Railroad Man (6 page)

I surveyed the empty rail yard. Murmurs from the brush were the only sounds that hovered over the steamy night.

“
You don’t have to worry about those guys. They can’t hurt you now. Come on.”

Flo doubled over, exhausted and planted to the ground. I scooped her up and skirted the engines back to the car. She snuggled into my shoulder like a small child. “This is so romantic, just like Cinderella and the handsome prince.”

I slid Flo across the seat and got in behind her. I pulled the choke and pressed the starter button. “We’ll go somewhere safe to talk.”

Flo bobbed her head. Her deep, heavy breaths filled the car. My heart reached out for the little kitten in the worn out dress that barely covered her body. I parked the car behind the Texaco station. She jumped when I reached for her arm.

I held her chin and spoke into her big blue eyes. “You don’t have to be afraid. If that baby is mine, then I will take care of both of you.”

Flo nodded, running a thin hand over her belly. “It’s yours. I never did that with anybody else. I guess the giggle juice made me do it.”

I patted her shoulder. “We both got a little carried away. But we’ll make it work. You’ll come live with me. We’ll get married and raise our child. What do you say to that?”

“
You really mean it? You mean you really want me? Bert said you didn’t want me, that nobody would ever want me.”

The tough act vanished. Flo laid her head near my heart. “You are my prince! Rescuing me from Bert and carrying me away in this fancy car! Oh, Mick, it’s so romantic! I’ll remember this night for the rest of my life!”

Her body felt soft next to mine. Flo made me feel strong and sure of myself like the gallant prince she wanted me to be. She was pretty as a peach and just as sweet. I breathed a sigh of relief, and compassion for her replaced my regrets. I felt like everything I’d done was for the good and worth it because she was safe with me. It was the way I liked to feel and Flo helped me feel it. I cradled her slight body with the bump between us that made her mine.

“
Sorry I hit your brother.”

Flo’s heart beat rapidly against my chest. “That’s okay, makes up for all the times he hit me. I hope he don’t come looking for me.”

“
Don’t you worry about that. He can’t get to you now.”

“
Where are we going?”

“
First, we’ll stop by your place and pick up whatever you want to take with you. Then we’ll go to my home in Lawrenceville.”

Flo’s body snapped to attention. “Where’s that?”

“
It’s about thirty miles from here.”

“
Do you drive one of the big trains with the loud whistles?”

I smiled at the child disguised in a woman’s body. “I do. I’m away from home on one those trains most of the week. But you’ll be in fine hands with my mother and my sisters while I’m away. Now, how do we get to your place?”

“
I live in Cabbagetown. D’ya know where it is?”

I nodded. I knew of the mill village past the pawn shop, farther into the slum than I had ever been.

“
Are your parents there?”

“
Naw. Pop lost his job at the mill three years back. He and Ma loaded most of the furniture on the back of Pa’s old truck and left for California. I don’t know if they ever made it, never heard, really.”

“
You mean they left you by yourself?”

“
Yeah, well, Bert, he’s got his own place in town with electric lights and a radio. I guess they figured he’d look after me. The house being rundown and all, nobody bothers with me.”

“
Were you at Bert’s the night I rang you?”

“
Yeah, I like listening to swing on the radio,” she said sheepishly, as if remembering a blissful moment. Then the moment was switched off. “But I don’t stay there. Bert gets mean when he drinks which is about all the time now.”

She directed me southeast on Decatur Street. The cobblestone streets gave way to the rutted paths in Cabbagetown. The headlights barely made a dent in the dark night. A sour odor seeped from the ground. Two-story houses lead down to one-story shotgun houses. They were lined up like pegs on a board crammed into the narrow lanes. I turned the wheel this way and that way, taking care not to ruin my white walled tires in the mire. My new Chevrolet stuck out like a sore thumb where no one owned a car and most barely had enough to eat.

Flo pointed the way. “I live in the very back where the rent man don’t go.”

I drove further into the darkness until the houses became more ramshackled and scattered. Most of the old shacks looked empty. The headlights lit up a dark weatherboard house tilting unevenly on concrete slabs.

Flo pointed. “Here it is. Just let me take up my things.”

She struck a match to the kerosene lamp outside the screen door. The flame lit her naturally golden hair that glowed in the lamplight, and I saw again how pretty she was.

She stepped up into the house. “Mind your step here. It’s just a rock I found. It wobbles.”

Flo stepped lightly around broken floorboards. “Just follow me, and you won’t fall through.”

The floor moved beneath my feet. The lamp revealed a coal stove, floor pallet, and scattered crates from the rail yard in one furnished room. I couldn’t imagine anyone living in such a place. Flo moved quickly, gathering flimsies and women’s toiletries in a blackened pillowcase.

Flo toted the pillowcase from one empty room to the next as if looking for something that wasn’t there. She picked at the school girl polka dot dress she wore that night. “I never could get this one clean. I guess I’ll just leave it.”

“
Don’t worry too much about packing. We can pick up whatever you need later.”

Flo looked at me, confused. “Oh, yeah?”

I pulled her to me, wanting nothing more than to get her out of that falling down shack.

“
Yeah, let’s go, Little Kitten. You’re too pretty for this place.”

Flo ran her hand over the cowhide seat in the car. “I never seen a nice flivver like this.”

I couldn’t shake the memory of the rundown shack and lowdown speakeasy. I wondered if Flo would be able to outlive her past, having been abandoned by her parents and left with a no-good crumb like Bert. We sped away from Atlanta’s eastside, and I promised myself the little kitten would never have to live like that again.

