“This is it, huh?” I asked, holding out my hand cautiously.
She dropped them into my hand.“Yes,my sweet friend . These are the keys to a new way of living.” I looked at them as if they were some medieval torture device. “I’m not sensing an overwhelming rush of excitement.”
I looked up at her pretty yet uniquely proportioned face. “It’s just all happened a little quick.”
“This has been years in the making, Savannah.”
“Yeah, I guess.” I glanced down at my toes, then returned to her pleasant smile.“Where do I drop off my rent again?”
“Here,” she said, handing me a sheet of paper with a ten-digit number on it. “Go to Bank of America and make a deposit into this account . That’s all you have to do.”
“You still won’t tell me who it is?”
“He doesn’t feel it’s necessary. Makes his life less complicated if everything goes through me .Now, enough worrying. I’ll stop by later, when I get off work. I’ll help you move if you need me.”
“Oh, no. I think I’ll be fine. I don’t have a lot of stuff . Thomas and Paige are helping me.”
“Well, call me if you need me.” She lifted my chin and put her other hand on my shoulder. “This will be one of the most exciting things you have ever done.”
“Do I have the look of someone who needs added excitement?”
“This move is about you, Savannah. Not your father, not your mother, just you . This is a grown-up thing.”
“I need to be grown up?”
“Yes, you do .Now I’ve got to go.”And she gave me a hug and walked off.
“I’ll miss my mommy,” I whispered. But she was safely out of earshot. I was glad. I was wishing I hadn’t heard it either.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Police dogs were sniffing a Shih Tzu. And she wasn’t any too happy about it. The entire strip of Bull Street was blocked off by the secret service and local police squads conducting a sweep of the Historical District in preparation for the president’s appearance here tomorrow . Their presence forced me to go on down a block farther to Lincoln Street and cross back down East State Street to get to Jake’s. In the hubbub of the last week, I had failed to ask why in the world the president was actually coming here . Victoria probably knew every last detail of his schedule. She did have Internet access, remember.
I pulled into my covered parking place . The Culpepper’s Buick no longer resided here . That had left almost a month ago now. And it was no longer the future home of Old Betsy, but the present home of one Savannah Phillips and Old Betsy. Old Betsy had never seen shelter a day in her life. If no one else appreciated this new stage of our journey, she would.
I didn’t even go into Jake’s. Everyone had left already anyway. I slowly climbed the stairs up to the back entrance of my new residence . There is a front entrance as well, a door to the side of Jake’s. But this one closest to the carport would be the one I’d use most.
I put the key into the door and for a brief moment hoped it wouldn’t fit. Then I could regretfully delay this transition of life. But it turned with ease. And as the door opened, so the next page of my life’s book turned. I had no clue what it would tell.
I walked slowly through the halls and through each room. I opened cabinets and turned on lights. I tried to imagine how life would play out here. But some moments in life aren’t even imaginable. Some you can only experience . This would be one.
I sat down in the middle of the bedroom floor, and the enormity of this moment slammed into me like a lovebug on the windshield of a semi. I cried. I’m not sure why. It just felt like what I needed to do. So it is what I did. And I continued until I lifted my head and caught sight of the green tennis ball lying in the far back corner of the closet, whose door was opened. Then I began to laugh. That ball reminded me that I wasn’t really leaving home. That ball confirmed that my “anonymous” landlord and his “golden” companion would always be just one floor below. And inside my heart after hours.
“When did you get here?” I asked Paige as I got out of the car.
She was sitting on the bottom step of my parents’ house.
“Oh, about thirty minutes ago.”
“Do you keep office hours?”
She scrunched her lips and crinkled her nose as if this question required deep thought.“No.”
