Different Drummers

by Jean Houghton-Beatty

  He walked among the kneeling people, laying his hands on the head of each one. “Lord Jesus, bless this sinner.”

  Kathleen felt something twist deep inside her as Otis turned from the stage and looked directly at her. Then, with shoulders hunched like an animal stalking his prey, he crept up the aisle toward her. When he stopped beside her, she sat tense and still, staring straight ahead.

  His voice rose once again to hysterical pitch as he placed his hands on either side of her head and moved it slowly from side to side.

  “Brothers and sisters, you see beside me a true sinner. She’s a Papist, a Catholic, and comes from far across the sea. Just the other day, she flat out told me she didn’t know the meanin’ of them wondrous words, to be saved and to be born again.”

  Kathleen’s face burned as people turned in their seats and craned their necks to get a better look.

  “Now, you think on that awhile,” Otis said after a loaded pause. “You think of that big empty space in your life if you hadn’t been born again, didn’t even know what the words meant.” His clammy hands trembled with excitement as they gripped Kathleen’s head. Then he lowered them and reached for her hand.

  “I’m gonna lead her down to the front where we’ll all pray for her eternal soul. It’ll be up to us to make her see the light.”

  The unnerving look of ecstasy on his sweating face contorted his features, and she could smell his stale breath as he leaned toward her.

  “Come, girl. Let’s you and me walk the glory road together.”

  Her ears began to sing but her fixed smile didn’t waver as she pushed his hand away. She didn’t miss the flash of anger in his wild eyes as he placed his hands again on her head, one on each side, pressing hard until she felt he would crush her skull. He tried to raise her out of her chair by pulling her up by the head.

  “Lord Jesus, save this unfortunate sinner. Bring her into the fold.”

  He pulled her head over to his chest and the buttons on his jacket pressed into her cheek. “Cast out them Catholic demons, Kathleen, and come on down to the front. Jesus and eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven is no more than a short walk away.”

  The congregation became a blur as Kathleen wriggled free from his grip, then held on to the seat in front as she wobbled to her feet.

  “Get out of my way,” she hissed through clenched teeth, “get out of my way.”

  Startled, he backed off, giving her enough room to get through.

  “Go to hell, Otis,” was all she could think to say as she pushed passed him on legs of straw, walked up the aisle and out of the church.

  She took deep gulps of the sweet-scented air, as she made her way down the long church path and onto the road, unaware of even the direction she was taking. About five minutes passed before she became dimly conscious of Freddie Conroy’s truck driving slowly alongside her.

  He stopped and opened the door on the passenger side. “You feel like ridin’ a while?” he asked.

  “You’re as white as a sheet,” he said as she climbed in silently. “Todd’s ain’t open on a Sunday so let’s get a Coke at my house.”

  He waited until she had closed the door then eased away from the curb. “Land sakes,” he muttered, almost to himself. “I ain’t never seen the like.”

  Kathleen hardly heard him. “How dare he do that to me,” she said, her face working anxiously. “How could he humiliate me like that in front of all those people?”

  Freddie fiddled with his rear view mirror before he answered, as if searching for the right words.

  “Otis, well, he is sort of strange, I gotta grant you that, and I have to say he came on to you pretty strong in there. He thinks he’s been handpicked to save the world. He’s always been hooked on Jesus, ever since he had his callin’ years ago. I go to that church to please Momma. She hangs on his every word. She says he’s done a power of good for people round here in need of the Lord.”

  Kathleen looked straight ahead. “I’m not saying he hasn’t. But that doesn’t mean he can press my skull so hard I see stars, or speak to me as if I’m not even human. When he grabbed me like he did, I just wanted to die.”

  She looked at Freddie’s serious face as he turned the car into his driveway. “You’re not going to let this affect our friendship are you? So far, you’re the only friend I’ve got around here.”

  He switched off the ignition then turned to face her. The gentleness of his gaze was unexpected. “Of course I’m not. Come on, let’s go in and get that Coke.”

