The Future Homemakers of America (25 page)

‘Peggy,’ she said, ‘there's something I want to say to you.’ She was wearing a beautiful two-piece, black slub linen, and a big brimmed hat. She kinda took me to one side. ‘There are some people,’ she said, ‘they're not coming right out and saying it, but it's obvious they're thinking it – some people feel that this was all brought on by Lance Jnr. But I won't have it, Peg. I won't have him blaming himself.’

I just nodded. Tried to look understanding. It didn't seem decent to come right out and ask the burning question. I thought I'd work my way round to it. I said, ‘Will you go back east?’

She still had family in Chicago. She said, ‘I don't have any money worries.’

I said, ‘Well, that's something. But what do you think you'll do?’

‘My brother's here,’ she said. ‘You ever meet my brother?’

That's how it went. Whatever you asked her, she answered about something else. Then somebody came along, wanted to condole with her, so that was the end of our conversation.

There was a face I knew, waiting on line for coffee. I couldn't put a name to it, but she had me picked out anyway. ‘Peggy?’ she said. ‘Remember me? Yvette Franklin, 366 Squadron.’

She had gone platinum. ‘I was grey by the time I was forty,’ she said, ‘so I figured I'd find out if it's true what they say about blondes.’

I said, ‘And?’

‘Jury's still out,’ she said. ‘Course, I'm still married to Pat, so fun has to come a way to find me. Well this is a terrible day. I don't think Audrey's taken it in yet.’

I said, ‘Do you know what happened? I still don't know what happened.’

‘Sure,’ she said.

She steered me outside. ‘They were all having dinner, you know how Lance insisted on that. No running in, grabbing a sandwich, in his command. There was a fight. They'd been having a few of those lately, with the boys. You know the kinda thing. You thought they'd go to law school and they join a rock group instead. Been there, seen that movie. Anyway, there was a shouting match and Lance got a piece of steak caught in his throat. They tried whacking him on the back because he couldn't get his breath. All those first-aid classes Audrey musta been to, whiling away the hours. Anyway, by the time they got a medic out to him he was gone. Asphyxiated.’

I said, ‘You get this from Audrey?’

‘No,’ she said, ‘I know somebody from the OWC at Beale.’

I said, ‘Audrey's worried people are blaming Lance Jnr. You know anything about that?’

She said, ‘Well, Lance Jnr told me he doesn't want people blaming Mikey. They are weird boys, Peggy. And I'll tell you something else: I haven't seen either of them shed a tear. Not even when they sounded Taps. You show me any right-feeling person stays dry-eyed through that.’

Yvette and Pat had settled in Sacramento after he quit the force. He was teaching flying, little planes for people with big money. She was teaching high school.

‘I've had to start at the bottom,’ she said. ‘And that's a hard place to be when you're nearly fifty. Comes of spending the best years of your life being a camp-follower.’

She told me Ruby Bergstrom was back in Minnesota, breeding pug-nosed dogs, and Ax had married an Oriental girl young enough to be his daughter. Lorene Bass she didn't know about.

I said, ‘There was a Kurlich, J., killed in action. Was that Dorothy's kid?’

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Joey. I read that too. I lost touch with them, but that was him, for sure. Last few years, I've been glad we never had a boy.’

I called Grice from the airport. I said, ‘Well, how was your day?’

‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Apart from the building burning down, the dawn raid by IRS investigators, and Mrs Jenneau finding out I served time in Sing-Sing. How were the obsequies?’

I said, ‘Do you want to pick me up from the airport. Get a late dinner?’

He hesitated. ‘Would you be very offended?’ he said. I guess he had a date. Grice always kept those kinda cards close to his chest.

68

Lois got her broker's licence beginning of ‘72.

I said, ‘Congratulations. Now you'll never get a day off.’

She said, ‘I've had enough days off.’

I said, ‘And you'll lie awake nights worrying.’

She said, ‘Done plenty of that already. Worrying I was gonna spend the rest of my life making fifty per cent of four per cent. Anyway, what's your beef? You're doing it.’

I was, and I did love it. There were times, when we'd solved some big headache – like finding a replacement harpist at two hours’ notice or the time we had to work out a seating plan for the Linwood-Friend rehearsal dinner with two ex-Mrs Linwoods, the second one insisting on bringing along somebody she called her
same-gender partner
– times I really felt satisfied with my work. And when folks really loved something we suggested, like Grice and his soap bubbles. After Rose Jenneau's wedding, everybody wanted soap bubbles.

