Contemporary Women's Fiction: Agnes Hopper Shakes Up Sweetbriar (Humorous Women's Fiction) (20 page)

“Nyquil, you mean? She poured some my first night here, but I didn’t drink it. Never could stand that smell. But when her bottle was confiscated, I bought her some at Begley’s. She said it helped her sleep.”

“She liked anything with alcohol. Got so it tore her stomach up, but she craved it anyway.”

“Merciful heavens. Sounds like you know everything about Alice. How long have you known her?”

“We both came to Sweetbriar Manor on opening day—July fourth, two years ago. I tell you, Sis, I knew when I first saw her, she was one fine woman, a saint if there ever was one.”

I took the hatbox. It was heavy. Glass knocked against glass inside. I stopped at Alice’s door, started to tell Smiley about the baby clothes under my bed, but changed my mind. Maybe this was one of her secrets she denied until it didn’t exist.

In my room, I shut the door and opened the hatbox. Stuffed under a stack of wonderful old feathered and sequined hats were pint bottles of vodka and Jack Daniels—all empty.

“Charlie, this woman didn’t fool around. Whatever happened in her past, she tried hard to forget.”

I thought about the night Alice shared her Nyquil, saying it was almost as good as Jack. Said it would ease the ache in any heart. I wished I could talk to her again, to ask her about her life before she came here. But now she was in the hospital, and my wish was impossible. I set the bottles aside. William would figure out how to dispose of them, although I wanted him to save me the box, even if it did smell like a distillery. Of course, the hats smelled too, but I could air everything and then spray the box and the hats with pine-scented air freshener. That should fix it.

I lined up the three hats on my bed—a mound of bright pink ruffles shaped like a turban, another that looked like an upside-down basket covered with black feathers, and the third one a swirl of sequined red satin with one red plume on the side.

“My, my, would you look at these,” I whispered as I placed the red one on my head. It felt several sizes too small, so I examined the inside and saw that Alice had stuffed the hatband with toilet paper. When I removed the paper, out tumbled little white pills.

The other hats revealed the same. I scooped up all the pills and dumped them into my nightstand drawer until I could decide what to do with them. Alice didn’t need them, but somehow I couldn’t force myself to be wasteful and flush them down the commode, which is what I should have done.

I went back to Alice’s room, but didn’t tell Smiley what I’d found besides empty liquor bottles. He didn’t have to know all her secrets.

We didn’t stop until we worked our way through every box in Alice’s closet and every drawer in the small chest. I was glad not to find any more surprises.

Soon we had a small pile of her things for nearly every woman resident. Now we had to locate William and ask him to deliver everything.

He wasn’t hard to find. He and Lil were in his room playing cards. The door was propped open and his big laugh rolled down the hall, followed by a lilting voice like that of a young woman. A chair had been pulled over to her wheelchair tray, which they used as a table. William surveyed the cards he held and chewed on his cigar.

When Lil noticed us, she waved one jeweled hand. “Where have the two of you been hiding? We need a foursome. Right, Willy?”

He looked up at me with a grin and, of course, one of his winks. “Now, lovely lady, let’s not rush into things. You’re a fast learner, but I
haven’t taught you everything I know yet.”

She laughed as if he’d told the most wonderful joke. “Willy’s teaching me to play poker. Why, it’s a sight more fun than bridge, Agnes. A sight more fun.”

I whispered to Charlie, “Wonder what her Edward will have to say about this?”

“William, we need you to deliver some of Alice’s things—and throw a few things away.”

“Give me a time and I’ll be there, Red.”

“Ten o’clock tomorrow morning. We labeled everything with a name and room number.”

He saluted and winked again. “You got it.” He laid down his cards. “Full house.”

In a mock whine, Lil said, “Oh, Willy, I want to win. Show me how, won’t you?”

The whole scene was making me nauseous. “Come on, Smiley, let’s go get something to eat. I’m having a sinking spell.”

When I turned around, I realized Smiley hadn’t said a word the whole time we stood in the doorway. His faraway look suggested his mind was on other things. When he moved into the hall and headed back to Alice’s room, I caught up to him and tugged on his shirtsleeve.

“Leave me be, Sis. Something is missing. Something Alice told me to find a good home for. Almost forgot. Can’t understand where it could be.”

“What is it?”

“Sometimes when she’d had a few too many sips, she’d tell me things. Things that happened over fifty years ago.”

“Alice had a son,” I said.

He stopped short and faced me. “How did you know?”

“The box that flew out of the closet.”

“Ahhh,” he said with eyebrows raised. Then he grinned like a person remembering something delightful.

I poked him on the shoulder. “Don’t think I didn’t hear you laughing when I fell.”

As he tried, unsuccessfully, to straighten his face, I pretended to be miffed. “I could have been hurt, you know. What if I’d broken a hip?”

“Oh, Sis, you should have seen that awful little hat flying off your head.”

“Well, the important thing is I have what you’re looking for. It’s in a
safe place. Now, tell me all about Alice and her son.”

The dining room was deserted. Someone had dimmed the lights, and the air conditioner gently moved the green velvet drapes back and forth. Shirley, the nail lady and now chief Sunday cook, had been gone for hours. In the kitchen I found a banana, two boxes of cereal, and some milk. I returned to the table nearest the kitchen and the farthest from the foyer steps.

“Charlie, I hope that awful woman has turned in for the night.”

