The Women of Jacob’s Mountain Boxed Set

by Hining, Deborah;

  “What kind did she get, Jimmy Lee?”

  His smile broadened to include Sally Beth. “You just have to see for yourself.”

  Sally Beth felt a tingle of foreboding. She suspected Lilly had pulled a fast one over him, cajoling him into not only buying her something beyond the blue book value of her old car, but also into buying himself a new truck. That Lilly! Poor Jimmy Lee probably had shelled out far more than he could afford just because he felt guilty and because Lilly had led him to believe that with a new truck, Edna Mae would like him better. She bit her lip in worry over her friend and his wallet. That was proving to be one expensive cigarette. One expensive glimpse at Edna Mae’s bosoms. But Jimmy Lee was probably thinking it was worth it.

  “We need to get you some new boots,” Jimmy Lee reminded them. “There’s a Western wear store just up the road. Lilly’s there now.”

  The new truck was roomy, with a large space behind the seat where Lamentations lounged in luxury. The ride to the Western wear store was a pleasure, but Sally Beth sort of wished she were sitting in the bed of Jimmy Lee’s old truck, feeling the Texas wind on her face and looking forward to the four of them going out and maybe getting into a little mischief. Their glorious adventure with their new friend was coming to an end, for it was clear that Jimmy Lee would have the honor of delivering Edna Mae to her granny in Texarkana.

  Lilly was wearing a new pair of tooled blue-green boots that looked very expensive, and she had stacked up several piles of boxes for them to see. “Sally Beth, try these on. I found you some pink ones, but here are some brown ones that I think are adorable, and I love these blue ones. They’re the exact color of your eyes. Edna Mae, I don’t know your size, but over there are some gorgeous ostrich ones. I put them right there.”

  She preened and pranced in the new boots, “These are a whole lot better than the ones I got us,” she said, twirling in front of the mirror. Sally Beth tried on the pink ones and the blue ones, and ended up being talked into getting real ostrich boots dyed a rich cherry red. They were very expensive, but Jimmy Lee grinned and grinned when he saw her trying not to dance in the aisles in them, and he said, “You have to get those boots, Sally Beth, and I’ll do anything to make you get them. Why, if you don’t, I’m going to tell everybody back home that I caught you brawling in a bar.” He said it with complete innocence, thinking it was the most absurd thing imaginable.

  Lilly burst out laughing. “Oh, Jimmy Lee, who on earth would believe such a thing about Sally Beth?” Edna Mae turned her head and sniggered while Sally Beth bit her lip and blushed. If only he knew. She nodded, acquiescing, hoping that Edna Mae or Lilly would never speak about her encounter with the little man in the Pecos bar.

  Jimmy Lee also talked Edna Mae into trying on new boots, and although she kept saying she didn’t need any new ones, he noticed when she paused and smiled in the mirror at the plain dark brown pair she had tried on. When she wasn’t looking, he took them to the counter and paid for them before she noticed.

  As they were leaving, Edna Mae whispered to Sally Beth, “Jimmy Lee’s the nicest man I ever met. Lawrence would have made me get high-heeled slave sandals or something covered with rhinestones, and he would expect me to pay for them ten times over.”

  “Jimmy Lee, you are the best!” exclaimed Lilly, prancing through the doors. “Sally Beth, you are not going to believe the deal Jimmy Lee’s cousin gave us on my car. Did you see his truck? Isn’t that just the sweetest thing you ever saw? It almost made me want to get a truck, but look what I did get!” She swept her hand toward the parking lot.

  Sally Beth couldn’t see anything out in the direction Lilly was pointing except for a fancy red two-seater sports convertible, but when Edna Mae hollered, “Lilly, you are one bad mama!” it began to dawn on Sally Beth what Lilly had done. Various thoughts ran through her head, all along the lines of, How on earth are we going to be able to fit all three of us in that? How much did it cost? Lilly, you are acting the fool if I ever saw one!

  “I know!” shrieked Lilly. “It’s a 1974 Corvette Stingray, and Dylan gave it to us for his cost, only $2,500, which he said he practically stole. He said it was the best deal on the lot.”

  Sally Beth was stunned. She felt as if Lilly had just slugged her in the gut; her knees went weak, and she could not catch her breath. “You spent $2,500 on a car? Oh, Lilly!” she said weakly.

  A voice in the back of her head said, Turn around and take those boots back right now.

  From a distance, she could hear Lilly’s voice. “Sally Beth—don’t be mean!”

