by Joy Redmond
“I finished college. I’m now a computer tech, and I’ve got a good job at Trell’s Tool and Dye, and Clark just got another promotion. We wanted to be financially secure before we got down to serious business.”
“Finally, I’m happy about getting a grandbaby. I wondered if I ever would be.”
Abbie and Clark kissed Mandy, and went on their way. Otis went to bed and Mandy sat on the couch, enjoying the peace and quiet. She let her mind drift back in time and she pulled memories from the deepest part of her mind, reliving all the Christmases past, as far back as when she was four years old. Most of her memories brought joy to her heart, except for the first Christmas without Mama and Evan.
As memories flashed by, it was as if she was watching a home movie, but abruptly she was brought back to the present when she heard a slight click. She looked up. The door on the face of the grandfather clock popped open and the door flew back with such force it banged against the wall. Mandy sat, stunned for a few minutes.
She walked over to the clock, shut the door, and heard the latch catch. She stood for a long minute, then the door swung open, and again it hit the wall. “Daddy, if that’s you, I’m tired of your pranks. And if it was your way of saying Merry Christmas, you’re a few years too late. Knock it off!”
Soon, it was the month of May, and Mandy came alive after the cold winter. Though it had been mild, she still hated snow. “Only four more months and my new grandbaby will be here. Lord knows I need something in my life to fill the emptiness,” she said, as she walked downstairs, pushed open the sliding glass door in the basement and sat on down in a lawn chair on the patio.
She drew in a deep breath and inhaled the scent of freshly mowed grass and the sweet aroma of many flowers in bloom. She recapped the past ten years and wondered how she had survived it all.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Mandy was writing in her journal one night when Otis came into the living room crying like a baby. He sat down beside her and wrung his hands. “Amanda, I’m almost blind. I can see shadows and movements, but that’s it. Nothing can be done for me, and soon I’ll be completely blind. I can’t hear thunder and I’ve got to have ears and eyes. I’ll pay you what it would cost me to go to a nursing home, if you’ll take care of me”
Mandy’s heart broke as she listened to her dad cry. “Dad, you stop crying and rest assured that you’ll spend the rest of your life in the comfort of your own home. I’ll be your ears, eyes, banker, taxi driver—the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker. I owe you that much. After all, you took me in twice when I was homeless. ”
“Thank you, honey. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Mandy eyes teared as she remembered when she was sixteen and her parents had found the drive-in ticket stubs. She was forbidden to go to the drive-in, which Iris and Otis referred to as the Den of Iniquity. Otis became enraged and said he was going to have her adoption annulled, and he made Iris take her to Aunt Lou’s, where she called her blood-daddy and asked him to come get her.
She felt anger building as the memories glided through her mind.
The next day, Iris came to Aunt Lou’s and said she had cried all night, and Otis said if she wanted Amanda that badly, then she could come home. It if hadn’t been for Mother crying for me, you would have let me go, she thought. Otis’s words resounded in her head as she remembered that day, “The sooner that you’re out of our lives, the better off we’ll be.”
Well, Dad, what would you do if I wasn’t in your life now? You’d be in a home sharing a room no bigger than a broom closet with a screaming old bat for a roommate. I’ll never forgive you.
Mandy turned in her resignation and became a full-time caretaker of Otis, who was ninety-two-years-old, stubborn as a mule, and argued about everything. “You’re harder to take care of than a two-year-old. I can’t swat your bottom or put you in timeout. I just have to grit my teeth and bear it. You’ll put me in my grave long before you go to yours,” she said, knowing he couldn’t hear a word. “I’m fifty-six, still full of piss and vigor. I can do it.” Every day she gave herself the same pep talk but as time went on, she wondered if she would survive him.
By the end of a day, Mandy was completely exhausted. After she had Otis in bed was the only time she could to go shopping, go see her children and grandchildren, or visit with Chuck.
One night, she sank down in the old couch cushions, so tired, but she smiled as she remembered the night a year ago, when she and Chuck met again after twenty-three years.
Kati called one night and said, “Mom, there’s somebody at the bar who wants to see you. He’s a handsome dude. I think you need to come up here.”
