Precious Bones (17 page)

Nolay looked down at the table. “Honey Girl, I ain’t got no ideas at the moment, but something will come up. I just know I gotta get outta this place.”

I squeezed Nolay’s hand. “Don’t you worry, Nolay, I’ll take good care of all the animals and the land till you come home.”

I didn’t enjoy the elevator ride back down.

It was a long, quiet ride home. Mama’s eyes were riveted on the road; both her hands gripped the steering wheel. The Champion felt like an old empty refrigerator on wheels. It was like all the joy we had shared in it had been sucked out.

That night, as we sat at the kitchen table, I said, “Mama, can we just go to the bank and get some money?”

“No, Bones, the bank won’t just give us money.”

“Can we sell the Champion?”

“We don’t own the Champion. I have no idea what kind of wheeling and dealing your daddy did to get it. All I know is, it doesn’t have a title, so we can’t sell it.”

“Mama, you know what we need? We need a miracle.”

Mama looked at me and shook her head. “What is a miracle, Bones? You just tell me what a miracle is. We need money. Don’t you understand? We need three hundred dollars,
and we don’t have it.” She cupped her face in both hands and leaned her elbows on the table.

“I was just trying to help, Mama.”

She lifted her head. “I’m sorry, Bones, I didn’t mean to take it out on you. It’s just …”

I watched as her eyes turned into green pools of sadness. Tears brimmed up and slid slowly down her face. “Three hundred dollars. How am I going to find that kind of money?”

I had no idea where she could find three hundred dollars. All I knew was, right about now, we needed three hundred miracles.

The next morning, breakfast was a silent event. I watched as Mama absentmindedly used her spoon to stir a figure eight in her bowl of grits. She let out a little sigh and said, “I’m going up to see your daddy this morning. I’m taking some clean clothes. Maybe the two of us together can come up with an idea to raise the bail money. I’ll drop you off at Little Man’s for the day.”

I looked over at her and said, “Mama, when you see Nolay, tell him hey for me and let him know everything is fine here with the animals and the land.”

“I will, Bones. I sure will.”

Me and Little Man spent most of the day doing chores around his house. We collected eggs and cleaned up inside the henhouse and went over to see the new batch of baby pigs. I wanted to hold one of the babies, but Little Man said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Bones. Them babies is pigs, not pets, so best you keep it that way.”

Mr. Cotton, Earl, and Ethan spent most of the day out in
the sugarcane patch. When we went in for noon dinner, Miss Melba had made a special batch of biscuits, and there was a pitcher of fresh sorghum syrup sitting in the middle of the table. I knew she was trying to pick up my spirits because I felt lower than a doodlebug in the dirt.

When we sat down at the table, Mr. Cotton said a special grace asking the Lord to bring Nolay back home to us soon as he could. After he finished, Miss Melba looked over at me and said, “Now, Bones, don’t you worry yourself, your daddy will be back here with us real soon. The good Lord will see to it.”

Saturday, me and Mama went to visit Nolay. Mama kept the top up on the Champion. On the ride to Titusville, a thought kept popping up in my mind like a jack-in-the-box. I wanted Mama to slam on the brakes and turn that big car around and head back home. But it just kept rolling down the highway, heading to the Titusville Courthouse. I sure did want to see my daddy; I just didn’t want to see him where he was.

When we walked inside, the officer behind the counter leaned his head down and studied real hard on some papers. Me and Mama walked over, got in the elevator, and were swished away to the top floor.

When Nolay came out, he gave us both big, tight hugs. We sat down across from him at the wooden table and Nolay reached across and held one of Mama’s hands. Nolay’s blue eyes looked like gray storm clouds were passing over them, but he still flashed a bright smile. “How you two doing? Everything going all right?”

Mama let out a deep sigh, but I answered, “Well, it would be a lot better if you were back home with us.”

“I wish I was back home, too, Bones.”