  Kathleen noticed the floor plan of Freddie’s house was identical to the house on Bennington Street, but the similarity ended there. This house was light and airy, with pretty curtains at the windows. They sat in the spotless kitchen and drank their Cokes.

  Freddie asked her questions about England as he made an obvious effort to calm her. She told him all about Chester and her family, the bakery, the way she’d loved to go dancing at the Rialto. And all the while, her brain hammered with questions that had no solutions. What would Otis Conroy have to say when she went back to the house on Bennington Street and how in the name of God could she possibly spend another night in that house without Bob.

  She sipped her Coke. “Thanks for taking me under your wing, Freddie. I honestly don’t know what I’ve have done without you.”

  “Don’t even think about it. Any fool could see you’ve been dying inside ever since you got here. When I dropped you off at Bobby’s house that first day, you looked like you could’ve fainted clean away. I don’t know what you expected but I could see it wasn’t that. You ain’t got no friends here yet, and being so far away from home and all…”

  His voice trailed away as he pushed his chair back from the table, picked up their empty glasses and took them to the sink.

  “What about you?” Kathleen asked. “Surely you have a girlfriend or two tucked around Eddisville somewhere?”

  He grinned self-consciously. “I date Mary Mayhew some, but it’s nothin’ serious. You met her brother, Johnny, the guy behind the counter in Todd’s.”

  * * *

  Half an hour later, when Freddie turned into the Conroy’s driveway, a bright red Studebaker convertible was parked next to Otis’s old car.

  “That’s Bob’s car! He’s home, Freddie! Bob’s come home!” She jumped down from the truck and ran into the house, leaving a smiling Freddie to back his truck out of the driveway and head back down Bennington Street.

  She hardly noticed Otis’s stern, disapproving face, or Selma standing beside him. She had eyes only for her handsome husband, his face weary from his long drive, his hair flopping across his forehead. She stood in the doorway, drinking in the sight of him, and then walked into his arms.

  “You’ve come at last,” she said softly. “I was beginning to think you’d never get here.”

  His arms went around her, holding her close. “Hello, Baby,” he said, stroking her hair. “I came as fast as I could. I drove straight through, hardly even stoppin’ for a sandwich. I couldn’t wait to see you. I ain’t thought of nothin’ else.”

  He held her at arm’s length, his eyes searching her face. “You’re just as pretty as ever, Baby.”

  She smiled and placed her hand gently on his cheek, at the same time aching for the privacy of their room. Just a few minutes to have him all to herself was all she needed.

  When Otis cleared his throat loudly, Bob colored and set her slightly away from him.

  “Daddy’s been tellin’ me about the service this mornin’ and how you didn’t seem to like it all that much.”

  “Don’t you be treatin’ this like it ain’t nothin’, Bobby,” Otis said in a shaky voice. “She blasphemed me in the church. In front of my congregation, and to my everlastin’ shame, she blasphemed me. And then, when I’d promised her salvation and eternal life in the hereafter, she turned and walked out.”

  “What do you mean, I blasphemed?” All Kathleen could remember were his hands pressing her head and the sickening humiliation of it
all.

  “You told me to go to hell. Right there in the sanctity of our church, you told the man who was trying to take you to Jesus to go to hell.”

  She pursed her lips to stem the flow of words, to stop herself from saying even a saint would have trouble coping with the likes of him.

  “I’m sorry if I offended you. I didn’t mean to. I shouldn’t have said what I did, but you took me by surprise.” She gave a slight shrug. “It’s not as blasphemous where I come from. It’s just well, more a figure of speech. Well, not quite that, but it isn’t taken as literally as it obviously is here. I didn’t want to go to the front and blurted it out without thinking.”

  Otis didn’t hear her. “You see, Bobby, you see what you married and brought into this house. You never did tell me she was a Catholic. I thought all along she was a Christian.”

  Bob’s face darkened. “No, I didn’t tell you she was a Catholic. When you’re away from this place for a long time, things like that don’t matter as much as they do here. Not everybody in the world is as gone on this stuff as you are.”