Flo snuggled under my arm. “Mick, tell me how you did it. Tell me how you rescued me.”

Feeling my oats, I elaborated here and there as I told the adventure she was looking for. Flo curled closer in as I spun my tale of chivalry. She clung to every word hearing the tale of the most exciting night in her life, still young enough to believe in heroes and fairy tales. In Flo’s mind, I was the hero and she was the damsel in distress. Giving the idea some thought, I found that it wasn’t so far from the truth.

When the tale was over, Flo stirred and looked down the dark country road. “Where we going anyway?”

“
We’re going to my home in Lawrenceville.”

“
Oh. I never been there. Is it nice?”

“
Very nice, you’ll like it.” I squeezed her closer and asked, “How old are you, Flo?”

“
Hum, nearly sixteen, I think. Ma said I didn’t get a birth certificate. Ma liked the 4
^th
of July, fireworks and all, so she made my birthday then.”

She was sixteen or less? It was a blow I wasn’t expecting. She seemed so worldly at the speakeasy. She said she had been around. Now, to find out that she was just a babe without a decent home or family. I hadn’t been duped as I first thought that fated night; I had blinders on. Fuzzy feelings and fairy tales aside, I knew that Flo and I needed some preparation before facing Mother. I pulled over and parked under a big oak tree.

Flo sat up, skittish and wide-eyed. “What’s going on? Where’s this place?”

“
Shh,” I said softly. “Everything is fine. We just need to get to know each other a little.”

Flo grabbed the door handle, ready to run. She looked through the glass into the darkness and decided to take her chances with me. I reached for her and spoke softly as if I were soothing a skittish colt.

“
No-no, not like that. Come on, Little Kitten, you’re not afraid of your prince charming now, are you? We just need to talk a little bit, that’s all. You said that you are nearly sixteen. Does that mean that you are fifteen?”

Flo ran her hand over the cowhide, watching her circling hand as she spoke. “Well, I guess. Ma never talked much about that. I mean how old I was and all.”

“
So you could be sixteen, right?”

She nodded. “I s’pose so.”

I placed my princely hands gently on her tiny shoulders. “Okay, let’s say you’re sixteen and I’m twenty-four. That’s a good combination for a Prince and Princess, right?”

Flo agreed, bobbing her head.

“
Flo, I’m going to take care of you. Nobody is ever going to hit you again. You’re going to have plenty to eat, a warm bed, and all the pretty dresses you’ll ever want. Your baby is my baby. That baby will have the best life money can buy in today’s world. Now, does that make you feel better?”

She was like a child fascinated by the cowhide. She avoided my eyes, but I could see that I had Flo’s full attention. Not only was she pretty but there was a spark about her. Even though her speech was plain, I could tell that she was intelligent.

“
Have you been to school?”

“
A little bit when it wasn’t too cold.”

“
How far along did you get in school?”

“
I went sometimes ’til Pa and Ma left three years ago. How about you? Did you go to school?”

I held my patience as if talking to a small child, not the mother of my unborn child. “Yes. I finished school a couple of years ago.”

“
Geez! You must know a lot.”

I brushed a golden curl behind her ear, not believing that she could have dazzled me so in the dark speakeasy. I kissed her cheek, and she didn’t flinch.

“
You’ll know a lot too, Flo. Just wait and see. Your life will be different from here on out. You’ll see.”

Flo nodded out on my shoulder soon after I pulled back onto the road. Poor little kitten, I thought. The car seat was likely the most comfortable place she’d ever slept.

Chapter V

Lawrenceville

1934

The morning sun peeked over the trees, and my thoughts turned to Mother. Dealing with Bert was a breeze compared to facing Mother. I practiced the words I would say to her a dozen times in my mind. Mother’s love was so strong that it weighed heavily on me at times. All my life, I tried to please her and protect her from any wrongdoing I chose to pursue. I felt a tight squeeze on my heart and dreaded seeing the disappointment in her eyes.

I let the car coast quietly in neutral down the drive. Mother and Miss Sara walked through the yard pulling a child’s wagon loaded with a tub of green beans. They stopped and stared. I could see the wondering look in their eyes as I drove the car to the barn shelter.

Flo snuggled deeper into the cowhide as I slid out of the seat. I left the door cracked so I wouldn’t make a sound. My rumpled suit of clothes was a tale-tell sign of a long, rough night. I placed the fedora on my head and straightened my tie. Trying to look presentable that morning was long gone. My body felt as stiff as my clothes were wrinkled, in spite of my youth. Mother and Miss Sara were moving the tub of beans onto the porch when I walked up to them.

Miss Sara’s face crinkled and her eyes squinted at the sight of me. “Law, boy, what you been into? You look like somethin’ the cat drug up.” I wrapped a hand around the nape of her soft neck and pulled her into an embrace. The old woman giggled and pushed me away. I heard her laughing to herself as she walked off.

Mother sat in her favorite rocker on the porch getting ready to snap beans from a pan in her lap. Her fingers snapped and threw the beans faster than my tired eyes could follow them. I sat on the top step. I knew that she waited for an explanation. The events of the previous night weighed on me like a prison sentence. Part of me wished that I had ignored Jack’s telegram and his warning. Part of me wished I could turn back the clock to before I met Flo. I watched a family of Purple Martins fly over the boxes set on poles near the farm pond. Their curved wings and forked tails circled in unison. I cherished the brief moment before I shared the news with Mother that would change our lives forever.