“Honey, I don’t know who he is and I don’t care. There’s nobody in this town that I ever want to see again.” She paused. “But out of curiosity, who is it?”
She heard Kati called out, “She wants to know who you are or she won’t come.”
Mandy held on. “Mom, he said just tell you he is Pief of Cholice. He said you’d understand the title.”
“Oh, my God. It’s Chief Chuck!” Mandy was laughing so hard she could barely talk as she said, “Over twenty-years ago, Robin and I were at the Ramada, right where you’re working. I’d had a few too many, and when I was going out to get in my car, he came out and said, ‘How about you hand me the car keys. I don’t think you’re in any condition to drive.’
“I smartly said, “Just ‘cause you be Pief of Cholice, you ain’t gonna take my keys. Well, he did, then drove me home and his lawyer friend Ulie followed us. And Ulie is the lawyer I used when I divorced Billy. Tell him to hang on. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Mandy went to the Ramada, and she felt a heart thump when she saw Chuck. She sneaked up behind him and slapped him on the back. “Hey there, Pief!”
Chuck swiveled on the barstool, placed both hands on the sides of Mandy’s face, and kissed her on the lips. “I couldn’t be better. Have a seat.”
Mandy slid onto the barstool. “Can you believe this? After all these years, here we are— back at our favorite watering hole. So what have you been doing all these years?”
“I was Chief of Police for fifteen years, then I was Sheriff for four years. After that I retired, and now I just kick back and enjoy life.”
From that night on, when Otis went to bed for the night, she’d go over to see Chuck, who only lived five blocks away. They’d sit out in his garage, pass a bottle of Jack back and forth, and listen to their favorite singers: Willie, Waylon, Haggard, and Jones. They laughed, sang, danced, and told tales of years gone by, and again, Mandy felt like a giddy teenager.
When September arrived, Mandy counted down the days. It won’t be long, and I’ll hold my new grandbaby.
Abbie and Clark didn’t want to know the sex of the baby. They wanted a surprise. Abbie swore it was going to be a boy, and since Mandy couldn’t dispute it because she hadn’t picked up a strong vibe or seen a vision, she accepted Abbie’s word.
Mandy had fed Otis, helped him shower and dress, and he was in his recliner taking a nap, when the phone rang. Mandy walked over to the kitchen wall phone. “Hello”
“Mom, is there any way you can get somebody to stay with Granddaddy while you go to the doctor with me this afternoon. I’m due any day and I want my mommy.”
“Let me call Aunt Lou. If she can come over, I’ll be more than happy to go with you. I’ll call you back.”
Aunt Lou came over and took charge of Otis, and Mandy and Abbie went for what they hoped would be the last visit before Abbie gave birth.
Mandy held Abbie’s hand as Dr. Bolder did a pelvic exam.
“Abbie, I think I feel a butt, which means it breach. I want to get an ultra sound. Get dressed, then my nurse will take you down the hall and we’ll see what position it’s in.” Dr. Bolder left the room.
Abbie’s face showed pure horror.
“Honey, don’t worry. Everything is going to be okay. Mommy is with you.”
The ultrasound s
howed the baby was indeed in breach position. But the baby was too big and they couldn’t determine the sex. “We’re still going to get a surprise,” Mandy said.
Dr. Bolder scheduled Abbie for a C-section, for the coming Monday.
Aunt Lou and her daughter, Gail, said they would take turns watching Otis while Mandy went to the hospital for the birth of her sixth grandbaby.
Monday morning, Mandy was up and dressed by 6:30 am. She went over to Kati’s house and kept saying, “Hurry up. Don’t make me late. Abbie is scheduled for surgery at eight o’clock!”
“I’m hurrying, Mom. I’ve only had four hours sleep.”
Mandy paced the floor until Kati was ready to go.
They walked into Abbie’s room, and Mandy kissed her and rubbed her belly, hoping to pick up a vibe. Nothing came to her. She continued rubbing Abbie’s belly until the nurse came into the room. “Are you ready to get this over with?” Nurse asked with a smile as bright as the sun.