She followed me into the house, and we heard Thomas pull up as we headed inside . You couldn’t help but hear him. His Jeep was rather loud . Vicky lost her battle for an LTD the same way she lost the one to get me in a Lincoln Town Car: vanquished by Jake. Her argument for me was safety. Her argument for Thomas was if he was going to a military school, he should have an American-made car. She made this point one afternoon as she climbed into her powder-blue Mercedes two-seater convertible. And Jake went and bought Thomas a Jeep and let her know that it was made in America.
Thomas bounded up the stairs and came into the room.“You two ready to get moving?”
“Why are you in such a hurry for me to leave?”
“Because he wants your bathroom,” Paige said.
“You better stay out of my bathroom with your filth,” I warned him clearly.
“I have my own bathroom, in case you two forgot. And truth be told, yours isn’t my shade of yellow. Now, grab a box and let’s get this party moving.”
“What’s this?” Paige asked as she picked up the tiny tan box with orange stripes and white lettering.
“Give that to me!” I snatched it from her hand.
“It’s empty, Savannah.”
“No! It’s not empty.” I looked at it, trying to stifle the lump in my throat. “It’s full! It’s full of memories. Memories I’m not ready to get rid of!”
Thomas walked over and stared at it, squinting. “It looks like the box to a tiny halogen light bulb.”
“That’s exactly what it is.” I jerked it out of his sight and turned my back.
Paige jerked me back around.“Who gave you that?”
I refused to answer.
“Savannah Phillips, who gave you that little box?”
“Grant! Okay, Grant gave me this box.”
“Well, no wonder you dumped him, if that’s his idea of romance.” Thomas sat down on the floor, realizing we weren’t going anywhere fast.
I sat beside him. “It was romantic,Thomas. It went to a lamp we had found in an alley on our first date.”
Paige surrendered to the moment and collapsed on the floor as well.“Wait . You were walking in an alley on your first date?”
I looked at her with disdain.“Yes! He was walking me to my car that I had left behind Dad’s store. And the Culpeppers had left this great lamp by their trash. He picked it up and said we should restore it . That we’d have a memento from our first date.”
“A lamp from a trash can was your memento?”
“We were sixteen, Paige. For crying out loud, we didn’t have a pot to pee in.”
Thomas quipped,“You would have if you’d gotten a job.”
“My occupational past has nothing to do with this conversation.”
“So why in the world do we have to keep this box?” Paige mused.
“Because for four years we never could find a lightbulb . We had repaired the lamp, made it absolutely beautiful, but it never worked, because it needed this specific kind of bulb that we couldn’t find.”
Thomas fell back on the floor and closed his eyes.“My Lord, this is a long story.”
“It’s a story of love,Thomas . They don’t occur in ten-second sound bites.”
“They should.”
“Well, one day, during my sophomore year, I’m in my bedroom studying, and I hear this knock on my door . When I opened it, Grant was standing there. He holds up this little box and says, ‘I found it!’ ‘Found what?’ I asked him. ‘I found the bulb. I finally found us a bulb.’”
Thomas let out a moan. I kicked him.
I held the box up and felt the tears return to the brim of my rather long
eyelashes. “Grant drove all the way from Clemson just to tell me he had found us a bulb. So, now you know why there is no way in the world that I can ever throw this box away.”
“Oh, baby!” Paige said, wrapping her arm around me. “You keep that as long as you want to . That’s a precious story.”
“It’s a stupid story! And you’re both pathetic,”Thomas said as rose to his feet and slapped us both on the tops of our heads.“The boy is getting married, Savannah. Give it up!” He was starting to sound annoyingly like Joshua.
“It ain’t over till he’s walked down the aisle,” I informed him.
“Whatever you say, little dreamer .Now, grab a box.” He tossed one to each of us. I tucked my little memory inside my purse and shoved Joshua’s ridiculous accusations to the back of my mind. I would find a safe place in my new home for one. And a trash can for the other.
For the next two hours we loaded up every last piece of my furniture and made trips to my new apartment . The one that required us holding the mattresses on top of Thomas’s Jeep was a rather interesting haul. Paige refused to sit on top after Thomas declared her behind too big . That caused a few moments of tension. But we just hung out of the windows and rested our elbows on top, while Thomas meandered through a maze of roadblocks and men in black.
