Fair and Tender Ladies (24 page)

Dear Miss Mabel Maynard,

 

I know you will be interested to hear from me because you acted so mean to me always and then you felt of my stomach the day I left, and ran off crying. You can not deny you did this, because you did. And since I got up here, I have had some time to think about it, and reflect. So I have something to say to you.

Miss Maynard, do not pity me.

Do not even bother to dislike me, nor pity me, nor anything else, because I do not need anything from you, nor want it either.

My little baby Joli Rowe was born September 10, 1918. She is all mine, I have never had a thing of my own before. She is the most beautiful baby in the world.

So,
I
pity
you!

 

Your former aquaintance,

 

IVY ROWE.

Dear Geneva,

 

It was sure good to get a letter from you in spite of all the bad news! For you know how much I love letters.

But I have to say, I can not stand to read the one you sent here from Lonnie, I sat and looked at it for three days solid and then I threw it in the fire. I have made my bed and I wish everybody would let me lie in it.

We were all surprised and sorry to hear about Lois Branham killing herself. I know it is awful for Stoney and the kids, but I hope in particular that Ethel is not too wrought up about it. I bet she is though. Their family must of become like her own family by now, I reckon. Stoney is lucky he has got her to run the store if you ask me. And as for Lois Branham herself, well I am real surprised! So is Beulah, we have been talking about it. It seemed to us both that Lois Branham was just one of those women without any get up and go, and a husband rich enough to where she could lay in the bed if she wanted. So I cant see it. She had everything a person could of wanted, it seems to me. I guess you never can tell. I will tell you one thing, though—if I was going to kill myself, I would never do it the way she did. You can just immagine the position you would be found in! And I can just immagine poor Ethel coming down the stairs to get breakfast started, and then smelling the gas. I can not believe it! It seems to me that it ought to take a really wild and dramatic person to do something like that, such as when Mister Brown tried it on the willow tree and Revel cut him down in the nick of time—but not a puny little lady like Lois Branham who was always getting Ethel to bring her some prunes for constipation.

I am also sorry to hear about Miss Maynard going all to pieces but to answer your question, I am sure it didnt have a thing to do with my letter. I think she has been spoiling for a nervous breakdown all along. Dont you remember how she stayed in bed the whole time Momma was laid out in the sitting room?

Please tell Doc Trout and Judge Brack hello and give Garnie and Johnny a big kiss for me whether they want one or not! It is a funny thing to me how far away you all seem, for I am here in the house with my baby and that's about all. She is just beautiful, Geneva, I cant wait for you to see her. I will bring her to Majestic bye and bye.

Did you know that old Granny Rowe and Tenessee came over here when she was born and stayed two days? Beulah was fit to be tied, but there is not a thing you can do with Granny once she settles her mind on a thing, and I was so glad to have her! I was so glad she was here. They just appeared, smack out of the blue, we were sitting on the front porch drinking ice tea, it was a hot night. What's that? asked Beulah real sharp, and it was Tenessee giggling. Big Curtis stood up. Why hello there, he said. Curtis is nicer in some ways than Beulah. You ladies have come from a long way off. Now come up here and sit for a spell. What are you all doing over here anyway?

Granny Rowe sat down and took off her hat, that man's hat she wears all the time, and lit up her pipe before she answered. I figured Ivy would be needing me, she said.

Then Beulah popped up and said, Why that is just ridiculous, Granny! You know nobody can tell exactly when a baby is coming, especially a first baby.

And I could almost
hear
Beulah thinking, Oh no, here they are and they will stay until this baby comes which might be weeks, for Curtis is too nice to run them off.
Oh no,
Beulah was thinking.

But Granny laughed, and in the dark you could see her pipe shine red when she pulled on it.
It's the full moon, honey,
she said.
Just look at it.

And sure enough, right as she spoke, the moon came up over the top of the mountain as big as I have ever seen it in my life. It is funny how in a town like this, there is so much to see and talk about that you forget to notice things like the moon. I looked up at it that night and it was like I had never seen it before. It was huge.

Well, I wish you'd look at that! Curtis said. Now aint that pretty? And then Beulah gave up and went and got them some ice tea and some vanilla wafers which Tenessee just loves, and we all sat up late and talked, while Rush Gayheart fiddled right next door. And then after while I got up to pee and my water broke all over the porch.

So Granny was here and they never even went for Doctor Gray at all, which suited me fine, they got Violet from next door since Beulah turned too fainty to help much. And Joli is not a bit pointy-headed, she is beautiful, and she is all mine! So far I have not done a thing since she was born except look at her and count her fingers and toes—I even sit and watch her sleep. You know we were short on play-prettys, growing up—I do not recall but one doll-baby ever, and Silvaney used to grab her and run off. Well, now I have got a doll-baby all my own, and nobody can take her away. I sit out on the porch and nurse her and look down on the town which is very busy, what with the war and all.

