Lacy's Lane

by Patricia Strefling

  “All right. I’ve got the meds, I have the inthructions. Now all of you get out of here.” Thad ordered, his lisp pronounced.

  He looked up and she could see a half smile on the part of his face that was not wrapped in bandages.

  “Do what you have to do down by the main road, but stay away from here. I’ll take care of him. I have Mr. Producer-Man’s number and all of yours on this sheet. If I need you, I’ll call. We need some peace and quiet around here.” Lacy helped him to the sofa.

  The big man followed Lacy and Thad into the house and took a large envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Lacy.

  She grabbed it and laid it down with all the other papers on the kitchen table.

  “Out.” She pointed to the door.

  He left but with a bit of trepidation she could see. When the screen door slammed, she took a breath.

  “Did he hire all those people just to watch over you?”

  “Yep. Crathy world.” He lisped.

  “I’m sorry Thad. Do you need anything? I can get you a straw. Can you sip iced tea?”

  “Yeah. Thounds good.”

  She got him set up, pulling an ottoman close and putting his feet up. “I imagine you’re tired. Probably took all the strength you had to get here didn’t it?”

  “Yep.”

  “Sorry I’m talking you to death. You rest. I’ll bring down some bedding. You’re going to have to sleep on the sofa or the recliner.” She answered the question his eyes asked then poured a glass of tea and set it on the table next to him.

  She ran upstairs. The girls were in Kew’s room with the door shut. She knocked.

  “Kew, Ting. We need to talk.

  Kew opened the door and she went in and sat on the bed with the girls. “My friend is downstairs. He’s had a bad accident and needs help. Can he stay with us?”

  She looked to Kew and she shrugged. Ting held back, fear in her eyes.

  “He not beat me?”

  “No. He will not. He cannot. He is hurt. I will not let him.”

  “But you a woman. He beat you, too!”

  “He is a good man. Not a mean man.” Lacy waited for her answer.

  “Yes-yes. But I stay up here and not come down.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll get what you want downstairs, Ting.” Kew offered.

  “Thank you, girls. I will tell him he can stay. He will sleep downstairs.”

  “Not up here?” Both girls said at the same time.

  “No.” Lacy made sure they understood.

  She grabbed some clean linens and went down. She could hear his heavy breathing. And he looked relaxed enough she let him be. She slipped into the kitchen and heated up her soup. She was going to need energy. Once she made a request that she and the girls might need a casserole this week she knew the church ladies would take care of them. And she was going to ask.

  Chapter 34

  Casseroles, and cakes and pies and salads came every other day for a week, telling the church folks she had a sick guest. She reported to the “guards on duty” out front exactly what car was coming through. Somehow, it had worked out. She had promised not to tell a soul Thad Gannon was in the house. He slept in on the sofa and spent daytimes in the recliner. She and Ting had sewed two tan bed sheets together and hung them over the arched doorway so that he would not be seen should someone come in. She told everyone she was remodeling. And she was.

  Ting ventured down with Kew a few times and slowly realized that Thad was not going to harm her. He had rested the first two days and gotten anxious, walking around doing things for himself. A nurse with special clearance, came and changed his bandages every single day, applying pain meds, creams and whatever instructions she was told to administer.

  Lacy’s only job was to keep him out of sight. But it was getting harder and harder. He began insisting on sitting on the front porch during the day. She knew the fresh air was good for him, so she placed two huge bushy plants there to give him privacy. The guys out front would have had a hissy fit if they’d seen him outside. She knew the nurse reported every detail on her way out. Lacy laughed with him a couple times when he saw an unfamiliar car coming down the lane and shot back into the house as quickly as his body would allow.

  And…the envelope the tall man handed her that day had twenty thousand dollars in it with her name on the front. She gave it back to Thad and told him he’d better give that back to Mr. Producer-Man.

  He must have. Because she didn’t see it again.

