“Oh,” mused Granny. “Well, I sure hope this Jimmy Lee’s a good man. Edna Mae doesn’t know how to pick them out, and I tell you the truth, I worry about her. She’s dragged in some real sorry ones, and I hate to think of her getting mixed up with another bad man.”
Sally Beth patted her shoulder. “I can vouch for Jimmy Lee. I know he’s kind, and he will be good to Edna Mae. He comes from real proud folk. They don’t go running over their women.” She did not see the need to discuss Jimmy Lee’s infatuation with Geneva or his tumultuous relationship with Myrtle. She was certain that once Jimmy Lee found the right woman, he would be as true to her as he was to Lamentations. If nothing else, his grandmother Lenora would see to that.
Granny nodded. “I think losing her daddy so young messed her up. Bad as it was on me losing my only boy, it was a whole lot worse on Edna Mae and Sarah Jane. I don’t know what would have happened if they hadn’t gotten away from that sorry louse their mama took up with.” Blinking back tears, she picked up a platter to wipe dry. “John Harold was a good boy, sweet as an angel, and he turned into a fine man, a real good husband and daddy. But he lacked discernment when it came to women.” She paused, shaking her head. “Maybe little Edna Mae got that from him. No discernment. That’s a gift not everybody has.”
It was late when they finally went to bed. Jimmy Lee ended up sleeping in his truck with Lamentations. Sally Beth and Lilly shared the only guest bedroom, and Edna Mae slept with Granny.
Holy God, thank You for people like Granny. And Edna Mae, and Jimmy Lee, and thank You for giving me a loving family and for the gift of discernment. I like that, she mused, letting her thoughts drift to the boys she had loved… no, not loved, not really. I guess I nearly loved them, or maybe thought I loved them, but… anyway, thank You for sparing me the pain of wrong love, and for giving me the goodness of right love, especially Your love.
August 16, 1978, Texarkana, Texas
Their leave-taking the next morning was bittersweet. Edna Mae hugged them tightly, and so did Granny, and Jimmy Lee did as well, explaining that he intended to stay on another day or so, just until Edna Mae “got sorted out,” whatever that meant. They finally left around midmorning, after eliciting a promise from Edna Mae that she would soon visit them in Tucker. Jimmy Lee stood aside, grinning and nodding like the little bobble head dog that sat on the dashboard of his truck. He looked very, very happy. So did Edna Mae.
The traffic into Memphis was awful. As they got closer to the exit on Elvis Presley Boulevard, the traffic crawled to a near stop. After noticing an ELVIS LIVES bumper sticker on the car in front of them, Lilly and Sally Beth realized that the traffic jam was due to the number of people who, like themselves, were on the way to the ceremonies at Graceland.
Sally Beth began to feel a little claustrophobic. “Do you think we will even get near the Elvises? The choir, I mean.”
“I don’t know,” answered Lilly uneasily. “And even if we do, I’m not sure we’ll get the chance to talk to them. I’m beginning to think this is a bad idea.”
“Me, too,” offered Sally Beth thoughtfully. Without Edna Mae or Jimmy Lee, the trip had lost its flavor. She suddenly felt a wave of homesickness, made even worse as she looked out over the miles and miles of creeping cars ahead and the blue haze of exhaust fumes swimming along the road. This was not the way to honor Elvis, alive or dead, and she felt sure her mother would forgive her if she missed the events of the day. “I’m ready to be home,” she said.
Lilly fell quiet for a moment before she sighed and said, “I can get off here and head east. Just say the word.”
“Don’t you want to see Elvis Tommy?”
She shrugged. “He knows where I live. It’s going to be a madhouse down there, anyway. Do you want to see Elvis Chuck?”
