Song of the Road (24 page)

“He’s got a soft spot for the ladies. I saw him tie into a man twice his size for being disrespectful to one. Don’t let his size fool you. He’s a tough little son of a gun. When he gets riled, he’ll tackle anything.”

“I hope Trudy isn’t smitten with him.” Mary Lee was terribly aware that Jake was so close that she could almost count his long, thick eyelashes.

“Why?” He stood leaning toward her, one foot on the porch, his forearm on his thigh. His narrowed eyes were locked with hers.

“Not many men . . . have paid attention to her. She might fall for him and be heartbroken when he leaves.”

“Maybe he’ll fall for her.”

“He won’t settle here. He’d take her away.”

Jake chuckled and said softly, “Little worryin’ mother.” “Why do you say that?”

“ ’Cause it’s what you are.” He quirked a dark brow, smiled, and dragged his eyes away from her. “Come give me a hand, Eli.”

He took a ten-pound pail of lard from the back of the truck and handed it to the boy, then shoved a paper sack into his arms. He hoisted a fifty-pound sack of flour to his shoulder and headed for the porch.

“You’d better come in and tell us where to put this.”

“What in the world?” Mary Lee stood. “Where did all this come from?”

Jake grinned at her. “You won’t believe this . . . but I found this alongside the road when I left Quitman’s to come to town.”

“You’re right. I don’t believe it.”

“Open the door.”

“Jake?”

Jake followed Eli into the kitchen. “Where do you want this?”

“I don’t have the money to pay for that, and I don’t have a tin big enough to put it in.”

“There’s a big tin with a good tight lid out in the wash-house.” Eli set the bucket and the sack on the table. “I’ll get it.”

Mary Lee waited until the boy went out the door before she spoke.

“Didn’t you hear me, Jake? I don’t have money to pay for this. I was going to buy just a small amount at a time.”

Jake eased the sack off his shoulder and onto the floor.

“I heard you, Mary Lee. I want to eat breakfast here and I want to pay more for my room. You’ve got this thing about paying me back for being around should you come up against something you can’t handle. You won’t take my money. I’ve got pride too. Don’t be giving me any trouble over this.” His hands gripped her shoulders and moved her back into a chair. “Sit down and stop worrying. You look worn out.”

“All of this”— she waved her hand —“is too much.”

“It’s just flour, lard, baking powder and . . . a few things. I tried to remember what my mother used to make biscuits. She didn’t make them often. She usually made tortillas.”

“Why are you doin’ this, Jake? You don’t owe me anything.” Mary Lee’s eyes were swimming in tears.

Jake squatted down beside her. He took the red bandanna she had given him for his birthday from around his neck and gently wiped her tears.

“Ah . . .
querida
! Don’t cry.”

“I’ve never cried much . . . until lately, that is. It just makes me so . . . mad to blubber like a baby when something upsets me.”

“It could be Gaston’s fault,” he said seriously with a teasing glint in his eyes.

“Poor little Gaston gets blamed for everything.”

“Yeah, he’s a little rascal, all right.”

She smiled, and the tension in his face was replaced by an engaging grin. They gazed at each other, unmindful of where they were. His hand sought hers, and without a trace of reluctance she grasped it and laced her fingers with his.

“I don’t want you to be upset about this.”

“I don’t understand why you’re . . . why you did it.” “Don’t try to understand,
madrecita.
You’ve had some pretty hard knocks lately.” He gently wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“You’re very welcome. Better now?”

“I think so.”

Dolly’s sarcastic voice coming from the doorway shattered the moment.

“Now, ain’t this sweet? Ya proposin’ to her, jailbird?”

Jake stood. “No, ma’am.”

“Shit fire! I thought maybe ya’d marry her and get her outta here.”

Mary Lee got shakily to her feet. “Feeling better, Mama?” “ ‘Feelin’ better, Mama?’ ” Dolly mimicked. “What the hell do you care? And what’s a jailbird doin’ in
my
house?”

