The Quaker Café (14 page)

             
“WHAT?”  Henry called.

             
“TURN OFF THE GENERATOR!” she tried again.

             
“IT’S AS LOUD AS IT WILL GO!” he hollered back.

             
They were now half-way and bubbles floated throughout Main Street. The children’s joyous outbursts were mixed with nervous giggles and finger pointing.

             
“Wow, look at that,” Evan said. “The bubbles are taking Jesus up to heaven.”

             
“Help me, kids,” Liz pleaded. “Help me push Hubert off the bubble machine.”

   
              Estelle placed her little hand on her hips and in a manner that reflected her grandmother, pointed a finger at Hubert and said in the familiar plain English she’d heard by some of the elders. “Hubert, Thee must move thy weighty bottom now.” 

The rest of the children started rocking Hubert trying to get him to budge
. It became a game. Hubert appeared quite content.

              Mercifully, the high school band stopped. They had reached the end of the parade route. The float turned off Main Street and headed back on a side road to the Amory.

             
Henry flipped off the boom box and hollered back. “How was that?” 

             
“Great,” Billie called back without much enthusiasm. She looked over at Liz, who sat holding her head in her hands.

             
The float of the Holy Church of Everlasting Redemption continued straight up the highway to the next town carrying the Easter message.

             
The bubbles continued to trail behind the float down the street and into the side yards. Evan suddenly dug frantically around in the straw. “Mom,” he wailed, “Where in the world is Jitters? I can’t find him.”

Liz feigned a brief moment of searching and then took him in my arms
. “He was taken up during the parade, honey. Raptured, I think.”

Billie’s jaw dropped
. Nicholas gave his mother am incredulous look.

“What’s raptured?” Evan asked.

“It means when God’s ready he just comes and takes you.”

“But we were going to bury him, Mom,” Evan said.

“I know, but God was in a bit of a hurry today. Jitters’ time had come.”

Evan tried to comprehend
. Liz stared straight at Nicholas and begged him with her eyes to keep quiet.

“I hope Jitters liked the parade,” Evan finally said.

“I know he did, honey. That’s probably why he was ready to leave us so quickly.”  Liz put her arms around her youngest child and squeezed. “It was a great send-off.”

“Do you think God will come down and take me up like that one day?” Evan asked, obviously taking her explanation deeper than Liz intended.

“No, honey, not for years and years and years—not until you want to go.”

“Promise?”

“That’s a promise, sweetie,” she said, knowing that her little white lie conflicted with the Quaker beliefs in honesty, heaven, the rapture and probably a dozen other things. Surely they could understand. There was no need to break a child’s heart unnecessarily.

Chapter Twelve

        The children and pets were parceled out and Henry took care of the flatbed clean up. When Chase asked about Jitters, Evan and Liz said with serious looks on their faces, “Raptured.” 

            
Chase raised his eyebrows
,
but one look told him not to take it further. When in doubt, he always chose silence.

         After they
took the pets home, he and the kids headed back to the school where the festivities for the afternoon were getting started. Billie and Webster left for the craft show. The last thing Liz wanted to do was face the crowds. She imagined the ribbing she would get over the float. She didn
’
t feel up to it, not yet.

         As she expected,
The Quaker Café was deserted. Liz poured herself a cup of coffee from the coffee pot, took a seat, put her head in her hands and closed her eyes.

            “Liz,” Miss Ellie said as she walked out of the kitchen carrying a tray of silverware rolled into cloth napkins
. “Parade over?”

            “Most definitely,” she sighed.

            “You look like someone forgot to put the frosting on your cake.”

            “The Quaker float was a disaster.”

           “Oh, now, how bad could that be?” Miss Ellie placed the tray on the side table, poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down
.

           “The pets fought, the children screamed, my nephew pulled down his pants and peed, a cat chewed on Jitters, and a float depicting Jesus on a cross pulled in behind us
. Jesus was crucified in bubble land. To top it off I lied to my son. If the Quakers still disowned members, I
’
d be on the street.”

          Miss Ellie stopped her
. “What did you say happened to Jitters?”

          “He drowned in our washing machine
, and then the Jones
’
s cat tried to eat him.”

         “Oh, dear
.”
She stifled a smile.
“
Does Evan know?”

         “I told him he had been taken up.

         “You told him what?” Miss Ellie said in surprise.

        “I told him Jitters had been
taken up
, like in the rapture. That
’
s why he was gone.”  She pulled out the gnawed creature from her fleece pocket and gave Miss Ellie a quick peak. “I couldn
’
t let him see his pet looking like this.”

         “
Ohhhhh,”
Miss Ellie winced and then burst into laughter. “I do believe, Liz Hoole, you are the most entertaining mother in town. Let me get you a piece of pie or something.”

        “I
’
d really rather have a sandwich. I
’
m hungry, and barbecue is not the ticket.”

        “How about a tomato sandwich and a bowl of chicken noodle soup?”

        “That would be great.”

         Miss Ellie poked her head into the kitchen to give the order and then rejoined Liz
. “Now tell me everything from beginning to end. When the crowds come in this evening I want to be sure I
’
ve heard the original version.”

         “Don
’
t tell anyone the rapture part, would you?  It
’
s bad enough already.”