Sometimes three or four trains will come through in one day, and they have put on a hoot owl shift at the mine now. The company has got too many people over here to put them all up so a bunch of men is living right out in the woods now, I dont know what will happen when it gets cold. It is getting rough around here, as Beulah says. It is a boom town. By the way, Oakley and Ray Fox are over here now, working, I saw Oakley down at the store and he looked just the same as he did when a boy, I would have known him anyplace. He said him and Ray have been over here for three months now but I didnt know it as I dont go out much, I stay home with Joli all the time. The only place I go is to the store for Beulah and down to the school, they will let you borry books every week now. You can get six, which I do. I read and read, you know how I love to read! I remember you and Momma saying it was foolishness. Well Beulah thinks so too, I can tell I am getting on her nerves. I know she thinks I ought to go out and get a job soon and so I will have to, but I can not bear to leave Joli just yet. You know I have lost so many that I love, I am determined to watch over this one good. And so I sit and rock her, and sit and read and watch her sleep. But I often think of you and thank you for your kindness, especially to Momma,

 

IVY ROWE.

Dear Ethel,

 

Thanks for writing. Your letter was the first we had heard of it, as a matter of fact. You could knock me over with a feather! as Geneva used to say.

But I think it is fine, believe me. Anything that makes you happy makes me happy too. I want what you want for yourself, Ethel, you ought to know that by now. And I still remember that you did not ever tell me to marry Lonnie Rash when everyone else did!

You never know what somebody else wants, that's all I have to say, and if you want Stoney Branham then I am glad you married him, even if he
is
25 years older than you. I dont care. I dont care what you do as long as it makes you happy. Just hold up your head and dont listen to what all they say. Anyway it does not matter whether Stoney Branham was your sweetie or not before Lois killed herself, anybody honest would own he must of
needed
a woman for years, whether he had one or not, since his own wife was just laying up there in the bed crying and eating prunes. So my advice is, hold your head up high, Ethel, and shut your ears. For people will forget it soon enough. There is so much else to occupy their minds anyway, what with the war and the flu, by the way some several up here have got it, and two have died. I am not taking Joli out anywhere because of it. So, people will not be talking about you and Stoney Branham too long!

And as for Beulah, dont you worry about Beulah, because she will get over it.

I wish you all the happiness and love in the world, please tell Mister Branham—I mean Stoney. And I remain

 

Your loyal sister,

 

IVY ROWE.

Mrs. BONNIE RASH WILKES
15 JOHN ST.
ELIZABETHTON, Tenessee

 

 

Dear Mrs. Wilkes,

 

I am sorry that it has taken me a long time to answer your letter, but as you see, I am living over here in Diamond, Va. now, and so I just got it a few days ago, and since then I have been brokenhearted.

To answer your question, yes I did love your brother very much, and so I am real sorry to hear of his death in France. I can not believe it. He was just a boy. And I am real sorry for you too. I know how much he loved you.

Yes it is true as he told you that we were to be married after the war. Everything he told you is true. I am sending your mother's necklace back to you. I know you will want to keep it. She was a pretty lady with such a sweet face. I am glad I got to wear it for a while. Do not worry about me sending the necklace back, as I still have something else to remember Lonnie by. And I will remember him always, as he was a nice boy so sweet and mild it seems impossible to immagine him dead in something like a war. I will remain yours in sorrow,

 

IVY ROWE.

November 20, 1918

 

 

Oh Silvaney,

 

Lonnie is dead in the war, it has upset me so! For in my mind I keep seeing him in the countryside of France in Mrs. Brown's book, walking down a long straight road lined by trees that look like big fancy feathers, and fat round haystacks in the fields on either side, and a wide blue sky with puffy clouds, as in the book. There is not a road anyplace around here so straight, nor such a swatch of sky. And then in my mind the guns roar and the picture goes all bright with Lonnie's blood. I see it over and over again. I feel like this is my fault although Beulah says I am being ridiculous, that Lonnie would have gone to the war whether I married him or not. I guess this is true. But I do not feel ridiculous. I feel so sorry now. I feel like I
did
love him, though I did not. It is starting to get cold here now, I look out at the mountains from the window where I rock with Joli, and the leaves on the trees seem red with blood. May be I am crazy. But probably I am just contrary and spoilt, as Beulah says. She thinks it is high time for me to get out of here and find a job and earn my keep. She says that I have always been made too much of, may be this is true. Big Curtis thinks he can get me one down at the soda-fountain in the store, I guess it will be all right but I have gotten kindly shy from staying home so much with Joli. About the only outside people I see are Violet, next door, and Oakley Fox who is real sweet and comes by a lot. You remember Oakley.