By eight o’clock we all collapsed on the floor of the living room. And when I entered the kitchen to drink out of the faucet— since I had no cups or anything else to put in a kitchen for that matter—I was welcomed by a sight of a stack of plastic cups, plastic flatware, paper plates, a bag of ice, Cokes, and a large cheese pizza. Oh, and there was a note. A note from my new landlord,welcoming me to my new home. Signed, well, “Landlord.” A trip he must have made in between our final loads. And a pizza just like I would like it. A pizza that only a father would know.
“Dinner is served.” I distributed pizza to my hungry helpers.
“Ooh, let’s sit on the balcony and eat. That way we can see what’s going on across the street,” Paige said as she flung open the French doors to the balcony . We had a perfect view of the square. And a perfect view of my mother.
“This is like dinner and a movie,” Paige said, ripping into her pizza.“It would be perfect with Doritos.”
The child was ill. “Mom looks kind of nice,” Thomas said, guzzling down some Coke.
I patted him on the back as our feet dangled over the balcony.
“You are a sweet son, you know . To find ‘nice’ in that is optimism in it’s finest form.”
“Well, she did freshen up her makeup,” Paige added. “Maybe that’s what he’s noticing.”
I looked hard. I wanted to see it. But the harsh floodlights on the sidewalk that saturated her with unflattering shades of white made her look, dare I say, plumb nasty. “She needs a bath. I mean, this woman might see the president tomorrow, and she looks like Homeless Hannah.”
Paige nodded.“But in very expensive shoes.”
“Yes, and matching handbag. Don’t forget the handbag,” I said.
“Oh, yes. Of course.”
“She needs a mint, too.” Thomas responded. “She’s battling Duke for just plain stank! Shoot, I bet that’s what the people on Survivor smell like.”
“Survivor! Oh my gosh, she missed Survivor tonight!” I said in total shock.
“No, she didn’t. She’s got a TV out there. Look, she’s watching it right now.” And she was. Battery-operated TV. Headset. And she was talking to the TV. She was watching Survivor all right. “And it will be over in perfect time for her interview on Hannity & Colmes.”
No one was surprised.
“Oh, I think that Sean Hannity is a fine specimen of a man,”
Paige offered, drifting away.
“He is cute,” I offered. “I think he should have won sexiest newscaster.”
“He would have if that MSNBC man hadn’t shamelessly promoted himself,” Paige retorted.
Thomas threw his two cents in. And trust me, that was a high estimate.“You think anything that walks and breathes is fine.”
Paige retorted. “I do not . You aren’t all that.”
“You aren’t all that,” he mimicked.
“Just tell me she’s not going to have another Survivor party this year,” Paige said.
“Not if I can help it,” I assured her.
“Well, it’s your fault, Savannah,”Thomas added.“If you hadn’t told her to watch that very first season finale, none of us would have to endure it at all.”
“It’s not my fault,” I protested. “I was just trying to help her branch out.”
“Well, you better hope this season isn’t in Africa, because I’m not giving Jeep rides to a soul,”Thomas assured us both. Like we were the ones who would ask him.
“Well, I’m not wearing a colorful sarong that calls my tribe Victoriajumanji either.”
“I guess we should just be grateful that she’s never tried to enter herself . Watching her audition tape would make safari tours in my Jeep feel like a bearable punishment.”
I comforted him. “She couldn’t audition. Contestants are allowed only one luxury item . That woman would vote herself off by day two if she couldn’t wax, pluck, and inject.”
He nodded across the square. “I would have agreed with you there last week. But not anymore. She has effectively brought to ruin any notion of what I thought she would and would not do in this life.”
The mere observation caused each of us to groan.
Paige interjected. “Neither of you should complain. At least you get pizza every Thursday night.”