  Mr. Producer-Man called every day. As soon as Lacy heard his gravelly voice, she handed the old black phone to Thad, the extra-long cord stretched to the maximum, and left the room. She didn’t want to hear any of that conversation.

  Laundry was an everyday affair now. Ting ran back and forth. Every time that buzzer dinged she was after those clothes with fierce resolve.

  Someone had packed some clothes for Thad and he changed every day, showering every other day so as not to disturb the bandages. Tomorrow they were finally coming off and the nurse was going to have a look-see. Lacy did not want to be present when that happened. She had no stomach for blood or needles or stitches or anything remotely related.

  She couldn’t leave the premises, but she could find work outside like everything was normal. And she was going to have to get groceries pretty soon. She and Allison had not spoken since Thad moved in. In fact she thought it quite strange until she remembered, in all the mess, that Dario and Allison had taken a canoe trip up north for a week.

  The nurse pulled up in her cream-colored Cadillac. It was a beautiful car. Cream leather seats. Not a spot of dirt on them.

  “Girls, come on down. We’re going outdoors. We’ll water the flowers, check the garden, see how our gourds are coming along.” Lacy wanted to be out of the house before the unveiling began.

  The sun was straight up and hot, so she put on her old straw hat and the three of them moseyed around, Kew wandering because she couldn’t stand still and Ting cutting gourds with Lacy’s pocketknife. Next they cut a bouquet of late wildflowers and headed to the house. The Cadillac was still out front.

  She could hear Thad and the nurse talking so she set the flowers in water and followed the girls upstairs.

  The girls disappeared into Kew's room so Lacy flopped her parents’ bed and picked up a book, one from the library. Ting hadchosen it. It was about a little girl sitting down to eat with her family, going to the park, and all the things little girls do.

  She felt tears well up inside to the point of choking. What was wrong with her? Ting was so young and so small of frame. She couldn’t help wondering how she endured being sold into slavery, by her own family.

  How would someone so young get over something like that. Suddenly Lacy felt overwhelmed. Maybe she’d taken on too much. Kew and Ting depended on her now and she could never let them down. She was a prisoner in her own house and missed the meeting of the ladies with their adopted daughters. She determined she would not miss next month’s meeting.

  She wondered if Ting and Kew would ever see their families again, and if they even wanted to. How it must have felt to leave their own country, knowing they’d never see it or their families again. How broken the world was. And right now, it seemed the whole of it was sitting on her shoulders.

  Her life was set. These two young women depended on her not just for a home and food but also for direction. For healing of wounds too deep to understand. To help them trust and live their lives separate from their memories if that were even possible.

  The sound of the front door shutting sent her flying off the bed. She dropped the book and hurried downstairs. When she neared the bottom she heard Thad mumbling. He seemed to be pacing and she could hear each time his heels hit the wood floor. Something was amiss.

  “Thad?” She called but did not move the curtain.

  “Yeah. Come in,” He grumped.

  As soon as she stepped into the living room he turned and said, “Look at me!”

 
He pulled the bandage off and she gasped. Two long red gashes at different angles looked like some kind of freak mask that someone had drawn on his face.

  “See? Look at your reaction. I’m done, Lace. I’m done.” He turned his back and went to the window and stared out. His wide shoulders slumped.

  “No, you’re not. It takes times to heal.”

  “These are not going to heal, Lace. Not now. Not ever. “Miss Grump told me so herself.” He was facing her now.

  “Oh what does she know? They can do wonders with cosmetic surgery these days.”

  “She happens to be Mr. Producer-Man’s right-hand gal. She’s going back to report to him. Today.”

  “What?”

  “Yep, she’s been a Red Cross worker her entire life. She’s seen it all. War, floods, accidents, you name it. And she knows her stuff.”

  “It’s only been two weeks since the surgery.” Lacy reminded him.

