by Jane Gill
Luella couldn’t hear what she said. She moved closer to her mother and busied herself rubbing Momma’s elbow up and down and saying “It’s okay, Momma, it’s okay.” Before she knew it, Momma got up and tried to get to the bedroom, her skirt dripping blood. The sight of it terrified Luella. Tears filled her eyes. Just then Daddy rushed in and picked Momma up in his arms. She heard Grammy Mayetta say, “Pearl is on her way. There’s no time for the doctor.” Luella knew something really bad happened and Momma was hurt bad. She followed Daddy into the bedroom, but he pushed her out roughly and banged the door shut. Martin began to wail. Luella grabbed him around his shoulders. That night Luella had to put herself to bed. Grammy said Momma was spending the night in the hospital because she “had the flu” was all, and needed to rest for a couple of days.
Zach stopped. He put his hands on Lu’s shoulders. “Hey, hey, calm down, now,” he said, “What’s this all about, huh? You really scared of snakes, Lu?”
“Yes, oh, you don’t know.” She swallowed hard and caught her breath. “Oh, my God! I’d forgotten all about it. I was just a child. Just a little girl.” The words hurried out. She couldn’t say them fast enough. “Something happened to my mother, and she hurt herself. Grammy was all upset, and she said something about there was no time for the doctor. She said she was calling Miss Pearl.” Lu released her grip on Zach’s arm and stepped to the edge of the porch. “I remember Daddy picked Momma up and carried her into the bedroom. Martin was a baby. He was crying, but Daddy pushed the bedroom door closed. I tried to go in, and he yelled at me. ‘Git your brother and git on outside. Now, girl!’”
She turned back toward Zach to explain. “You know, like I’d done something wrong. I was so mad at Daddy. He wouldn’t let me in the bedroom with Momma! Martin, he was like three or something, so I must have been six, I guess. I grabbed his hand and we ran out to Great-granddaddy Eli’s old log cabin. We weren’t ever supposed to go out there.” Lu gasped. “It’s way out in the back field where they used to grow sugar cane. I was so mad at Daddy. I wanted me and Martin to hide so he’d have to come look for us. And we went in there,” she explained. “It was just one room really. And we were there a long time. It was getting dark. I was playing house with Martin. Just playing house!” Tears boiled in her eyes. She put her palms on Zach’s chest. “Oh, my God. I heard a noise and turned around and right behind Martin, there was this huge rattlesnake! I grabbed him, but the snake was between us and the door. His rattle was so loud! And, oh, God. I got so scared, he was between us and the door, and I got so scared! I held onto Martin as tight as I could, and I froze! I just froze and couldn’t move. I couldn’t even yell for help!”
Zach took her in his arms. “Oh, baby, damn, I’m sorry,” he said rocking her gently, rubbing her back. “What did you do?”
“Jerome, Miss Pearl’s son, it was Jerome who saved us. He was, he, uh, all of a sudden he was in the doorway of the cabin. He never spoke, he just drew this big old fishing knife out of his belt and threw it at the snake and, uh, it, it nailed that snake’s head to the floor!” Lu was breathing hard. “Then, I ran and ran until he snatched me and Martin up and ran across the field with us, both of us, and brought us back to the house. I think he saved our lives. I do!” She buried her forehead in his chest. She was calmer now, the long-buried fear having been unearthed.
“I think Jerome saved you and Martin that day, too,” Zach said. He stood back slightly looking at her face. “Did you get in trouble?”
“No, no we didn’t,” she said. “I don’t think Jerome ever told Daddy where he found us. But I think that’s why I’ve always been so terrified of snakes.”
“Oh, baby, I’m sorry we always teased you about being scared of snakes. I wouldn’t of done it if I’d known,” he apologized, again pulling her close and rocking her gently in his embrace.
Lu’s nose was running. Zach reached for his handkerchief, but before he could hand it to her, she wiped it against her sleeve and pushed the hot tears from her cheeks with her fingertips. “I’d forgotten all about it,” she sniffed. “Until just now, but I’ve sort of had nightmares about it for years. How stupid.”