  He shuffled as if uncertain what to do next but moved closer to Kathleen. “Anyway, she’s my wife. She came all this way to be with me and I’m gonna see she’s treated right. Can’t we at least make her feel welcome?”

  He kept his arm around her as she snuggled against him.

  Selma spoke up. “Don’t you be turnin’ against Daddy too, Bobby. His congregation’s crazy about him but to his own son, he ain’t nothing. You ain’t been in the house five minutes before you’re takin’ up for Kathleen. Shoot, she ain’t one of us. Anybody can see that.”

  Kathleen cringed at the look Selma gave her, but held her tongue. This was no time to get into a verbal battle with her sister-in-law.

  Otis suddenly took a different tack, obviously not wanting to lose his son’s support.

  “OK, Selma, honey, now that’s enough. Kathleen’s Bobby’s wife, ain’t she? It’s just gonna take time.”

  He turned to Kathleen. “I guess maybe I scared you comin’ up to you like that in front of all them strangers. But you’ll see the light one day. Jesus is just waitin’ for you at that wonderful bend in the road. And I’m the one to lead you to him. Yes ma’am, I’m the very one.”

  Beulah called from the kitchen. “Dinner’s ready. Come on and eat. All of y’all are gonna feel a whole lot better after you get something in your stomachs.”

  Bobby’s eyes lit up as he saw the food on the kitchen table. “Momma, you fixed fried chicken. You knew I was comin’ today didn’t you?”

  Beulah smiled. “Yeah, I guess I did, son. I kinda had a feelin’.”

  Bob turned to Kathleen, the disagreement with his father already forgotten. “You ain’t never tasted nothin’ like Momma’s fried chicken and her rice and gravy. And these biscuits, wow. Everywhere I’ve gone I’ve looked. Even Texas. But there just ain’t no biscuits anywhere like Momma’s.”

  He grinned as he helped himself to the green beans. “I just can’t get over seeing Kathleen sitting around the table with us in this house. The last time I saw her was in England. I’ll tell you this and it ain’t no lie. If I never see that place again, it’ll be too soon for me.”

  Kathleen swung around to face him. Why had he said that? Didn’t he realize it would hurt.

  “Texas ain’t much better,” he went on cheerfully. “There’s miles and miles of nothin’. There just ain’t no place like Eddisville. Ain’t that right, Baby?”

  He put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her to him. “Don’t you just love it?”

  “I haven’t had much chance to get to know it yet,” she said. “Your cousin Freddie has turned out to be a good friend. He’s already given me a tour of the town.”

  As casually as she could, she told him about the impending interview for the job with The Eddisville Gazette. She held her breath, waiting for Otis to interrupt with his diatribe about Mr. Tate being the devil incarnate, but for reasons of his own, the man was strangely silent.

  Bob held the drumstick away from his mouth and stared at her.

  “You mean you’ve been here less than a week and already had a job offer? Now, how do you think that’s gonna look from my point of view?”

  “You won’t have any trouble finding a job.” She leaned closer to him, resisting the urge to put her head on his shoulder. “Do you have any idea what you want to do?”

  “Shoot no,” he said, then took a bite out of the chicken leg. “I just know I’m not gonna be in any big hurry. I’ve been gone a long time and there’s a heap of things I want to do before I get a job.”

  His sullen look and sharp reply caught her off guard. “I only asked, Bob. But you’re right, I suppose. It’ll take a while to get yourself adjusted.”

  Selma jumped right in, a smirk slashing her face. “You don’t know diddley-squat about men do you, Kathleen? They need to sit and think awhile. Let the poor guy settle down, for Pete’s sake.”

  Kathleen shot her a warning glance but Selma turned away.

  “I got three hundred dollars musterin’ out pay,” Bob said proudly. “I guess that’ll keep us going for a while.”

  Otis licked his greasy fingers. “That sounds like a gracious plenty, and I reckon you’ll be givin’ some of it to the church.”

  “I doubt it.” Kathleen was braver now she had Bob to back her up and dared Otis to challenge her. “We don’t own a single thing of our own. We can put some of it in the bank and save toward a home of our own.”