Mary Lee straightened her shoulders, but before she could answer, Eli came in carrying the large tin.

“I found it and it’s . . .” He struggled for words when he saw Dolly.

She looked at him as if he were a worm crawling out of her sandwich.

“Why’s that little bastard here after I told ya to get rid of him? Why’re ya wantin’ him around for? Frank said ya was screwin’ the kid. Ya screwin’ the jailbird too?”

“Hush that filthy talk!” Anger made Mary Lee’s voice shrill and drove her to take a step toward her mother. Jake’s hand on her arm held her back. “You’re . . . rotten and mean!” she yelled. “You’ll do and say anything to hurt me. You don’t care about anyone but yourself.”

“Damn right! Scott cared till ya came along. Ya ruined everythin’. I didn’t want ya. I told and told Scott I didn’t want a kid. He said he’d kill me if I got rid of ya. I shoulda done it anyhow. That righteous shithead didn’t have the guts to step on a cockroach.”

“Don’t you dare talk about Daddy like that!” Mary Lee shouted.

“Eli and I will go,” Jake spoke softly, close to her ear. “Will you be all right?”

She nodded, her eyes on her mother’s ravaged face.

“I’ll be back and empty the flour in the tin.”

Mary Lee nodded again and watched her mother take the ice pick from the holder beside the icebox and lift the lid to chip the ice. She spoke as soon as she heard the closing of the screen door.

“I don’t know why you talk so nasty and say things that you know are mean just to hurt and humiliate me. You’re not well, but that’s no excuse. I’ve had about all of your meanness I can take. And if it doesn’t stop you’re going to have to find another place to live.”

Dolly’s cold, hate-filled eyes stared at her. “Ya . . . bitch. Ya think ya can run me outta my own house?”

“I don’t want to. I’ve tried to get along with you, but you just won’t meet me halfway. You insulted Trudy, who came here to help. You treat Eli like dirt. He is just a boy without a home who is working for his keep. What has Jake done to you to make you take your spite out on him?”

“How about Frank and Pearl? Ya run ’em off.”

“They were leeches, living off you.”

“Ah . . . shit. Ain’t no need to argue with ya ’cause ya know everything fit to be known. But I got news for ya, Miss Twitchy Twat, ya can’t throw me out. Frank said that it’s in Scott’s will that I can stay here long as I live — and that’s goin’ to be a long time. ’Cause I’m goin’ to stay alive as long as I can just to give ya as much hell as ya’ve given me.”

“I can move you into the cabin with your friend, Frank.”

“Just try it, and I’ll burn the place down.” Dolly tossed the threat over her shoulder as she left the room. The slamming of the bedroom door shook the house. Mary Lee sank down in the kitchen chair. She was too shaken to weep.

She sat at the table until she heard a car drive in. Wiping her face on the skirt of her dress, she picked up the registry book and went out onto the porch. Eli was talking to the couple in the car. After a few minutes, he stepped back and the car drove out onto the highway.

Eli came to the porch with a disgusted look on his face. “I don’t know what’s wrong with folks. They wanted to stay until midnight for a dollar. I told them two dollars and breakfast for the night.”

“I’m glad you did. We don’t want or need that kind.”

“I didn’t like their looks. They kind of reminded me of that couple that went around the country robbin’ and killin’.”

“Bonnie and Clyde Barrow? We don’t have to worry about them anymore. Has Deke come back?”

“Little while ago. He came in the back way and parked down behind Jake’s cabin.” Eli sat down on the edge of the porch. “Jake and Deke are goin’ uptown to eat. Jake said he’d take care of that flour when he gets back and that yo’re not to lift that bucket of lard.”

“He’s getting pretty bossy,” Mary Lee said irritably. “I’ve got to figure out a way to pay him for the things he bought. It would take him a year to eat all the biscuits that flour and lard would make. He’ll not be here that long.” She glanced at Eli and saw the set look on his young face. “You can understand, can’t you, Eli?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Why not?”

“It’s between you and Jake.”