“No, not stupid. Never stupid. Listen here now,” he said, his hands stroking her shoulders. “Some of them memories you’re seeing now, you need to look at,” he said. “You know, like we talked about the other night. You’re going to need to settle all these things in your mind. But, nothin’ bad’s going to happen to you here today. okay?”
She sniffed again and nodded.
“I’m gonna take care of you, baby,” he said. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close, their foreheads together. “You do what you need to here, but don’t go pushin’ yourself. We still got a couple of days. Meantime, me and William will load up the boxes Martin left. We’ll be right out front.”
“Yeah, okay. Just don’t go too far,” she said into his shirt front.
“I won’t,” he assured her.
When Lu came back into the kitchen, Susan met her. “Mom, are you all right?” she asked.
Embarrassed by the tear streaks on her face, she was briefly suspicious that Susan overheard her conversation with Zach, but mumbled, “I’m fine.”
“I’m here to work. What do you want me to do?” Susan asked.
“Well, let’s see,” Lu, relieved, sighed audibly as she regained her composure. “Go get a couple of those boxes. We need to look for all kinds of papers to box up. You start with the sideboard.” Then she quickly added, “I’ve already looked in my father’s room. I’m looking for bills, maybe a bank book, Social Security papers, tax returns, anything like that. I’m not going to sit in this musty old house and go through it, though. I’ll sort it out once I get back home.”
Slowly, she and Susan worked their way through the drawers, shelves, and cupboards of the house, while Zach and William boxed up the things Martin had set aside and began loading the back of the SUV.
“Look, Mom,” Susan said. “In the bottom of this old chest there are some really old books and papers. Can we take them too? They might be interesting.”
Lu barely glanced at her. “Oh, Susan, you’re such a pack rat. Go ahead and box them up, but keep them separate from everything else. I’m going to have to weed my way through all this and I don’t want to waste time going through things that aren’t important.” She saw Susan drop her shoulders. She knew she hurt her feelings, but she would talk to her and straighten it all out when they got home. She headed back into the kitchen as Susan silently grabbed a small box and stacked the papers and books into it, marking it with a Sharpie, ‘Stovall Family old books and papers, please do not destroy.’
Rummaging through the rooms and making a list of the furniture while Zach and William did the same with the farm equipment in the outbuildings took until late afternoon. Lu didn’t even stop for lunch, so no one else did either. The rain finally ended, but the humidity was on the rise. Zach and William loaded the last of the boxes.
“You sure you got everything you want from here?” Zach asked Lu as he climbed into the driver’s seat.
“I’m sure,” she said, defiantly picturing the envelope she left in her father’s dresser drawer.
“Then let’s get back to the hotel, take a shower, and get some dinner. I’m starving,” he said.
“You’re not alone,” William chimed in.
“Tomorrow morning, we’ll make our first stop UPS so we can get Martin’s stuff shipped out,” he suggested as he turned the key in the ignition. “Did you find anything that looked like a title to your daddy’s truck or the tractor? If Martin wants to come back down here and get the truck like he said, he’s gonna need the title.”
“Oh, no,” Lu sighed, leaning her head against the passenger window. “That never occurred to me.”
“I did, Mom,” Susan said. “I found a whole envelope of papers in the sideboard, and I think they were important, but I’m not sure now which box they’re in.”
“Susan,” Lu sna
pped, “I can’t believe it. You interrupted me every time you thought you saw an antique, and you didn’t tell me about important papers?”
“Hey, now,” Zach interrupted. “We’re all tired and hungry. Let’s not fuss at each other, okay?”
Lu reached in the back seat and lightly touched Susan’s knee, “I’m sorry,” she said. “You didn’t deserve that. I’m just hot and tired.”
“And starving,” William said.
“Yeah, son, we got that,” echoed Zach.
Susan placed her palm over her mother’s hand. “I know,” she said.