Sally Beth thought about it. Elvis Chuck had been nice, but when she probed the depths of her heart, she knew that it was unruffled and unstained with any hope for Elvis Chuck. He was nice, and the song he had written for her had made her feel pleasantly achy inside, but music alone could do that, she knew. It didn’t necessarily mean she had developed an ache for him. Lifting her arms high into the empty air above her, she laughed as she opened her hands to release the last, lingering desire for the handsome man from Utah. “Let’s go home!” she said, as she snugged the string tie of her pink princess cowboy hat up tight under her chin.
Ten
August 17, 1978, Tucker, West Virginia
When Lilly and Sally Beth rolled into their driveway, they were met with the sight of their pretty little house, looking extraordinarily neat and new. It took them a minute to realize that not only was there a new roof, but the repairs to the windows were so well done they looked like brand new windows. Also, the house had been painted, the flowerbeds had been weeded, and the flowers had multiplied during their absence. Lilly was happy to see it all looking so good, but Sally Beth grew alarmed as she noticed more things that had been done.
Inside, the place looked even better. The hardwood floors gleamed. The cabinets had been repaired and painted. The Knights weren’t there, but Lilly found a note on the kitchen table. She read it aloud as Sally Beth looked around the house in wonder.
Dear Sally Beth and Lilly,
Welcome home! Sorry we weren’t here when you arrived. Lenora is canning this week, and she needs me up there to help. I guess you can tell the house is painted! Some people came by, they wouldn’t say who they were, but I think maybe they were from some church? They said that they take on one big “surprise!” project a year and you had been picked this year because of the work you do at the nursing home and the hospital, Sally Beth. Nice of them, huh? That just goes to show how much you are loved and appreciated!
Howard fixed your cabinets and did a little painting on the inside. He just felt like puttering around, and before we knew it, we decided to paint. Hope you don’t mind! I wanted to see how the colors I have picked out for my house looked in a real room, so we tried them out here. If you don’t like it, we’ll come back and repaint for you.
I found this new floor wax that I tried out on your floors, too. I wanted to see how it worked before I put it on mine (we sure have been experimenting on your house), and I think it made the floors look good. It’s the least we could do after missing your mother’s funeral.
It was great to be so close to town and have the place to ourselves. We got a babysitter and went to a movie twice, and I got a level place to stroll Blue around every day. It felt like we were on vacation! As a thank you, I have a little housewarming gift for you on the beds—some sheets I got at my favorite outlet in DC—they are seconds, but I don’t think you can even tell.
Geneva had loved writing the little lies in the letter. The sheets were 1000-count Egyptian cotton from the best store in Paris, and the painting and extra repairs had been done by the craftsmen who were building her own house up at the Jumpoff. She hoped that Sally Beth and Lilly would not notice the fact that they also had shored up the foundation, installed new windows, fixed the termite damage in the attic, replumbed and rewired the whole house, refinished the floors, deepened the well, and pumped the septic tank. She was a little nervous that they might notice that the roofing had been upgraded substantially, or that everything that could not be seen easily in Sally Beth’s car, from the windshield wiper blades to the brakes had been rebuilt or replaced. Howard wouldn’t let her put new tires on it, even though they were looking worn, because that would be too obvious. Geneva felt a delicious little thrill as she thought about all the things they would not notice, but that would improve the lives of her two cousins. She had laughed as she signed her name. “I could get used to this!” she exclaimed. “It’s better than hiding Easter eggs.”
Howard shook his head. “It’s a good thing they were gone only two weeks. It would be hard for them not to notice the whole house had been rebuilt. You’d better watch it, sweetheart. Until that mine is all played out, we can’t let nobody know how much we got. I don’t know how mu
ch we can pretend to get from our ‘oil well,’ but we don’t want to have to put a fence around that whole mountain.”
“I know,” replied Geneva sadly. “I almost wish you hadn’t found that new vein. We have so much more money than we need, and until we can really start giving it away, it isn’t much fun. But you know, oil wells can pump out a lot of money, so maybe we can get by with a little more, especially if we can spread it out so nobody gets enough to be suspicious. And there’s always ‘Mr. Anonymous,’ and ‘church groups.’ ”
“Yeah, but if word gets out about that gold, you can kiss that pretty creek—and that mint patch—goodbye.”