It was neat, getting paid to make people happy. But most days all I did was work and sleep. Mondays me and Grice'd see Crystal for dinner, Fridays I'd get my hair done and my nails. That was it. At least when Betty punched out she had the energy to deliver her Avon orders or go to a movie with Slick. She even made Delta's dresses for her contests. ‘She's such a darling,’ she always said. ‘Her waist's so tiny I can almost get my hands around it. She does fire-baton and tap dancing and she's getting singing lessons too. She's set fair to follow in her Aunty Sherry's footsteps.’

What I heard, through Crystal, Sherry's footsteps led mainly to the Home Shows. She demonstrated things. Electric carving knives, trouser presses. She had done a car show too, had to wear a G-string, but I don't think Betty had heard about that and I wasn't going to be the one to tell her.

Apparently Sherry had split up from the guy who drank his own water. Crystal said, ‘She's in another relationship now.’ That's what people were starting to have, instead of getting married: relationships.

She said, ‘He's half Comanche.’

Grice said, ‘Wow! Does he live in a teepee?’

She said, ‘I don't think so. He cleans pools.’

I said, ‘Well, I just hope she doesn't go in for one of those mixed marriages. Betty's got troubles enough.’

She said, ‘Mom, that is
such
a disgusting thing to say. Don't you know everybody's equal now. The colour of a person's skin don't matter.’

I said, ‘All I know is, it leads to talk and the children suffer. They don't know whether to act white or act coloured.’

‘There you go again,’ she said. ‘You're such a throwback. Act coloured! What century you living in?’

I said, ‘Heaven's sakes – all I asked was, is Sherry gonna marry this breed?’

I don't know what Grice Terry found so amusing about that, nearly falling off his chair. I'd have expected a little more respect from him.

Crystal said, ‘Nobody in their right mind gets married any more. And don't bring up the subject of Trent Weaver; that was a temporary aberration. Soon as I realised what a fool thing I had done, I undone it. Marriage is finished and weddings suck.’

Well, that may have been the case in California. But in Texas business had never been better. And little Sandie had just gotten engaged. Lois had told me she'd begged her to reconsider, but she was set on it.

I said, ‘Well, she is young, I suppose.’

Lo said, ‘I'd feel the same way if she was thirty. Bright girl, got the world at her feet. Why'd she want to go and tie herself down with a man?’

Sandie had met Gerry Carroll at a brass-band contest. He played tuba and he was taking the tests, hoped to get into the fire department.

I said, ‘He sounds nice and steady. Maybe she's picked a good one, like you picked Herb.’

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘But did you ever hear a man learning a new tuba melody? At least Herb has a hobby he can take outta earshot. He goes down into the cellar, I can hardly hear him
whittling.’

I said, ‘I know what it is. You're worried Sandie's gonna start giving you grandbabies.’

‘Peg,’ she said, ‘Whenever I'm feeling low, I know I can always depend on you to push me over the edge. You're as bad as Herb. He can't wait. He's planning a whole
ark
full of carved animals.’

I told Crystal. I said, ‘Sandie Moon's a bright girl. Working in New York City. Got a modern outlook on life. But she's getting married.’

Crystal said, ‘Who the hell is Sandie Moon?’

69

None of us heard from Audrey. She had cleared out of quarters, of course. I wrote her, care of the OWC, and so did Kath, but there was no word. I even called up Yvette Franklin, but she'd heard nothing either.

‘That's how it is,’ she said. ‘Always was the same story. The military's your whole darned existence. Then you just disappear. Nobody knows where you come from or where you go to.’

I said, ‘She told me she was okay for money.’

Yvette said, ‘I'm sure she is. Now she has to find something to do with it. If I hear anything, I'll let you know.’

Lois said, ‘Peg, what are you doing, worrying about Audrey Rudman? I'll bet she's lying on a beach in Grand Bahama. I'll bet she's on a cruise, playing deck quoits with some old millionaire.’

Lo was full of her own troubles. She was eager to move down to the city, but Herb was dragging his feet. He had kinda said he'd do it when the kids were off their hands. Now Sandie was married and Kirk starting at the Institute of Meat, gonna stay with Sandie and Gerry in their walk-up, in the Bronx, but Herb was backtracking. He said New York was full of danger.