“I’m ready,” Abbie said. “Mom, swallow a valium and chillax while you’re in the waiting room. Kati, you might have to sit on her. She’ll be making a run for the surgical room if you don’t watch her.”
“I’ve got this, little Sis. I’ll cold conk her if she gets out of hand.”
They all laughed, then kissed Abbie as the nurse started pushing the bed out of the room.
At 8:16, Clark came into the waiting room. He pulled off his scrub cap and proudly announced, “It’s a girl! Abbie and the baby are in the hallway, waiting for a nurse to take them to recovery—”
Mandy took off running down the hall, determined she was going to see Abbie before she was whisked into recovery. She rounded a corner and there was Abbie, holding her baby. Mandy ran faster. When she reached Abbie’s side, she kissed her forehead, then reached down to take the baby. Just as she lifted the infant into her arms, Abbie said, “We didn’t get a dude. We got a Jude.”
Mandy placed one hand under the baby’s head and the other under her bottom, and they were eye to eye. “Hey, Jude. I’m your nana. You’re so beautiful. And look at that red hair.”
The tiny infant stuck her index finger into her mouth and sucked it, and her bright eyes seemed to be looking into the core of Mandy’s soul. Mandy felt a tugging as if the newborn was drawing her soul from her body and hooking it with her own. “Yes, my little darling. Our souls are coupled, and they will be throughout eternity.”
Mandy and Kati went to Shoney’s and ate breakfast while Abbie and the baby were in recovery. When they got back to the hospital, they found Abbie propped up in bed, nursing the baby. Mandy rushed to the bedside, her palms itching.
“I think she’s done,” Abbie said, and held the baby out to Mandy. Mandy cradled the infant in her arms and she felt as if her heart would explode with joy. She had not felt the soul connection with the three she had given birth to the way she did with this tiny mite.
“Since you were so sure you were having a boy, you picked out the name Sean. I don’t think that would work for this little beauty. Have you named her?”
Abbie, smiled. “You named her when you pick her up and said, “Hey, Jude.”
“Mandy rubbed her finger over the tiny face. “We’re going to have a lot of fun, Jude.” She swayed Jude in her arms and sang, You Are My Sunshine.
Jude smiled.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Mandy endured, and Jude was the only sunshine in her life. The tiny four-year-old was the glue that held her together and gave her the strength and will to go on as her life descended into mortal hell again. She sat on the couch, holding Jude, reading a book to her until she fell asleep. She sat, holding the very air she breathed, in her arms and swayed her body. In two months, I’ll be sixty-years-old. Damn, how much longer can I hold on? Will I ever have a life that isn’t being controlled by an old man, crazy kids, and rebelling grandkids?
Kati’s girls were teenagers and running wild. Kati gave up her job as bartender and took a day job, working at the Dollar General Store, making less than half of what she had been making, but she wanted to keep an eye on Tina and Leigh. However, Kati had a boyfriend and she was with him more than she was her girls. Mandy did her best to hunt down Tina and Leigh when they were out past midnight. Some nights she found them and dragged them home with her. Some nights, she had no luck, and they were out all night.
Tony and Belinda had fallen off the wagon and they were back to drinking and drugging, and their three teenagers had no parental supervision. Mandy did her best to run down Tony’s children and keep them out of trouble with the law. Braxton listened to Mandy, somewhat, but he was running with the wrong crowd. Belle completely rebelled and wanted nothing to do with Mandy. Ian withdrew from everybody except his only friend, and he ignored Mandy.
So be it. I’m only one person and I can’t control any of them. All I can do is help them pick up the pieces when their world falls apart. Just like old times, she thought, shaking her head, and vowing she wasn’t going to allow any of her children or grandchildren to take her down. From now on, I’ll live for Jude.
One Sunday afternoon, Mandy set a plate of chicken and dumplings down on the snack bar, then she shook Otis, who was asleep in his recliner. She took him by the hand and led him to the kitchen chair. He fumbled until he found his fork, and he managed to hit his mouth with food.