At dinner that evening, Zach pushed his plate aside and turned to Lu. He had a mischievous look in his eye. “What do you think of this? Since we are pretty much done here, I think tomorrow morning we should pack up and head out for Palm Coast, or up to St. Augustine,” he announced. “It’s right up the road. We can have a couple of days’ vacation out of all this before heading home. Want to go?”
“With all I still have to do?” Lu protested. “I still have to find a realtor, and— Oh, no! I never gave Miss Pearl a check to pay for the church reception.”
“You can call Miss Pearl and explain that we need to get back,” he said. “You can put a check in the mail to her and she’ll probably get it in a day or two. As far as a realtor, haven’t you ever heard of the Internet? C’mon, Lu, you can do that from home. Let’s just go ahead and go. It’ll do us all good.”
“I’m all for that!” Susan and William said practically in unison, then laughed loudly at their joint response.
Chapter Fifteen
That evening, back in their room, Lu tried to reason with Zach. “I’m not saying it doesn’t appeal to me,” she protested. “But, with all we’ve been spending—the funeral, this trip—we need to think about it.”
“I don’t think we need to think about it, woman,” Zach responded. “I already did. Everything we been puttin’ out here we can count as part of your father’s final expenses and we’ll get it back when you sell the land.”
“It’s a lot of money we’ve spent!” Lu protested.
“I know, I know, but you holdin’ them purse strings so tight is gonna choke this here man,” he said. “We’ll get the money back. And if we don’t, then the hell with it. But there ain’t nothin’ you can do here that you can’t do at home. So I vote we take a couple of days, sit back, relax, and just be a family! And that’s all I’m going to say about it.”
Lu reluctantly agreed and telephoned Miss Pearl. She apologized profusely for not being able to deliver the check in person. Although Miss Pearl was clearly disappointed that they wouldn’t get to see each other again before Lu left for home, she repeated her assurances to Lu.
“Oh, honey, that’s fine,” she said. “Don’t you go worryin’ about me. I know you got a long way to go to get back home. You go on ahead now. Maybe ya’ll will come back down again, you know, about your daddy’s business? We can visit then. But, now if you need anything, anything at all, you best call me, hear?”
Zach and William drove to UPS the next morning and were back by the time Susan and Lu were packed and ready.
As Zach drove up the road the few short miles to Palm Coast, the landscape took on great changes. The roadside was planted with jelly palms, azaleas, and fan palmettos crowded around the stately oaks. “What happened here?” Lu asked. “This is beautiful! Palm Coast was nothing like this when I left. When I was growing up this place didn’t even exist. I can’t believe we only traveled a handful of miles and it’s like we’re back in the real world! This was a good idea, honey.” She leaned over and gave Zach a peck on the cheek.
“Hey,” William exclaimed. “That sign said Flagler Beach. Mom, you never said you grew up close to the beach.”
“Well, we didn’t, really,” she explained. “As little kids none of us ever got to go any farther than a trip to town or a Sunday picnic at Haw Creek. Most of the folks we knew didn’t have any money to go anywhere. Besides, a lot of them didn’t even have cars, just farm trucks. And blacks weren’t really welcomed with open arms at the beach.” Out of the corner of her eye she saw a puzzled look cross Susan’s face.
“See how easy you have it?” she chided. “When I was a teenager, the most entertainment we had was swimming in the lake, and maybe hanging out at somebody’s house for a barbeque or something. That was pretty much it. Even in high school, there just wasn’t anything to do for entertainment. I mean, a lot of the white kids could use their parents’ cars, or even had their own cars. They would go off joyriding or to the beach, but we didn’t have those luxuries.”
Chapter Sixteen
Zach pulled up in front of the Hammock Beach Resort, and Lu let out a long, low breath.
“Zach, this place looks expensive,” she said. “I think we should try somewhere else.”
“Uh uh, girl. I checked this out,” he replied as he cut the engine. “My family’s gonna have a couple of days off!”
“Seriously, I don’t think we can afford this,” she said, shifting in her seat. “Let’s go somewhere else.”