‘Yeah,’ Lois said, ‘Danger Number 1: I'll double my income.’

The months went by. We did a beautiful Camelot theme at Benbrook Lake, bride and groom made their vows out on the dock. We had such trouble finding waiters willing to wear tights and all that Merrie England stuff, but that was the kind of problem Grice was good at solving. I never did find out where he got those boys from, and their silver service was a little rough around the edges. But I will say, they did have good legs. He also got us a great deal on period feasting-ware.

Then we did the Skelton twins, double ceremony, every last thing had to be in exact duplicate. They even had two pastors, one of the bridegrooms being some kind of lapsed Catholic. Those Skelton girls got so many gifts the sip ‘n’ see ran to three rooms. They even each had a set of olive-spoons.

Six months after Lance, I got a call from Kath.

I said, ‘What's up? You don't sound right.’

‘No,’ she said, ‘I'm all right, but I've got to be quick, in case she comes back – and if she does, I'll pretend you just happened to phone me. I've got Audrey staying.’

She had turned up on Kath's doorstep. Kath said, ‘I told her, when I wrote, if ever she needed a little holiday she was always welcome. Well, I nipped home between a four o'clock lesson and a six o'clock and there she was, sitting outside in a hire car. She had to have bacon and eggs because I don't keep much in these days.’

I said, ‘How long is she staying?’

She said, ‘That's the thing, Peg. I don't know. She's been here two weeks now. Don't get me wrong. She can stay as long as she likes. She's no trouble. She's the first one slept on my spare divan and she says that's comfy. Only thing is, I don't know what she's got in mind. Whether she's got other people to go and stay with or when she's booked to go home or anything, and I don't like to ask her. I don't want her thinking she's not welcome. I hear her crying sometimes, in the night. That's a terrible thing to hear.’

I said, ‘She paying her way?’

She said, ‘She's offered, but that's not about the money. She don't cost a lot to keep. Drop of soup and she plays with that till it's gone cold. She hasn't half lost some weight, Peg. Anyway, the money don't matter. I'm not hard up. Thing is, though, me and May have booked up to go to Benidorm again. I mean, she could stop here on her own, I suppose, but I don't know as that'd be good for her. She'd be better off somewhere with company. Anyway, what I wondered was, if you could ring me up, pretending you don't know she's here, and then I can put her on and you can ask her, casual like, how long she's planning on staying. What do you think?’

I said, ‘What's she do all day?’

‘Walks,’ she said. ‘Walks, walks, walks. That's where she is now.’

‘And she hasn't said anything? About her plans?’

‘No. The only thing she said was, she always loved it here. You know what I wonder? Where are those boys when she needs them? She never mentions them. All the things she did for them, fancy trips, piano lessons and all that kind of carry-on. I bet they don't even know where she is.’

I left it a day then I called back, acted all surprised when Audrey answered.

‘It's a long story,’ she said, ‘but Kath's been my port in a storm.’

She said Norfolk, England, was the only place that made any kind a sense to her. ‘I counted up,’ she said. ‘I went with Lance on fifteen different postings. And now he's gone, I don't belong anywhere.’

I said, ‘You could have come to me. Why didn't you come to me?’

‘I needed to do some walking, Peggy,’ she said. ‘Listen to the birds singing. Tire myself out so I have half a chance of getting to sleep at night. I know you'd have made me welcome, but Dallas doesn't do good birdsong, you must admit.’

I said, ‘When do you plan on moving on?’

She missed a beat. ‘Well … soon, I guess. I suppose Kath needs to know.’

I said, ‘How are the boys?’

She said, ‘I have a mind to rent a little cottage. Somewhere by the water.’

I said, ‘And will you please come and see me? When you've had your fill of birdsong?’

She said, ‘Peg, when you and Vern, you know, when you split up? Did you sometimes wake up in the night and think he was still there?’

First little while after me and Vern split, I had Crystal climbing in beside me every night, rucking up the sheet, making me hot as hell.

Aud said, ‘I wake up with a start and I think I can hear him breathing. It happens nearly every night. I see him in the street, too. I saw him in Sacramento and Chicago and I've seen him a dozen times in King's Lynn.’

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