“On china plates,” I informed her.“And I did not say Chinette.”
“And I didn’t say your mother wasn’t half-crazy. I just said you got one night to eat something that came out of a box.”
“But it is made from scratch,” I assured her.
“Whatever.”
“I think I’m going to buy me a sundress.”
Paige’s face contorted.“To wear to your mother’s Survivor party?”
“I’m not talking about Survivor anymore, Paige.”
“There are drugs for that.”
“So, should I?”
“Should you what?”
Thomas broke in. “Should she buy a dress, Paige. My word, even I know what she’s talking about.”
“That’s because your illness runs in the family.”
He flicked her. She flicked back.
“Why do you want a sundress?” she asked me. “You hate dresses.”
“I don’t know. I just think they’re . . . well . . . kind of pretty.
Maybe it’s stupid.”
“Yes, it’s stupid,”Thomas said.
Paige glared at him.“It’s not stupid. It would be lovely on you.
Okay, enough fun,” she said as she began to rise.“Ow, ooh, oh, that hurts.” She moved slow for a vibrant woman of twenty-four.
Thomas showed no mercy as he stood up.“You’re pathetic.”
“She’s an old soul,Thomas.”
“With old parts, obviously.”
Paige reprimanded us both.“Would you two quit talking about me like I’m not here?”
“You need to work out,” I told her, setting our plates on the counter. I’d need to get a trash can.
“I don’t work out. I’ll mess up my sleek lines.” She ran her hands across her stomach and the little pouch that had formed after her four pieces of pizza.“And I wouldn’t have this pouch had your landlord brought Diet Coke.”
“You’re sad,” I said, giving her a hug.
“Well, you’re a homeowner.” She hugged me back.
“Renter,” I corrected.
“Whatever . You don’t live with your mama anymore . What are you doing? Is your foot itching again?”
“Yes. It means—”
Thomas answered for me. “It mean’s she’s going to walk on new ground. And if her hand itches, one means she’s going to get pleased; the other means she’s going to get money. And if he
r nose itches, someone’s coming to see her. And if her head itches, it means . . . that she’s realized it’s empty.”
I slapped him.
“I know what it means,”Paige said.“She was doing it the other night at my house. Sister might need a new pair of sneakers with all the walking she’s going to be doing.”
“Well, you two girls have fun. I’m going to check on Duke.”
“Yeah, I’ve got to go back to the house for a few last items.”
“Toilet paper?” Paige asked.
Toilet paper hadn’t crossed my mind . They could tell.“Are you sure you’ll survive?”Thomas asked.
“She has to. She owes me money,” Paige said. And we laughed our way to the sidewalk.
“Oh,” I said, bounding back up the stairs. “I forgot to lock the door.”
I heard Thomas in the distance. “I’ll give her a week.”
Paige’s faith in two weeks wasn’t any more affirming. I shut the door and searched for the keys . They were sitting by the still-open balcony doors.
“I’ve got to do better than this,” I muttered. I looked out over the packed square, and the sight of my mother reached my eyes like a lighthouse beam through a settled fog . The very woman I was trying to escape was as close to me now as she had been on most evenings . Yet seeing her here felt reassuring, dare I say comforting. No, I wasn’t moving from her—I was moving toward me. But truth be told, I would sleep better tonight knowing she was right outside.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
M y bedroom looked different. The shelves were empty, save the dust that had collected from the lack of attention since Sister Victoria had become Savannah’s patron saint. I walked around the hardwood floors that echoed with the flipping of my flops. I peered out my window at the familiar scene of Clary’s and the cracks in the sidewalk and the street I had awakened to every morning.
I left the drapes up. I didn’t know how to hang them anyway. And I had to leave Vicky something to do for me when she was released. I wandered over to my bathroom and stared into the completely clean space. There wasn’t even dirt to imagine. It was spotless. And my galoshes and knee pads were packed up.
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