“And we are having a hard time trying to figure out how to get that three hundred dollars. You got any ideas, Nolay?”

Nolay wagged his head back and forth. “Not right at the moment.”

Mama let out another deep sigh and I figured I better change the subject.

“Nolay, when I was out at Little Man’s yesterday their mama pig had six babies. They were the cutest things, but Little Man wouldn’t let me hold one because he thought I might want to take it home for a pet.”

Nolay looked at me and smiled. “I think Little Man is a bright boy. You don’t need any more pets right now, especially another pig.”

For the next hour we sat and acted like we were still back home. All too soon the guard came and told us our time was up. We hugged each other again. Mama said to Nolay, “I’ll be back tomorrow after church.”

“Honey Girl, you don’t have to come up here every day. That’s a long ride. And hopefully next time you come up I’ll be riding back home with you.”

When me and Mama walked out the door, I said to her, “Mama, why don’t we just take the stairs back down?”

“You don’t want to ride the elevator?”

“No, ma’am, I can do without riding in it for the rest of my life.”

“Maybe the stairs will be better. It is a long sit in that
car going back home. Walking down the stairs might do us good.”

Nolay had been in jail for three long days. Sadness grew around Mama like the roots of a strangler fig. All I could do was watch as it slowly wrapped around her and choked out her happiness. The green of her eyes dimmed to a dull olive. Dark half-moons rose under them. Sometimes at night, I would wake up and see the flickering of a kerosene lantern spilling out from her bedroom. No matter how early I got up, she was already at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and an ashtray with crumpled Lucky Strikes spilling out over its edge.

Like particles of dust, the news about Nolay and the need for three hundred dollars drifted out and spread over our community. Of course no one spoke of it, that would have been uncivil; it was just a known fact.

Sunday morning me and Mama went to church where I prayed extra hard for Nolay and the Lord to be on good terms. There was nobody there to teach Sunday school, so I had to sit on that hard pew and listen to Preacher Jenkins give an extra-long-winded sermon about the lost son coming back home. Of course he didn’t mention any names, but I had a pretty good idea who he was talking about.

On our way home, Mama stared straight ahead and spoke to her reflection in the windshield. “I just don’t know what I’m going to do. I can’t find a job and I can’t borrow money from the bank. And no one in our family has that kind of money. I need to get it soon, or they’re going to send him down to Dade County. Thank goodness Mr. Ball lets us keep
a running tab at the Last Chance, or I wouldn’t even have gas for the car.”

I reached over and touched her arm. “Mama, do you remember the time Nolay took us up to St. Augustine to see the fort? And we went by that roadside zoo, and I thought it was a real zoo and I wanted to go see the live Florida panther. And you told me not to go in there, but I wanted to anyway?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“You remember what those animals looked like. Some of ’em were crippled or had their paws cut off from being caught in those steel traps. And that poor old panther, sitting in that dirty, smelly cage with its hair all matted and flies eating on its ears. It was just about the saddest thing I ever did see.”

“Yes, I remember. I tried to tell you it wasn’t going to be a good place to go. But you insisted.”

“Do you remember what me and Nolay did?”

She turned to me, a flicker of happiness crossing her face. “I remember what you two did. How could I forget? You opened all those cages and set those animals free.”

“That was so much fun, Mama. And that big ol’ panther, at first it wouldn’t even come out the door. Nolay had to shake the cage to get it to move. It slinked down to the edge of the woods, then turned and looked back at us. It just stood there and then it shook its body all over, like a dog does when it gets out of the water. When it looked back at us, it was a panther again. Its eyes were big and wild. It was a beautiful sight to see. Then it ran off into the woods.”

We rode in silence for a while. “Mama, I wish I could do that for Nolay. I wish I could just open up that jail door and set him free.”

“I wish it was that easy, Bones. But wishing won’t help.”

We pulled into the yard and were welcomed by the dogs, Pearl, and Harry. As I got out of the car, the animals surrounded me and almost knocked me to the ground in their need to give and receive attention.