         “My lips are sealed,” she said with a warm smile.

         
To Liz’s ears the story
didn’t sound any funnier the second time
.
But a trip to the bathroom to wash up followed by hot soup and a sandwich provided a definite improvement.

       “Did you see Maggie?” Miss Ellie asked.

       “No, has she been in the café this week?”

       “Not at all
. Do you reckon anything
’
s wrong?” Miss Ellie looked concerned.

       “I don
’
t know,” Liz said. “She does tend to go into hiding when she
’
s brooding. Tomorrow I
’
ll find LuAnne. She
’
ll know where she is.” 

       Liz finished her soup and sandwich but didn
’
t want to leave. It was quiet and Miss Ellie was a good listener. “Miss Ellie,” she ventured.

       “What,
hon?”

       “That funeral for the Judge…”

        “Uh-huh?”

        “What do you think that was all about?”
             

        
Miss Ellie raised her eyebrows and cleared her throat. “I don
’
t know.” She started to ignore the question but then added, “It
’
s hard to say about these things, but of course, her father never got over that lynching. Maggie probably wanted to find closure for that blemish on his reputation.”

        
“She never talks about it. Chase warned me not to bring it up.”

“It
’s all in the past.” Ellie said.

“Evidently not
. It seems to be the elephant in the room everyone knows about, but no one wants to discuss.”

“Sometimes ignorance is bliss,” Ellie said.

“I still want to know.”

           Ellie shifted in her chair and looked around the restaurant
. “Oh, Liz.” She started and stopped. The barbecue was in full swing down at the school, and crowds wouldn’t start coming in for supper until after the baseball games.

“Sarah Kendall was a sassy little thing when she arrived in Cedar Branch,” Miss Ellie began
. “I have no idea what Corbett was thinking when he married her. She sashayed into town expecting a plantation home and a big social life to go with it and, well …you live here. And it was worse back then—mostly Quakers. No offense.” Her eyes offered an apology.

“No offense taken,” Liz said.

“Sarah was in shock.”

“I can imagine,” Liz said remembering her own first impressions.

“Old man Kendall and his wife tried to find something she enjoyed doing in order to fill her days. Corbett was finishing up his clerkship in Raleigh at the time and gone most of the week—home on weekends.”

Miss Ellie got up from the table and refilled her coffee cup
. When she sat back down she motioned with her head to the Quaker side of town. “She started riding horses out at Hansen’s barn.” She paused for a long time and then glanced back towards the kitchen, lowering her voice. “That’s where Corbett found her with Isaac Perry.”

“Found them doing what?” Liz asked in disbelief
. She was sure what she imagined was worse than what could have actually happened.

“Fighting.”

“Fighting?”

“Struggling
. Depends on who tells the story.”

“Over what?”

“Well, some say he tried to force himself on her, but to a lot of folks that didn’t make sense. Course, no one in the black community believes for a minute that Isaac ever touched her. He had a good job with the Kendalls and he loved his wife; a church-going man, pillar of the community. But he did hit the Judge, and he couldn’t get away with that.”

“The Judge and he fought?”

“Oh yes. The Judge ended up with a broken nose.”

“Maggie told me he got kicked by a horse.”

“That’s what he started telling folks. Just didn’t want to go into it all anymore.”  Miss Ellie took a deep sigh. “It’s best forgotten. Just brings up bad feelings all over again. Of course the black community’s never forgotten. It’s like a bad tooth the doctor can’t pull.”

“What happened to Isaac?” Liz asked.

Miss Ellie looked at her and shook her head. “Lynched, honey; they strung him up. The Judge took Sarah to Raleigh with him the next week, and well, you know the rest. Nine months later Maggie was born, and Sarah died in childbirth.”

“So Isaac was lynched for a fist fight?”

“Honey, you and I grew up in different times. The way the law saw it, Isaac had physically threatened a white woman and brutally attacked her husband when he came to her defense.”

“There should have been a trial at least,” Liz said.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to let things go.” Miss Ellie rose from her chair and pushed it under the table. “Old man Kendall was a hard man. There was no way he’d let his son be shamed like that. Someone had to die, and that someone was Isaac Perry.”

Quaker meeting was almost too much for Liz to bear
. She wanted to stay home, but Chase insisted her absence would only cause concern and result in a stream of visitors after meeting was over. Given the options, she chose to attend.

“We appreciate your effort,” Anna Reed said in a hushed voice with a loving pat on her hand at the break of meeting.

Dana Everett moved her jaw to the left and then back to the right to readjust her false teeth. They clicked into place. “The children are all talking about the bubbles. The float made quite an impression.”  She ground her teeth a second time.

Plain spoken and direct, Leland said what Liz believed everyone was really thinking
. “Didn’t like your float. Too much confusion. Keep it simple next year.”

Next year?  Please, dear God, let there not be a next year
, Liz thought.

Of course it was inevitable that Grandma
Hoole would have her say. Liz dreaded her criticism the most. “Liz,” she said, “I know sometimes our ways seem old fashioned, but there’s a reason we persist in doing things the same year after year. It speaks to simplicity and modesty in the way we live. I can’t see where that float really represented what Quakers stand for.”