Smiley was not going to be rushed. As I munched on a generic version of raisin bran, he finally opened the frosted flakes, poured them into his bowl, and sprinkled two heaping spoonfuls of sugar on top. Then he began slicing the banana with his Fuller Brush knife.

“Banana?” he asked.

I shook my head.
Mercy, Charlie, he probably uses that thing to trim his toenails too
.

He wiped the blade on the edge of the tablecloth, snapped it back into the knife casing, and dropped it into his pocket.

“If Prissy—I mean Miss Johnson—ever sees you doing that, she’ll have a total fit and probably confiscate your weapon.”

“Prissy, huh? Seems everyone has a little pet name for our beloved director.”

I shared the other names I called her out loud, but kept a few others to myself.

Smiley seemed to relax a little and that made me feel better. He pulled the knife back out of his pocket and examined it. “My stars, Sis, a man’s got to hold on to a few old habits. It’s a comfort, don’tcha know. Like those ridiculous hats of yours. A part of you.”

“I’m going to overlook that remark. I want to know about Alice.”

“Well, Sis, it’s like this. When she was a young woman, she fell in love with a married man. Didn’t know he was married, mind you, not at first. Started coming into the library where she worked. Regular con artist, if you ask me. She believed every lie that man ever told, I reckon. Wish I’d been around at the time. I would’ve—”

“Settle down,” I said. “Watch your blood pressure. Just tell me about Alice.”

“Well, she ended up getting pregnant, and this
man
, if you want to call him that, disappeared. She started asking questions around town and found out he was from Charleston, a regular blueblood, and already married. She was too ashamed to go back home to Richmond, so she
stuck it out in Columbia. Lost her job at the library and had to take in laundry. When John Howard was born, he was a frail little thing, sick all the time. And Alice was fragile herself. Well sir, this preacher’s wife who couldn’t have any children, convinced Alice to let her adopt him. They gave Alice five hundred dollars, just to help her along, but she never could bring herself to use it. She signed all the papers and agreed to never see her baby again.”

“So she might very well have a son somewhere. Did she tell you this preacher’s name?”

Smiley shook his head and sadness filled his eyes. “Never did. Think they moved up north soon after. But that’s not the worst part.”

With trembling hands, he took his handkerchief out of his back pocket and blew his nose. While he tried to gain his composure, I eased into the kitchen and boiled us some water so we could have tea. “Heavens to Betsy, Charlie, what else could have happened to that woman?”

I returned with two cups of hot tea, doctored with lots of sugar and a little cream. “Let’s sit here all quiet-like and sip awhile,” I said. “Then you can tell me the rest.”

He looked up at me with those big brown eyes of his, now shiny with tears. Without any warning, I felt all fluttery inside—and foolish besides—and hoped he didn’t notice I hadn’t touched my tea. I didn’t trust my ability to raise the cup to my lips and swallow. When he began talking again, I had to ask him to repeat, blaming my hearing aid.

“Alice lost her mind … a breakdown. But she knew enough to realize she needed help. Committed herself, she did. Stayed at that place down on Bull Street a full year. Never told me what all happened there, but soon after she turned to drinking. Packed John Howard’s clothes away, along with the five hundred dollars, and never looked at them again.”

“Merciful heavens, the things people keep inside.”

“She said for us to find a single mother who could use his clothes and the money. Said they’d stayed in a box too long. I promised her we would.”

“And just how are
we
going to do that?”

“I’m sure you’ll figure out a way. Resourceful. That’s what Alice called you.”

“She did?”

“Alice understood people. She was a wonderful woman.”

“What do you mean
was
?” Somehow that word flew all over me. “She hasn’t died. You said she might have weeks. Besides, only the good
Lord knows when our time on this earth is over and done with. You talk like we just came from her funeral.”

“For pity’s sake, Agnes.” Smiley’s words heated up too. “Don’t you think I know she hasn’t died? It’s just that … that I won’t ever see her again.”

Now I was really getting steamed. “And why not? Where’s your gumption? Who says we can’t go visit her at Mission?”

“That’s nearly thirty miles away.”

“You act like it might as well be the moon. I’m not talking about walking, and a taxi would cost a fortune, but how about the bus? I’ve seen the local Stagecoach Express pull into Mike’s station across the street. And you can bet if they stop at nothing more than a wide spot in the road like Sweetbriar, they stop in Berea.”

“Do you really think we could?”

“Give me one good reason why not.”

“Have you considered the cost of the tickets? And what about the bus schedule?”

“Let me handle the details and don’t worry so much.”

His eyes widened and he hit the table, making our teacups dance. “By golly, Sis, what would I do without you?” He jumped up and I did too because I was afraid he might fall, moving so quick like that. He hugged me tight just as Prissy walked into the dining room and flipped on the lights.

“What on earth are you
people
doing in here? Mr. Abenda, I’m surprised at you. Now, Mrs. Hopper, clean up this mess before we have roaches. I’m going to check on Mother, and I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”

She started to leave and then stopped. “You people don’t waste any time, do you?”

I
could feel my face burning. “That woman. What a witch.”

Smiley gathered our bowls. “Don’t let her get to you. Unhappy. That’s her trouble.”

“Don’t try to excuse her. I’m not happy either. I hate this place. And … and I’m leaving here as soon as I can.”

“What? You can’t do that.”

“And why not?”

“Well, be mighty dull around here is why. Mighty dull. And besides, you just said we could manage a trip to see Alice. How are we going to do that if you’re gone?”