  Take back Lilly’s boots, too. Maybe we can take back all the clothes…

  “Sally Beth? Sally Beth? Breathe, honey. Here, come on over and you can sit down.” Lilly took her arm. “It’s not that bad, Sally Beth. Really.” Lilly opened the door of the convertible and gently shoved Sally Beth down onto the plush upholstery.

  “Really,” she repeated in a rush. “I had insurance on it, so that will cover about five hundred, and Jimmy Lee said that he owed us so much more than that. I argued with him, but he swore he wanted to buy it. Oh, Sally Beth, don’t be mad!” Lilly’s eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill down her pale cheeks. “I promise, Sally Beth, I’ll get a job, and I’ll pay him back! You don’t have to worry.”

  Jimmy Lee chimed in, “Sally Beth, it’s fine. I reckon I put you all through at least that much trouble, and I owe Lilly something for all that. Shoot, I owe you more than you’ll let me pay for. I plumb ruined your trip.” He stood anxiously, waiting for Sally Beth to answer.

  Edna Mae chimed in, “Sally Beth, for Pete’s sake. You’re acting like you’re about to pass out over a car! Shoot, I’ll pitch in another $500 myself. I owe you a pile for rescuing me out of Las Vegas. Don’t make Jimmy Lee feel bad.”

  Sally Beth looked at Lilly, suddenly pale and trembling, and her heart went out to her baby sister, who had always wanted nice things but had never had them, not in her whole life, looking so distressed and sad, and Sally Beth wanted to cry for her. She felt terrible that she was acting so upset about it, but then, there were lots of repairs to make on the house—the roof alone was going to cost $1500, and it’s for sure there’s a problem with the foundation, not to mention the fact they had wanted to get it painted and the windows fixed. And the plumbing. The numbers swam through her head. College was going to cost close to $2000 a year, that was just tuition and room and board, and Lilly would have other expenses for four whole years. They weren’t going to have enough left from Mama’s insurance to pay off the mortgage, and she couldn’t afford the payments on what she was making. And now they owed Jimmy Lee at least $1000, and Edna Mae another $500, and she didn’t know how she was going to make the dollars stretch. But Lilly looked so disappointed, whereas just a moment before she had been excited and happy, and Sally Beth couldn’t bear to be the cause of such grief, so she took a deep breath and smiled, “Lilly, it just surprised me, that’s all. We can’t let Jimmy Lee pay for all of it, but we’ll manage. It’s a beautiful car.”

  Lilly threw her arms around Sally Beth. Her smile came back as she hugged Jimmy Lee and Edna Mae, then Sally Beth again. Sally Beth swallowed her feeling of doom and hugged her back.

  Despite the brief crisis over Lilly’s extravagance, the rest of the day was a celebration. Lilly spent an hour trying on her new clothes and deciding what to wear for dinner. “I’ve never had all new clothes before! Shoot, even most of my ‘new’ clothes were secondhand.” She held a blouse to her nose and sniffed it. “The whole suitcase smells like new. I love Jimmy Lee!”

  Sally Beth felt her joy, as she, too, reveled in the new outfits she had bought that day. She had ended up getting more than she intended, although fewer than she had lost in the fire. The only thing she regretted losing was the necklace her mother had given her last Christmas and the Bible she had had since elementary school. The Bible had been tattered and marked up, and the necklace had not been expensive, but she had treasured them. She wondered if Lil
ly regretted the loss of her own similar necklace and Bible. She guessed maybe not. The Bible was still pristine, even after all these years, and the necklace hadn’t been to her taste.

  “Wear this one,” said Edna Mae, holding up a lacy blue sundress. “It’s the perfect color for you. And these sandals. Sally Beth, what are you wearing?” Edna Mae rummaged through the bags piled on the floor.

  “I like the pink, and I love these shoes!” Sally Beth couldn’t suppress her enthusiasm as she pulled out a pair of tiny thong sandals studded with pink jewels and held them next to the new dress. It had a few sparkly sequins around the neckline that matched perfectly. She knew exactly how Lilly was feeling. All this new was making her dizzy.

  Edna Mae looked at them wistfully for a moment before taking a white, sleeveless A-line dress off a hanger. It was surprisingly immodest, by Edna Mae standards. When she put it on, she did not look fat and frumpy, but statuesque and elegant. Lilly whistled. “Whoa! Edna Mae, you look fabulous in that. Throw those muumuus away, girl.”