She smiled and put her arms around him, kissing him soundly. She would do anything to preserve that mint patch.
Oh, God, I am so happy to be home! Thank You for the best trip, thank You for getting Lilly back home, and for Geneva and Howard, who did a lot of work, too, and oh, these sheets!. I feel like a queen. They are the prettiest shade of pink, and they exactly match the paint that Geneva has put on the walls of my bedroom. And the living room is the nicest, softest green I’ve ever seen.
And thank You for those complete strangers who painted the house. I wish I could thank them. You know, it would be fun to go and do something nice for somebody and not let them know who it was. Maybe Lilly and I can find some project like that. Just go and surprise somebody who really needs help. That seems like the most fun thing in the world to do….
She let her gaze slide over the pink walls in the moonlight and forgot she was praying, letting her mind dwell on the highlights of the trip. She was just thinking about Elvis Chuck when the Voice came to her so plainly and so different from her train of thought that she couldn’t mistake it for her own meditation:
Prepare yourself to go.
Her drowsiness left her. Lord, I already went! And now I’m back. What on earth do You mean? But silence echoed in her ears, and presently, sleep crept over her, and the next thing she knew it was morning with glorious, golden light streaming in through the window. She was so happy to be home as she fluffed up her pillows in their new pillowcases that she felt like singing.
Some bright morning when this day is o’er, I’ll fly away
To that home on heav’n’s celestial shore, I’ll fly away!
August 18, 1978
She made breakfast for herself and the sleeping Lilly before tiptoeing out the door, leaving a plate of pancakes for her sister. She didn’t have to be back at work until Tuesday, but Fridays were always busy with walk-ins, so she figured they could use her today. Besides, she wanted to tell everyone about her adventures. Just wait until Fanny Sue finds out about Elvis being alive.
The engine cranked up just as smooth as could be on the very first try, which surprised Sally Beth. It had been sitting for two weeks, and usually she needed to give it a jump if it had been a while since she had driven it. Thank You, Lord, she breathed, and backed out of the drive. Everything about her life was good.
The Corvette was parked in the same place when she returned, and Sally Beth guessed Lilly had not been out all day. She found her sitting in Daddy’s big armchair by the window, a pile of photographs in her lap.
“Heeey Sally Beth! Guess what I found out today?”
“What’s that, Lilly?”
“The community college over in Mt. Jackson offers an Associate’s Degree in Photography! I didn’t know you could study something like that. I mean, there’s a whole lot you can learn about photography, enough to take years to learn. And some colleges have a major called photojournalism. That means you can become a newspaper photographer, or—get this—a photographer for a magazine like National Geographic!” Her eyes were wide with delight. “Imagine that. You can get a job where all you do is take pictures all day long.”
“Really? That sounds like fun.”
“I know. I thought you had to study something boring when you went to college, like history or math or something. I didn’t know you could learn fun stuff. I’ve been on the phone all day. I talked to this guy in the photography department, and he said that graduates go on and do all kinds of things, like become fashion photographers, or travel photographers, or take pictures of famous people. Sally Beth, this is perfect!” She glowed with excitement. “I could do just a two-year program at the community college and I don’t have to go on to the University. I could get a real job taking pictures right away. Classes start next week, and this guy said his classes aren’t full and I could get in right away. And if I decide to, I can get a full degree, ‘cause they have a photojournalism program at State.”
Sally Beth was astonished. Lilly had wanted to go to Tech, not State, because Tech had more male students. Now she was not even mentioning her desire to get a man. She was talking about getting a real job, doing something she really wanted to do. She was so proud of her baby sister she could have popped.