  “Long enough for her to know the outcome. No amount of make-up can straighten out the area around my eye. It droops and nothing can be done. It’s permanent damage she said.”

  “I see.” Lacy felt her throat tighten. She knew too well the feeling that once something was gone, you could never get it back.

  “There are a hundred guys waiting to take that spot. Better looking, better physique, better voice…younger.”

  “Do you want that life back?” Lacy kept her voice level.

  Thad turned and looked her in the eye. “What do you think? It’s my job. My income. My lifestyle. My home in Malibu. Gone. The fact that I had something I love to do. Gone.”

  What was a girl supposed to say to that?

  “I’m sorry, Thad. Really sorry…I don’t know what to say.” The desperation in his eyes nearly sent her flying into his arms to comfort him. But something held her back.

  “You don’t have to say anything, Lace. It’s not your problem.” His cold voice shot over his shoulder. He had already turned back to stare out the window. She left him alone.

  Chapter 35

  As Wednesday morning dawned, Lacy still struggled to sleep. Thad spent the night pacing across those ancient squeaky kitchen floorboards all night. She’d hardly slept, though the fan next to her was running on high to block out noise.

  Finally realizing there was going to be no rest, she rose with the chickens and showered. She listened but heard nothing below and knocked on the girls’ door. Kew was already standing, picking up her pallet off the floor. Lacy was going to ask around for a twin bed and put it in the small room until she could get her folks’ room cleaned up.

  “Time to get up. We’re going to Bensen today. Time to get those clothes I’ve been talking about. And some new shoes.”

  “Shoes? I not need shoes.” This from Ting, her voice low.

  Kew appeared in the doorway and explained to Ting that it would be all right to have two pair.

  “I not make money. I not buy shoes.” Ting insisted.

  “Miss Lacy will buy them.”

  “Then I work more? Yes-yes?”

  Kew shrugged and spoke Chinese.

  While the girls dressed she went downstairs.

  “Thad, the girls and I are going to Bensen. Do you need anything?”

  “No. Go on, I’ll be fine.”

  “Sure you don’t need anything?” she called.

  When he didn’t answer she shut the door loud enough so he would hear and drove her old truck down the lane the girls quiet in the bench seat behind her.

  The vehicles near the main road out front were different but the people were the same. They had been covering their post for just under two weeks, changing cars every other day or so. She didn’t wave, per instructions.

  The afternoon flew by. Kew knew about the American way to shop. But Ting had never been to an American store and did not understand the concept of driving through and picking up food through the window.

  “You scared to go in?”

  “Not scared. Just fast.”

  “You have to eat fast?”

  “No, just get food fast.” Kew corrected her.

  Lacy drove to a nearby park and they ate at a picnic table.

  The shopping trip was short. Ting was overwhelmed by the amount of clothing in the store. She couldn’t make up her mind. Lacy helped her choose and bought two outfits and one pair of shoes for each, careful not to overwhelm them. They were so appreciative of each item she knew they would cherish what they had.

  And, she realized, she might have to find a job if she was going to support them. Especially if they wanted to go to college.

  The ride home was fairly quiet, each girl holding their packages. Kew wore her new shoes while Ting had put hers back in the box and clung to them.

  Lacy pulled in off the main road and, again, did not wave. She briefly wondered why there was only one car. Normally three vehicles kept guard—two hidden, one visible.

  “Please be quiet. He might be asleep, Lacy tried to keep the screen door from squeaking. The girls tiptoed in, went straight up to their rooms and Lacy put the few groceries away, quietly.

  “You don’t have to be quiet, Lace.” Thad stepped from behind the curtain. I’m free. Free to be me, whoever that is.”

  She kept stacking the groceries in the cupboards and waited for Thad to speak his mind. She didn’t know what to say. When someone had a loss there were no magic words, so she did what she usually did and busied herself with the tasks at hand. She pulled out a loaf of bread to make sandwiches. “You hungry?”