  “Yes, you look really nice,” agreed Sally Beth. “You look like you are stepping out to have a good time. And you don’t look like you are afraid somebody will look at you.”

  Edna Mae laughed. “Yeah,” she admitted. “I feel safe around Jimmy Lee.” She paused, fingering the linen. “He’s nice, isn’t he?”

  “Nice?” laughed Lilly. “If I thought I had a chance, I’d try to take him away from you.”

  Sally Beth smiled. It was not true—no matter how much money Jimmy Lee spent on Lilly, she would never see him as anything other than a country boy, not worthy of her, but she was happy that Lilly had said it because it made Edna Mae feel good.

  “Wait, let me take your picture,” said Lilly, grabbing the camera on the way out the door. “You too, Sally Beth. Stand here. Hey, Jimmy Lee!” she called to him as he emerged from his room. Come over here and let me take y’all’s picture. Lamentations, too.” She set the camera on the railing, set the timer, and jumped into the frame. As they all stood smiling into the lens, Lamentations wedged between Edna Mae and Jimmy Lee, Sally Beth couldn’t help but feel a sense of newness and anticipation in everyone, like it was Easter Sunday and the scent of spring made the air sweet and hopeful. Her heart was filled with the celebration of promise.

  Almighty God, what a day! Yesterday started out so awful, and it got so good, and today was even better. Thank You for sending Jimmy Lee to us and thank You that Edna Mae is feeling safe around him. Thank You for the Elvises, especially for Elvis Chuck and the concert, and for the chance to see more in one week than I have seen in all my life. Thank You for Lilly’s new car, but I will be sure to pay Jimmy Lee back, please just show me a way to do it. Bless us, Lord, especially Edna Mae. My love to Mama and Daddy, and to Holy Miracle, too. You are good, Lord.

  August 15, 1978

  The night had erased any possible feeling of guilt Lilly may have felt over conning Jimmy Lee into buying a Corvette Stingray, for at breakfast she began talking about what else she planned to buy as they rolled through Dallas. Sally Beth put a stop to that with a sudden glare and a violent shaking of the head. “Huh-uh, Lilly. You aren’t getting another penny out of poor Jimmy Lee.” Lilly stopped talking, looking contrite and sad. Sally Beth knew what she was feeling: it had been a good ride, and it was hard to give it up. She felt a little sorry for her sister, but she refused to soften. Lilly was getting too good at playing on people’s emotions, and she wasn’t about to let her play hers or Jimmy Lee’s for one more minute.

  They took their time going to Texarkana. Jimmy Lee, Lamentations, and Edna Mae rode in the truck, while Sally Beth and Lilly happily settled into the Stingray. They stopped in Dallas long enough to see the place where John F. Kennedy had been shot, and then, at Lilly’s insistence, having lunch at the Galleria. After that, Jimmy Lee and Edna Mae left them while Lilly and Sally Beth did a little window shopping; once they saw the price tag on things, even Lilly decided that she had had enough, so they sat by the ice skating rink and waited until Jimmy Lee and Edna Mae came striding toward them. He carried a shiny turquoise guitar case with a big red bow tied on the neck. Beside him, Edna Mae looked as happy as a bluebird bursting with springtime. Her face glowed as Jimmy Lee presented the case to Lilly, who jumped up with a squeal.

  It was another Gibson. A brand new one, in turquoise and tortoise shell, and it had a sound like angels humming. Lilly cried, hugged him, then took it out and played and sang until shoppers gathered to listen. Sally Beth and Edna Mae were both too bashful to join her, in this swanky place where every woman wore very big hair and big diamonds to match, so Lilly’s impromptu concert did not last long. She said she didn’t feel like singing if her best friends in the whole world didn’t join her, which made both Edna Mae and Sally Beth feel warm and happy.

  They finally left the mall and climbed back into their vehicles, heading eastward. The three-hour drive to Texarkana seemed like a celebration parade.

  When they arrived at Edna Mae’s grandmother’s apartment complex just on the border with Arkansas, they found her wearing a muumuu exactly like one of Edna Mae’s. It was apparent which side of the family the body—and the taste in clothing—came from. Granny looked fat above her hemline, but below it, her sixty-five-year-old legs were fabulous. There was plenty of beauty above the neckline as well. Sally Beth couldn’t help but feel happy for Jimmy Lee: if he played his cards right, he could well be in for a life of bliss.

  After hugs, tears, and introductions, a puzzled Granny said to Edna Mae, “I thought you said your fellow was Lawrence, honey.”