At the front door Mama stooped down and picked up a small tobacco tin leaning on its side. She pulled off the top. Inside were ten neatly folded one-dollar bills. She looked around the yard as if whoever put it there might still be standing in the shadows. She held the folded bills in her hand. “What on earth. Bones, what do you think this is?”

It was plain to see what it was, and I told her. “Mama, that is a miracle.”

And that was when the miracles started to rain down on our lives. Mama found an envelope with five dollars on the front seat of the Champion, a box of sweet potatoes at our front door with six dollars, a paper bag with three dollars’ worth of nickels and pennies. They arrived in mason jars, snuff bottles, tins, bags, boxes, and envelopes. Each one filled with its own special miracles.

Mama got out one of her big pickling jars and began to drop the miracles inside, one by one. Her face began to brighten; the dark half-moons drifted away from under her eyes. The tree roots of sadness lost their grip. I watched as she, along with that pickling jar, began to fill up with hope.

Monday morning, me and Mama had just finished washing the breakfast dishes when the dogs started barking. I looked out the picture window and there were Uncle Bob Cat and Uncle Tom Cat sitting in their truck. We went to meet them. Mama said, “Y’all come inside. The dogs won’t bother you.”

They came in and sat down on the couch.

Mama asked, “Can I get you some coffee or something?”

Uncle Bob answered, “No, thank you, Lori. We just wanted to come up and see how you were doing. Thanks for getting the message down to us about Nolay. Everyone at home sends their regards.”

“Thank you, Bob Cat.”

“Grandma Spot is saying some special prayers. Nolay can sure get himself into some mischief, but this one is a real mess.”

“I know. But with the help of our friends and family we’ll get through it.”

Uncle Tom Cat pulled an envelope from his front pocket. “We took up a little collection in the village and wanted to give this to you.”

Mama reached out and took the envelope. It would have been uncivil to open it in front of them. She looked at it and placed it in her lap, where it sat like a little curled-up kitten. “Thank you. Please give our thanks to everyone.”

“We’ll sure do that. We can’t stay for long, we just wanted to stop by and let you know we’re thinking about you folks.”

“That was such a long ride for you. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate it.”

“Nolay would do it for us, that’s for sure.”

After they left, Mama opened the envelope. Inside were five ten-dollar bills. I watched as Mama’s eyes glistened with hope.

Ironhead stopped by that afternoon. “Miss Lori, you take a break and stay home. I’ll be going up to see Nolay tomorrow. I’ll stop by and let you know how he is.”

“Thank you, Ironhead. I appreciate that. And while you’re there, tell Nolay things are beginning to look up.”

“I’ll sure do that, Miss Lori.”

Late Tuesday morning Little Man came strolling up our road. In one hand he carried a small basket woven from guava twigs. It was filled with eggs. In the other hand, he held a flour sack. I went out to meet him.

“Howdy, Bones. I got a few things here for your mama.”

“Come on in, she’s in the kitchen.”

Little Man walked into the kitchen and set the basket and sack on the table.

“Morning, Miss Lori. This here is from Mr. Charlie, and this here is some lima beans from my mama.”

“Why, thank you, Little Man.”

“And Mama and Daddy want to invite you and Bones over for supper tomorrow. Daddy shot a big ol’ turkey this morning and Mama wants to roast it up in her new oven.”

“That sounds wonderful, Little Man. I’m going up in the morning to see Nolay. Bones can come over and stay with you if that’s all right.”

“Yes, ma’am. You know Bones is pretty much family at our house.”

Before he left, Little Man placed some wrinkled dollar bills in my hand. “Bones, I been thinking. This here is the Christmas money you and me got saved up. I want you to give it to your mama, for Mr. Nolay.”

“But we worked all summer long gettin’ that money. Specially you—you worked so hard, helping your daddy and all. Are you sure?”