Mandy went back to the stove, fixed her plate, turned, and as she started to take a step toward the snack bar she noticed what looked like a black cloud behind Otis. As she got closer she realized it was a swarm of black house flies. “Dear God!” she said, as she watched them fly in a circle. “That’s worse than the plague of locusts back in Moses’ days when he was trying to free the Egyptians.”
She set her plate down, grabbed the flyswatter from the top of the fridge and waited for them to land. They continued to fly in a huge circle. “Shit!” she yelled, and began swatting them in the air. She hit a few and they fell to the floor. She continued swatting and more fell to the floor, but the more they fell, the more they seemed to multiply.
Holding the swatter, she went through the house, room by room, but there was no fly in sight. She went back into the sitting room. The flies were still swarming in a circle. She continued to swat, killing a few more until Otis finished eating. When he pulled off his bib, she screamed loudly. “Dad, the house is full of flies. There’s too many for me to kill with the swatter. I’m going to open the windows and spray. Then I’m going to take you down by the river and let you sit in the park. If you see movement, you’ll know it’s a boat, so just wave at them.”
Otis put up an argument, but Mandy took his hand and literally dragged him through the kitchen and out to the garage. She put him in the car, not bothering to buckle him. She drove to the park as fast as she dared. Once they were at the park, she took his hand, led him across the grass area, and found a bench for him, facing the Ohio River. “Just wave at the boats. I’ll be back soon.”
Otis was fussing and mumbling as Mandy ran back to the car. She drove back home and left the car in the driveway, ran into the garage, opened the door to the storage room and picked up the gallon can of spray. “I hope the hose on this thing still works,” she said, and she opened the back door and stepped into the kitchen. She tucked her head so she could see under the cabinets that were above the snack bar. She didn’t see any flies.
“What the hell!” she said, as she walked into the sitting room. She saw the ones she had managed to swat while they were in flight, dead on the floor. She walked through the house. No flies. She took the spray back to the storage room, picked up the broom and dustpan and went back inside. She swept the dead flies into a pile. She estimated she had killed a good fifty, but there were hundreds still swarming when she left the house.
She carefully held the dust pan and took the dead flies outside. She walked down the hill and dumped them by the redbud tree. “Please don’t resurrect. And if you do, please swarm the trees and stay out of the house.”
As she drove b
ack to the park to get Otis, she was in a quandary. Nothing strange had happened since the door to the clock face had swung open. Then she remembered it had been four years after the opening and closing of the front door, before the clock played its trick. I guess I can expect a happening every four years. But the flies were not a happening. They were a warning, just as the palmetto bugs were. What is about to happen?
Mandy was a block away from the park when a terrifying thought ran through her head. Did Otis get up, stumble around, slide down the back and land in the river? Her heart felt as it if was about to jump out of her chest as she pulled into a parking space. She jumped out of the car and took off running. Half way to where she had left Otis, she saw the top of his head. She stopped for a minute, caught her breath and willed her heart to stop racing. Then she made her way to Otis.
“Dad, it’s me,” she screamed.
“Well, it’s about time! I’ve been sitting her like an old fool. I can’t see who or what is around me, and I can’t hear a thing. I don’t appreciate you just leaving me—”
Mandy took his hand. “Come on. I’ll get you back home.”
Mandy put Otis in the car and buckled him in. Otis grumbled and fussed all the way home. “Don’t you ever leave me again! You’re abusing the elderly. That’s against the law!”
Mandy ignored him. I should have let the flies eat you, she thought, as she pulled the car into the garage. And here’s hoping the damn flies aren’t back or he’ll accuse me of lying just to get him out of the house. She got out of the car, walked around it, opened the passenger door and took Otis’s hands. “Come on, Dad. You can go in the house, sit in your recliner, and cuss me for the rest of the day.”
“What?” Otis said.
“Never mind,” Mandy screamed. She hesitantly reached for the door knob. She eased opened the door, waiting for flies to attack her. She peeked around the door. She didn’t see or hear anything. She led Otis to his recliner. “Take a nap, Dad,” she yelled. She checked all the rooms. Not a fly in sight.