was there, the boy, Nicky, who he had now met twice, once in the drugstore and once when walking home one day, came along. With Nicky was another boy who looked just like him, and who was pushing a crying baby in a stroller.

  “Hey, Willie Lee,” Nicky said when the two got close.

  “Hel-lo.” He tried not to stare, but he puzzled over the other boy looking so much like Nicky, and that the baby was having what Willie Lee’s mother would have called a hissy-fit. He knew quickly that something was wrong with it. The next instant, Munro went right to the baby, standing right in front of the stroller, bringing it to a halt.

  The baby stopped crying and gazed at Munro, who cocked his head. The stroller was real old and beat up, not at all like the pretty one Willie Lee’s mother had for his little sister, Victoria. And the baby’s shirt was stained. And the baby did not smell sweet like his little sister, either.

  “This is Willie Lee and his dog I told you about,” Nicky told the boy who looked just like him. “This is my sister Nina.”

  “Nicky! What are you…?” The girl, who looked like a tough boy, yelled and startled Willie Lee.

  “Willie Lee’s okay…aren’t you, Willie Lee?” Nicky went to petting Munro.

  “I gu-ess I am. Hel-lo,” he said to Nina, wondering at her being a girl. But then the baby started fussing again. Willie Lee knelt beside Munro and regarded the baby. “The baby is sick.”

  “She’s got a fever,” said Nicky. “She’s gettin’ some new teeth, is all. We come to get her some cold juice.”

  Willie Lee reached out to take her hand.

  “Hey…get your paws off my sister!” said the girl.

  Willie Lee, focused on the baby, kept hold of her hand and looked into her teary baby eyes. She quit crying and blinked. “Hel-lo,” Willie Lee said softly.

  The next instant the stroller and baby were jerked backward. “You don’t need to go touchin’ my sister. You might give her whatever’s wrong with you.” The girl pushed the stroller on toward the store doorway, and Willie Lee saw a long braid hanging down her back. He thought of Miz Belinda’s story on the radio.

  Nicky said, “Sorry,” and hurried after his sisters.

  Willie Lee scooted himself up onto the bench again. He had sat there about two minutes when there came Nicky out the doors, pushing the crying baby on the run. He came straight to Willie Lee and said, “Do what you did before.”

  Willie Lee and Munro got in front of the baby, and Willie Lee took her hand. The baby stopped crying. Willie Lee held her hand for some minutes, and gradually he began to grin and so did the baby. She showed five teeth.

  “She is bet-ter now,” Willie Lee said.

  Nicky looked at him, tilted his head and squinted his eyes. “What do you got—you and yor dog? Some magic powers?”

  Willie Lee looked downward and shrugged. He was not supposed to let strangers see what he could do. His mother told him not to.

  Just then, he was relieved to see Mrs. Berry come walking past out of the store. She was toting three heavy bags. He hopped up and asked if he could carry one for her. He wished he could talk faster, but Mrs. Berry was handing him a bag before he finished and thanking him for his help. She smiled at him like she always did. A lot of people would pretend not to see him, but Mrs. Berry always smiled and said, “Hello, Willie Lee.”

  Then she looked at the baby and Nicky. “That’s sure a fine baby you two boys have got there. What is her name?”

  Nicky mumbled, “Lucy.”

  “Did you say Lucy?” Mrs. Berry said.

  “Yeah,” Nicky mumbled, glancing up at her. He was red in the face.

  “Ah…that means light.” As if knowing Mrs. Berry had said something nice, the baby smiled big at her, and Mrs. Berry talked to her silly, like people were always talking to Willie Lee’s little sister.

  Behind her, Willie Lee saw the girl, Nina, come out of the store, see them, and turn and go back inside.

  Mrs. Berry said to Nicky, “I think we’ve met before. Maybe I know your parents.”

  “No.” Nicky shook his head. “We just come this week to visit our uncle. He lives down there a ways.” He pointed in a general direction. “I just took Lucy for a walk, while our mom made lunch. I come last year, too, though, and met Willie Lee…ain’t that right, Willie Lee?”

  Willie Lee was startled. “Ye-s.” He nodded slowly, feeling his face warm. He had lied.

  Nicky said, “I guess I’d better get along now. My mom probably has lunch finished,” and walked rapidly away pushing the stroller.

  Willie Lee noticed Mrs. Berry looking after Nicky. He could feel a great dial in her head going around. But then Mrs. Berry headed for her car, and he went along, carrying the groceries. She thanked him for his help and gave him a dollar. He couldn’t take it, though. He felt so badly about lying. He shook his head and walked back to the grocery store, where Mr. Winston was now waiting for him. He looked around but did not see the girl, Nina.

  23

  Cold Feet, Now and Then

  Johnny was able to cut out of work a half an hour early. He drove over to Gracie’s apartment and went up the stairs two at a time. To his good fortune and delight, it was Gracie, not her mother, who answered the door.

  He grabbed her and pulled her outside. She started to speak, but he kissed her, with the wonderful result that she put her arms around his neck and returned his kiss in a manner that made him dizzy. When he finally came up for air, he could hardly see.

  “Man,” he said, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. “I sure wish
this wedding was over and done with.”

  “Johnny Berry, this is the single most important time of our lives, and you are wishing it away,” she said, scolding, but ending with a smile and stroking her fingernail along his temple. “We won’t ever get married again. This is for once and always, and we need to celebrate.”

  “That’s what I would like to do—celebrate,” he teased, and kissed her neck.

  Just then the door opened, and there was Gracie’s mother.

  Johnny instantly dropped his hands from Gracie and even took a step backward.

  Her mother frowned at Johnny, then said to Gracie, “I couldn’t figure out where you went. Nicole is on the phone for you.”

  Johnny would have left, but before he knew it, Gracie had dragged him inside, then left him standing there while she went into the bedroom to answer the phone. He didn’t know what to do. The apartment seemed like a completely strange place with Gracie’s mother there. He couldn’t seem to make himself cross the room to sit on the couch. He got as far as the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen and propped his arm on it.

  Gracie’s mother was over at the dining table, where she had set herself up with a notebook computer, printer and fax machine. Gracie had said that her mother was working from the apartment in the same manner that she worked from anywhere that she traveled.

  All of a sudden Sylvia Kinney spoke to him. “I understand that you are going to have a bachelor party tomorrow night.”

  He started to answer, and his voice squeaked. He cleared his throat and said, “Not really a party. Just some of the guys are gettin’ together to play pool and stuff. Kim’s husband and some others, while the girls are havin’ the bridal shower.” His foot started itching.

  “I see. Well, have a good time.”

  “Yeah…we will, I imagine. Thanks.”

  She looked him up and down, and he realized he was rubbing the toe of his left boot on the back of his right pants leg. He lowered his foot to the floor, slowly, trying to act nonchalant.