“Now, come look at these,” said Lilly, picking up a stack of photographs. “Here are the pictures I took with Lawrence’s camera. I’ve been going through them and trying to figure out what I did that worked and what didn’t. See, look at this picture Lawrence took of you, and here’s a similar one that I took. You see how in this one you stand out real sharp against a fuzzy background and the light seems to pour out all over you? And in mine, you just look flat against the background, and the light isn’t great. I’ve been reading the instruction booklet, and a lot of it has to do with this F-stop thingy. You can change it to make the background come in or out of focus. And you have to pay attention to the angle of the light. And sometimes you use a flash even in the daytime to get rid of sharp shadows.”
She went on, talking so fast and excitedly that Sally Beth could hardly keep up with her, but then, Sally Beth was more interested in seeing the change in Lilly than she was in photographic techniques. It was nice to see her learning, and so happy about it, she thought, watching her glowing face as she talked and gestured, and she wondered and hoped that Lilly was finally growing up.
Thank You, Lord, for Lawrence. Even though we sort of stole his camera, it has opened up a whole new life for Lilly. Thank You, Lord, for Edna Mae. Oh, speaking of Lawrence, would You please make sure he is okay? And help him to be a better man. I don’t think he was too happy with himself, but You can change that. Just open up his heart.
August 21, 1978
It was nice that her day off came on Mondays. Sally Beth could run down to the nursing home, get the dogs, and see everybody. She dropped by Mr. Hawkins’ room, where she was saddened to see that he seemed lethargic and uninterested in her trip.
“You got a new song for me, Mr. Hawkins?” She hoped that would brighten him.
“Naw, honey. I don’t feel like much today. My Tilly, she told me to cut all that out. All the cussing, too. She’s left me until I can behave better.” His sad, old eyes grew red.
Sally Beth couldn’t help but smile. Mr. Hawkins’ wife had been dead for eight years, and still, she was constantly fussing at him for his bad language and his lusty songs.
“Aww, Mr. Hawkins, she hasn’t left you! She’s just gone to see Jesus, to get that new place ready. And she’s expecting you to have some songs for her when you get there, but I bet she’d like a nice one. Do you know “I’ll Fly Away”? I heard Elvis sing it last week, and it sounded real good.”
He perked up. “Oh yeah? Tilly likes Elvis.” His face clouded again. “I used to know how it went, but I can’t remember.”
“It goes like this,” she said gently, as she settled on the bed and sang about some bright morning when he would see his Tilly and remember everything important again.
Dr. Sams stopped her in the hall as she was leaving Mr. Hawkins’ room.
“Sally Beth, I’m so glad I ran into you. Come here into the conference room; I want to talk to you about something.” He guided her into a small room furnished like a cozy living room. Once she was settled, he began without preamble.
“I belong to a medical mission group, and we all take turns goin
g to Africa every few months. I went three years ago, and I’m due to go again in a week. It’s a great group, and we do an amazing amount of work in just the few months we are there. We had our group together, but one of the women who was to serve in a support capacity had to back out at the last minute. I was wondering if you’d like to go in her place?” He hesitated, watching her closely. “I thought you might be at loose ends since you lost your mother this summer, and, well, it would be something different for you to do.” He added quickly, “Your way would be paid, and we might be able to put together a little salary for you, if you think that’s something you’d like to do.”
Sally Beth blinked. “Dr. Sams, I don’t know what I could do to be of help. Why would you even think of me?”
“You’re one of the best I’ve ever seen when it comes to relating to people, especially people who are sick. You have such empathy, and there’s something about you that makes people feel at ease. You’re a great organizer, and you aren’t squeamish around sickness or injury. We need someone like you to check people into the clinic, to, well, just help out. We can teach you to give shots and administer pills, and you already know how to bandage wounds. Believe me, you’d be a great asset to us.”
She didn’t know what to say. Sally Beth had always thought it would be nice to see Africa, ever since she had sat with her daddy looking at all those National Geographics, but the reality of Dr. Sams’ offer was bigger than she wanted to consider at the moment. She had just gotten back from her trip out West, and she was just getting Lilly squared away with her school. She would surely need her for a while, at least.
The Women of Jacob’s Mountain Boxed Set Page 59