  There was a short, uncomfortable silence until Sally Beth stepped in, not minding in the least telling a near-lie in order to save Edna Mae’s pride. “Oh, Lawrence was Lilly’s neighbor; he just came along with us as far as the Grand Canyon.” She paused to smile at Jimmy Lee and Edna Mae. “Jimmy Lee is an old friend from back home, and it’s a good thing we ran into him back in Midland. He rescued us when Lilly’s car caught on fire.”

  “Well, I’m so happy you brought my baby home to me. I can’t thank you enough. Now, you all sit down. I’ve got a pitcher of margaritas in the freezer with your name on them, and we’re all going to just sit right here by the pool and enjoy our time together.

  “Thanks just the same, but we have to get back on the road,” said Lilly. “We’re just passing through on our way to Memphis. The Elvis tribute is tomorrow. You know, it’s the anniversary of his death, and we have friends who are performing.”

  Edna Mae’s granny snorted. “Oh, honey, be there if you have friends to meet, but you don’t need to be mourning for Elvis. He’s not dead.”

  Sally Beth sat up. “What makes you say so?”

  “Why, ‘cause I just saw him down at the Piggly Wiggly this afternoon. He was pulling out of the parking lot as I was getting there.” She adjusted the neckline of her muumuu, pulling it up well above the exposed cleavage. “He’s out here visiting all the time—his great-aunt is here, and one of his musician buddies lives in town. Why, I thought everybody knew he faked his death last year!

  Sally Beth nearly jumped out of her skin, she was so excited. She and Lilly looked at each other with astonished delight. “Well, I’ll be,” said Sally Beth. “Imagine that. Elvis alive. I thought that really was him at the concert on Sunday…” Her head churned with possibilities. “But we still want to go see Graceland, don’t we Lilly? They’ve opened the gardens to the public, and it would be nice to get a glimpse of the house.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Lilly. “I think Mama would like us to see it. We should head on over there.”

  “Naw, stay the night with us,” insisted Granny. “Have some margaritas. I got all of us steaks at the Piggly Wiggly, and I’ve made a big salad, and there’s potatoes baking right now.” She pressed. “Tell me your stories. Help me celebrate me getting my Edna Mae back home. You can run over there in the morning to see your friends. But you won’t see his grave!” She slapped her knee, accompanied by a hearty lau
gh. “Oh, you’ll see a tombstone, but there’s nothing under there except a wax dummy, and besides, it doesn’t even pretend to be his tombstone. They misspelled his middle name on purpose because his daddy thought it would be bad luck to have the right name on it.”

  Sally Beth gave her a quizzical look. “I’m serious, honey. You think his daddy would go and spell the name wrong on his own son’s tombstone without a good reason? Why, he threw a fit when they got it wrong on his birth certificate and made them redo it. Oh, yes. He is Elvis Aron Presley with just one A in Aron, and if you go look at it, you’ll see plain as day, Aaron, with two As.” She shook her head and put her fist on her hip in a gesture of finality. “No, siree. Elvis is as alive as you and me, just down the road, visiting his great-aunt Fanny Jane over on the Arkansas side of town.”

  They did not need much coaxing. They stayed, cooking the steaks over a grill poolside and eating as much as they thought they possibly could, and then eating more when they discovered Granny had made fresh peach ice cream and chocolate pound cake. The margaritas went down easy, too, and before the evening haze settled in and the waxing moon rose over their heads, they felt as comfortable with Edna Mae’s granny as they did their own.

  Edna Mae picked up Lilly’s new guitar. Jimmy Lee borrowed her harmonica, and as the two of them played, Sally Beth, Lilly, and Granny slipped into the kitchen to wash the dishes.

  “Tell me what’s going on between those two,” Granny demanded the minute they were out of earshot. “I know good and well Lawrence has been Edna Mae’s boyfriend for close to a year now. Your little story about Lawrence just being Lilly’s neighbor doesn’t hold any more water than my spaghetti strainer.”

  “No, it’s true. He was my neighbor. And it is true we left him at the Grand Canyon—” Lilly giggled, “after Edna Mae caught him cheating on her.” Sally Beth had to laugh, too, remembering the drama of their exit with Lawrence chasing them through the parking lot of the Day’s Inn. “And he was Edna Mae’s boyfriend, but I don’t think she wants Jimmy Lee to know that right now. Sally Beth was just saving her the embarrassment.”