  “Matter of fact I am.” He said and pulled a chair out from the table, turned it and rested his arms on the back.

  “No more diets. No more watching my tan lines. I’m a free man.”

  She glanced at him and could see the hurt in his eyes. “Would you mind chopping some onion?”

  “Nope.”

  He got up, fished a knife out of the drawer, pulled out her cutting board and worked even though two fingers were still healing on his left hand. She wondered how he knew where everything was. At least they were talking.

  “What’re you making?”

  “Chicken salad. Dice the onion very tiny, please.”

  She pulled the cooked chicken from the fridge and handed him the celery. “This too, if you don’t mind.” The chop of the knife hitting the board was none too friendly.

  “I’ll call the girls.”

  “You sure they don’t mind if I eat with you? I talked to Kew the other day. She’s pretty straight out with things.”

  “Yes she is.” Lacy nodded.

  “I don’t mind eating out on the porch, if Ting gets upset. I’m pretty sure no one will be looking for me anytime soon. In fact do you have time to go for a drive later on? I need to get out of this hole. No offense.”

  “None taken. I’ll ask the girls.”

  “Great.”

  Lunch was a bit unsteady for a moment when Ting wanted to go to her room instead of eat.

  “I’ll eat outside.” Thad picked up his sandwich and walked the long way around Ting’s chair and settled into a lawn chair on the rickety porch.

  “I sad.” Ting said.

  “It’s okay. He doesn’t mind.” Lacy assured her. “Tell her Kew. It’s okay.”

  Kew did and Ting did sit and eat, but her eyes watched his every move through the window.

  After a while Thad called out from behind the screen door. “The coast clear?”

  “Yes. They’re upstairs. They’ve gotten pretty close the last few days. Thanks, that was very kind of you.”

  “No problem.” He set his dish in the sink and put the dishes away as she washed and dried.

  That was a first. Most times Thad Gannon had somewhere to go. A deadline.

  “So, you have time to take a drive? I’m going crazy not driving.”

  “No, I don’t mind. Let me set the girls up with a movie. They didn’t really want to go. I want to be back before dark. Ting is especially afraid at night.”

  “Works for me.”
r />   Thad nodded, but she knew his mind was somewhere else.

  “I’ll get the movie going. Better grab a coat. Heard it’s going to be chilly this evening.” She ran up the stairs, told the girls the movie was ready and to keep the doors locked, they wouldn’t be long.

  “Nice sweater.” Thad said, grabbed the keys off the nail, opened the screen door and let her pass. She could smell his cologne. It was nice, not too strong.

  The large bandage on his face had finally come off. One eye remained covered and his smile was back. She had always loved his smile.

  “Better let me drive.” She lifted her palm for the keys.

  He tossed them to her and hugged his ribs then groaned when he eased into her truck.

  “Man, you’d think I’d be better by now after laying around for two weeks.”

  “It takes time, especially for ribs to heal.” She settled herself in the driver’s seat. After some discomfort and a few more groans, he pulled the buckle up and Lacy snapped it in place.

  “We’re off. Any place special you want to go to?”

  “Nope. Anything will do. I spent half the night pacing.”

  “I know,” She glanced over with a smile.

  “Sorry, Lace. I guess you know I’m fired. The gig is over. My face is not going to heal. My left eye is drooping. Doc says it’ll probably never be the same as before, even with plastic surgery. Guess I was lucky I didn’t lose my eye or my sight.”

  “That’s what they told me. Thad, I’m sorry about your job.”

  “Thing is I’m sure they’ve got someone lined up, better looking, better physique, and dying to make their first crack at stardom. It was good while it lasted.” He shrugged. “I’ve got some money saved up. Have to sell my place in Malibu. You never got to see it, did you?”

  “No.”

  “Well, you and the girls are going to see it.”

  “What in the world do you mean? I can’t afford—we can’t afford,” she corrected, “to go out there.”

  “Why not?”