“I’m embarrassed that he bought groceries. Please understand . . . ,” she pleaded, and fought to keep the tears from her eyes.

“Is it because he was in prison?”

“No! It’s because . . . because . . .” Her voice trailed.

It’s because I’m in love with him. I don’t want him feeling sorry for me . . . I want him to love me — but after he heard what Mama said, all he’ll feel for me is pity! Oh, Lord! I’ll never be able to look him in the eye again.

“You . . . like him, don’t ya?”

“Of course I like him.”

Before she could reply, two ladies in a late-model car drove in. Eli showed them the cabin. They came back, laughing and joking with the boy, to sign the register. He was grinning. Mary Lee couldn’t help but compare this Eli with the shy, tired youngster she had found in the washhouse a few weeks earlier.

It was an unusual evening.

The available rooms in the motor court were all rented within an hour. Before they could turn off the Vacancy sign, another car drove in off the highway. Eli directed the disappointed travelers to the hotel in town.

As soon as Jake’s truck drove in, Mary Lee said good night to Eli and went through the dark house to her room, telling herself that she would lie down for a while, then go to the kitchen and set the table for the morning meal. After latching the doors, she eased down onto the bed. It felt so good to lie down that she almost groaned with the relief of it. She lay for a while listening for a sound to come from her mother’s room, then decided that Dolly must have gone out the back door while she was on the porch.

Tears rolled from the corners of her eyes as her mother’s words played over in her head. How could a mother hate her child? Since she was old enough to remember, her daddy had made excuses for her mother’s cold treatment. He had known that she hadn’t wanted the baby.
He
had loved his daughter and had tried to make up for the lack of her mother’s love.

Daddy, why did you have to go and leave me?

Fatigue overcame her despair. She slept, then wakened suddenly. It was dark in the room. Someone was in the kitchen. She felt her way to the door, but Jake’s voice stopped her before she opened it.

“Shhh . . . be quiet. Don’t wake her. She needs all the rest she can get.”

“When is her baby due?” She recognized Deke’s voice. “In a couple of months.” Jake answered without a moment of hesitation. “It’s already moving around in there pretty good.”

Mary Lee put her hands to her cheeks. It was strange hearing her pregnancy discussed by these men. Strange but sweet.

“Where can we put this bucket of lard so it’ll be easy for her to get to?”

“Leave it there,” Eli whispered. “Trudy will know what to do with it.”

“Hey, Jake. Does she want to keep this cloth on the table?”

“If it’s clean. She wants things to be nice. Put three plates on each side and one on each end. Here’s the forks and knives. Spoons are in the holder.”

“Trudy said she’d be here by five-thirty.” Deke had to be standing close to the door for Mary Lee to hear his loud whisper.

“You and Trudy must have got along like a house on fire,” Jake teased.

“She can dish it out. She told me how the cow ate the cabbage right off.”

“That’s Trudy. Cute as a button too.”

“Not bad. I’ve not had a gal look up at me since I was in the fourth grade. And she was in first.”

“Mary Lee don’t want Trudy to get to likin’ you too much.” Eli’s voice was too loud to suit Jake, and he shushed him.

“Why not?” Deke was still by the door.

“ ’Cause she don’t want her to get her heart broke.” Eli spoke softly this time.

“Well, doggie. I never thought of myself as a heartbreaker.” Deke sounded pleased.

Mary Lee groaned.
Does Eli tell everything he knows?

“Are we through in here, Eli? If her mother comes back and finds us here, she’ll raise a ruckus that will be heard a mile away.”

“The old witch is out in number one.”

“By herself?”

“Naw, she’s got that man with her who was here with Frank the night Mary Lee ’bout tore his pecker off.”

“Tore his pecker off? Hell’s bells! What’s this about?” Deke asked.

“Mary Lee had this plate in her hand and when he pulled it out to pee —”

“It’s a long story,” Jake interrupted. “We’ll tell you later. Are we finished in here, Eli? If there’s nothing else to do, turn off the light.”