  * * *

  That night, while the rest of the family went to church again, Bob and Kathleen found themselves alone at last. When they made love, the bed creaked and groaned but because there was nobody in the house to hear it, they didn’t care. And afterwards, exhausted and spent with emotion, they fell asleep. When Kathleen awoke, the house was dark and silent. She propped herself up on her elbow and looked for a long time at her husband’s face, innocent as a child’s, in the waning moonlight.

  She edged gingerly out of bed, trying to soften the creak. Slipping on her robe, she made her way to the bathroom. After she’d used the toilet, she cringed at the loud flushing sound, then tiptoed back to their room. She closed the door softly, removed her robe, and slipped back into bed. Her movements woke him. Instantly aroused, he pulled her to him. The night was warm and they tossed the sheets to the floor. When they made love yet again, the bed creaked louder than ever.

  “Damn this bed,” Kathleen whispered. “Everybody’s bound to hear us.”

  “Let ‘em,” he whispered back. “It’ll give ’em somethin’ to talk about tomorra.”

  The door was in her line of vision and she dug her nails into Bob’s arms as she watched it slowly open. Not wide, but wide enough to see a face. It was Otis’s face, ghostly and white in the moonlight.

  “Bob, Bob,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “There’s somebody watching.”

  She struggled under his weight, her terrified voice growing louder.

  “A face. There’s a face at the door.”

  Bob finally turned his head, but not fast enough to see the pale face withdraw and the door silently close. He got out of bed, opened the door, and looked into the darkened hallway.

  “What in the world are you sayin’? There’s nobody there. You’re imaginin’ things. Who’d be peekin’ in on us anyway. There’s nobody in the house but the family.”

  He donned his T-shirt and shorts and left the room. She heard him open the front door and go outside. Within minutes he was back inside the house, moving about the kitchen, opening and closing the fridge.

  She lay still, nerves taut as banjo strings. If she spoke, would she start screaming? As the minutes passed, her pounding heart slowed to its normal pace. Was it possible she had imagined the whole thing? After all that had happened this day, were her nerves playing tricks? Could it be she just thought she saw her father-in-law open their bedroom door and ogle them while they made love?

  Bob returned and quietly cl
osed the door. “I’ve been outside and checked all around this house. There’s nobody out there. Boy, have you got some kind of imagination. Still and all, I’m gonna tell the family we need to start locking the front door at night.”

  Kathleen got out of bed and opened the window as wide as it would go. “Maybe I just thought I saw someone,” she said. After all, how could she accuse his father of being a Peeping Tom. “With all the excitement of you coming home, I think my imagination must be running away with me.”

  She lay back down. “I have to talk to you, Bob. I know you’ve just got home, but I’ve come over three thousand miles to be with you and this is very important to me.”

  He reached for his cigarettes. “What is it that can’t wait till mornin’?”

  “I want to move out of this house. I can’t stay here. Can’t you see we have to have a place of our own.”

  She felt him stiffen beside her. “What you talkin’ about? We can’t go movin’ out right now. Land sakes, ain’t I just come home? Besides, where we gonna go? Maybe in a year or two we’ll be able to get a place. There just ain’t no buildin’ going on round here right now.”

  “I know that. Freddie’s told me how hard it is to find a house, but anything will do.” She bit her lip to stop herself from saying anything would be better than this, but this was his home and family after all.

  “It’s my interview tomorrow. Let’s see what kind of salary Mr. Tate offers me. If I’m working for a newspaper, I’d be in the best possible place to find a house or flat if there’s one available for rent.”

  Bob stubbed out his cigarette and immediately reached for another. “And that’s another thing. I’m just not sure I want you workin’. How’s it gonna look for me? A man needs to be able to support his wife.”

  “What do you mean? I thought you’d be pleased. I’m not the sort to hang around the house, not until we have a baby anyway. You might think that three hundred dollars the army gave you is a lot of money but it’ll go nowhere. We don’t own a single thing, Bob, not even a knife and fork. We both need new clothes and if we’re lucky enough to find a place, we’ll need furniture and things.”