“No, we’re staying right here,” he said. “I haven’t had a real vacation in years because of always havin’ to save for one thing and another. I’m the man of the family and this is where we’re gonna stay. I’m gonna play a little golf and relax—that all right with you?” He looked at Lu with raised eyebrows.
Despite her initial misgivings, when Lu saw their suite, she found herself embracing Zach’s wisdom. After what she’d endured the past week, the luxurious atmosphere of the resort was exactly what she needed. Zach and William played golf and hit balls at the driving range in the morning and then explored the surrounding area after lunch, driving all the county roads they could find. Lu treated herself and Susan to a day in the salon where, pampered, manicured, and pedicured, they giggled side by side. She even let Susan talk her into a hot-stone massage. Hour by hour she felt the tension dissolve. To her own surprise, she found herself calmer when William and Susan posed questions about her family background.
On their last evening, as they were strolling down St. George Street in St. Augustine, Zach commented about his explorations of the area. “You know, you were right,” he said, “I found out Palm Coast was only started back in the 70’s. It wasn’t even a city until about ten years ago.”
“Well, even though the Spanish were here in the 1700’s,” Lu commented, “compared to the original thirteen colonies, Florida really is new. I remember learning that the railroads played a huge part in attracting settlers to Florida. Before that, it was mostly woods and marsh. I’m not even sure how my great-grandfather was able to buy land here. I mean, it was right after the Civil War. I know what Preacher Parker said was true because I heard that growing up, but whether my great-grandfather was able to homestead the land or buy it outright, I just don’t know.”
“Yeah, that’s something, isn’t it?” Zach commented. “We don’t start wondering about our roots until we’re climbin’ up that middle-age hill ourselves, and by that time the folks who coulda’ answered our questions are either dead or don’t remember.”
“I think if my mother had lived I’d know more,” Lu responded. “But Daddy never talked about anything except farming, and Grammy was already old and tired, so she didn’t talk much to me, or Martin either. Of course, I was a teenager, and probably couldn’t have cared less.”
“That’s what I’m sayin’,” he continued. “The thing is, hon, I drove all around these roads the last couple of days. Yet, no matter where I turned it seemed like I kept coming to signs that read ‘Palm Coast City Limits’. I couldn’t figure it out. But, it looks to me like Palm Coast has surrounded Bunnell. At first I figured Bunnell was really spreadin’ out, but I don’t think that’s so. I’m gonna look at a map when we get home because I think it’s the other way around, and it puzzles me.”
“It puzzles you because, first of all, you like puzzles.” Lu good-naturedly teased him. “But, you grew up in a part of the country th
at was one of the original colonies. Towns up there have been in existence forever. Around here, towns grew up and then disappeared regularly as the roads and railroads were built. In fact, one of the oldest roads down here was Route 1, the Old Dixie Highway. Miles and miles of it were bricked when automobiles became popular. I’m sure it’s paved over by now,” she said.
“That explains it!” he said. “I couldn’t figure it out yesterday. I took a turn and ended up looking down this old brick lane in the middle of the woods. There was a sign that said ‘Travel at Your Own Risk’, so I just turned around.”
“That’s it then! It’s over by Espanola. What in the world were you doing way over there?” she asked, although she was not surprised to learn he and William wandered that far.
“Well, we were just poking around, you know, to see what we could see. Right, William?” Zach asked, turning to William for support.
William shrugged. “Yeah, we didn’t have nothin’ else to do while you women were in the beauty parlor spending money. So we went exploring.”
Zach laughed loudly at this. “Oh, well, I think this trip hasn’t been so bad, especially these last couple of days, huh?” he said. “I think the kids had a pretty good time, too, don’t you?”
“Um hmmm,” Lu said, taking his hand as they entered the Columbia Restaurant.
“You know, we’re pretty close to the Georgia border here,” he said as they took their seats in the restaurant. “There are four drivers in this family these days.” Lu saw him wink at William. “I’m just wondering if we should try to make it back home in one day. What do you think?” he asked.